'Never Known' Species Found in Qin Shi Huang's Grandmother's Tomb
Since ancient times, the Chinese have attached great importance to the burial rituals of the deceased. They believe that "entering the earth is safe", only when family members are buried properly will the living have a smooth journey in this world.
Therefore, ancient tomb research has become an extremely important field in archaeology. Each tomb not only bears the historical and cultural imprint of the period in which it was built, but it also reflects the status, power and attitude of the era towards the deceased.
Where Qin Shi Huang's grandmother was buried
In 2004, Chinese scientists discovered a very special tomb - the tomb of Qin Shi Huang's grandmother . The tomb revealed many interesting details about Chinese history before the time Qin Shi Huang unified China.
An archaeologist is working in the archaeological site. (Source: Internet).
Before it was discovered by archaeologists, the tomb had been visited by thieves many times. Even the blackened bricks in the mausoleum reveal that the tomb had been destroyed by fire. The mausoleum covers an area of 160,000 square meters with 4 main tombs and 13 burial pits.
Although it is only a pile of ruins, archaeologists can still base on the remaining traces to judge that the owner of the tomb is Qin Shi Huang's grandmother - Empress Dowager Xia (?- 240 BC).
On the stone tablet in the tomb, one can recognize the two words "Bac Cung" and "Tu Cung", combined with the records in "Historical Records: Lu Buwei's Biography" , there is no doubt that this is the resting place of Qin Shi Huang's grandmother.
Although Empress Dowager Xia was not a prominent figure in Chinese history, her position as Qin Shi Huang's grandmother attracted a great deal of public attention when her tomb was discovered.
During the excavation, experts discovered more than 300 precious cultural relics and especially 6 horse-drawn carriages. A fleet of six luxurious horse-drawn carriages like this was only reserved for the royal family at that time.
"Never before known" creature
In particular, archaeologists also excavated many animal remains in burial pit No. 12 here. A large number of poultry bones were buried in the north, while the south was the place for bears, leopards and lynxes.
Moreover, experts also discovered a skeleton of an extremely strange primate species . Although it was discovered in 2004, it was not until 2018 that scientists were able to come to a conclusion about this skeleton.
Pit No. 12 where many animal remains were found. (Source: HSW).
Researchers created a 3D model of the remains and spent more than 10 years comparing them with hundreds of other ape skeletons from around the world. Experts eventually declared it a new species of ape that we had never seen before, but that species is now extinct.
Hypothetical 3D model of the "royal gentleman" ape. (Source: Sohu).
Several theories have been developed about the origin of this skeleton, including one that more than 2,200 years ago, ancient Chinese emperors had the habit of keeping gibbons in captivity as a hobby. And this is very likely the reason why this gibbon species became extinct before we knew about it!
This discovery shocked archaeologists around the world, because in ancient Chinese royal tombs, it was very rare for animals to be buried with the deceased.
In addition, this skeleton also became the focus of biologists, it became a link providing valuable research data on the evolutionary history of apes. To commemorate the role of this ape, scientists gave it an extremely elegant name - "royal gentleman" ape .
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