Study of an ancient corpse of the Warring States period unearthed from tomb No. 1 at Guo-Jia-Gang in Jingmen city (A Comprehensive Study)

Abstract

An ancient femal corpse excavated from the robbed tomb No. 1 at Guo-Jia-Gang in Jingmen city of Hubei Province was studied. It was confirmed that the corpse was buried more than 2 300 years ago, namely at the middle stage of the Warring States period and is the earliest one of the ancient coffin corpses unearthed in China sofar. It is of the same type as the ancient corpses of Weatern Han Dynasty excavated from tomb No. 1 at Ma-Wang-Dui in Changsha City and from the tomb No. 168 at Phoenix Hill in Jinagling City respectively.

The collagenous fibers of connective tissue from all parts in the corpse were well preserved, showing fine ultrastructure with clear periodical cross banding, and a lot of bacterial spores were found between them. In addition, a large number of eggs ofclonorchis sinensis andtrichuris trichiura were found in the content of the bowel. The level and the cause of good preservation were discussed and it was believed that the good preservation may resulte from the combined effect of the internal and external environmental factors around the corpse.

References

[1] 1980.

[2] 1982.

[3] CarpenterP L. Microbiology. Morphology and structure of bacteria, 1977, London, Carpenter P L, W. B. Saunders Co.