The archaeological team spent nearly 2 hours trying to pry open the coffin lid due to the exceptionally strong plaster surrounding it.
The Secret of the Third Coffin
On the evening of February 24, 2011, a group of workers engaged in a road expansion project in Taizhou, Jiangsu Province, China, unexpectedly discovered three coffins buried 2 meters deep in the ground. All three coffins were made of high-quality wood and coated with a special type of plaster.
Immediately, the archaeological team from the Taizhou Museum arrived at the site. In the first two tombs, they found skeletons, wooden pillows, clothing from the Ming Dynasty… but no valuable cultural artifacts or inscriptions.
By March 1, 2011, museum experts decided to open the lid of the last coffin, which was also the best-preserved. The archaeological team spent nearly 2 hours simply trying to pry it open due to the strong plaster surrounding the coffin.
When the coffin was finally opened, a female body was found tightly wrapped in burial cloth, submerged in a brown liquid.
Inside the third coffin is a stunning sight. (Photo: Xinhua).
The facial features of the mummy are still clearly visible. (Photo: Xinhua).
Surprisingly, this body, although buried since the Ming Dynasty (1368 – 1644), meaning it has been buried for at least 350 years, still had intact skin, and the facial features, hair, eyebrows, and eyelashes were remarkably clear.
According to Baike, the body was approximately 1.5 meters tall. When retrieved from the water, it was stiff, but pressing on the ankle still showed some elasticity. The cap on the head was light green, and the shoe stitching was intact.
Despite the tomb being extremely well-preserved, the clothing on the mummy and the burial items inside the tomb resembled those of commoners.
The garments were made from cotton fabric, lacking silk or any luxurious clothing. It is difficult to determine whether this individual was a commoner or a noblewoman.
The archaeological team also found no inscriptions inside the final coffin, leaving the identity of the tomb’s owner a mystery.
The body was wrapped in 8 layers of cloth. (Photo: Xinhua).
According to archaeological experts, the mummy and clothing must be kept separately to prevent decomposition, making the removal of clothing the first task. Reporters on-site witnessed that all layers of clothing on the corpse were cross-wrapped, secured with tightly bound strips of cloth instead of buttons.
The process of removing the 8 layers of clothing was incredibly challenging due to the limbs of the mummy being stiff after hundreds of years. The joints were immobile, necessitating lifting the entire body to remove the garments, especially the types of dresses tied around the waist.
Wang Weigang, director of the Archaeology Department at the Taizhou Museum, stated that after the clothing was removed, the mummy was soaked in a tank of water containing formaldehyde (CH2O) – an organic compound capable of temporary preservation.
Subsequently, this mummy will be professionally preserved by experts from the Shanghai Museum of Science and Technology. The mummy’s clothing will also be preserved separately at low temperatures.
Why is the Mummy Intact?
“The body has not decomposed because the coffin created an isolated environment, separated from the air and relatively low in microorganisms“ – said Wang Duyuan, director of the Taizhou Museum.
This coffin belongs to a unique type of glutinous rice plaster coffin found in China. It is a wooden coffin coated with a plaster made from coarse sand, lime, glutinous rice paste, and other materials.
The glutinous rice paste is pounded with quicklime, heated at high temperatures, and then mixed with water. The amylopectin found in glutinous rice, when combined with calcium carbonate (CaCO3) from lime, creates a type of plaster with exceptional adhesive properties, durability, and weed resistance.
Before the Ming Dynasty, this type of plaster was considered “luxurious” and was only used in large constructions or royal tombs. By the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the surge in rice production led to the widespread use of glutinous rice plaster in construction projects.
This is a unique archaeological discovery in China. (Photo: Xinhua).
According to research from Zhejiang University, glutinous rice plaster was also the primary adhesive material used in the Great Wall of China built during the Ming Dynasty.
The strong bond of this material makes it resistant to modern bulldozers and allows the structure to withstand many strong earthquakes.
Using glutinous rice plaster to seal the coffin helps to preserve the body and artifacts such as silk and lacquer goods inside very well.
Moreover, the brown liquid found in the coffin simply contained various herbs used for disinfection during burial.
The water in the coffin was not intentional but resulted from groundwater seeping into the coffin through tiny holes on the plaster surface.
In 2011, the discovery of this coffin and mummy made a significant impact in the Chinese archaeological community; however, this was not the only intact body excavated in Taizhou, Jiangsu.
According to the Chinese Youth Daily, since the first excavation of ancient bodies in 1979, the city of Taizhou has discovered a total of 4 intact corpses, including 2 male and 2 female bodies.
According to Wang Duyuan, all Ming Dynasty tombs excavated in Taizhou contain coffins made from precious cypress and cedar wood, which have excellent moisture resistance and fine craftsmanship with many mortise joints – a durable wooden joinery commonly used in ancient Chinese tombs.
