Archaeologists have introduced the invention of a drink that was stated to vow eternal life. It was discovered secretly stowed away in a 2,000-year-old bronze pot in an historical tomb in central China’s Henan province.
Around 3.5 litres of the “elixir of immortality” had been discovered in the tomb in the town of Luoyang throughout excavations final October. It was initially thought that the liquid was liquor as a result of it smelled like alcohol.
However, it was introduced this week that, lab testing has revealed that the mysterious liquid is especially comprised of potassium nitrate and alunite, that are the principle elements of an immortality draught recorded in an historical Taoist textual content.
According to Xinhua, the magical elixir was discovered in a tomb belonging to a noble household from the Western Han Dynasty that dates again to between 202 BC to eight AD. The household clearly positioned a really excessive worth on the elixir as they deemed it worthy of sharing their closing resting place.
Potions that promised immortality had been one thing of an obsession in historical Chinese historical past, essentially the most well-known instance being court docket sorcerer Xu Fu’s two voyages in search of the elixir in the course of the Qin Dynasty, nevertheless that is the primary time {that a} pattern of such liquid has been found intact.
“It is the first time that mythical ‘immortality medicines’ have been found in China. The liquid is of significant value for the study of ancient Chinese thoughts on achieving immortality and the evolution of Chinese civilization,” Shi Jiazhen, head of the Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology in Luoyang, defined.
The historical tomb covers over 200 sq. meters and, in addition to the elixir, its excavators additionally unearthed jadeware, bronze artifacts and painted clay pots.
