2000-year-old woman found
News.com.au
14jul02
THE corpse of a woman who died more than 2,000 years ago has been found well preserved in
a mystery fluid in eastern China, state media reported today.
The body of the woman, who was believed to have lived during the Western Han Dynasty (206
BC - 24 AD), still had some of her skin, muscle tissue and veins, according to the Xinhua
news agency.
Construction workers at a building site in Lianyungang, Jiangsu province, discovered the
corpse, which was in a coffin, on July 8, Xinhua said.
"The female corpse, estimated to be over 2,000 years old, is said to still have
elastic muscle tissue from being immersed in a special fluid in her coffin," Xinhua
quoted Lianyungang museum curator Zhou Jinping as saying.
Zhou said a rectangular lacquer box, a bamboo food container, a comb, a copper mirror and
a lock of hair with a hairpin were also found in the coffin.
Xinhua described the corpse as priceless, in terms of archeological research, and said it
was now being preserved in formalin solution and covered with a layer of absorbent cotton.
The news agency did not identify the fluid used to preserve the corpse for 2,000 years.
Zhou said further investigations would be made to determine the woman's precise historical
age, social status and other background details.
Xinhua said the woman was only the third well-preserved Han Dynasty corpse ever
discovered.
The other two were excavated separately in the Mawangdui Han Tomb in Changsha, Hunan
province, and the Jingzhou Han Tomb in Hubei Province.
END
OF REPORT
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