In the Shanghai Museum, there is a set of 14 Western Zhou chimes, called "Jinhou Su Bell", which can be called an important national treasure. What is unexpected is that there is a mystery in this set of chimes that is difficult to solve, which makes archaeologists lament that ancient technology really has places that modern technology cannot reach. What's going on here? If you want to know, let Xiaobian reveal the secret for you:
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In 1994, 14 pieces of bronze chimes appeared in the Antique Market in Hong Kong, and the owner of the antique shop declared that this set of bronze chimes was a special chime for the Jin dynasty monarch in the Western Zhou Dynasty, which belonged to the real sense of priceless treasure. Interestingly, though, despite the chimes' hype, few people come to appreciate it, let alone buy it at a high price.
In the antique line mixed players, mostly some "old fritters", not only the history is very thorough, but also the level of identification of the quality of cultural relics is extremely high, almost all players who have seen the chimes believe that the JinGuojun chimes sold by the owner of the antique shop are actually a forgery with a very high level of imitation, which does not have any cultural relics value at all, and is not worth 1 million Hong Kong dollars.
At this time, a question ensued, on what basis did the players in the antique world judge the Jinguo chimes as fakes? The answer is clear, because on the appearance of the chimes, there are many inscriptions, and these inscriptions must be completed with the help of metal carving knives that are harder than bronze, and it is obvious that in the era at that time, the low level of smelting could not meet the requirements of this artistic technique.
Speaking of this, it is necessary to introduce the bronze casting methods of the Western Zhou Dynasty. As we all know, in the Shang and Zhou Dynasties, most of the metal artifacts used in human society were bronzes, and the smelting and casting methods of bronzes themselves were quite unique, which belonged to the enlightenment and origin stage of metal smelting.
When the ancients cast bronzes, they often cast words on their surfaces to praise the authority and benevolence of rulers. However, it is worth noting that in the Western Zhou bronzes found in the archaeological community today, all the artifacts with patterns and writings are often convex characters, which is what we call "Yang inscriptions". The emergence of this phenomenon actually stems from the special method of casting bronzes by the ancients. Generally speaking, the pouring and molding of bronzes will use mud fans, and the mud fans themselves are soft and abnormal when wet, which is very suitable for engraving, so when they are used as molds for casting bronzes, they are often printed with opposite raised fonts on the surface of bronzes.
This statement belongs to the basic knowledge level of players in the antique industry and is a well-known truth. Since the Yin inscription appeared in the Jin Dynasty chimes in front of them, it would naturally look very strange, and no one dared to be sure that the ancients had a carving knife that "cut iron like mud", which could break through the level of productivity at that time and then complete such an extraordinary work.
Fast forward to 1992, the bronze chimes displayed in the antique shops in Hong Kong were still placed in the warehouse, almost becoming a "rotten goods" that no one cared about, so the owner of the antique shop was also anxious, so he once again put it in the newspaper and sought buyers from all over the world to purchase it, and the price was still 1 million Hong Kong dollars. Just as the so-called "no coincidence is not a book", Ma experts, who were the curators of the Shanghai Museum at the time, saw this report and identified it according to the photos in the newspaper, determined that the cultural relics were likely to be genuine, so an emergency meeting was held in the museum, and the decision to purchase jinguo chimes was finalized.
After the Jinguo chimes were sent to the Shanghai Museum, various experts came to identify them and renamed them according to the text on them, calling them "Jinhou Su Bells". The content recorded on the Jin Marquis Su Zhong is the story of the 33rd year of the Zhou King in the late Western Zhou Dynasty, when the Jin Marquis Su was ordered by the Son of Heaven to fight against the Suyi tribe in Shandong, and finally won a great victory. Naturally, the Marquis of Jin's Su Zhong also became an important symbol of the merits of the Marquis of Jin.
Just as the Shanghai Museum experts were immersed in the joy of harvesting the national treasure, another piece of good news came again. Inside the Tianma site in Qucun, Quwo City, Shanxi Province, excavations have also made breakthrough progress. The Tianma site is a relic of Jin culture, excavated in 1979, after 12 excavations, a total of 8 groups of 17 tombs were cleared, of which the bronzes, jades and other items buried with them all contain the name of the Marquis of Jin. It is in the bronze artifacts excavated at the Tianma site that two bronze chimes have attracted the attention of archaeologists, both in texture and style, which are completely consistent with the Jinhou Su Bell acquired by the Shanghai Museum, which can also be determined that there is a supporting relationship between the two, which belongs to a complete set of bronze chimes, and can also prove that the Jinhou Su Bell in the Shanghai Museum is indeed genuine.
The surface of the bronze chimes excavated from the Tianma site also has inscriptions, which further indicates that there was indeed a superb carving technique at that time, which could be engraved arbitrarily on hard bronzes. How exactly was such a metal engraving knife that exceeded the level of smelting at that time made? Archaeologists could not explain it for a while, and could only prove it through experiments. However, unfortunately, although archaeologists have copied a series of metal materials, they cannot restore the material of the carving knife, and the imitation carving knife experiment can only end in failure, and the mystery of the hard carving knife can only become an inexplicable suspense.
It can be seen that even if the current technology is incomparably advanced, it is impossible to restore some ancient technologies, which not only explains the wisdom and wisdom of the ancients, but also makes us feel sorry for the lost technology in ancient times.
Wen xiucai, editor-in-chief of Wenlan Hairun Studio, written by: Special history writer: Changshan Zhao Zi worm