Preserved Ming Dynasty Woman Found in Sealed Coffin, Taizhou, China 2011

p4irs · #1 ● 11-08-2011, 09:57 PM

On February 24, 2011, road workers in Taizhou, Jiangsu province, China, unearthed three Ming dynasty coffins buried more than two meters below ground. Archaeologists from the Taizhou Municipal Museum opened the most tightly sealed coffin on March 1 and discovered a woman's body suspended in brownish liquid. After several centuries, her hair, skin, eyebrows and eyelashes remained intact, and skin on her ankles retained elasticity when pressed. She was covered by a cotton quilt and layers of Ming clothing, and wore a silver ring with a green stone. A silver hairpin, strung copper coins and a scented sachet were also found as grave goods. Experts attribute the preservation to an airtight tomb seal made of lime-and-glutinous-rice mortar, which left the coffin anaerobic; it was almost certainly accidental rather than deliberate mummification. No epitaph was recovered, so the woman's name is unknown. The remains are kept by the Taizhou Museum, which since 1979 has recovered four preserved Ming corpses of this kind.