LADY DAI
Xin Zhui, the Diva Mummy
WHEN, WHERE AND HOW THE BODY WAS FOUND
At the height of the cold war in 1971, workers were digging an air raid shelter in Mawangdui near Changsha in China when they discovered a gigantic Han Dynasty-era tomb. Inside this tomb they uncovered over 1000 perfectly preserved artefacts, along with the tomb of Xin Zhui, who was the wife of the ruler of the Han imperial fiefdom of Dai.
THE BODY TODAY
In spite of being buried for over 2000 years, when Xin Zhui was found her skin stayed moist and elastic, her joints still flexible, blood still remained in her veins and she was completely intact. It is for this very reason that she is often referred to as the 'world’s best preserved mummy’. Unsurprisingly, pathologists also found many parasites inside her, including tapeworms. Today, however, she does not look exactly as she was found in 1971, as the oxygen had an immediate effect on her body when she was removed from the tomb.
WHAT CAN BE LEARNT ABOUT THE PAST FROM THE STUDY OF THE BODY
Her tomb was stuffed full of luxuries, including 100 silk garments, 182 pieces of lacquer ware, makeup and other toiletries. These artefacts depict Lady Dai’s extravagant lifestyle and teach us about how the wealthy Chinese lived in the time of the Han dynasty.
Lady Dai was also buried alongside an array of foods and fine cuisines stored in bamboo cases and pottery containers. This told us what Lady Dai ate during her lavish life and what lead to her cause of death. It also explains what people of higher class China ate during around 145 BCE and just how rich in fibre or fat the food really was, depicting the health of these people.
PRESERVATION
Lady Dai has often been described as the world’s best preserved mummy. It continues to baffle and intrigue many scientists as to how a body over 2000 years old could look like that of one that had died recently.
Her tomb was found buried 12 metres below the ground and was filled with an abundance of over 3000 different articles, including a wardrobe which contained over 100 silk garments, 182 pieces of expensive lacquer ware, makeup and toiletries, in addition to 162 carved wooden figurines that were representative of her servants. According to records, the Diva Mummy was found swathed in twenty layers of silk and submerged in eighty litres of a silky acidic liquid that contain some magnesium.
Her tomb was airtight and her individual body was encased inside four caskets. The layers of coffins were placed inside a chamber in the centre of a humongous funnel shaped, cypress, burial vault that was clay-lined. Surrounding the vault was five tonnes of moisture-absorbing charcoal, and three feet of additional clay which sealed the top. Pieces of earth were tightly packed on top and filled the shaft all the way to the surface.
Her tomb was so well sealed that no substance of any kind would have had the ability to enter or exit the tomb and a lack of oxygen meant that any decay-causing bacteria that was already present inside would have died quickly. Even destructive ground water could not penetrate the tomb’s strong barriers. As a result, the environment created inside Lady Dai’s tomb was perfect for preservation - cool, highly humid and almost sterile.