The most appropriate archaeological discovery: What does Zongzi look like more than 2000 years ago? Plants | Quercus Leaf | Zongzi
On the 21st, it was learned from the Henan Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology that archaeologists found a large number of circular plant packages in the No. 8 tomb of the Yangcheng Site in Xinyang, Henan. The research found that the outer part of the package was mistletoe and the inner part was rice, millet and other grains. These mistletoe grains were the oldest Zongzi discovered by archaeology in China so far.
Wu Zhijiang, the person in charge of the excavation site of Tomb 8 at the Yangcheng Site in Xinyang City, introduced that Tomb 8 is a noble tomb of the Chu State in the middle of the Warring States period, with a plane in the shape of "A", sitting from west to east, consisting of a tomb passage and a tomb chamber. During the excavation process, archaeologists discovered a large number of circular packages wrapped in leaves on the wooden table in the back room of the coffin chamber.
The picture shows a circular plant package found in Tomb 8 of the Chengyangcheng Site. Provided by Henan Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology
"There are 40 complete circular packages, and many damages are scattered at the bottom of the coffin chamber. These packages are wrapped in layers of wide plant leaves, tied with hemp rope or stems, presenting a thick circular cake shape." Lan Wanli, director of the Plant and Parasite Archaeology Laboratory of Henan Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, said that through measurement, the diameter of the packages is about 10 to 15 centimeters, and the thickness is 3 to 5 centimeters.
It is reported that along with the package, a small number of branches were unearthed. Archaeologists speculate that these plants are wrapped in groups of several, strung or tied to the branches.
"Due to the high groundwater level at the location of Tomb No. 8, the entire tomb chamber was soaked in groundwater, forming a special burial environment, which created favorable conditions for the preservation of cultural relics in the tomb, making the circular package immortal for a thousand years," said Wu Zhijiang.
Archaeologists found through stereomicroscope analysis that 39 out of 40 complete packages contained unhulled and uncooked rice, while the other one contained millet.
The picture shows a circular plant package found in Tomb 8 of the Chengyangcheng Site. Provided by Henan Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology
"In order to judge the leaves of the plants that wrap the rice and millet, we found the living leaves of the same species for comparison. By combining the fragments of each part, according to the characteristics of leaf shape, leaf margin, size, vein shape and so on, we finally judged that the plant leaves outside the round package were Quercus quercus." Lan Wanli said that Quercus quercus is the leaves of the Fagaceae plant Quercus quercus. Now the custom of eating Zongzi, also known as Quercus packets, is still popular in western Henan.
"The Chu state's mistletoe bun, now known as the Dragon Boat Festival zongzi. The dietary traces of our ancestors, carried by cultural relics, have spanned thousands of years and witnessed the long history of Chinese culinary culture," said Lan Wanli.
