Culture and history are inseparable. We have a long history and colorful culture. This is the case in Henan, from the ancient capital to the cultural center, which cannot be separated. If we really want to talk about the history of Henan, we can't do without archaeology.
The purpose of archaeology is to restore and update history by studying ancient sites, tombs and ancient relics. For archaeology, people may be familiar with Mawangdui Han Tomb and Houhai Houfaint Tomb, while for the tombs with famous cultural relics, it seems that they know the tomb of Qin Shihuang unearthed from Terracotta Warriors and Horses and the tomb of Chu in Jiangling, King of Yue.
A dagger dug in this ancient tomb in Henan Province not only surpassed the sword of Gou Jian, the king of the Chu tomb in Jiangling, but also rewritten history. As we all know, the sword of Gou Jian, the King of Yue, was discovered in the 1960s, which is a sword to prove the legend. The value of the sword of the King of Yue does not stop there. Because the sword is plated with a layer of chromium-containing metal, it has not rusted for thousands of years, and it is still cold and sharp when unearthed, so it is called "the first sword in the world".
However, this dagger found in Henan ancient tomb at the end of last century is called "the first sword of China". This tomb is located in Sanmenxia, Henan Province. Because the tomb was stolen and the grave robbers were arrested, for practical reasons, archaeologists decided to carry out rescue excavation.
After investigation and cleaning by experts, it is determined that this is the tomb of the monarch of Guo in the late Western Zhou Dynasty. It is not only the tomb of the emperor, but also a huge natural scale, with thousands of national treasures such as chimes, bronze ritual vessels and jade articles. But a piece of jade found outside the coffin puzzled the experts. By rights, this jade should be in the coffin. With the idea that "if something goes wrong, there must be a demon", experts will clean up the soil next to jade.
After the object was unearthed, the experts were dumbfounded, because it was iron below! Wang Longzheng, an expert from Henan Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, shouted that it was impossible, which attracted other members of the institute to watch and everyone was surprised. You know, in early archaeology, human beings were divided into Stone Age, Bronze Age and Iron Age, while Gou Jian's sword was bronze, so experts agreed that Shang and Zhou Dynasties were the golden age of bronze, and Warring States, Qin and Han Dynasties were the iron age. But this jade dagger is 200 years earlier than Gou Jian's sword, and it is still iron!
Iron smelting technology formally appeared in Qin and Han dynasties, and Gou Jian, the king of Yue, is a good example. Experts found that the jade dagger is not only the smelting of iron, but also the smelting of carburized steel. "Carburized steel" refers to artificial smelting. After a long period of carburizing and repeated forging, the accuracy of steel can be improved.
Even though iron smelting appeared in the Western Zhou Dynasty, this jade dagger is fine steel, which rewrote the history of iron smelting technology 200 years in advance. At this point, the expert broke out in a cold sweat and choked up and said "God bless China", otherwise the stolen cave was only 30 cm away from the ancient tomb, and this "high-tech" would have disappeared long ago. It may be thousands of years before we know that such an artifact may have been made in the Western Zhou Dynasty.
Wan Qing's point of view: No wonder this jade dagger, or iron sword with jade handle, is called the first sword of China. After all, it is amazing that such iron smelting technology appeared 3000 years ago. In fact, the most puzzling thing is not only the sword, but also the connection between archaeological discoveries. Many technologies in the pre-Qin period were advanced enough, which made people wonder whether the submarine-like things described in the ancient "Notes on the Pickup" really existed. what do you think?
References: Jianghan Archaeology, Notes.