Starting My Treasure Hunting In England

"Gentlemen, I can basically judge that this cat bone was not the cat that was burned together with Joan of Arc at that time. In fact, this cat was not burned at all."

After smelling it several times to make sure that what he just smelled was not an illusion, Liang En turned around and raised the cat bones in his hands to those people and said.

"What -" After hearing what Liang En said, those who were checking the bones all showed shocked expressions.

For them, Liang En's movements were too fast, especially now that they couldn't see anything strange about the bones.

"Can you tell me what you find wrong with this?" After a few seconds of silence, the eldest man in the group, a man in his sixties, stood up and asked.

"Smell, it doesn't smell like bones." Liang En put the bone on the glass dish, then raised it and said. "The bone smells of plaster and vanilla."

"But what does this mean?" A middle-aged man in his forties said, "The stake at which Joan of Arc was burned was made of plaster because the British wanted to prolong the burning time to make Joan of Arc feel Enough pain."

"But cats will not be tied to the stake." Liang En explained while looking at the other party. "Traditionally, cats would have their limbs broken or even cut off with a knife and thrown on a lit pyre, so there shouldn't be a marl smell on the bones."

"This is indeed a bit suspicious -" After hearing what Liang En said, the people present quickly took out their mobile phones to check, and then found out what he said before.

It is normal for these people to not know this kind of knowledge. Although they are professionals in the antique industry, they may not necessarily have a certain understanding of every side of historical knowledge.

"Then what's the vanilla smell in it?" asked another middle-aged man in his forties. If Liang En remembered correctly, this should be an antique art dealer with more than a dozen such antiques in Western Europe. The boss of the specialty store.

"There are two possibilities." Liang Enshu raised two fingers and said seriously. "One is that the remains were smoked with vanilla over a period of time."

"Another possibility is that vanillin, a compound that gives vanilla its special aroma, is produced during the decomposition of corpses, so you can smell a vanilla smell."

"But now both possibilities are very unreasonable. As for the first possibility, because the burning is not a barbecue, there is no habit of putting herbs on the burning pyre, and the bottles have never been handled, so It can’t be added later.”

"As for the second possibility, unless the body has been left for a long time, there should be no smell of decay on the body."

"I don't know what the real remains of a saint should look like, but this cat bone reminds me of something I've seen many times before -" Liang En said at the end of the analysis.

"What is it?" After hearing his confession, everyone's attention was attracted. Of course, Liang En also noticed that two of the other six people did not show any expressions of interest, but looked a little hostile.

"It's a mummy." Liang En said seriously, "I think you should also know that my main specialty is ancient Egypt, and this bone matches the characteristics of a mummy in terms of smell and appearance."

"There is indeed some resemblance." After Liang En said this, the owner of the chain antique store walked to the glass plate and looked at the cat bone carefully. Judging from his expression, he should have seen many similar ones. s things.

"It seems that there are indeed some unknown secrets in the display of Joan of Arc's bones this time." After those people were attracted by the cat bones, Liang En thought silently on the side.

Because he found that these selected people did not seem to be very professional in the identification of various remains. In addition, two of these people had been insisting that this thing was real, and it looked like a ghost.

It's just that the other party obviously didn't expect that Liang En was so professional in this area, so although he tried to interrupt him many times just now, he couldn't find an entry point.

For example, now, the two people did not come together to look at the cat bone. Instead, they stood on the other side and said something cooing, as if they wanted to try harder.

In some ways, the whole situation looks like a crappy scam. But this has nothing to do with Liang En, he just needs to do his own thing now.

"Maybe the cat bones were put into the glass bottle by mistake." When everyone had seen it, the two people who had not seen it before said.

"You should also know that this thing was discovered in the 19th century. In the 19th century, Europeans brought a large number of mummies from Egypt, so it is possible that it was installed incorrectly."

"What you said makes sense." Liang En nodded, and then said, "So next we will thoroughly check several other things and confirm them."

So in the following time, Liang En and the others checked several other things and found more decisive information.

For example, through a temporarily brought microscope, I discovered that the black carbonized layer on several bones and pieces of meat did not look like a structure full of holes produced by burning, but rather resembled paint. thing.

For another example, the weaving technique of the linen cloth is not in line with the weaving technique of linen of Joan of Arc's time, but it is very similar to the weaving technique of samples taken from many mummy bandages.

Although the two people who firmly believed that this thing was real believed that the smell of plaster came from the stake when Joan of Arc was burned to death, Liang En used lime when making mummies, and this thing smelled like It's the smell of plaster.

"So I think this object is one of a series of fake holy objects forged by the French in the mid-to-late 19th century. At that time, due to the failure of the Franco-Prussian War, people urgently needed something to unite everyone."

"Joan of Arc is obviously the best icon for unity. Especially after Lorraine, Joan of Arc's hometown, was ceded to the Germans, the promotion of Joan of Arc took on a more realistic meaning."

"Since that time, the French have devoted all their efforts to building the image of Joan of Arc and shaping her into a national myth. So in this context, some people may forge the remains in order to increase her importance——"

Joan of Arc was not so famous in France from the beginning. Although she has always been regarded as a hero of France, publicity at the national level only began in the 19th and 20th centuries.

For example, after the failure of the Franco-Prussian War, France publicized the story of Joan of Arc's reconquest of France to inspire the French. During World War I, Joan of Arc was used to encourage soldiers to regain Alsace and Lorraine.

Considering the grudges between the French and the Holy See, Liang En had always felt that the reason why Joan of Arc was canonized as a saint in 1920 was probably related to the French victory in World War I.

Liang En's explanation quickly convinced most of the people on the field, and everyone nodded in agreement with this view.