Starting My Treasure Hunting In England

Although the pile of garbage at the bottom of the pit looks very bad, the actual situation is better than imagined. At least the pile of debris can still show the appearance of the original thing, and it is not so bad that there are no clues at all.

Even because the moisture content of the soil on the hillside is not very high, there is still enough residue in the wooden box and most of the organic matter inside. Although it cannot be preserved in its original appearance, it can at least be identified as what these things were before.

"A lot of tattered clothes and a half-broken wooden box, what the hell is this?" The first time he saw the box at the bottom of the pit, Liang En subconsciously felt that something was wrong. "I feel like this has nothing to do with the mud seal."

"Wait, there seems to be something in the clothes." At this moment, Joan of Arc discovered that there seemed to be something in these damaged clothes.

When she used the hiking stick in her hand to push aside the clothes that had completely rotted and carbonized, she was surprised to find a golden bracelet wrapped inside.

"This should be something from the 16th or 17th century, and judging from the fineness of this bracelet, it should also be used by wealthy businessmen or nobles." Liang En said after checking the gold bracelet.

"I think this is just the beginning. If nothing unexpected happens, there should be other things in this box, and they should all be similar products."

Sure enough, during the subsequent excavation, pieces of gold and silverware were unearthed, and eventually more than 7kg of silverware and about 1kg of gold were unearthed.

These precious metal items are basically jewelry, with only a small amount of tableware or some gadgets. What Liang En is looking for is inside, a gold ring with a piece of chalcedony inlaid on it.

"Yes, this should be a ring made in ancient Egypt during the Hellenistic era." After inspecting the ring, Liang En said, "It should be the seal on the mud seal."

The carvings on the chalcedony correspond exactly to the words and patterns on the clay seal. In addition, the appearance of the ring itself can basically confirm that this is the seal used by the Library of Alexandria to seal books during the Ptolemaic Dynasty. Quit.

"Is this ring very important in history?" Joan looked curiously at this beautifully carved gold ring with obvious signs of wear and tear.

"I know the Library of Alexandria, which should be regarded as the most famous gathering place of knowledge in the entire Western world, so such a seal ring should also be very important!"

"Compared to that library, the value of such a small ring should be very low, but for us, this ring should be able to restore some important historical truths."

Only 1% of human history can be known through historical records, and the remaining 99% is the task of archaeological research. Archeology is one of the important means for modern humans to understand ancient human activities.

Through archaeological excavations, the historical process of mankind can be completely connected and unified, instead of only looking at histories that are incomplete or even have huge gaps to understand our past.

To give the simplest example, no matter which country the history books are in, they basically record major historical events, and they basically do not record what the lives of ordinary people are like.

As for some notes that do record people's lives at that time, these records are very one-sided and cannot satisfy people's restoration of the situation at that time.

Therefore, if you want to know ancient history, this type of physical object is an indispensable research object. For example, just such a simple ring can reveal many valuable things.

To give the simplest example, this ring is a standard ancient Greek style ring in terms of style, but there is a small statue of a god on the ring in addition to the Greek text from the Library of Alexandria.

This statue is a statue of the ancient Egyptian god Thoth. It is easy to recognize the figure wearing a full moon disc and a crescent-crowned ibis head. However, unlike the traditional ancient Egyptian god statues, this statue looks more human.

In other words, except for the animal shape of the head, which represents the unchangeable nature of the god, the body of this statue looks closer to the real human condition, and this also reflects the progress of ancient Greece in human sculpture.

This also reflects the blending and convergence of ancient Greek civilization and ancient Egyptian civilization from another aspect, and reflects the changes in civilization throughout the Hellenistic era.

In addition to this ring from ancient Egypt, there are five or six antiques in this pile of treasures that were very precious to people in the 16th and 17th centuries. It is obvious that the owner of this treasure is a person who has a special hobby for antique jewelry. people.

But the strange thing is that after checking other jewelry, Liang En was surprised to find that there were traces of wear on those jewelry. After careful inspection, he could confirm that the erased content was the inscription on the jewelry.

"These things seem to belong to a rich person, and they may also have a high status." Looking at the pile of treasures in front of him, Liang En showed a thoughtful look.

"The only question now is, I'm very curious as to why these things were wiped out of any markings that could prove the ownership of these jewels."

"As far as I know, there are two possibilities for this." Joan of Arc said after thinking for a few seconds, looking at the bracelet in her hand that looked like it had been polished with a knife.

"One of the possibilities is the sale of these declining noble families. They may erase the family coat of arms for the sake of honor and avoid being laughed at."

"The other is that these people had such huge problems that people at that time had to erase their traces. However, there were not many people who needed to be treated like this in history. It can be said that only a handful of people were able to use these jewelry. number."

"You are right, but we have indeed encountered such a one now." Liang En looked at the unearthed jewelry and sighed. "I always feel a bit confused if I don't understand what's going on behind the scenes."

"Can we analyze it based on the style of jewelry?" After seeing Liang En's distressed expression. Joan of Arc put forward her own opinion.

"Jean, this is impossible, because these jewelry styles are available in various countries. After all, for the rich and nobles of that era, if they wanted to buy jewelry from other European countries, or even jewelry from the Middle East, it would be a piece of cake. It’s a normal thing.”

In ancient times, limited transportation and wars in various places caused international trade between countries to be much lower than modern times. However, in that case, the most common goods in international trade were small-sized and high-profit items such as jewelry or spices.

Therefore, it is very simple for those rich people to obtain jewelry through international trade. At the same time, people with money and status are more inclined to buy jewelry from famous origins.

Even at that time, it was more popular in Eastern Europe to buy jewelry produced in places like Paris or Amsterdam. If you buy local jewelry, you will easily be regarded as a country bumpkin without strength.

The same is true for the jewelry in this treasure. Such a large number of items can clearly illustrate the status and financial resources of the owner, so there is nothing strange about choosing all imported jewelry.