The Treasure Hunt of an Antique Dealer

"Book?"

Ajani looked at the strange object Zhang Nan was holding in her hand, a little puzzled. Could such a big lump be a book?

The super large slabs are pretty similar.

Zhang Nan smiled, and gently put aside the huge "book" on a light table prepared for the digger to put water cups and drinks, and then said: "It should be a book, feel."

After speaking, I looked inside the pit: the bottom of the pit was still mixed with rotten planks, various crowns on the same pile of dirt, and Jerry, who had originally wanted to take over the cleaning work, also stood on the side and did not move, because he also heard Zhang Nan storytelling".

Experts are also curious-will this be a book?

If you have any questions, Zhang Nan turned around and carefully observed the "muddy bumps" on the table, and said to himself: "I heard that in South China, something very interesting happened in Fujian Province, south of my hometown.

There are man-made houses. As a result, a few books were dug up from an ancient tomb in the Southern Song Dynasty about 800 years ago, and they were used by a bunch of brick houses to appraise them. They said they were taken out of an ancient tomb when the house was built. Do not believe!

Conventional thinking, ancient books from 800 years ago unearthed in a humid underground environment are impossible in the eyes of those who can only talk about it!

Even if the ancient tomb did not seep into a large amount of mud and was full of silt, it would not be possible for this paper to be stored for 800 years in a dark and humid environment-800 days would be difficult!

But those books are real rare books of the Southern Song Dynasty, and the brick makers not only don't recognize them, but also think the "story" made up by the holders is too funny.

There is no way. The guy who dug up the books doesn't have the habit of collecting old books. In the end, these extremely precious Song edition classics are cheaper for the cultural relic dealers. "

At this point, Adjani just listened to the story, and Jerry couldn’t help asking: “Boss, I know that under the right preservation environment, whether it’s Chinese paper or European parchment, it can be preserved for thousands of years, but underground. What method is used in the environment?"

"Use wax.

When the ancient books of the Southern Song Dynasty were dug out, they were tightly wrapped and sealed in a wax layer a few centimeters thick, completely isolating the air and water from the outside.

With the protection of wax, time is almost static to it, and the external environment cannot damage the book.

I just didn't think that the people of the Knights Templar in the Middle Ages would do this trick. I don't know if they came up with it or learned it from somewhere else. "

Everyone has never heard of this method of preserving books. It feels novel. This saw Zhang Nan use a knife to gently cut the "book case" and scrape off a little bit of the "book case" skin. , And then heat the tip of the knife with a lighter: the dark brown substance scraped on the tip of the knife melted.

Sure enough, this is not a clay, it is wax, but the color turns black because of too long time. Besides, although wax is generally impervious to water and air, it will be penetrated by some mineral elements in the environment for a long time in the underground environment, and it has become this ugly color after hundreds of years.

I haven't heard the smell of the smoke that melts the wax and turns into green smoke. It's better not to use yourself as a guinea pig for substances that you don't know very well.

Putting the knife aside, she said to the curious baby Adjani: "There was no paraffin wax in the Middle Ages. I don’t know if these waxes were made of animal fats or beeswax, or even how to dissolve the amber-like beeswax. The first two waxes are not necessarily.

Medieval alchemy was popular, and God knows what was added here. At that time, the general animal fat wax would decompose in a few decades. There should be a lot of rotten stuff in this thick shell. You can find out after going back to find a laboratory to analyze the composition. "

Adjani nodded, she didn't want her man to take the risk.

The paraffin wax that Zhang Nan said was extracted from petroleum, the main material for modern people to make candles, of course there was none in the Middle Ages.

Jerry on the other side heard him say this and asked, "The boss, what kind of wax did China use to preserve books in ancient times?"

"The variety of wax is similar to that of Europe at that time, generally animal fat and beeswax.

But the book preservation should be a very special kind of wax. We have a kind of tree fruit that can be squeezed out of wax. Its nature is much more stable than animal wax. I guess those ancient books of the Southern Song Dynasty use plant wax. Closed. "

The materials that East and West can have are different. This is not the point. The point is to use the same concept to preserve objects.

"Don't open it?"

From what Zhang Nan said, Ajani felt that he didn't plan to open the waxy shell of the "book" here, and everyone was still waiting to know what kind of book was closed in this big brother.

Zhang Nan's mouth cracked and said, "It is almost a miracle that the basic Chinese and Southern Song ancient books can be preserved. It's not about time, but it didn't turn into ashes immediately after being knocked on the wax protective layer."

Speaking and tapping the "book bump" lightly, "The paper inside has been large for hundreds of years without oxygen and sunlight. If you tap it here, I'm afraid it will turn into ashes in the blink of an eye."

This is a problem. Everyone wants to know what book is in it that deserves the knights to protect it.

But I can't touch the air, what should I do?

If it is difficult for others, it is easy for Zhang Nan to solve it, just change the mindset.

"Set up equipment to study bacteria and viruses, isolate the operation, and replace the ordinary air inside with inert gas, so that it can be opened and seen."

This way is good!

It is through the integral gloves, and then people outside can look through the books placed in the cabinet. These virus laboratories operate in this way.

"What will happen in the future?"

It was Charlie who asked this.

Zhang Nan smiled: "I'll talk about it in the future. It's a big deal to make an inert gas cabinet for books. It's better than turning gray."

In fact, increasing the oxygen content slowly is also a way, but this is all in the future: how to operate in the future depends on what book is sealed in this big waxy lump.

The "Jacques-de-Molay Cross" records that the Knights also concealed four copies of "Jin Fu-Yin~www.readwn.com~" but this buried pit seems to only keep this one, "...maybe it's time." It's too old, or it may be due to insufficient sealing materials. It is more likely to be hidden just thinking about temporarily burying the treasure, and it can be picked up after a while.

But they have no chance. "

It may be that the “golden gospel book” in ancient Rome is not a religious word. It actually means that the book is beautifully bound and written, and the font is also special. It uses a special gold font for calligraphy, so there may be anything in this big knot. books.

In the time of the Knights Templar, this ancient Roman book was definitely a treasure, and it is said to be now. No matter what is said in the book, it will be an unexpected discovery.

As for the question of why this pimple is so huge, it is not a problem: the book format of ancient times was relatively large, and in general, the more important the book, the larger its external size!

seemingly…

Modern books seem to have such a habit, as if the size of the book is larger than the size of the book can be higher.