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Xin Zhui: A “Beautiful” Thousand-Year-Old Mummy from Ancient China
2,100-year-old finest preserved ancient human and one of the twentieth century’s most significant archaeological finds
The Lady of Dai, also known as The Diva Mummy, is a 2,100-year-old Western Han Dynasty mummy and the finest preserved ancient human yet discovered. How this extraordinary amount of preservation was achieved continues to confound and astonish experts worldwide.
A massive Han Dynasty tomb was discovered in 1971, during the height of the cold war, as workers were constructing an air raid shelter near the city of Changsha. They found more than 1000 wholly preserved artifacts inside, as well as the grave of Xin Zhui, the wife of the ruler of the Han imperial fiefdom of Dai.
Xin Zhui, the Lady of Dai, was roughly 50 years old when she died between 178 and 145 BC. The artifacts found within her tomb suggested that she was a wealthy and influential woman who appreciated the finer things in life. However, it was not the precious things and excellent clothes that instantly drew archaeologists’ attention; instead, the exceptionally well-preserved quality of her remains drew their attention.
