Chapter 3 Chapter 3 An Ancient Star Map

The Xiakou Regional Museum is a two-story old-style building located in an alley in the downtown area.In a studio on the west side of the second floor of the museum, there are unearthed cultural relics waiting to be restored and organized everywhere in the cabinets, on the floor, and beside the table.All these cultural relics were unearthed from the No. 7 Han Tomb in Xilingxia.In this crowded room, Ren Sihong was staring at a lacquer box beside the table. On the dark red background of the lacquer box, there is a pattern outlined by rough black lines. The color is as bright as new, but the style is completely antique.The strange thing is that the lid of this lacquer box is integrated with the box, and I can't find where the box is seamed.

He picked up the lacquer box from the table with both hands, shook it lightly, and there was a thumping sound inside the box. "What kind of medicine is in this stuffy gourd?" He thought to himself, "Could it be that ancient star map?" His confident gaze fell on the lacquered box through the lenses of his wide-rimmed glasses.It was as if this gaze was a Roentgen ray that could penetrate the lacquered box and see into it. "Sihong, are you still holding this lacquer box in a daze?" He Yijing squeezed in holding a shiny ancient steel sword, "This is really a good sword. There is a word on it that can't be read clearly, come here Identify."

He Yijing has a moderate figure and an ordinary appearance. Because of her regular facial features and calm demeanor, she gives people a very solemn feeling.She has been engaged in archaeological work for many years and is now in her early fifties, but she is still very energetic.Very respected by colleagues here. Ren Sihong gently put down the lacquer box, freed up a chair, and let her sit down.He took the ancient sword casually. There are seven characters engraved on the hilt of this ancient steel sword.Due to the long history, the first six characters can still be vaguely recognized, and the last character is somewhat incomplete and unclear.Ren Sihong looked at it carefully and remained silent for a long time.

"Judging from the remaining traces, this word can be determined to be the word 'at first'." Ren Sihong finally spoke. "So, these seven characters are 'Yuanguang first year April first'." "Exactly. Your problem is solved, I have to continue to study how to open the lacquer box." Ren Sihong smiled and straightened his wide-rimmed glasses. "Could this lacquer box be sealed with raw lacquer?" He Yijing paused thoughtfully, "Just like the inner coffin lid of Han Tomb No. 168, Fenghuang Mountain, Jiangling?" "Ah——" Ren Sihong cheered, suddenly realized, and hurriedly picked up the lacquer box gently.

"Let me help!" He Yijing took out a pair of reading glasses from her pocket and said with concern. The lacquer box was indeed sealed with raw lacquer.Ren Sihong took a small knife used to restore cultural relics, held his breath, and used the sharp tip of the knife to scrape off the raw lacquer bit by bit.Afraid of breaking the lacquer box, he carefully and slowly pried off the lid, and the lacquer box was opened intact.Ren Sihong let out a long breath as if relieved. In this exquisite lacquer box with only black inner walls, there is a small bag wrapped in yellow silk.He Yijing tried it with a soft-bristled brush, and the packet was still solid and not rotten.Ren Sihong took it out with a special clip and gently placed it on a rectangular white enamel tray.He held his breath again, and focused on separating the sticky parts of the yellow silk with clips, and then gently opened it—ah, there was a folded silk book inside.Thankfully, the silk book was not stuck together.This is probably because the sealed lacquer box not only prevents the silk books from being damaged by moisture, but also avoids the suffering of the silk books from being pressed!

Ren Sihong felt his hand trembling slightly, so he let it rest in the air for a moment, trying to control his excitement before the big discovery.He Yijing was obviously better at controlling herself than him, she asked with concern: "Perhaps it would be better for me to uncover it?" Ren Sihong soon lost the opportunity to personally reveal the secrets of the silk script.He took out his handkerchief, wiped the sweat from his forehead, smiled at He Yijing, and declined politely.He found a clean plexiglass plate and put it on the table, then clamped the silk book to the plexiglass plate, and unfolded it step by step according to its original folding order.

"Ah! It really is a star map!" Ren Sihong shouted excitedly. "A star map drawn more than 2,100 years ago!" He Yijing was not without excitement. The ancient star map displayed in front of their eyes, several of its creases have been damaged, and the color of the silk has also turned yellow due to age.But this does not affect its important value in the slightest: this ancient star map is about a thousand years earlier than the world-famous Dunhuang star map; it is much more detailed and exquisite than the star map in the Northern Wei Dynasty tomb in Luoyang; The star map in the Luoyang ancient tomb is even more so.

The place of this ancient star map in the history of astronomy is obvious.But what does it have to do with that inexplicable brass ball?How can we use it to analyze and judge the authenticity of the copper ball unearthed by itself?These questions circled in Ren Sihong's mind. When he was studying in middle school, he and his junior classmates Xu Zhenyu and Yang Fanyi participated in astronomy group activities and mastered some preliminary astronomy knowledge.This knowledge has brought great convenience to his current archaeological work.For the ancient star maps found in field excavations, he can read them with little effort.

However, this ancient star map made him helpless.There are only two star maps on silk, one is the northern sky map, and the other is the equatorial star map, and the equatorial coordinate system is generally used.The stars are marked with ink dots, the big black dots represent bright stars, and the small black dots represent dark stars. There are more than 800 stars in total.There is no connection between the stars.However, when Ren Sihong wanted to identify these stars, he encountered great difficulties.God knows why these stars are different from the ones we see today. Could it be that the starry sky was like this in ancient times?

Although He Yijing didn't know much about star maps, she was very excited in front of this rare star map.She took a copy of "All-day Star Atlas" from the reference room and handed it to Ren Sihong. Ren Sihong took the "All-day Star Atlas" and compared it repeatedly.After a long time, I finally barely recognized the Orion constellation on the star map.Both Betelgeuse and Betelgeuse are offset from their actual positions in this constellation on the ancient star map.Strictly speaking, what he saw on the ancient star map was just an out-of-shape Orion.But for that alone, it's also a terrific gain.

Ren Sihong was very happy and wanted to tell the Provincial Institute of Archeology immediately about this discovery.He hung up the TV call and wanted to go to the curator's office, so he left his seat, hurriedly pushed the door and walked out. "Oh, my archaeologist! What made you so fascinated?" A slender girl with black hair and sagging shoulders cleverly dodged outside the door, avoiding a "collision accident".This girl has a pair of beautiful almond eyes on her duck face, delicate eyebrows, fair skin, and a pair of shallow dimples when she speaks. "Yang Fan, it's you!" Ren Sihong smiled apologetically, "What wind brought you here?" "The Provincial People's Hospital called and asked me to go back first, so I'll tell my mother." "Oh. Is your research project over?" Yang Fan is an attending physician in the Department of Internal Medicine of the Provincial People's Hospital for Pollution Disease Prevention and Control. He is currently studying the impact of the environment on human health.After a well-preserved ancient corpse was unearthed from Han Tomb No. 7 in Xilingxia, she thought it was an excellent opportunity to measure the environmental pollution of the human body in the Han Dynasty, so she came here to participate in the research on the ancient corpse. "My work has been done, but some test results are still pending." Yang Fan looked at Ren Sihong as if asking for help, "I can't wait any longer, I want you to bring me the results back to Chujiang." "There is an ancient star map in Han Tomb No. 7. There are many doubts. I can't do anything except barely recognize the Orion constellation. Xu Zhenyu is an expert in this field. I would like to suggest that the leader second him. He will definitely break through the difficulties." , to find out the ins and outs of this ancient star map." Having said this, Ren Sihong paused on purpose and stared at her, "Do you think so?" Yang Fan didn't know if it was true, but there was a wry smile on the corner of his mouth, and he quickly changed the topic: "Has your lover transferred back?" Now it was Ren Sihong's turn to smile wryly. He made a helpless gesture and said, "Look, my aunt is so old, she hasn't been transferred back yet. I'm young, how can I share this blessing?" He Yijing heard her daughter's voice and hurried out of the room.She held an exquisite tea box and handed it to Yang Fan: "This is your father's favorite 'Yihong', take it home for him."