PHOTO © DENNIS COX/ALAMY
Beneath the Bundles of Silk
UNEARTHING THE WORLD’S MOST WELL-PRESERVED MUMMY Text Kathy Pohopposite. Autopsies revealed that she
was plagued with internal parasites
and massively clogged arteries;
she was also obese, suffered from
gallstones and had a fused spinal disk.
Many of these ailments have
been attributed to Lady Dai’s opulent
lifestyle. Within the burial chamber,
a feast of fine cuisines featuring
unusual fare like lentils, strawberries,
venison, lamb and even owl was also
found – a truly sumptuous spread
when compared to common peasants’When we think of mummies,
the first place that comes to mind is
probably Egypt. But the most well-
preserved mummy in the world was
actually discovered almost 8,000km
away in the Chinese city of Changsha
in Hunan province: a 2,200-year-old
body belonging to a woman known as
Xin Zhui, or Lady Dai. She was the wife
of Li Cang, a feudal lord from the Han
Dynasty (206 BC–220 AD).
Lady Dai’s skin was still soft and
elastic when workers accidentally
unearthed her tomb while digging
an air raid shelter in 1971. Delicate
details like eyelashes and nostril
hair remained intact, while muscles
present allowed her limbs to be flexed.
The state of Lady Dai’s body was so
well-preserved that scientists could
conduct an autopsy as if she were
freshly dead – the blood in her veins
was even identified as Type A.
Despite the corpse’s exceptional
state, Lady Dai’s health while she was
in the mortal realms was quite theRevealeD