Ancient Korean Mummies Named “Another Romeo & Juliet”
In the late 1300s, the inhabitants of what is now South Korea developed a new burial process for their loved ones – a method that, instead of allowing the body to decay naturally, in many cases resulted in an excellent natural mummification! Unfortunately, preservation of the bodies was the one thing these people did not want.
The people of the area believed that the body should decompose naturally, without the interference of outside factors – this included things like worms or other animals and parasites. In an attempt to maintain this natural decomposition, the body of the deceased would be laid on ice for 3 to 30 days during the mourning period, and then placed inside a double pine coffin, surrounded by his or her clothes. The coffin would then be covered in a mixture of lime soil.
However, instead of decaying, the bodies ended up being preserved – and, since no one expected that there might be mummies in South Korea, the mummies were not discovered until the summer of 2007, when construction work in the country began to increase, forcing the relocation of many cemeteries. In some cases, the burial practice led to an even better preservation of DNA than ancient Egyptian artificial mummification processes, since the absence of chemicals in the preservation process took less of a toll on the body!
The 500-year-old body of a child actually still holds samples of the virus responsible for hepatitis B, which could help modern scientists to determine if the virus has changed or mutated over the past 500 years – perhaps leading toward clues for treating the modern-day strain.
The most intriguing burial was that of a nobleman who seemed to have fallen out of favor with the area’s rulers. Inside the grave was a poem written by his wife, dating to around the same time as Shakespeare would have been writing his famous play, Romeo and Juliet – and oddly enough, the poem bears a striking resemblance what is found within the bard’s famous tragedy:
You always said we would be living together, to die in the same day
However, why did you go to the heaven alone?
Why did you go alone leaving me and our child behind?
…
I cannot live without you anymore.
I hope I could be with you.
Please let me go with you.
My love to you, it is unforgettable in this world,
And my sorrow, it is without end.
…
According to local records, the man was 32-years-old, and was the second son of the clan’s senior member, who was actually involved in a revolt against the country’s emperor. Although the lines from this poem were only a part of the entire document, a total of 13 letters, as well as slippers that had been woven from his wife’s hair, were found inside the coffin with his mummified body. It is unknown what happened to his wife after her husband’s death, however it is likely that she would have fled the area to avoid retribution from the Emperor and for the sake of her child.
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