![]() Sign up for our newsletter to get the best of VICE delivered to your inbox daily. In any case, it's pretty safe to say the whole "immortality" thing was something of an oversell. Pan Fusheng, an archeologist involved with the site where the 2,000-year-old elixir, believes that “the tomb provides valuable materials for study of the life of Western Han nobles as well as the funeral rituals and customs of the period.” As the elixir was found in a tomb, however, archeologists haven't made final conclusions as to whether it was partially consumed by the man, or simply placed there as a burial ritual. It didn't quite work out for him, unfortunately, as he likely died of mercury poisoning while trying to achieve eternal life. The first emperor of China, Qin Shi Huang, was obsessed with finding a potion for immortality, and commissioned multiple nationwide army expeditions to find an elixir. The history of China is filled with emperors and other important men who sought to live forever, but instead died an untimely death for their ambitions. This elixir is expected to grant eternal life to the person who consumes it. Speaking to Xinhua, Shi added that “the liquid is of significant value for the study of ancient Chinese thoughts on achieving immortality and the evolution of Chinese civilisation.”Īncient Chinese elites were on the constant hunt for such remedies. The elixir of immortality (known also as the ‘elixir of life’) is a legendary substance found in many ancient cultures. Although mentioned extensively in historical Chinese transcripts, this is "the first time that mythical ‘immortality medicines’ have been found in China” according to Shi Jiazhen, head of the Institute of Cultural Relics and Archeology in Luoyang. ![]() Archeologists concluded that the liquid must be an "elixir for immortality" after multiple tests showed that the 3.5-liter concoction contained potassium nitrate and alunite as its primary ingredients-matching a recipe from ancient Taoist texts.
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