Tomato, commonly known as tomato, is one of the most popular vegetables and is widely grown in all parts of our country. Regarding the time of planting tomatoes in our country, it has been believed for many years that it came from the Americas in the early 18th century. At that time, it was called "tomato" and it was only for ornamental purposes. It was not cultivated as a vegetable until after the mid-19th century.
In July 1983, after archaeologists excavated and cleaned up a wooden coffin tomb in the early years of Emperor Wu of the Western Han Dynasty in Fenghuang Mountain outside the North Gate of Chengdu, Sichuan, they questioned the views that have been circulating for many years. In the lower compartment of the tomb's coffin, archaeologists have cleared out four rattan huts and five bamboo huts, all of which contain a large amount of grain seeds. Because it was summer at that time, in order to prevent the rattan and bamboo from drying out and cracking during transportation, a wet recycled cloth was covered on it. Afterwards, many buds grew out of the grains on the rattan and bamboo huts, which were identified by relevant experts as tomato seedlings. The seedlings were cultivated, and by February 1984, many red tomatoes were produced. This is a tomato from the Western Han Dynasty!
In other words, our country has grown tomatoes in the Western Han Dynasty. These tomatoes are oval in shape, extremely cold tolerant and have a long growing season that can be grown all year round. Its taste is similar to today's tomatoes, both sweet and sour. However, according to the proton excitation X-ray measurement, today's tomatoes contain phosphorus and chlorine without arsenic and mercury, while tomatoes in the Western Han Dynasty contain arsenic and mercury without phosphorus and chlorine, which are highly primitive.
After the discovery of tomatoes in the Western Han Dynasty, many people were skeptical and raised various questions. For example, were these tomato species brought in by descendants of tomb robbers? Could it have been mixed in during excavation or transportation? Why are the peach, chestnut, rice and other seeds found in the same tomb all carbonized, but this thin tomato seed can be preserved for more than 2,000 years and still be intact? If these problems cannot be solved, it is difficult to convince the statement that there were tomatoes in the Western Han Dynasty.
