Chapter 319 The Second Golden Cup

"Do you have any photos of the lost items?" Lin You asked calmly.

"Yes." As the person in charge of the handover, McCoff was fully prepared. "Every collection will be photographed and archived before it is put into storage. This is the photo of the gold cup entering the storage, and there is also information about when it was unearthed."

The photo shows a tall golden cup with gorgeous carvings and inlaid with various gemstones. The outer wall of the cup is engraved with a circle of olive leaves, which is the favorite pattern of the ancient Greeks; near the mouth of the cup is a circle of fine purple gems, in the middle are three purple crystals of the same size, each one inch apart; at the bottom near the foot of the cup is a circle of obsidian.

The overall look was "glittering with gold" and "full of jewels", full of the luxurious and magnificent style of the Golden Age of Ancient Greece. But the more Lin You looked at it, the more he frowned.

The outer shape of this gold cup is too regular and smooth. It doesn't look like a product from BC at all. It looks more like something polished by modern industrial machines.

As we all know, gold is relatively soft, and the easiest way for the ancients to detect the authenticity of gold was to bite it with their teeth. If it is a gold cup made before the Common Era, not to mention the heavy pressure it has been buried for thousands of years, even if it is just held in the hand for a long time, the cup body will be visibly deformed.

However, the rim of the gold cup in the photo is smooth and round, and from a bird's-eye view it is an extremely regular circle. At the same time, there is no trace of use or squeezing on the outer wall of the cup.

It looks like it just came off the assembly line of a metal processing factory.

“Are you sure this is a real photo of the lost item?”

"I'm not sure, but this is the document the museum gave me; here is also specific information about the gold cup, including archaeological projects and records of its excavation." McCoff always speaks cautiously, and it is almost impossible to hear any words from him that could lead to misleading.

Lin You took it and looked through it carefully. McCof stood quietly by the side, without any sign of anxiety, like a human pillar.

At the very beginning of the information is the inspection data of the gold cup when it was put into storage; it seems that archaeologists and museums also have the same doubts about the authenticity of the gold cup, so they conducted extremely detailed inspections when it was collected and stored - including material texture, processing marks, etc.

Certain words used in the records also reflect the extremely doubtful mentality of the inspectors when facing the gold cup: "There are no traces of processing left behind", "No traces of traditional techniques such as cutting and polishing can be found at all", "No stress changes caused by uneven temperature were detected", "It is definitely made of gold, but it seems to have been directly formed without smelting."

There were two sentences at the end of the test report, two big exclamation marks, and a bigger question mark.

"This shouldn't be the manufacturing level before BC!"

“Even modern industry finds it difficult to do this!”

Looking at these words, Lin You could imagine the mentality of the inspectors who were almost devastated. But why was such a "miracle" thing unknown and locked in the museum's warehouse without seeing the light of day?
Logically speaking, don't Western media like to chase after gimmicks like "the mystery of so-and-so" or "the miracle of so-and-so"? Such an unreasonable gold cup should have caused a sensation in public opinion since the day it was unearthed; what was the reason for the news of it to be hidden from the public?

Turning the page further, Lin You read about the archaeological excavation of the gold cup. The first paragraph made his eyelids twitch and even his facial expression became ferocious.

The investor and organizer of the archaeological project is the same person: Sir Patrick Morgan.

"Fuck!" Lin You cursed softly, his voice was not loud, and almost no one around him heard it. The only one who might have heard it, McCoff, pretended not to hear it. Continuing to flip down, the entire archaeological project record was "written" in an orderly manner, with rich details and meticulousness; people can fully trust it at a glance.

This is a long-term archaeological project in cooperation with the Greek government on islands near the confluence of the Gulf of Corinth and the Ionian Sea; the archaeological site also covers the entire Kephallonia Archipelago, aiming to discover various local remains of ancient Greek civilization.

The gold cup was unearthed on one of the deserted islands; along with the gold cup, the remains of an entire village were unearthed, and the gold cup was found in the largest manor in the ruins. According to records, various scattered and indistinguishable biological bones and a part of human bones were also unearthed in the manor ruins.

A large number of metal and ceramic vessels were unearthed at the same location as the gold cup. After testing, it was found that the functions of these vessels were very similar to modern chemical experimental tools. In addition, many residual carbonized plant tissues were also detected in the vessels.

Therefore, the archaeological team speculated that the owner of the manor was an ancient Greek alchemist who lived between the second and first centuries BC. And judging from the inscriptions on the wax tablets, inscriptions and metal ornaments discovered, the owner's name might be "Helben" or "Helb".

Seeing this, Lin You laughed out of anger.

What a good idea!

A real archaeological project, a detailed record, and a few ambiguous speculations by archaeological experts have resulted in a major archaeological discovery that may cause a sensation in the wizarding world.

Even better, this archaeological discovery was made by Muggles; the more puzzled the Muggle archaeologists were, the more excited the wizards were.

There is no trace of processing, and even modern industrial technology is difficult to produce a perfect gold cup? Of course it was made by magic or alchemy, you ignorant Muggles don't know shit!
A lot of scattered and difficult to distinguish animal bones? Those are magical creatures, maybe even modified magical creatures. How can you Muggles tell them apart?
There are also many metal utensils used for alchemy? That's normal! That's Helpo who invented the "Horcrux" - the famous "Despicable Helpo"!
Given the common sense of superiority among wizards when facing Muggles, any wizard would be confused if you let him see this record, let alone Voldemort.

This is the history of the wizarding world. It's normal that you Muggles don't understand it.

No wonder the wizarding world still doesn't know Herpo's final whereabouts. It turns out that he hid on a remote island and mingled with Muggles.

With this mentality, many wizards naturally let down their guard and naturally reduced their doubts about relevant archaeological results.

This record was created for wizards to see; it can only be said that the person who created this archaeological record not only knows how to forge, but also knows how to control people's hearts.

Turning to the end of the record, the last entry in the archaeological record ended on August 1914, 8; this project was not completed normally, but was forced to stop due to the outbreak of World War I.

Some of the archaeological discoveries were transferred to London, England, but the remaining parts that were difficult to transport and the local architectural ruins were mostly destroyed in the subsequent war...

Of course, in a world war like that, everything had to give way to the war, so it was reasonable that the news of the Gold Cup was forgotten.

"Well done, Sir Patrick Morgan." Lin You sighed inwardly, "It seems that you have done a lot of great things in the past timeline. Moreover, you really found the loopholes in the writer's subconscious."

(End of this chapter)