Warriors of Clay

One of the greatest archaeological discoveries of the 20th century was product of pure chance. In 1924 a group of Chinese peasants digging a well earthed the shards of a terra-cotta statue of a human figure that was later found to be 2,200 years old. That find outside the city of Xian, capital of China’s northwest Shaanxi province, kicked off a process of recovery that is still under way: to date, more than 8000 life-size figures of both warriors and horses have been recovered from the site, and more figures are recovered and reconstructed each year. Scientists believe there may be hundreds, even thousands, more works to be unearthed. No two of them are alike, leading scholars to believe the statues were modeled after real individuals. The vast array in clay is believed to have been created to honor the life of Qin Shi Huangdi, the first Emperor of China, who reigned in the second century BC it has generally been thought to constitute a martial honor guard for the Emperor’s nearby mausoleum, which has yet to be excavated. Even as new figures are unearthed, we are learning more about this magnificent terra cotta display, In 2 from Beijing Chinese Academy of Sciences revealed that they believe the warriors and horses were constructed in different locations. The evidence: their constructed in different contained in analysis of the remains of vegetable pollens revealed the clay. Matching the pollens to local vegetation while that the horses were fabricated near the site in Xian, not the human figures were created at other sites in China yet identified. The horses, which are more than 6 ft. long and weigh some 440 lbs., rest upon fragile legs, the scientists said, perhaps mandating their construction onsite to prevent accidents during transport. Meanwhile, some scientists are rethinking the nature of the figures themselves: in April 2009, Liu Jiusheng, an associate professor of history at Shaanxi Normal University posited that the statues do not represent an army. Rather, he said, they depict imperial court officials and servants. Ancient Chinese traditions and value systems, he argued, would never allow for warriors of humble origin to be placed in such close proximity to the Emperor.