Terra Cotta Army

The Terra Cotta Army (兵马俑) is the greatest Archeological discovery of the 20th century. It is located near Xi'an, the ancient Chinese capital, also the capital of Qin Dynasty.[1]

The characters stand for:

• 兵-Soldier
• 马-Horse
• 俑-Wooden Figure

Terra Cotta Warrior head by Rachel Lara Davis.

How the discovery was made

In China in the 1970's, one of the greatest discoveries of all time came about. In 1974, the province of Shaanxi (China) farmers were digging in the ground for water wells. Unfortunately not finding much success with water, farmers stumbled on something a little more solid then water.

When the terra cotta head of a warrior turned up in Shaanxi Province as some peasants were digging a well, no one knew the discovery would be treated any differently than that of other local fragments of pottery figures, which had, at best, merely been stored away at the nearby center for cultural affairs. This time, though, a report connecting the head with the first emperor's mausoleum, about three-quarters of a mile away, surfaced just as Mao Zedong was launching an anti-Confucian campaign to rid China of what he deemed vestiges of feudalism. His campaign also promoted the example of the first emperor, who had established a centralized state that allegedly had burned books and buried Confucian scholars alive. Mao had long compared himself with the first emperor. Reportedly realizing the potential for political propaganda, Jiang Qing, Mao's wife, instructed archaeologists to look into the find, and, as they say, the rest is history.

photo by Bill Peterson

The Terra Cotta Army was discovered in 1976, the province of Shaanxi (China) farmers were digging in the ground for water wells.--Bpete49 17:51, 14 January 2013 (UTC)

The army of terra cotta warriors was found distributed within three clustered pits. Thus far, about a thousand warriors have been excavated, and it is estimated that there are another six thousand yet to be recovered. These life-size figures represent the army of the Qin, who united all of China by 221 B.C., and they are displayed in the pits in battle formation. There are officers, chariots, cavalrymen and infantrymen, the latter depicted with and without armor and originally armed with crossbows or long-handled weapons. They had held real weapons, most of which were removed from the underground pits before wooden supports were set on fire at the dynasty's end, causing the structure to collapse.

Archaeologists were dispatched and digging started. What they found startled and amazed the world. They had discovereed the resting place of Qin Shi Huangdi, the legendary First Emperor of China. Lost for thousands of years and now held as fable and rumor, the tomb had been found.

Statues were discovered in the ground by Midwest.

Who were the Terra Cotta Warriors

During the Qin Dynasty in China from 259 BC to 210 BC the First Emperor of China named Qin Shi Huangdi ruled the greater part of China. Qin Shi Huangdi became emperor at a young age, and as soon as he was in power he commanded the construction of his tomb. Unfortunately the construction of his tomb was one of the biggest most demanding constructions of all time and required an outrageous amount of man-power to construct.

Unfortunately, many lives were taken in the construction of his tomb. The Emperor believed that when he died he was crossing over to the after life, and therefore needed to be prepared with all the required needs to continue his journey. Aside from all his lavished goods he needed an army to protect him, but because he couldn't actually take the lives of his soldiers to the grave because if he indeed did do that, he would have no one to finish constructing his tomb.

Recent digs have revealed that in addition to the clay soldiers, Qin Shi Huangdi's underground realm, presumably a facsimile of the court that surrounded him during his lifetime, is also populated by delightfully realistic waterfowl, crafted from bronze and serenaded by terra cotta musicians. The emperor's clay retinue includes terra cotta officials and even troupes of acrobats, slightly smaller than the soldiers but created with the same methods.

"We find the underground pits are an imitation of the real organization in the Qin dynasty," says Duan Qingbo, head of the excavation team at the Shaanxi Provincial Research Institute for Archaeology. "People thought when the emperor died, he took just a lot of pottery army soldiers with him. Now they realize he took a whole political system with him." (Smithsonian.com)

What the emperor did was he created an army of clay. Every clay soldier was constructed in exactness, complete with clothes, armor, hair, real life weapons and even facial expressions. Every soldier even had a different face. The artizans used molds for the various body parts and assembled them. Then they were individualized by the finish coats, facial features, dress and weapons were finished to represent every individual in the Emperor's army. Every one different from the others. Then they found even more, animals, acrobats, priests, concubines, servants, everyone in the court had been populated in terra cotta for the Emperor's service and comfort in the after life. Arranged row after row as they would have been in real life court.Bill P (talk) 18:38, 27 February 2013 (CET)

The Qin Terracotta Warriors were molded by adopting the realistic methods of expression. Therefore, the armors wore by them should be the most common styles in the Qin Dynasty, and Qin soldiers probably wore this kind of dress to fight.

Qin Officer's Dressing In the Qin Dynasty, the ranks of officers can be recognized by their dressings. The terracotta general wears a dual long jacket, a dark purple crest hat, a long pant, a thigh protector, a pair of boots with square opening tipping and uniform head, and covered with a colorful armor, looking grand and awe-inspiring.

The middle-level officer has two kinds of dressing. The first kind includes a long jacket, a thigh protector, a boots with square opening tipping head, chest plate trimmed with colorful lace and a double long hat. The second kind includes a high collar gown clasped on the right side, a thigh protector, a boots with square opening tipping head and covered a piece of armor with smooth edge and colorful lace. The junior officer wears a long jacket, a piece of armor, a long hat, a pair of shallow shoes and a thigh protector. Also there are a few junior officers do not wear armors. They fight in light equipment.--Bill P (talk) 22:38, 12 April 2013 (CEST)

Qin Soldier's Dressing The heavy infantries of the Qin terracotta warriors have three kinds of dressing. The first kind includes a long jacket, a pair of shorts, and a pair of shallow shoes, and combed a tight roll of hair at the right side of the head, assembled with leggings and has armor on the back. The second kind is similar to the first one except the soldiers have a red handkerchief on the head. The third kind of soldier's dressing is same to the second one, but the soldiers belong to this group combs flat bobs on the back of the heads instead of wearing handkerchiefs.

The cavalries wear Hu dress ("Hu" refers to the northern minorities living in the northwestern part of ancient China, unlike the loose clothes wore by the people living in the central China, Hu dress is tight which is easy for horse racing and archery), waist-length armors and round small hats. They hold the bow and arrow in one hand, with the reins in the other hand. The drivers of chariots dress in two ways. Some wear long jackets, armors, long hats, shallow shoes and armed with leggings. The other kind of dressing provides strict protection to the body which is reflected in the square plates protecting the neck, and the plates cover the two arms to connect with hand guards.--Bill P (talk) 22:39, 12 April 2013 (CEST)

Goose Bill P picture

What was discovered

What archeologists considered to perhaps be an average discovery, turned out to be a very large scale discovery. More and more soldiers were being dug out, it didn't seem to end. What is interesting is that not only were soldiers being uncovered, but horses and chariots were also found.

In addition, these soldiers were not just found at random but rather they were found in a precise order. The soldiers were found according to military rank and file. Many weapons were found alongside each soldier in which were kept in excellent condition rust-free. The weapons were rust-free due to the chromium oxide technique that they used with their metals.

Terra Cotta Warriors spear and a sword by Imelda.

Here is list of some of that weapons that were found:

swords, spears, battle-axe, scimitars, shields, crossbows, arrowheads, hoes, bows, knives

Sword: Jian in Chinese. The sword is the king of short weapons. In fighting, the sword is used to stab the enemy. The over 20 pieces of bronze swords unearthed in Pit 1 and Pit 2 are smooth and sharp in the color of yellow gray. The body parts were finely filed and polished, making the swords as bright as new. Comparatively, Qin swords were molded longer than the ones in other states. It is because the longer the sword is, the easier it is to stab the enemy.

But the bronze swords unearthed in the Qin terracotta warriors pit were not the best precious swords in the Qin Dynasty. The bronze sword hung on the officer warrior in the bronze chariot measures 60 cm, but if enlarged to the actual size, it measures as long as 120 cm, not to mention the length of the precious sword wore by the Emperor Qin Shi Huang.

Bronze Shield Head of Bronze Halberd Spear: Mao in Chinese. The bronze spears unearthed in the Terra Cotta Pits are sharp and exquisite. Unlike the bronze spears of the Wu and Yue States which have gorgeous decoration, Qin spears focus on actual combat performance, which reflect on the spears' simple and fluent lines, strong body, wide and flat shape as well as on its sharp blade.

Crossbow: Nu in Chinese. Compared to the bow, the crossbow takes more tension and has a long effective range. It was used to shoot at long-range targets. Qin Crossbows had a standard shape and structure. The bow back, bow belly, upper and lower bow-limb of different crossbows were created to the same standard. The Qin bronze mechanical devices on the bows were so standardized that even the small components were interchangeable.

Arrowhead: Jiancu in Chinese. It is used with the crossbow. There were 40,000 arrowheads unearthed in the terra cotta pits, including two iron arrowheads. The bronze heads are prismatic and made up of head, shaft and vane.

Dagger-Axe: Known as Ge in Chinese, the dagger-axe is a pointed weapon commonly used in combat during the Shang and Zhou Dynasties. It has long styles and short styles which are divided by the length of the handle. There was only one dagger-axe unearthed in Pit 1, which means that the importance of Ge was not as significant during the Qin Dynasty as in the Shang and Zhou Dynasties.

Other weaponry discovered in the Terra Cotta Pits include Pi which look like short swords, and Shu which are cylindrically shaped and used only in ceremonies.--Bill P (talk) 22:35, 12 April 2013 (CEST)

Victory or defeat on a battlefield depends on a well-organized military formation together with a well thought out strategy. Ancient military strategists advocated an agile vanguard preceding a formidable main echelon, which consists of chariots, infantrymen and cavalrymen. The formation was adaptable to changing conditions on the field.

The terra cotta warriors armed with different weapons played supportive roles in a variety of scenarios so that the combined strength of the army was brought into full play. The soldiers are divided into infantry armed with swords and spears, archers, crossbow archers, cavalry, chariot drivers and officers. Among the infantrymen there are some with armor and others without. Chariots are respectively designed for commanders, aide officers as well as for a squad of three or four soldiers. In the Art of War, it illustrates that more horses rather than chariots should be used when the battle is going to be a difficult one and vice versa. When the danger is at its greatest archers should be deployed.

Excavations indicate that the cavalry functioned as an independent force in battle, with chariots playing a vital strategic role. It oppugned the opinion that use of chariots in battle had ceased with the end of the Warring States Period. During the Battle of Changping between the Qin and Zhao states in 260 BC, this well-designed military disposition enabled the Qin defeat the enemy troops and thereby slaughtered 400,000 Zhao soldiers.--Bill P (talk) 22:33, 12 April 2013 (CEST)

The Terra Cotta Army Pits

The figures were originally constructed using molds to create their legs, arms, hands and heads, which were solid, while their torsos were modeled as if they were urns. Once the parts were assembled, a layer of fine clay was applied and details were added. The facial features include a variety of noses, ears and facial hair to individualize each figure. The hairstyles are particularly well articulated, almost down to each strand. The attention paid to this feature suggests that hairstyling may have been believed to ward off evil. The figures were then fired in a kiln at a relatively low temperature, 950 to 1,050 degrees centigrade, which is typical for terra cotta. Finally, the figures were covered with a coating of lacquer mixed with colors. The final effect must have been quite startling. Some of the colors have survived — enough to indicate what they were originally.

The State Council authorized to build a museum on site in 1975. When completed, people from far and near came to visit. The Museum of Qin Terra Cotta Warriors and Horses have become landmarks on all visitors' itinerary.

The museum covers an area of 16,300 square meters, divided into three sections: No. 1 Pit, No. 2 Pit, and No. 3 Pit respectively. They were tagged in the order of their discoveries. No. 1 Pit is the largest, first opened to the public on China's National Day, 1979. There are columns of soldiers at the front, followed by war chariots at the back.

photo by Bill Peterson

Archaeologists have found the remains of an ancient imperial palace near the tomb of emperor Qin Shi Huang, home of the famous terracotta army. The palace is the largest complex discovered so far in the emperor's sprawling 22 square-mile (56 square-km) second-century BC mausoleum, which lies on the outskirts of Xi'an, an ancient capital city in central China, an associate researcher at the Shaanxi provincial institute of archaeology told China's official news wire Xinhua.

It is an estimated 690 metres long and 250 metres wide – about a quarter of the size of the Forbidden City in Beijing – and includes 18 courtyard-style houses with one main building at the centre, according to the researcher, Sun Weigang.

Sun called the palace a clear predecessor to the Forbidden City, which was occupied by emperors during the later Ming and Qing dynasties. Both were built on north-south axes in keeping with traditional Chinese cosmology.Despite wars soon after Qin Shi Huang's death – and more than 2,000 years of exposure – the foundations are well preserved. Archaeologists have found walls, gates, stone roads, pottery sherds and some brickwork, according to Xinhua.

They have been excavating the foundations since 2010. Qin's tomb is guarded by an estimated 6,000 life-sized terracotta warriors, including remarkably well-preserved cavalrymen, chariots and horses, each one unique.--Bill P 16:10, 18 January 2013 (UTC)

As archaeologists continued excavating the soldiers they understood that the soldiers were located in pits. The current number of pits that are excavated at this time are four main pits. The pits are 7 meters deep and 62 meters wide. Each pit contained different items. Life size terracotta figures of warriors and horses arranged in battle formations are the star features at the museum. They are replicas of what the imperial guard should look like in those days of pomp and vigor.

Pit number 1

There are more then 6000 thousand soldiers that lie there, many are and were found broken to pieces. Many soldiers await repair. Unfortunately the man power and the time to put back together a Terra Cotta Warrior is very time consuming, it is like putting together a massive puzzle.

Pit 1 is located 1.5 Km away from the emperors burial ground. It is on the East side of the tomb which is a location that would block an attack. According to scholars and archaeologists if there is an army on the East side of the tomb, it is likely that there is also a tomb on the West side and possibly all around the tomb. However, this is just a theory and many argue that because that amount of construction was too much work to complete, the emperor was not likely able to complete that much construction in addition to his palace.

Pit number 2

Bill P picture

In pit number two, a big bulk of infantry soldiers were found. The soldiers were found in a singled file position. Also Cavalry and war chariots were found. The chariots had full battle regalia including horses and all tack associated with horses and chariots. The tack was real made of leather and wood which was significantly deteriorated from the time spent in the ground. When the soldiers were dug out of the ground they were colored, but as the soldiers were exposed to the air, the painted started deteriorating. Archaeologist initially were unable to preserve the original paint from the soldiers. Keeping and understanding the colors of the soldiers was important because this gave archaeologist a better understanding of what was used for paint and most importantly what the soldier actually looked like.

Mounted warriors Bill P picture

Pit number 3

Pit number three was an important pit because it was the location of a command post. The command post was a key part in the organization and strategy of the army. In addition to pit three, there was a great number high ranking officers, as well as war chariots.

Pit number 4

In pit number four there was nothing found. Because of this, scholars and archaeologist have the impression that the emperor was unable to complete his army.

How they were made

The construction of the Terra Cotta Warriors is an interesting method that can date back to modern China. Because there were so many soldiers required for the protection of the emperor but not enough actual human lives to facilitate his army and the workers that were needed to build his palace, he couldn't use actual lives to take to the grave with him. So he had to create large human soldier replicas made out of clay. In order to create a large amount of soldiers, a production line method was required to get the job done in time. The soldiers were made separately in parts; the arms, legs, mid-body and head went through an assembly line where they were put together. The most interesting part as mentioned before was that of the making of the soldiers, each had a different face. The faces and dressing were added after assembly. Each one different from the rest to represent each member of the army individually. This same technique was also used to construct the rest of the retinue for the Emperor. This facilitated the building of the court and protectors in a timely manner not hundreds of years. It still took a very long time to assemble, finish, and paint each figure and position in their exact place within the pits.

Experts have confirmed that the material used to mold the terracotta warriors and horses is a "yellow earth" sourced from around the mausoleum. The yellow earth is easy to obtain, and is proved to be an appropriate material due to its adhesive quality and plasticity. The earth underwent screening and grinding to remove impurities and to ensure it was fine and pure. Moreover, a certain amount of white grit which contained quartz sand, mica and feldspar was added. Adding grit to the earth strengthened its mechanical properties which allowed the large terracotta warriors and horses to be easily shaped.

Figure Creation Experts have reconstructed the techniques for making the warriors by repeatedly observing, comparing and researching the figures during their sorting out and preparatory work.

The Making of Terracotta Warrior's Head: the shaping of the head is generally acknowledged to be the most difficult, and the procedure was very complicated. First, artisans molded an inner core roughly in head shape, and then applied several layers of mud to get different facial shapes. Finally by kneading, carving, scraping and pasting, artisans successively drew eyebrows, eyes, noses, mouths, ears, hair buns and hat decorations for the heads of terracotta warriors. They drew each figure with a distinctive face, and experts have confirmed that these facial features were reproductions of individual Qin warriors.

The Making of Terracotta Warrior's Body: Artisans used mud to make a rough cast which was molded from bottom to top in sections. First they made the foot plate which was molded in a square pattern; the feet were the next and above which were connected the two legs and short pants. In order to represent muscles and bones to make the legs more lifelike, artisans would do some detailed repair. The way to make short pants was to carve a circle with a cord pattern above which were pasted prefabricated pieces of mud to mould as pant leg. Next was the hollow torso. It was made by winding strips of clay upwards. In order to make the clay strips tight and strong, artisans would put sackcloth inside as underlay and this was pounded from outside until they got a satisfactory shape and size. After the torso had been dried in the shade, artisans attached the hollow arms. The straight arm was built by adopting the clay-strip forming technique. Divided by the elbow, the bent arm was made in separate pieces and then glued together. The warrior's hand was inserted and pasted onto the arm.

Firing The figures of the terracotta warriors and horses were fired in kilns. In order to be well ventilated, the Qin artisans left holes in the figures in appropriate position. For example, in the terracotta horse's belly, there were two holes through which flames could evenly enter the horse's body cavity. During the firing, artisans paid special attention to the degree of heating which was maintained around 1,000 C (1,830 F). Moreover, experts did many experiments and found that the figures were put head over heels during firing. This was because the upper part of the figure was heavier than the lower part. It was comparatively more stable to put the figures upside down, which shows that Chinese workers had mastered the centre-of-gravity rule as early as two thousand years ago.

Glazing and Coloring The Qin terracotta warriors we see today are steel grey without fresh colors. But archaeological investigations have found that this was not the original color of the mighty force. In the April of 1999, there were astonishingly unearthed six kneeling armored warriors whose bodies retained large sections of colorful painting, which demonstrated that the Qin's artisans had elaborately painted the terracotta warriors and horses after firing, to make this majestic army more lifelike.

Experts have found that the ways used to paint these six warriors were different. For some, one or two layers of raw lacquer were applied on certain parts, and for the others, they first painted a layer of raw lacquer, and added one or two layers of pigment above the raw lacquer. The figures were gaily colored. The hair buns were reddish brown, faces were pink, hands were dark red or white, legs were pinkish green or dark red and they wore pinkish green robes and reddish brown shoes.--Bill P (talk) 22:46, 12 April 2013 (CEST)

During the excavation and repair work on the terracotta warrior figures, experts discovered many names carved or printed on the bodies of these figures. So far 87 different names have been recognized. They were found hidden in such places as the hips or under the arms of the terracotta warrior statues. Further research has shown that these 87 people were the master craftsmen, and that these craftsmen had assistants of their own. All in all, it is estimated that about a thousand people participated in the making of the terracotta warriors.

Where were these artisans from? The Qin Government recruited countless skilled artisans from all parts of the country. They not only came from Shaanxi, where the warriors were discovered, but also from today's Henan, Hubei, Shandong and Shanxi Provinces. Some artisans worked for the central government, but others were ordinary people. If you look carefully, you will see that the figures created by the artisans from the central government look dignified and majestic. On the other hand, the figures carved by the folk artisans look lively and fresh, which is greatly related to their life experience and living environment. Also, the technical skill level is reflected in the appearance of the warrior figures. Generally speaking, the artistic skill of the artisans from the central government is higher than that of the folk ones.--Bill P (talk) 22:46, 12 April 2013 (CEST)

In addition to the terra-cotta figures are many animals, geese, birds, small animals and horses made out of bronze. These figures are finely crafted with minute and exacting details. Many other artifacts are also contained in the digs including tools, dishes and personal items for the figures found there. It seems that the Emperor had his entire court recreated, not just the army.Bill P (talk) 19:06, 27 February 2013 (CET)

Why the need of an army for protection

According to ancient Chinese historian Sima Qian the Terra Cotta Army is guarding the Qin Shihuangdi's tomb. The Army is positioned on the east side of the tomb, and according to records that is one of the entrances to the emperors tomb. The emperors tomb was not so much a tomb, it was more like an extravagant palace with the necessities that one would need to live and survive. It is said there are unknown luxurious treasures buried, also there are rivers at lakes composed of Mercury. To protect all these treasures and the emperor himself, the tomb has all sorts of booby traps set up to prevent deter robbers. To this day the actual contents of the tomb-palace are unknown, archaeologists have taken samples and discover sample deposits of Mercury. The discovery of Mercury gives backup support to what Si Ma Qian wrote about, therefore many believe more in the records of the emperors tomb.

No entrance into the actual tomb has been planned yet as efforts to preserve and protect the artifacts and workers have only been begun. While no-one knows what dangers may lie hidden in the tomb, protection must be made before entrance is begun. What is known is that tomb robbers were aware of the location of this massive structure and some of the damage to the warriors outside the tomb is documented to them. Whether or not they actually gained entrance to the tomb itself is unknown. The whole area was intentionally flooded to prevent robbers access several years after completion of the complex and water and silt covered the area until no markers were left uncovered. It became lost to the world for thousands of years.

When the figures were uncovered they were brightly painted and detailed, however the hot dry air of the region caused immediate damage. Paint began curling and flaking off in just a few minutes, leaving them all a mottled brown color. Preservation had to be done as quickly as possible to save these precious artifacts. Moisture and temperature controlled structures had to be build to keep the damage to a minimum. Special handling procedures instituted to protect the figures from harm during the unearthing process. This took a long time and great expense to put into place but the results were spectacular.(Terracottawarriors.com)Bill P (talk) 18:38, 27 February 2013 (CET)

Qin Shihuangdi's Mausoleum by JennBerg.

Terra Cotta Army, photo by Bernt Rosard, cc licence, Flickr.com.

References: Xian Terra Cotta Warriors and Horses Museum, Discovery Times Square, Smithsonianmag.com, Travelchinaguide.com, Terracottawarriors.com

References

[1] ...

• Ebrey, Patrica Buckley. The Cambridge Illustrated History of China. New York, Cambridge University Press, 2010 2d ed
• Discovery Times Square
• Smithsonianmag.com
• Travelchinaguide.com
• Terracottawarriors.com

Classroom Presentations

• Powerpoint presentation by Chris Ch. File:Terracotta.ppt
• Powerpoint presentation by Bill P. in 3 parts
  • Media:Terra_Cotta_Warriors_Bill_P_part_1.pptx
  • Media:Terra_Cotta_Warriors_Bill_P_part_2.pptx
  • Media:Terra_Cotta_Warriors_Bill_P_part_3.pptx