50 years after the discovery, the new mysteries

The usual is the casual, the mundane gives rise to the extraordinary. This is not an enigmatic aphorism taken from a chinese fortune cookie; It is simply the path by which archeology makes transcendental discoveries for the history of humanity.

It is not usual that there is professional planning to excavate a certain site. On the contrary, the most common thing is that an almost banal action –shepherds looking for a lost goatworkers laying foundations for a construction – unexpectedly leads to the discovery of a piece of history lost in time.

In the case of the famous terracotta warriors of ancient China, the occasion was the work of some peasant brothers, who They started digging to make a water well.

It was the year 1974 (exactly half a century ago) and, instead of finding the vital element, tripped over pieces of claywhich turned out to be scattered fragments of soldier sculptures.

At the time, no one anticipated that this chance discovery would make up one of the great discoveries of archeologycomparable with famous tombs of Antiquity, such as that of Tutankhamun, the Taj Mahal or the pyramid of Giza itself.

That initial humble scratch in the ground expanded more and more, once Chinese archaeologists took charge of the place, until reaching a huge excavation of 14,000 m2baptized as Trench 1.

6,000 of the 8,000 terracotta warriors known to this day were found there. an immobile army to protect Emperor Qin. But who is this character, who deserved such a display? post mortem?

Qin Shi Huang es an extraordinary figure in Chinese history. For starters, he unified seven rival states, beginning the country as we know it today. In fact, the name “China” is considered to derive from Qin (actually, Qin is the name of one of the seven states, of which Qin was king).

Upon ascending the throne of unified China, in the year 221 BC. C., not only proclaimed himself emperorbut rather he inaugurated the concept: he was the “first emperor” (this is the meaning of Shi Huang).

As such, he initiated a series of radical reforms: a national road system; standardization of currency, weights and measures; unification of the writing system; and another aspect for which China is known worldwide: the Great Wall of China.

As expected, all these exploits have their B side. Qin Shi Huang ruled with an iron fist, which generated discontent among the population. As a sample, The emperor ordered to burn practically all existing books until his inaugurationand is said to have executed almost 500 scholars who disobeyed the order.

According to the Shiji, a historical record written a century after the emperor’s death, in his great mausoleum (which included much more than the terracotta army, as we will see) more than 700 thousand convicts worked.

Group tombs of hundreds of workers who participated in the construction of the mausoleum have been discovered. Farsighted, Qin ordered the start of work on his tomb at just 13 years oldwhen he was not yet emperor.

Construction took more than 38 years, ending abruptly in 208 BC. C., three years after Qin’s death, due to a revolt that overthrew the second emperor and gave way to a new dynasty. The end of the first emperor and his dynasty was abrupt, but, despite everything, his reforms and the unification of the country lasted for centuries to come.

Without a doubt, the Terracotta Army is the most famous thing about Emperor Qin’s mausoleum. Nevertheless its incalculable artistic and cultural valuethis procession occupies a minimal part of the complex, which extends over an area of ​​56 km2.

Although the statues may be familiar to us, there are a good number of wrong beliefs about them. To begin with, we must not imagine that these sculptures guard the emperor at the foot of the tomb. The army was found 1.5 km from where the mound under which the tomb of Emperor Qin is located.

Another erroneous image is that of the army in perfect formation, keeping in line the eternal dream of the monarch. In reality, the sculptures were found destroyed, and the patient work of restorers has put them back on their feet, although only in part: Only 1,200 of the 8,000 terracotta figures have been reconstructed.and the tasks continue to this day.

Scientists are not sure how or why they were destroyed. Apparently, it was an intentional act, perpetrated by members of the new Han dynasty.

Furthermore, today we see them in their dark earthy color, but originally They were painted in bright colors. Unfortunately, upon unearthing, the paint literally fades from the statues in a matter of minutes.

On the other hand, it is often stated that no two faces are the same, but this is half true: there were a dozen molds for faceswhich were then personalized with individual features added by the artists.

In 2014, an international team of archaeologists from China and England analyzed 30 statues and found that “no two ears are strictly the same.”

In addition to the individuality of the figures, another aspect that has baffled scientists is the realism of the sculptures. There has been speculation about a European artistic influence (Greek or, at least, Hellenistic), which has unleashed a series of criticisms of eurocentrismas if Chinese culture had not been capable of creating an artistic work of such magnitude.

A criticism similar to that of those who explain the magnificent works of Antiquity, from the Pyramids to Machu Picchu, as the production of extraterrestrials.

In 2022, Chinese interdisciplinary research, led by Yungang Hu of Beijing University of Civil Engineering and Civil Architecture, used advanced technology on 58 statue faces to compare them with 29 current ethnic groups in China. A high resemblance was found to the Chinese of todayespecially from the north and west, precisely where the warriors of the emperor who unified China came from.

Precision in detail is not limited to facial features alone. In 2023, two researchers from Sichuan University They analyzed a particular terracotta figure: a kneeling archer, showing in detail the sole of his shoes.

Assisted by augmented reality technology, they found that The production technique of these espadrilles was consistent with the so-called “thousand-layer soles.”a traditional method used since long before the time of Emperor Qin. The most notable thing, however, was that, after reconstructing the shoe, they found that it was highly flexible and more resistant to slipping than current espadrilles.

The army’s weapons deserve a separate paragraph. Each soldier is equipped with real and functional weapons, made of bronze. Although a minimal part has reached us – due to early looting and deterioration due to the passage of time – more than 40 thousand weapons have been found, mostly arrowheads, but also spears, swords, halberds, swords and crossbow triggers.

The lavish complex that is the mausoleum of Emperor Qin revolves around his tumulus, an artificial pyramidal structure that originally measured about 115 m high and that today the erosion has reduced to 70 m. Although it was always known that the tomb was located there – it is difficult for a hill of such size to go unnoticed – the grandiose magnitude of the mausoleum was not known until the discovery of the terracotta warriors.

In fact, archaeologists have not reached the emperor’s sarcophagus, due to concerns about how to properly preserve its contents. However, recently it has been possible to precisely locate the location of the burial chamber using non-invasive scientific methodssuch as georadar and gravimetry. It was thus learned that the central chamber containing the coffin measures 80 m long by 50 m wide, with a height of 15 m.

The mound is the main part of an extensive area with a double wall (the outer one originally with an extraordinary thickness of 10 meters). The entire complex is structured as a “miniature” palace to accompany the emperor in the Afterlife, with its stables (including hundreds of sacrificed horses), chariots, fortresses, buildings for rituals, tombs of concubines and members of the court and even an imperial zoowith the mortal remains of numerous exotic animals.

One example is enough to represent both the magnitude and the unknowns that the mausoleum holds. A grave was found containing 87 suits of armor and helmets made of stone plates joined by bronze threads. Due to its weight, it is known that They were not functional but probably ritualbut their exact function and why they are made of stone and not another material, such as clay, are unknown.

For more than 2,200 years, the terracotta army has faithfully guarded its emperor, perpetually firm and immobile. What has not remained motionless is our perception of this majestic work of humanity. At the time it was a display of the emperor’s power, and at the time of its rediscovery it was considered one of the great artistic achievements of civilization.

In the 50 years that passed since they returned from oblivion, and with the knowledge that various scientific studies have acquired, it became something more. It is also the testimony of an entire worldview, in which our world was conceived as a mirror of the afterlife. It is evidence of the harsh living conditions of the common people and of a complex and novel state organization that would last for more than two millennia.

Surely it is still more than all that, just time and the patient archaeological work You will be able to say it: the silent terracotta warriors still hide numerous enigmas that await answers.