Terracotta warriors of Qin Dynasty

essential information

historical background

Human sacrifice is a cruel and barbaric funeral system that sprouted with the collapse of the original public ownership and prevailed with the establishment of slavery. The most prosperous period of human sacrifice was the Shang Dynasty. There were martyrs in the noble tombs of the Shang Dynasty. More than 5000 people have been killed and killed in more than ten tombs excavated in the Yin Ruins of Anyang.

The Zhou Dynasty drew lessons from the tyranny of the Shang Dynasty and emphasized "protecting the people by virtue". The birth and implementation of Zhou rites restrained the phenomenon of human sacrifice to a great extent, but did not eradicate it. In the spring and Autumn period, many countries fought for hegemony, the times were turbulent, and people died again. During the Warring States period, the feudal states abolished the system of human sacrifice one after another. In the first year of Qin Xiangong (384 BC), the state of Qin officially abolished the system of human sacrifice.

During the spring and Autumn period and the Warring States period, the social changes promoted the change of burial custom. The burial custom of figurines was replaced by pottery figurines and wooden figurines. The original meaning of "terracotta" is human sacrifice. When human sacrifice gradually faded out of people's vision, "terracotta" became a proper term for pottery, stone carvings and figures in tombs. The terracotta warriors and horses of Qin Dynasty is a typical example of burying people with terracotta warriors, and it is also the peak of burying people with terracotta warriors and horses. In addition to the wisdom of craftsmen, the reason why the terracotta warriors have reached such a high level of scale and realism is inseparable from the will of the first feudal emperor Qin Shihuang in history.

Historical evolution

According to historical records, the planning and design of the mausoleum of the first emperor of Qin Dynasty was started by the Prime Minister Li Si according to the Convention, and the construction of the mausoleum was supervised by general Zhang Han for 39 years. The terracotta warriors and horses were made and buried in the burial pits at the same time.

In the first year of Qin Ziying (206 BC), the mausoleum of Qin Shihuang suffered the first and possibly the biggest disaster. According to historical records, such as historical records of emperor Gaozu, Volume 1 of Hanshu, the first chapter of Gaodi, Volume 36 of Hanshu, the sixth chapter of the biography of the king of Chu and yuan, Xiang Yu destroyed the mausoleum of Qin Shihuang on a large scale, destroyed the ground buildings, excavated the mausoleum, and seriously damaged the terracotta warriors and horses. Archaeological excavation shows that there are black charcoal remains in Pit 1 and pit 2, indicating that the collapse of Pit 1 and pit 2 was caused by fire.

In March 1974, when a farmer in Xiyang village, Lishan Town, Lintong county was digging a well 1.5km to the east of the mausoleum, he found several pieces of clay fired pottery figurines of the same size as human beings. After exploration and trial excavation by the Shaanxi Provincial archaeological team, the terracotta warriors and horses came to light again.

In July 1974, archaeologists began to excavate the pit of terracotta warriors and horses in the east of Qin Shihuang mausoleum in Lintong County, Shaanxi Province.

In December 1987, Qin Shihuang's Mausoleum and terracotta warriors and horses were listed in the world heritage list.

On June 13, 2009, the third large-scale excavation of Pit 1 of the terracotta warriors and horses in the mausoleum of Qin Shihuang began.

building structure

The accompanying pits of the terracotta warriors and horses of the first emperor of Qin Dynasty are located from west to East, and the three pits are arranged in a pin shape. The first one discovered is the pit No. 1, which is rectangular. There are more than 8000 terracotta warriors and horses in the pit, and there are ramp gateways on all sides. There are two pits on the left and right sides of pit No. 1, which are called pit No. 2 and pit No. 3.

The pit of terracotta warriors and horses is a civil structure building of underground tunnel type, that is, a large pit about 5 meters deep is dug from the ground, and parallel earth partition walls are built in the middle of the pit. Wooden columns are arranged on both sides of the wall, on which there are crossbars. The crossbars and soil partition walls are densely covered with awning wood. The awning wood is paved with a layer of reed mat, and then covered with loess to form the pit top. The pit top is about 2 meters higher than the surface at that time. The bottom of the pit was covered with blue bricks. The space height from the pit top to the inside of the pit bottom is 3.2m. After the terracotta figures and horses were put into the pit, the surrounding gateways were sealed with standing trees, and the gateways were filled with rammed earth, thus forming a closed underground building.

Site Archaeology

From 1974 to 1977, the pit of terracotta warriors and horses, one of the accompanying tombs of the Qin Shihuang mausoleum, was excavated one kilometer east of the mausoleum. Pit 1 is located in the south, 216 meters long and 62 meters wide, covering an area of 13260 square meters. Pit 2 is 124 meters long from east to west and 98 meters wide, covering an area of 6000 square meters. Pit 3 covers an area of 520 square meters. A total of 800 warriors, 18 wooden chariots and more than 100 pottery horses were unearthed. According to the existing arrangement of terracotta warriors and horses, there may be 7000 warriors, 100 chariots and 100 horses in these three pits. The pottery figurines are tall and generally about 1.8 meters.

Pit 1

The discovery of pit No.1 was due to the appearance of terracotta warriors and horses in March 1974. At that time, farmers in Xiahe village dug a well in the south of the village, and the wellhead was just in the southeast corner of pit No.1. In the middle of July 1974, an archaeological excavation team composed of Shaanxi Provincial Museum, cultural administration commission and Lintong County Cultural Center entered the site of the pit. With the continuous expansion of the scope of work, from 1976 to 1978, the archaeological team added personnel in archaeology, protection, photography, restoration and other aspects. Excavation of pit No. 1 was carried out in an all-round way, and more than 10 repair groups started large-scale restoration of the terracotta warriors and horses.

At the east end of pit No.1, there are 210 soldiers in full-length war robes, and the rest are 68 in each row, with 204 soldiers in front, back, left and right, forming the guard of the square array. In the middle of the pit, there are columns of 38 chariots and infantry, forming the main body of the army.

From 2009 to 2019, the Qinshihuang Mausoleum Museum conducted the third official excavation of Pit 1, covering an area of 400 square meters, with more than 220 pottery figurines, 12 pottery horses, 2 chariots and a large number of weapons and architectural relics.

More than 220 pieces of pottery figurines were unearthed. According to the different types of crowns, armor and costumes, the pottery figurines can be divided into high-level military officials, middle-level military officials, lower level military officials and general warriors. After a preliminary analysis and research, it is considered that the original terracotta warriors can be further divided into two types, which provides a new basis and method for the arrangement of the terracotta pits.

Archaeologists also found the remains of Qin Dun, which is the same shape and size as the shield found on the No.1 copper car. This is the first time that Qin Dun remains were found in the archaeology of Qin mausoleum. In addition, bronze swords and crossbows were unearthed, which made clear the name of the wood and the preservation method of the crossbow for the first time.

Pit 2

Pit No. 1 was accidentally discovered by farmers while pit No. 2 was a scientific discovery by archaeologists after drilling. From April to may 1976, the archaeological team found another pit with terracotta warriors on April 23 during the purposeful drilling work on the north side of the east end of Pit 1.

On March 1, 1994, after the completion of the protection Hall of No. 2 pit, a grand commencement ceremony of No. 2 pit was held. Zhang Deqin, then director of the State Administration of cultural relics, came to the site and announced the official start of excavation of No. 2 pit. In order to ensure the scientization and standardization of this key archaeological project, the State Administration of cultural relics has specially set up an expert group of No. 2 pit to guide the archaeological excavation work.

Qin Shihuang's No.2 Figurine pit is in the shape of a curved ruler. It is located in the northeast of No.1 pit and the east of No.3 pit. It is 96 meters long from east to west and 84 meters wide from north to south, with a total area of about 6000 square meters. The construction inside the pit is the same as that in pit No. 1, but the array is more complex and the arms are more complete. It is the most spectacular array among the three pits. It is a special multi arms unit composed of cavalry, chariots and infantry (including crossbow). There are more than 1300 pottery figurines and horses, more than 80 chariots and tens of thousands of bronze weapons in Pit 2, among which the general figurines, pommel horse figurines and kneeling shooting figurines are found for the first time. There are four slope gateways at the East and West ends of Pit 2 respectively, and two slope gateways at the north. Pit 2 sits in the west to the East, and the main gate is in the East.

The layout in the pit is divided into four units. The first unit is located in the east end of the pit. There are 60 vertical terracotta warriors in the corridor around the pit. The center of the array is composed of 160 kneeling terracotta warriors in the east of Badao road. The crossbow soldiers took the arrangement of Zhang formation in the formation, standing and kneeling up and down, firing in turn, in order to avoid the danger of slow expansion of the crossbow.

The second unit, located on the right side of the pit, consists of 64 chariots (the chariots are made of wood, leaving only relics). There are 8 columns in total. In front of the car, there are 4 real horse sized pottery horses. There are three terracotta warriors in a row at the back of each chariot. The middle one is a bridle drawn by the emperor, and the other two stand on the left and right side of the chariot, holding long handled weapons.

The third unit, located in the middle, consists of 19 chariots, 264 infantry figurines and 8 Knights figurines in a rectangular array, which is divided into three columns. In front of each horse stands a knight Figurine, holding the reins in one hand and bowing in the other. After each ride, in addition to three chariots, there are also 8-36 infantry figurines.

The fourth unit, located on the left side of the military formation, consists of 108 terracotta warriors and 180 terracotta horses, forming a rectangular cavalry formation. Among them, the first and third trains are six chariots. In front of each horse, there is a horseman Figurine, with his right hand leading the horse and his left hand pulling the bow. The 108 pieces of cavalry figurines in the pit are the first large number of images of ancient cavalry found in the history of Chinese archaeology. The special costumes are also closely related to the tactical characteristics of cavalry. The archers, light chariot soldiers and cavalry figurines unearthed from Pit 2 of the Qin terracotta warriors show for the first time the image data of ancient cavalry, light chariot soldiers and archers 2200 years ago, which is of great significance in the study of ancient military history.

Pit 3

The discovery of Pit 3, like pit 2, was the result of drilling by the archaeological team. Following the No. 1 and No. 2 pit of terracotta warriors and horses, on May 11, 1976, another accompanying burial pit was discovered 25 meters to the north of the western end of No. 1 pit. According to the discovery sequence, it was numbered No. 3 pit.

Pit 3 of the terracotta warriors and horses of the first emperor of Qin Dynasty is located on the north side of the western end of Pit 1, opposite to pit 2 in the East and West. It is 25 meters away from Pit 1 in the South and 120 meters away from Pit 2 in the East, covering an area of about 520 square meters. It is in a concave shape and consists of a north-south wing room and a chariot and horse room

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