Terracotta Warriors From the Han Dynasty

The Terracotta Warriors is a group of terracotta dolls depicting the military forces of Qin Shi Huang, who was the first Emperor of China in the Spring of third century BC. These dolls are made from cast bronze and are very well preserved. They were produced during the reign of the Younger Qin in the third century BC. It is believed that these terracotta dolls represent the legendary Trojan War.

source

Archaeologists have dated these terracotta warriors to the third century BC. They found twenty two small bronze warriors with shields and helmets along with weapons. This discovery was made near the city of Huiping in Anhui Province. The terracotta warriors were found covered with soil. They are thought to be approximately two thousand years old.

The Terracotta Warriors can be identified as a part of the military equipment which were used by the military command during the Trojan War. They can also be identified as a commemoration of the Egyptian Pharoahs. The excavation site of Huiping revealed other bronze chariot pieces. However, the Terracotta Warriors and the Egyptian chariots have been identified as separate items. Therefore, it is important to determine the exact date and place where they were found.

Archaeological experts have confirmed that the Terracotta Warriors were used by the army of Qin Shi Huang to defeat the army of the Persian King Cyrus in 2,000 years. They were buried near the river Ganges. This suggests that they were buried at a place which facilitated their easy transportation. These figures could not have been easily transported by oxen due to the hostile climate conditions.

source

These figures have proved to be a great challenge for archeologists. In fact, it is not only these terracotta warriors which have revealed their age. Another very interesting discovery is that the two buried chariots of the Qianshen dynasty also belong to the same army.

The main question which remains is how old is this Chinese army? A number of scholars have stated that the terracotta warriors and the Egyptian warriors could belong to the same group of ancient Chinese armed men. However, there is no solid proof to prove this. The main difficulty faced by the researchers is the identification of these figures with their respective places of burial. It has been observed that some soil samples from the burial sites of the Qianshen dynasty have been Carbon 14 carbon dated.

The terracotta army was found to have been mass produced from small units of soldiers. The smaller size of these groups meant that the exact numbers of the soldiers and their officers could not be ascertained. It can be speculated that there were around sixty officers in each squad. The larger number of the troops could then be due to the presence of some horses in the troop. This again would imply that the figures of the terracotta army were not always exactly the same as those of the military officers. These figures were then used as the standard size for all Chinese units of the past and the present.

source

In addition to this, it is also possible to state that there were other military officers of the time who served as lieutenants and some higher ranking officers. This would mean that the number of these figures might have been much more than the thirty officers mentioned earlier. All in all, the evidence points towards the fact that the Terracotta Warriors depicted in the early Han Dynasty art are really from the Tombstones of warriors of the Terracotta Army of the Khitan Kingdom. Although the exact chronology is unknown, we can safely say that the Terracotta Warriors found in the tombstones have been present since the Later Han Dynasty.

References

• https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/ap-art-history/south-east-se-asia/china-art/a/terracotta-warriors-from-the-mausoleum-of-the-first-qin-emperor-of-china
• https://www.chinahighlights.com/xian/terracotta-army/
• https://news.artnet.com/art-world/terracotta-army-uncovered-china-1744743

Posted with STEMGeeks