Silent Legion

  About 1,500 meters east of the Mausoleum of Emperor Qin Shihuang in Lintong District, Xi'an City, Shaanxi Province, there is a small village called Xiyang Village.

At the end of March 1974, a production team leader led a few farmers to dig a well by the small forest south of the village.

When they dug to a depth of more than 3 meters, they found a broken "Waren" body.

Continue to go down, and dug out the broken "tile man" head, copper crossbow machine, copper arrow, and floor tiles.

The peasants who dig the well don't know what they dug up and how valuable it is, so they throw it on the ground at will.

People in the village talked about it when they learned about it. Some people said that they had dug up the "Temple of God God Wa" and even lit incense near the well.

Well digging work stopped there.

  More than 20 days later, on April 24, Fang Shumin, the water conservancy cadre of the commune, went to the well site. After inspecting the site, he thought that the pottery pieces might be cultural relics, so he immediately reported the situation to the Lintong County Cultural Center at the time.

Ding Yaozu of the County Cultural Center immediately rushed to Xiyang Village with Deputy Director Wang Jincheng and Cultural Relics Officer Zhao Kangmin.

After checking the signs of the wellhead and the pottery pieces on the ground, they preliminarily determined that these pottery pieces may belong to large pottery figurines.

The next day, Zhao Kangmin came to Xiyang Village again and, with the help of several villagers, used three human-powered rack carts to pull the pottery shards and the underground to the county cultural center.

  In June 1974, Zhao Kangmin pieced together and restored two pottery figurines similar in size to real people, and the news of the discovery of large pottery figurines in the Mausoleum of Qin Shihuang also spread through the media.

The central government immediately issued an instruction: “Take prompt measures to properly protect this key cultural relic.” On July 15, the Qin warrior archaeological team organized by the Shaanxi Provincial Bureau of Culture came to the excavation site. Through excavation and drilling, a total A large burial pit with an area of ​​14,260 square meters, there are about 6000 pottery figurines and horses in the pit.

The Terracotta Warriors and Horses of Qin Shihuang, known as the "eighth wonder of the world", have since unveiled their mystery.

The mystery of the imperial tomb

  The Mausoleum of Emperor Qin Shihuang was not actually its original name.

The Mausoleum of Emperor Qin Shihuang is located at the northern foot of Lishan Mountain, and Lishan Mountain is also known as Lishan. Therefore, Emperor Qin Shihuang’s mausoleum is called "Lishan" after the name of the mountain, and the cemetery is called "Lishan Garden".

The cultural relics unearthed in the Mausoleum of Emperor Qin Shihuang also proved this point.

In 1958, a living utensil unearthed in Angou Village on the north side of the Mausoleum of Emperor Qin Shihuang was carved with a small seal inscription of "Lishan Garden, which can hold twelve buckets and three liters, weighs two yuan, thirteen catties, and eight taels."

Among them, "Lishan Garden" refers to the cemetery of Emperor Qin Shihuang, with a capacity of twelve buckets and three liters, which refers to the capacity of copper Zhong, weighing two to three pounds, and refers to the weight of copper Zhong itself.

After actual measurement, the copper Zhong holds 24.57 liters of water and weighs 19.25 kg.

In addition, several pottery fragments unearthed in the Mausoleum of Emperor Qin Shihuang are also engraved with inscriptions such as "Lishan Biaoguan".

"Lishan Biaoguan" is a department official responsible for offering meals to the emperor's mausoleum. The original name of Qin Shihuang's mausoleum is "Lishan".

As for "Qin Shihuang Mausoleum", it should be called it by people after the Han Dynasty.

  Why did Qin Shihuang choose the tomb site at the northern foot of Lishan?

Lishan is located 20 kilometers east of Xi'an in Shaanxi Province and is a branch of the Qinling Mountains.

The mountain is towering, the vegetation is lush, and the highest point is 1302 meters above sea level.

Tombs in ancient China were mostly built in places with higher terrain and beautiful environment. The northern foot of Lishan Mountain just meets these standards. The terrain is vast, close to Lishan Mountain, densely forested, and the Weihe River that traverses the Guanzhong Plain to the north. It is a treasure trove of geomantic omen with perfect scenery.

  The construction of the tomb of Emperor Qin Shihuang on the northern foot of Lishan Mountain was also related to the eastward movement of the political center of Qin State.

The burial place of the ancients was generally chosen near the national capital. Therefore, with the eastward movement of the capital of the State of Qin, the tomb of the king of Qin also moved from west to east.

After Qin established its capital in Xianyang, the area from the east of Xianyang to Lishan became the site of the tombs of King Qin, including the tombs of Qin Huiwen and Qin Wu.

Lishan was the location of the tombs of the late Qin Dynasty, where the Queen Mother, Prince Mourning, King Xiaowen, King Zhaoxiang, and King Zhuangxiang were all buried here.

  The large-scale underground mausoleum designed and built by Qin Shihuang for himself took 38 years from site selection, construction to the final suspension, which can be divided into three stages.

  The first stage was from the 13-year-old Ying Zheng inherited the throne of Qin in 246 BC to the period when Qin unified the country in 221 BC.

The design of the project and the construction of the main project have been carried out successively in these 20 years, which initially established the scale and pattern of the cemetery project.

  The second stage is the period from 221 BC to the death of Qin Shihuang in 210 BC.

In order to demonstrate the dignity and power of the emperor, the Emperor Qin Shihuang ascended to the throne, and wanted to have the same life in the world after his death as before, so he built a large-scale cemetery.

After the construction of hundreds of thousands of people, the main project of the cemetery was basically completed.

  From 210 BC to the second year of Qin II (208 BC), the winter before the fall of Qin was the last stage of the project.

This stage mainly carried out the finishing works and earth-covering works of the cemetery.

After the death of Qin Shihuang, Qin II continued to build a cemetery for him. However, as the army of general Zhou Wen sent by Chen Sheng, the leader of the peasant uprising in the end of Qin, was close to playing in the water (located near the east of Lintong District, Xi'an, Shaanxi Province-reporter's note), Qin II The hundreds of thousands of laborers who built the imperial tomb were temporarily organized to fight against Zhou Wen's army.

At this point, the construction of Qin Shihuang's cemetery, which had been built for 38 years and was still not completely completed, was forced to stop.

  The grand scale of the Mausoleum of Emperor Qin Shi Huang shocked the world.

The cemetery is centered on the enclosed soil of the mausoleum (the mounds of the emperor’s tombs above the ground-reporter's note). It is divided into two parts: the outer city and the inner city. The total area is 45.69 square kilometers, which is equivalent to the size of 63 Beijing Forbidden City. The largest emperor cemetery in Chinese history.

According to actual measurement, the bottom of the original sealed soil of Qin Shihuang’s mausoleum is 515 meters long from north to south and 485 meters wide from east to west, covering an area of ​​nearly 250,000 square meters. The bottom of the existing mausoleum is 350 meters long from north to south and 345 meters wide from east to west, covering an area of ​​12 More than ten thousand square meters.

The two thousand years of wind and rain and the leveling of the land by the farmers of the past generations are the main reasons for the reduction of the land area of ​​the Mausoleum of Emperor Qin Shihuang.

  The underground palace is used to place coffins and burial objects. It is located under the mound and is the core of the mausoleum.

In the "Historical Records: The Benji of Qin Shihuang", the situation of the underground palace of Qin Shihuang's mausoleum is recorded in this way: "Through the three springs, the copper will cause the encrustation, and the palaces and hundreds of officials and strange objects will migrate to the full. Those who are near are shot at it. With mercury as the rivers and oceans, it is instilled by the machine, with astronomy on the top, and geography on the bottom. With the mermaid cream as a candle, the one who is immortal will last for a long time."

  So is the record of the tomb of Qin Shihuang in "Historical Records" true?

In 2002, through the technology of geophysical prospecting (geophysical prospecting referred to as "physical prospecting", which refers to the research and observation of various geophysical field changes to detect geological conditions such as formation lithology and geological structure-reporter's note) technology, the truth emerged The water surface.

The survey results showed that the underground palace of Qinling Mausoleum is located under the mound, about 34 meters above the ground.

The main body of the underground palace and the tomb are rectangular. The walls of the underground palace are stone, about 14 meters high, about 8 meters thick, about 145 meters long from east to west, and about 125 meters wide from north to south.

The tomb is located in the center of the underground palace, about 15 meters high, about 80 meters long from east to west, and about 50 meters wide from north to south, with an area of ​​4,000 square meters.

The main body of the tomb has not collapsed, and water has not yet entered, and there is still a drainage system that can still function outside the stone wall of the underground palace.

There are tomb passages in the four directions of the tomb. The east tomb passage is the longest and is the main tomb passage.

  According to the records in "Historical Records: The Book of Emperor Qin Shihuang", in the deep and mysterious underground palaces of Qin Mausoleum, there are "Hundred Rivers, Rivers and Seas" made of mercury, which are "instilled by mechanism". In the Book of Han, there is also the Mausoleum of Qin Shihuang "mercury as The description of "Jianghai".

In order to verify the hypothesis that mercury exists in the underground palace of the Qin Mausoleum, in 1981 and 2002, experts conducted two measurements of soil mercury in the Mausoleum of Qin Shihuang.

The measurement results show that there is a strong mercury anomaly with an area of ​​about 12,000 square meters in the central area of ​​the enclosed soil of Qin Shihuang’s Mausoleum.

In this abnormal area, the mercury content is several times higher than the surrounding soil content.

Experts believe that the large amount of mercury in the sealed soil is not contained in the soil itself, but is left behind after the mercury in the underground palace volatilizes along the cracks in the sealed soil and eventually rises to the surface of the sealed soil.

Therefore, the historical record of mercury in the underground palace of Qin Shihuang's mausoleum is more credible.

The researchers also verified that in the Qingtonggou area in northern Xunyang County, Shaanxi, the proven mercury reserves have reached 17,400 tons, and when the mining census was conducted in the 1950s, more than 3,000 were found here. There were mercury mines in different periods in history, and architectural ruins from the Qin and Han Dynasties were discovered nearby.

Therefore, Xunyang County, Shaanxi Province was probably a source of mercury in the palaces of the Qin Mausoleum at that time.

  In addition, more than 180 burial pits of various types have been discovered within the Mausoleum of the First Emperor of Qin, including Qin Terracotta Warriors and Horses pits, bronze carts and horse pits, stone armor pits, pits for warriors and soldiers, stables pits, pits for rare and exotic animals, and bronze waterfowl. Pit and so on.

The Mausoleum of the First Emperor of Qin pioneered the use of a large number of burial pits for burials, and the number of burial pits was large, large in scale, and rich in burials, and it occupies a pivotal position in the history of Chinese cemetery development.

Soldiers and Horses

  Figurines usually refer to the puppets buried with the dead in ancient tombs.

Among them, pottery figurines, clay figurines and wooden figurines are more common. In addition, there are very few stone figurines, bronze figurines and jade figurines.

The ancients believed that death is only the passing away of the body, and the soul will continue to live in another world.

Therefore, the objects used by the deceased during his lifetime, even his attendants and subordinates, must be buried together in or beside the tomb of the deceased, so that he can continue to use and accompany him in the world after death.

  In the Shang Dynasty, the system of human sacrifice and human sacrifice was implemented. In the middle and late Western Zhou Dynasty, the number of living people was reduced, and the use of clay, clay, hay, wood, etc. to make dolls instead of living people began to appear.

Figurines, resulting from this.

  At present, most of the figurines before the Qin Dynasty discovered in archaeology are made of mud and hay, and have poor images. The wooden and stone figurines that are occasionally unearthed are also very short.

The Han figurines that were later than the Qin Dynasty were mainly pottery figurines, with a large number, but they were not large in size, most of which were about 50 cm in height.

The pottery figurines unearthed from the Mausoleum of Qin Shihuang have largely refreshed people’s understanding of “figures” because these pottery figurines are not only large in number and tall, but also have realistic sculpture techniques and diverse types and identities. They were buried in the ancient imperial tombs. Among the figurines can be said to be unprecedented.

  From the Han Dynasty to the Tang Dynasty was another peak in the development of figurines. The custom of burial with figurines was quite common at that time, and ordinary nobles and even ordinary people could use figurines to bury them.

The images of figurines have also become diverse, from various images and identities to animals, all made into beautiful and colorful figurines or pottery models.

The custom of burial with figurines declined in Song, Liao, Jin, Yuan, and Ming dynasties, and disappeared in the early Qing Dynasty.

  Two years after the discovery of Pit No. 1 Terracotta Warriors and Horses, in 1976, the state decided to build a conservation exhibition hall on the site of Pit No. 1 Terracotta Warriors and Horses.

On April 23 of the same year, the archaeological team discovered Pit No. 2 Terracotta Warriors and Horses on the north side of the east end of Pit No. 1.

On May 11 of the same year, Pit No. 3 Terracotta Warriors and Horses was discovered by the archaeological team on the north side of the west end of Pit No. 1.

  The Terracotta Warriors and Horses Pit is a group of underground tunnel-style civil structures.

These figurines pits can be regarded as "showrooms" buried underground and composed of multiple corridor-style rooms.

According to current excavations, there are approximately 8,000 pottery warriors buried in the three terracotta warrior pits, more than 600 horses, more than a hundred chariots, and hundreds of thousands of weapons.

  Among the three figurine pits, Pit 1 has the largest area and the largest number of buried pottery figurines and horses.

Its plane is rectangular, 230 meters long from east to west and 62 meters wide from north to south.

There is an infantry phalanx consisting of more than 6000 pottery figurines and more than 50 command vehicles buried in it. The forwards composed of three rows of horizontal formations are located in the front of the phalanx, and the center is the main body of the military formation composed of 38 columns. There is a row of pottery figurines serving as wing guards and rear guards on the north and south sides and the rear end of the formation.

The No. 1 pit army formation is considered by experts to represent the main force of the Qin warriors army.

  Pit No. 2 is 20 meters away from Pit No. 1.

It covers an area of ​​about 6000 square meters, with more than 900 buried pottery figurines, more than 470 pottery horses, and 89 wooden chariots.

The second pit army array is composed of four phalanxes: crossbow soldiers, cavalry, horse chariots and chariots, infantry, and cavalry.

According to the military formation and formation of the No. 2 Pit Army formation, experts analyzed that it should represent the light-carriage troops in the army of Qin warriors.

  Pit No. 3 is 25 meters away from Pit No. 1, and its plane is "concave" with an area of ​​about 520 square meters, making it the smallest of the three pits.

A total of 68 pottery figurines, 34 weapons, 4 pottery horses and 1 chariot were unearthed in Pit No. 3.

Archaeological experts believe that Pit No. 3 represents the command body that leads the army of Qin warriors.

  The 8,000 terracotta warriors and horses buried in the three warrior pits embodies the mighty power of the Qin army, and each individual pottery warrior represents a brave Qin soldier.

According to the different characteristics of the Qin warriors' crowns, armors and costumes, the identities of the Qin warriors are divided into four levels: general warrior figurines, low-level military officials, intermediate military officials, and high-level military officials.

In addition to the different status levels, the five senses and facial expressions of the Qin warriors are also different.

By comparing and categorizing more than a thousand pieces of Terracotta Warriors that have been restored, experts found that Terracotta Warriors had about a hundred different face shapes and more than 300 different expressions.

According to ancient Chinese painting theory, "the approximation of each other is no more than eight patterns." The so-called "eight patterns" refers to the eight Chinese characters "Tian, ​​You, Guo, Yong, Mu, Jia, Feng, Shen" People have different face shapes, and the facial contours of the Terracotta Warriors include these eight types.

  The rich and individual look of the Qin figurines gave their stiff and cold bodies life and vitality, making them look like living Qin warriors.

Through these expressions, people can see the inner world of the Terracotta Warriors.

The high-ranking soldiers in armor and swords had a cold expression, and the commander's style was full.

Some of the warrior figures raised their mouths and smiled, as if they had a chance to win, some looked like a torch, as if they were vowing to make a battle, and some stared into the distance, probably missing their relatives at home.

  The realistic depiction of the details of the demeanor undoubtedly shows the superb skills of the craftsmen of the Qin warriors.

So, who made these lifelike Terracotta Warriors?

In the process of cleaning up and restoring the pottery figurines and horses, archaeologists found different inscribed or stamped characters on some pottery figurines and horses. After research, these characters, in addition to the numbers used for numbering, The rest are the names of potters.

  The names of these potters can be roughly divided into four categories. The first category is those with the word "gong" before their names, such as "gongchao" and "gongde". During the Qin and Qin dynasties, people who served the court were mostly called palaces. So, the potters with the word "gong" before their names are all from the palace pottery workshops.

The second category is those with the word "right" or "大" before the name, such as "大遫", "右海" and so on.

"Da" and "You" are the abbreviations for "Dajiang" and "Yousikong" respectively. According to research, Dajiang and Yousikong are the names of Qin central government agencies, which shows that Tao Wen has "大" and "you" before the name. The potter with the word "is from the pottery workshop of the Qin Central Government Office.

The third category is those with a place name before the name, among which the characters "Xianyang" and "Xian" are mostly, such as "Xianyang Wei", "Xianyang Yi", "Xianye", and "Liyangsheng".

Adding place names in front of the names not only shows that these people are ordinary craftsmen recruited from neighboring areas, but also shows that the craftsmen belong to the local private pottery workshops.

The fourth category has only names, and most names have only one or two characters, and some have three characters.

The production level of pottery figurines of this type of potter with only human names is uneven, so the identity and origin of these people cannot be distinguished.

  It can be seen that most of the makers of Qin terracotta warriors and horses come from the pottery workshops managed by the Qin court and the Qin Central Government Office, and a few come from private pottery workshops everywhere.

In terms of production level, the pottery figurines made by artisans from the palace workshops are burly and strong, and the production level is high.

Among the pottery figurines produced by artisans from local private workshops, there are many excellent works, but there are also works of poor quality, which shows that their production skills are still unstable and mature.

  The discovery of Qin Shihuang’s terracotta warriors and horses has aroused widespread attention in the academic circles, and scholars have also put forward different views on the nature of the terracotta warriors and horses pits, which mainly include "the theory of the burial warriors and horses", "the theory of Qin Shihuang's east guards" and "the theory of the Qin army". "Said the guard in the capital" and so on.

To this day, scholars with different opinions have still failed to reach a consensus.

Protect the legacy

  More than 40 years after the discovery of the Qin Terracotta Warriors and Horses, archaeological restoration experts have never stopped cleaning and repairing the pottery warriors.

Today, every piece of Terracotta Warriors neatly arranged in the pits that people can appreciate has undergone a complex and detailed restoration process.

  The staff of the Qin Shihuang Mausoleum Museum told reporters that the restoration of the terracotta warriors and horses mainly includes six steps.

  The first step is information collection.

The repair personnel will use text, drawing, and photographing to record in detail the broken condition of the Qin figurines and the imprints and impressions on the pottery before being repaired.

These preliminary data are used to compare the evidence of the appearance of the Terracotta Warriors before and after the restoration, so as to check whether the restoration has achieved the required effect.

  The second step is scientific detection and analysis, that is, the extraction and detection and analysis of important information found when cleaning the pottery.

For example, color paint analysis, ceramic tire analysis, and ultrasonic testing are performed on the extracted samples.

In addition, through microscopic observation, scanning electron microscopy and other methods, the disease assessment of the ceramic pieces is carried out, and corresponding protective measures are formulated according to the analysis results.

  The third step is to clean and clean the pottery.

Some pottery pieces have colored paintings remaining on the surface, and repairers need to reinforce the colored painting layer before cleaning them carefully.

Then, use a cotton swab dipped in ethanol solution to clean the floating soil on the painted surface, use dental tools and bamboo slices to remove the mud and dirt inside the pottery slice and the stubble, and finally use a brush to clean it and scrub with an ethanol solution to remove the soil.

  The fourth step is to protect the painted and varnished leather on the pottery.

The colored paintings on the terracotta figurines will be curled, cracked, peeled, and falling off after being unearthed. Therefore, the colored paintings on the pottery pieces must be protected before bonding and repair.

  The fifth step is to splice and bond the pottery pieces.

The repairer will first make a preliminary match based on the unearthed location number of each piece of pottery and the fractured stubble.

Then, in the order of matching, place the pieces of the pottery figurines that have been assembled in a wooden box filled with sand for bonding.

The bonding of the terracotta fragments is carried out in a bottom-up order. After each stage of bonding, special tools and strapping must be used to fix it. After the adhesive has solidified, the next stage of repair will be carried out.

  The last step is to create a protection and restoration file.

The contents of the archive include the broken condition, disease situation, size and shape of the fragments, painted colors and positions, photos or rubbings recording the pottery figures and production traces of the pottery figurines, records of the unearthed site protection treatment and transportation and extraction process, and the records of the pottery Photo records of the protection of the figurines and the restoration process.

  According to reports, the cultural relics science and technology protection workers of the Qin Shihuang Mausoleum Museum take the protection of the cultural relics in the courtyard as the problem-oriented, actively carry out special research and research, and apply for scientific research projects.

In the 40 years since its establishment, the institute has presided over more than 30 national, provincial and ministerial scientific research projects, and has compiled and formulated 6 national standards and cultural relics industry norms.

These include the subject of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage: "Quality Inspection and Management Method Design of the Environmental Monitoring System of Cultural Heritage Sites" (2017~2019), and the subject of the Outstanding Youth Fund of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage: "Evaluation of the Effect and Process Performance of Ceramic Painted Cultural Relics Protection and Restoration Materials" (2015~2018), State Administration of Cultural Heritage project: "Aerosol Physical and Chemical Characteristics of Qin Warriors Pit and Related Cultural Relics Deterioration Research Project" (2012~2017), National Administration of Cultural Heritage Project: "Pre-study on Earthquake Protection of Qin Warriors Pit Site and Related Cultural Relics "(2011~2012), National Science and Technology Support Project: "Research on the Origin of Chinese Civilization and the Protection of Related Cultural Relics"-"Research on Key Technologies for the Protection of Unearthed Pottery Painted Cultural Relics" (2010-2012), etc.

  The Mausoleum Museum of the First Emperor of Qin has continuously strengthened international scientific and technological cooperation in cultural relic protection to promote the improvement of scientific research.

Since the establishment of the institute, a total of 8 international cooperation on the scientific and technological research and protection of cultural relics have been carried out. In addition, it has also held 3 sessions of "Qin Warriors and Painted Cultural Relics Protection and Research International Symposium" and 1 session of "Metallurgy and Related Social Archaeology in Qin Dynasty" International Academic Symposium".

Based on Qin Shihuang's Mausoleum Museum's long-term foreign cooperation experience and the need to further deepen scientific and technological cooperation, in 2014, the "Shaanxi Provincial Cultural Relics Conservation Research International Scientific Cooperation Base" supported by the Museum was approved.

head to the World

  Once the Qin Terracotta Warriors were discovered, they attracted great attention from the international community.

From March to August 1976, the Terracotta Warriors and Horses of the Qin Dynasty followed the "Exhibition of Ancient Bronzeware of the People's Republic of China" out of the country for the first time, and came to Japan to exhibit in Tokyo and Kyoto.

During the five-month exhibition, the audience exceeded 400,000.

The Terracotta Warriors and Horses of Qin also embarked on a journey around the world and spreading Chinese civilization.

  Since 1976, Qin Terracotta Warriors and Horses have been exhibited in 178 cities in 49 countries and regions in Asia, America, Europe, Oceania, Africa, Japan, the United States, Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Sweden, Greece, Egypt, Australia, etc. Many countries have left its footprints.

According to incomplete statistics, more than 30 million overseas audiences have witnessed the Qin Terracotta Warriors and Horses.

The Qin warriors have become messengers of exchanges and mutual learning between Chinese civilization and world civilization.

  On December 11, 1987, Qin Shihuang’s Mausoleum and the Terracotta Warriors and Horses Pit were included in the World Cultural Heritage List and became the first batch of World Cultural Heritage in my country.

Today, as the representative of Chinese history and culture, the Terracotta Warriors and Horses of the Qin Dynasty have become a popular and favorite museum exhibition brand in international cultural relics exchange exhibitions.

On May 18, 2019, the "Qin Shihuang and Terracotta Warriors and Horses Exhibition" held at the National Museum of Liverpool, UK won the 16th (2018) National Museum's Top Ten Exhibition Excellent Promotion International and Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan Cooperation Awards.

  (Thanks to the Mausoleum Museum of Emperor Qin Shihuang for providing relevant graphic materials for this article)

  China Youth Daily·China Youth Daily reporter Chen Ding Source: China Youth Daily

  November 03, 2020 Version 10