Nearly 8000 statues buried together in the catacombs just to watch the Emperor’s sleep?

Talking about the mountains of Le Son, Xi’an, in Northwestern China, people often refer to the army of Binh Ma Dung (also known as the Terracotta Army) with nearly 8,000 famous soldier statues that have existed for more than 10 years. 2,000 years of one of China’s most famous feudal emperors – Qin Shi Huang.

Brief about Qin Shi Huang and the legend of the Terracotta Army

Qin Shi Huang (259 BC – 210 BC) was the first emperor to unify the vast country of China. Not only that, he was also credited with standardizing the Chinese writing system, as well as the system of money, measurement, and roads. However, “with many talents, many defects”, Tan Thuy Hoang is also a tyrant with many hegemonic and tyrannical policies.

The most mentioned feat of Qin Shi Huang is that he completed the famous Great Wall of China in northern China and established a world-class empire at that time, so much so that even the Westerners mistakenly call China Qin. (Today the name “China” or “Sino” that Westerners use to call China comes from the transliteration of the word “Qin” – Sin that ra.)

According to history books, after his death, Qin Shi Huang was buried in a pre-built tomb in Ly Son (Le Son). The tomb contains many jewels, many crafts, and a cosmological model inlaid with jade, and there is a map of a hundred rivers, on which the Yellow River, Yangtze River and East Sea are all made of water. silver (can be used to kill bacteria and cause deadly poisoning later on for those who want to destroy the grave).

The catacombs are lit with fish oil lamps day and night. The pearls placed on the roof of the tomb used to symbolize the stars and planets. When the coffin was lowered, people cooked copper to attach the grave and set up a machine so that when anyone sneaked in, they would be shot automatically by arrows from everywhere. It is said that the mausoleum was built by 70 thousand people over many years. Tomb of Qin Shi Huang is almost like an earth pyramid 76 m high and nearly 350 m² wide.

Archaeological Findings

It was thought that what was recorded in history books was only in legend, in 1974, when a group of farmers were digging a well in the mountains of Le Son in northwest China, suddenly they accidentally dug a statue buried in the mountains. underground.

And surprisingly, it was the mysterious catacombs exactly like what was mentioned in the history books. In this tomb, people have unearthed more than 7,000 terracotta warriors, the same size as real people in a tomb complex.

There are also weapons, combat gear, animals, coins and other objects found in the burial ground near Qin Shi Huang’s grave. The special thing, according to experts, is that the faces of these soldier statues have no face like any other, as if it was used to imitate the real faces of the artists who made it, or the real faces of the artists. the faces of the soldiers of that time.

These terracotta figurines are described as very lifelike and lifelike, and are sculpted in great detail, from fingernails to hairstyles. This is a huge collection, unprecedented in history, unchanged, despite more than two thousand years, and it is the work of more than 700,000 people who worked hard over many years to be able to build it. built the tomb of Qin Shi Huang.

The statue population is arranged in 3 separate catacombs, only the 4th crypt is an empty one. The first bunker located in the west has 6,000 soldiers, the main army of Qin Shi Huang. The second tomb has an area of ​​​​19,659m2 containing about 1,400 cavalry and infantry statues accompanied by chariots. The third tomb has an area of ​​1,524 m2 including 68 statues of different levels of command teams with a four-horse chariot.

The horses in these carriages are very large (about 2 meters long) and quite heavy (nearly 200 kg) compared to the statue warriors who only weigh about 150 kg. They are also made more elaborate with very fragile legs. The scientists speculated that perhaps the horses were intentionally built closer to the grave than for ease of transport.

Decoding the Terracotta Army

In addition, in a recent study, German and Italian experts made significant findings when they analyzed samples from several statues. Based on the results of the analysis, they found that eggs were used to bind the colored paint layers on the statue.

This makes it less sensitive to the humid air in the catacombs, prolonging the life of the statues because the egg coating is usually stable and does not dissolve in water. At the same time, the egg proteins also help the paint adhere to the lacquer layer, which creates more thickness and pattern.

The Terracotta Army will last forever with the unique “egg painting” technique?

Since its discovery in 1974, until now, archaeological excavations have been carried out and the artifacts are still continuously appearing.The reason the excavation took so long was because the terracotta soldiers were very fragile and the protection of these statues was very difficult. The statues of soldiers are molded from clay, fired in a kiln at low temperature, after firing, a layer of paint is applied to the outside to increase durability.

It is hoped that these statues will be carefully preserved and remain forever as one of humanity’s priceless treasures.