Over 2000 years ago, the first Qin emperor of China, Qin Shihuangdi, had thousands of craftsmen create a lavish tomb where he could spend his eternal life. The emperor needed soldiers to protect him in the afterlife, so some 8,000 seven foot tall terra-cotta warriors were created. These figures were discovered in 1974 by farmers digging a well near the Chinese city of Xian. Now scientists using the most modern technology available are studying these statues to understand how and why they were created. I found this episode of the PBS series Secrets of the Dead: China’s Terracotta Warriors to be absolutely fascinating and something I will definitely show my AP Art History class.
The first technological examination these figures were exposed to was done by facial recognition expert Glen Cameron who used Neoface (a facial recognition software) on them. What Cameron discovered was how uniquely individualized each of the 8,000 figures are. Although there are some similarities between the sculptures, there are no two figures exactly alike. Next, the terracotta warriors were examined for evidence as to how they were made. Because of their immense size (each warrior is about 7’ tall and weighs about 650 pounds), these warriors had to be made out of clay that was dense and sticky enough so that it holds together as it dries out, but not too dense that the inside of the hollow statue cannot dry out. The perfect clay was discovered near the emperor’s tomb. The emperor died only 11 years after ordering his tomb constructed. How did craftsmen manage to produce so many figures in such a short period of time? By examining the interior of the figures, it was discovered that each figure was made by hand using a coil method (the first craftsmen in China to make terracotta figures in this manner). Coiling a sculpture of this size could take a month. Archaeologists have discovered the names of 87 master craftsmen working on the figures, each master craftsman had at least 10 apprentice craftsmen working with them—this would have provided enough man power to produce 8000 figures in eight years. The warriors were originally painted with brilliant colors that when exposed to the air as they are excavated, vanish within a week. Scientists have been trying to save the original coloring of these statues for years with no success. Most recently, they have discovered why—each figure was covered from head to toe in a coating of lacquer. For ancient Chinese craftsmen, this lacquer was hard to obtain. It was harvested from the sap of the mature lacquer tree only from June to September. It is estimated that it would take the sap of 25 trees to cover one statue. Additionally, the lacquer tree is related to poison ivy and poison sumac, so touching the sap or breathing its fumes can cause extreme discomfort. As the terracotta figures are removed from the damp soil and exposed to air, the sap dries out, curls and drops off the sculpture, taking the paint with it. Based on paint samples found in the soil after years of painstaking research, scientists have been able to create two warrior replicas as they believe they looked right after they were created. Finally, it was realized that the warriors had traces of Chinese purple paint on them—a paint created by the Chinese from lead oxide and barium. It is believed that the Chinese stumbled upon this pigment while trying to create a synthetic jade material (Chinese glass) out of these two substances. Most interestingly, it was discovered that Chinese purple might lead to incredible technological breakthroughs. When Chinese purple was loaded into the core of the world’s most powerful magnet, the molecules of Chinese purple became a single magnetic wave—a unique state in quantum physics. When the temperature was further dropped, the magnetic wave lost its third dimension, separating into individual two-dimensional planes. Studying these shifts from three dimensions to two could ultimately help make better superconductors.
Not only are scientists discovering how technologically advanced Chinese craftsmen were in the production of these Terracotta Warriors, they are realizing that Chinese chemists produced something 2000 years ago that could have a major technological impact on the 21st Century. This video would be a perfect complement to a high school level course in physics, science, ceramics, Asian culture or Art History.