Terracotta Warriors and the Burial of China’s First Emperor
The people of ancient China believed after death one lives on in a different world. Due to this, they believed the treatment of the dead should be the same as the living. Qin Shihuangdi, the first emperor of China, ordered his people to create a massive underground replica of his imperial necropolis so he could continue his rule even in death. Located in four pits to the east of the underground city, outside its walls was the original resting place of the terracotta army. This placement was to protect his city from the cities Qin conquered during his lifetime. For more than 2,000 years, his city remained hidden. In 1974, while digging a well, villagers stumbled upon the resting place of a group of life-size terracotta warriors. It has been determined that approximately 8,000 Terracotta Warriors were created as guardians for Qin’s city (Portal 2008).
These warriors were larger than life at the time of their creation; however, people were shorter back then. The terracotta figures were manufactured in workshops by government laborers as well as local artisan workshops. Artisans utilized models, coils and slabs within the mass production of warriors. Their original production is thought to have occurred in a factory line manufacturing the head, arms, legs and torsos separately, firing the individual pieces and finally joining them in a multitude of combinations. Joining styles included pins or pegs, using local loess and yellow earth. Once assembled, artisans would add individuality to each statue with intricate features (Portal 2008).
Some of these endless features would include costumes, hairstyles, posture and facial features. Uniform, hairstyle and height were determined by the rank assigned to individual statures. After close examination of terracotta figures it has been determined that eight molds were used to create their faces. Then artisans would provide individual facial features by adding clay. Once all clay work was complete, pieces were fired and assembled and the figures were painted. The combination of a colored lacquer finish upon the statues, individual facial features and actual weapons and armor from battle gave the army a realistic appearance. Unfortunately, the coloring has intensely faded and robbers stole the original weapons and armor (Portal 2008).
Accompanying the warriors within their final resting place are approximately 130 chariots with 520 horses and 150 cavalry horses. Other figures constructed for the city include officials, acrobats, strongmen and musicians (Portal 2008).
To ensure quality control, each work was stamped with the name and unit of its originator. The same varieties of inscriptions were also found on floor tiles and drainpipes found near the burial sight. These stamping help archeologist identify ceramic works as mostly responsible for the creation of the terracotta army (Portal 2008).
It has been determined that over a thousand people may have been involved in the creation of this massive terracotta army. However, there is no record of the exact number of individuals involved in this mass production. The absence of records is suggested to be a result of the project of laborers dying of overwork or perhaps being buried with their works (Portal 2008).
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