Posted on 05/30/2010 8:31:13 AM PDT by SunkenCiv
Chinese archaeologists have discovered terracotta warriors painted in rich colours in the mausoleum complex of the country's first emperor.
China Daily said the company of 114 terracotta soldiers was found at Number One pit, one of three such pits in the grave complex in China's central city of X'ian. Xu Weihong, the excavation team leader said:
The total area of the excavation was some 200 square metres and we were pleasantly surprised to find rich colours on terracotta warriors.
He said the clay figures, which are between 1,8 and two metres tall, had black hair, green, white or pink faces and black or brown eyes. Xu said:
It was hard work to restore the clay warriors as they were broken into pieces. It took us at least 10 days to restore one.
Traces of burns on the warriors and the walls show the pit had been set on fire. The Independent said the Chinese people burned the tomb complex to express their hatred of the emperor and many of the terracotta statues of soldiers had been smashed. However, China Daily quoted Liu Zhanchang, director of the Qin Shihuang Terracotta Warriors and Horses Museum archaeology division as saying more studies were needed.
Other finds include weapons, chariots, drums and painted wooden rings.
Qin Shihuang (also written Chin Shi Huang Ti) who reigned from 259-210 B.C., was the First Emperor of China, so called because he was the first to unify the country. His dynasty ended soon after his death and was succeeded by the great Han Dynasty.
Farmers found the first parts of the vast mausoleum complex in 1974, leading to one of the most spectacular finds in the history of archaeology.
(Excerpt) Read more at digitaljournal.com ...
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Cool. My son is fascinated by these.
It makes no sense to paint the skin pink. Pink denotes European traits.
I too am fascinated by these figures....Kind of cool...
The ultimate government make work project.
Emperor: This is great. We’re gonna make 2 million clay statues of warriors.
Prime Minister: Heaven praise our god like leader but why sire?
Emperor: Don’t worry, when we’re done we’ll bury them.
Think how much better a world we would have if the ancients had discovered the power of medicinal lithium.
“Pink denotes European traits.”
Everyone wants to be like the White Guy!
The comedian Russell Peters says so!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nn5jlrxcpkI
starts at 2:50
So, the horde is pink, not yellow
Hey, a lot can change over a couple of thousand years. ;’)
They probably assumed everyone outside China to be barbarians. Besides, that shade isn’t any harder to imagine on a Chinese face, than it is, on a European one. The eyes don’t lie. Literally, LOL!
What are you going to do? When the crayon says “flesh,” you use it!
ROFLOL.
They looked so much better without paint.
Actually, light-skinned Chinese like my mother are closer to pink than tan or “yellow.” In olden days, many in the upper classes of Asia and Europe actually sought to avoid the sun since dark skin was associated with manual labor such as farming and construction. Many went so far as to powder their faces to make themselves look even paler.
My Belgian girlfirend’s mother had such porcelain-like skin, you could almost see the blue of her veins. Unfortunately, her daughter, who had a peaches-and-cream complexion as a little girl, discovered tanning in college and though she doesn’t look as bad as many I’ve seen, she would have done well to skip so much sunning.
“Pink denotes European traits.”
Where did you pick that up? I was standing behind a Chinese woman at the checkout counter in the supermarket, and she was whiter than I…And I am of European stock.
I will give you this much. She was not pink. She was milk white.
Chinese civilization is old.
What happens to a book as it ages?
Stunning. The terra cotta army is beautiful, I can only imagine it in full color.
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