Oh well ... copy the url and go there ... you won't be disapointed.
Posted on 04/18/2005 6:51:11 PM PDT by nickcarraway
One of the world's greatest archeological treasures is in serious trouble because of air pollution and scientists from Nevada are coming to the rescue.
The terra cotta warriors were built on orders from the first emperor of China but were buried for more than 2,000 years. Scientists from Nevada's Desert Research Institute have been asked to join an international team looking for ways to keep the warriors from wasting away.
The ruthless conqueror who became the first emperor of china wasn't a guy who thought small. Emperor Chin not only started the Great Wall of China, but also used hundreds of thousands of people to work on his tomb, including the meticulous creation of the terra cotta warriors -- more than 7,000 larger-than-life clay figures meant to protect the emperor from his enemies in the afterlife.
Dr. John Watson said, "At the height of the work on these projects, they had one million people employed, which was about 10-percent of the population."
Scientist John Watson of Nevada's Desert Research Institute ranks the terra cotta warriors as one of the great archeological finds of all time. The figures were created individually, modeled after real people, so no two are alike.
"... The base, which is solid stone, the torso was made in a hollow mold. The head was made in two molds that were fused. In fact they still make these small models today by the same methods and materials as 2300 years ago," Dr. Watson said.
After Emperor Chin died, the warriors and the tomb were covered up and forgotten for more than 2,000 years. In 1974, Chinese farmers rediscovered them. About 1,000 warriors have been unearthed since, with the rest still in the ground.
Some 1.5 million people now visit the terra cotta museum each year, so when the Chinese noticed the warriors were rapidly deteriorating because of exposure to the air, they understandably became worried. Because one Chinese professor had studied in Nevada, DRI was asked to lend its expertise to saving the warriors.
Dr. John Watson adds, "In the long run, it can be done. It's wise not to unearth the others until we understand the problem."
DRI scientists have already been on the ground in China, consulting with their partners about how to solve the mystery. China's explosive economy generates some of the world's worst air pollution, but it's not that simple. The unique clay used to make the warriors has never been studied to any extent. It's also unknown what effect the breath from so many visitors might be having on the warriors.
DRI has installed monitoring equipment at the terra cotta museum to figure out just what's causing the trouble. Only later will they speculate about how to fix things. The fact that the study has begun made big news in China.
"Oh it was all over the country. It was all over Chinese television nationwide," Dr. Watson said.
DRI is happy to help, and thinks a lot of good could come from cooperating with the Chinese. In the end though, the Nevadans hope to train their Chinese counterparts to resolve the problem on their own.
Since the emperor's tomb encompassed more than 20-square miles, it's entirely likely that more pockets of terra cotta warriors are still in the ground, waiting to be discovered.
Meanwhile, in other news, didn't China flood some large expanses of land where it is believed that early settlements of primative man were to be found? Flooded them for a reservior/dam?
Those warriors are truly a treasure..each face is different..IIRC.
Thanks, Knarf.
I've been there and it is truly a site to behold. What we think of as art and the accomplishments of civilization occured on the backs of conscripted workers who received little or no pay, inadequate food and much abuse.
Can't they just buy new terra cotta at Home Depot?
Pinging the majordomo of the Gods, Graves and Glyphs threads.
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Spray 'em down with a heavy coat of polyurethane. Next problem.
You have raised a most valid point. This "burial" extravagance makes a Mafia funreal look insignificant. Both are, in a larger sense, insignificant.
If anything speaks to the difference between the Judeo-Christian perspective and the oriental perspective, the concepts of death and afterlife is argueably the most telling.
From the simple "I keep faith with those who lie in the dust" to "Eternal Life through Jesus", the West eschews the physical preparation for an afterlife in favor of a spiritual preparation throughout ones life.
For an example, the West encourages the building of hospitals, the endowing of libraries, and colleges, etc. rather than symbolic pottery armies.
Perhaps the difference lies in the fact that the West assumes that life can be better - the East assumes an unending, inescapable sameness, a submission to fate.
Would it be too PC-prohibited to observe - "Dust to dust".
Pottery is, after all, merely soil (clay is soil, after all is said and done). As metal eventually returned to an oxidized form, why would anyone be surprised that eventually entropy would have its way with clay? ;-)
The sight of rows and rows of ancient terra cotta soldiers is an awesome sight, isn't it.
:') The belief is that each of the statues represents a specific individual, as if the elite of the kingdom were having their identities preserved along with that of the emperor. What more amazing to me is how so many resources were devoted to the aggrandizement of some of the world's monarchs.
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