Discovering the Secrets of Emperor Qin's Mausoleum

when President Richard Nixon arrived in China in 1972 the world large new practically nothing about the secretive country his visit was intended to normalize relations with the closed Communist dictatorship helping the country open up to the world two years later an agricultural working party tasked with digging worlds in Xi'an Province uncovered a single life-sized terracotta statue of warrior they alerted the government's authorities and archaeologists duly arrived to preserve the artifact and determine if there were more nobody could have been prepared for what lay beneath the surface a massive necropolis the size of a small City and a mind-boggling collection of weapons Vehicles statutory and other artifacts including an estimated 8 000 more terracotta warriors just like the one those agricultural workers had found the discovery of the Terracotta Army as it came to be known and the massive Mausoleum associated with it arguably did more to bring China to the world's attention than Nixon's visit the mausoleum complex has been under archaeological investigation ever since and is a staggering piece of monumental architecture rivaling any other funery architecture known today and oh on which Continues Season after season to vastly enrich our knowledge of ancient China [Music] thank you arguably as devastating as the fall of the Roman Empire was the collapse of the Eastern Joe Dynasty in the 5th Century BCE unlike some later Chinese Empires the Joe Dynasty owes a more feudal affair with Myriad individual Warlords and city-states Loosely bound to the central Administration or when this Administration sees to function each Petty ruler established their own hegemony and declared independence from the Joe this left a catastrophic period of warfare which lasted more than 200 years wreaking Untold havoc on the people of China eventually these Petty rulers had through war and Conquest Consolidated into seven main kingdoms who developed a habit of building long defensive walls and practiced Universal conscription sometimes Fielding armies hundreds of thousands strong amidst these long grinding Wars of attrition oh where the primary aim became the destruction of enemy military capacity a kingdom called chin seems to have begun outstripping its rivals in terms of military Innovation racking up a string of Victories over the neighboring Kingdoms in 204 36 BCE a 13 year old boy called Ying Zhong suddenly became king of the chin the son of a lowly concubine who had shrewdly maneuvered her son into the first position through Machiavellian Court intrigued he was a surprising heir to the throne of the Warring States periods most rapidly Rising Kingdom he seemed to have been obsessed with the idea of eternal life and had already been commissioning searches for an elixir of immortality a search which would continue throughout his entire life and ironically be the cause of his premature death the moment he took the throne the new king who eventually took the name chin Shi Huang began planning the construction of his Mausoleum this isn't as crazy as it might sound prior to this period it was customary for Kings to be buried in elaborate Monumental tombs furnished with lavish grave goods and supplemented by sacrificial victims usually their favorite horses pets concubines and servants this meant that like the Egyptian pharaohs building work needed to start as early as possible as time went on human sacrifices became less usual and Kings would be buried with bronze ritual vessels and their favorite horses chinchi Huang appears to have commissioned the creation of clay figures to act as substitutes for sacrificial victims though bodies of both humans and animals have also been found in the Tomb by 221 BCE the chin Kingdom had defeated or forced into submission all the other states of China the direct dominance of most what we call China today is what earns chinchi Huang the title of first emperor as he was the first direct ruler of a unified China in its history during his Reign he standardized currency weights and measures commissioned the creation of China's incredibly clever written language which is universally comprehensible across the dialect began construction on the mother of all defensive walls the great wall and ordered the building of a network of roads and canals to connect his empire together along with developing his country however he also developed a serious case of paranoia now this wasn't entirely unjustified as there were multiple and continuous attempts on his life it did lead him to become one of the more murderous Emperors in Chinese history however a tendency which was probably exacerbated by mercury poisoning in his quest for an elixir of immortality he had become persuaded that taking Mercury pills would preserve his life of course rather than granting him everlasting life ingesting Mercury caused him debilitating pain and Sanity and ultimately death chin Shi Huang He died at the age of 49 and his dynasty collapsed a few short years afterwards one of the most important documentary sources for the Qin Dynasty is the court historian Shima chiung writing about a hundred years after the emperor's death care must be taken with his count however as he was working for the dynasty which defeated the chin and it was in his interest to portray chin Shi Huang as an inhuman monster it's therefore likely that some details have been exaggerated to serve this agenda having said that the 40-year long archaeological dig has confirmed much of chiang's account and the extent and magnificence of what's been uncovered in some cases exceeds his descriptions in fact the early discovery of the underground complex is rehabilitated Chang's history somewhat as did the 2017 discovery of a chin Court archive which seems to confirm much of his assessment of The Emperor's character plans for the mausoleum were originally smaller in scope with a tumulus and relatively modest Acropolis to be filled this was the custom at the time with bronze vessels everyday objects and sacrificial victims as the chin bar collapsed however the plan became more and more grandiose until at the peak of construction more than 700 000 workers were toiling at the site many of whom had never done anything else in their entire lives according to SEMA Chiang the central Mausoleum aligned precisely to the cardinal points and nearly 350 square meters is surrounded by a rectangular tamped Earth wall 10 meters thick inside this is an inner wall of the same thickness and both walls are equipped with Monumental Gates now lost the configuration is reminiscent of the outer and inner walls of the city of Shion young the Gin Capital at the time in the outer Court there are buildings for the conduct of ritual sacrifices some structures we still don't know the purpose of and a set of stables containing the remains of sacrificial animals within the Southeastern portion of the outer wall there's a cache of armor pieces made in stone bronze Birds terracotta figures and musicians and acrobats and the remains more sacrificial animals Shima Chien writes of thousands of Craftsmen and Artisans being drafted in many against their will which makes sense given the sheer number of statues figurines models Furniture Vehicles weapons and other accoutrement some historians have dismissed these accounts as exaggerations designed to paint the Emperor as they glorious Tyrant but the workers Cemetery outside the outer wall is crowded and the sheer volume of fines seems to back up this account an examination of the ears of terracotta warriors has found that each pair of ears in the sample group was unique and that they contained a level of variation matching a human population on top of this each of the thousands of terracotta warriors excavated so far Bears a Hallmark indicating which of the individual Craftsmen made it it's not possible to extrapolate how many Craftsmen there were from these marks alone but they do support the idea that the Terracotta Army was modeled from life or were very least hand modeled individually a process which would require a great many Artisans and that's for the Warriors alone there are many tens of thousands of visually crafted objects within the complex written accounts also tell us that all of these Artisans are was sealed inside the tomb as well as the structures on the surface a massive network of underground Chambers and corridors has been revealed by ground penetrating radar and excavation there is surveys the size of the Subterranean Acropolis at between 60 and 100 square kilometers its layout has been variously interpreted as being reminiscent of the capital XI and Yang or of the geography of the Qin empire in the northern part of the enclosure are 34 tombs for the emperor's Companions and the rest of the complex houses pits for animal sacrifices and the storage of grave goods and according to chian's account are replicas of towers temples and palaces to create the emperor's Central tomb quote the laborers dug through three Subterranean streams which they sealed off with bronze to construct the burial chamber end quote from Jan by the way magnetic anomaly scans of the chamber have revealed that Tam Turf retaining walls were constructed all around it presumably to protect it from being flooded as the water table in the area is quite High directly above the chamber is the tumulus which I was recorded as being more than a hundred meters high it currently stands at 54 meters and or we don't know if it's eroded or if it was unfinished or if Chan simply exaggerated or had the figure wrong either way thousands of tons of dirt over shoveled by hand create the tumulus a Monumental feat in itself once it was done an entire forest was planted to disguise the location the labor involved as with every other aspect of this Mausoleum is staggering [Music] it's possible that we'll never know what's in the central Chambers at the moment archaeologists don't have the technology to excavate the tumulus without destroying the Dooms and the fines within Shima Chan's account however provides a detailed description of its contents he says that the emperor's tomb is surrounded by rivers of liquid mercury the emperor's immortality elixir of choice fashioned to simulate the hundreds of rivers as well as the yellow and Yangtze rivers and the Sea into which they flow the Dome representing the firmament was supposed to be high metal beams above his resting place set with celestial bodies made from pearls and precious gems he also gives detailed descriptions of booby traps made with crossbows designed to shoot anyone who tries to enter the tomb the floor of the chamber was decorated with the map of the Empire so that xinji Huang could continue his rule in the afterlife much of this especially the rivers of mercury was viewed with suspicion by historians but probes inserted into the burial chamber of detected Mercury at more than a hundred dimes the normal levels which lend some Credence to this account and if Mercury's in there then the traps might be as well and archaeologists say there's every reason to believe that they'd be preserved in working order which I would make any dig not just dangerous to the monument but to the diggers as well over the last 40 years a great many test pit small scale exploratory excavations have been dug within one of these a 50 meter long pit was discovered containing two chariots correct in every detail but with all parts and fittings including the Chariots themselves made of bronze and at half scale the leading Chariot is canopied and manned by a crossbowman whereas the rear vehicle is in enclosed Carriage Man by a single driver this Convoy matches textual descriptions of The Emperor's travel Arrangements a common funerary practice of the time was to create objects called minchi which were painstaking replicas of functional objects but made with the wrong material it's possible that these bronze chariots were mingji but of the sets of stone armor found in the pit the east of the complex definitely were they are full-size pieces each scale link and plate made individually from Stone as if designed to be worn but in reality far too heavy to be used it's thought that stone was considered to be effective against evil spirits at the time and this may explain why these sets of armor were stored here the similar practice prevails in some Taoist funerals with elaborate grave goods made of paper being burned so that their Essence joins The Departed in heaven of course most famously there are the numerous pits containing the Terracotta Army interestingly Shima Chan makes no mention of this Warrior statues made from separate pieces and brightly colored with mineral paint are all individualized in terms of their facial features and hairstyle some scholars believe that the realism of these figures may be a sign of Greek influences as this was also the period of the seleucid the inheritors of Alexander the Great's Empire who spread Hellenistic art and culture throughout Asia at the time the Warriors are accompanied by horses and War chariots more than 40 000 weapons and pieces of equipment were found in the pits which have been excavated some of the swords were made from a rare 13 element alloy which has kept the blades pristine and sharp to this very day additionally a perfectly preserved and elegantly simple action for a repeating crossbow was found in the pits which has led some historians to hypothesize that Superior military technology may have been a factor in the rise of the Qing Kingdom the soldiers stand in a variety of battle orders which correspond to traduses on Military science of The Day The Chariot here Battalion for example consists of about 1300 men and is formed with archers and crossbowmen in the Vanguard and planking files the center is composed of infantry and War chariots and armored vehicles make up the rear guard this and other infantry and Cavalry formations match Warfare manuals preserved from the period one of the pits contains only 68 figures as opposed to the thousands in the others and these are thought to represent the Central Command Staff all military figures found standing thus far are placed in defensive trenches Facing East some Scholars speculate that as this was the direction where the Qin Empire's greatest threats existed the Army was made as a symbolic or spiritual defense against these threats this is sort of speculation however it's equally possible that the Eastern alignment has some religious significance the cardinal points having ritual importance throughout most of China's history a large pit in the western part of the enclosure containing the remains of hundreds of horses as well as many exotic species of deer and other animals are thought to have been the emperor's Zoo perhaps sacrificed and buried for his Amusement in the afterlife as well as this pit on the Eastern side yielded a multitude of figures representing entertain as such a strong and jugglers and acrobats along with these were spectacular heavy cauldrons thought to be props for a strong man exhibition as oh well there's a great many figures of birds in both clay and bronze at the time the ownership of private Parks large enough to accommodate water Birds was an important status symbol and it's possible that these figures together represent a pleasure Garden of this type other figures found in different areas of the compound are clearly scribes and officials meaning that the bureaucracy of the empire was also represented in the necropolis all this put together strongly suggests that similar to Egyptian funery practices the chin Mausoleum may have been designed as a complete venue in which the emperor could live out his afterlife this brought into note though that we have no textual evidence to help us understand the mentality or religion of the emperor and that any speculation that's took the tomb's purpose must remain just that speculation the laborers tombs outside and at some distance to the West revealed the brutality of the conditions during the construction project there are hundreds of graves many still marked with fragmentary clay tablets which bear the names of the dead and in the case of the prisoners air offenses and punishments the bones in these Graves show deep lacerations indicating they were either mutilated or executed the presence of women and children in these graveside similarly marked by violence May indicate that the chin practice punishing whole families for single offenses might have been an operation here [Music] a gray many bodies have been found over the course of the excavation with most of these being large groups of people apparently buried alive in underground Chambers these bodies match historical accounts of The Emperor's sudden death while traveling and the hurry closing off and filling in of the various underground Chambers sealing the workers inside to preserve the secrets of the Tomb more recently however human remains have been found which might support more of the historical accounts of the end of the first Emperor's Reign according to Shima Chan the Emperor died suddenly in his Carriage the enclosed one which seems to have been represented at half scale in his tomb the chief minister worried that an uprising might break out in the two months that it would take to get the body back to the capital and he strove to hide the death he confided in the emperor's youngest son ying huhai and a few trusted eunuchs and together They carried on a pretense of attending on a still-living Emperor they brought food and water to the sealed Carriage pretended to Harry messages back and forth and changed his clothes daily they also purchased a massive quantity of Abalone to be carried With A procession in order to hide the smell with this early notice of The Emperor's death who I was able to execute a bloody coup forging the emperor's signature on orders for his eldest brother and a senior military ally to commit suicide after he reached the capital who High sees control and ordered all of his siblings to be executed dismembered and buried in his father's tomb he also ordered all childless concubines to be executed to ensure that no rival successes would emerge in the future when these killings were done he instructed his men to finish the underground Chambers and tumulus and to seal all of the Craftsmen and laborers in his father's tomb while it's not conclusive a group of skeletons mostly male and all shot in the head at close range with crossbows maybe who hires unfortunate siblings they've been tentatively identified as such as the bodies were found with artifacts belonging to the royal family quite close to the central burial chamber about a hundred Dooms have been uncovered most of which appear to be empty outside these however a scattered body parts showing signs of fatal violence and Scattered gold coins gemstones and Pearls this is suggestive of Shan's account of the killing of concubines whom he said were driven deep into the tomb before the soldiers lost control of them and had to chase them down and murder them where they stood work continues but it seems like these latest finds further bear out the historical picture painted by Shima Chiang [Music] after killing all of his rival claimants it was not however capable of holding onto power in the face of widespread popular unrest and Rebellion chaos spread through the land and within three years of the first Emperor's death the chin armies are decimated by Zhong new Warriors from the Central Asian step what followed was a period of warfare known as the chuhan contention which would eventually end in the establishment of the famous Han Dynasty the chin Emperor is Mausoleum though still remembered a hundred years on in the writings of Shima Chien Court historian for the early hand dynasty was eventually forgotten as thousands of turbulent years of Chinese history passed chinchi huang's arrogant bid for eternal life and a reign of Ten Thousand Years yielded him only an early grave and an undying reputation for megalomania and cruelty along with being credited with the first and most lasting unification of China regardless of Chin's character and Legacy however his tomb stands as a stunning Testament to Chinese Imperial civilization still the largest most intricate single tomb complex in the world the mausoleum of Jin Huang is also a treasure Trove of information on a dynasty which short-lived as it was laid down some of the basic structures of pan-china stated which is present to this day [Music] [Music]

Channel: Megaprojects

Views: 384,255

Keywords: emperor’s army, chinese emperor, china’s megatomb revealed, world heritage site, history documentary, history video, the middle ages, emperor, discover, medieval history documentary, sculptures, warriors, middle ages, chinese history, ancient history, medieval history, ancient chinese history, terracotta army, china, explore, documentary, tomb

Id: eq6-VSHWEMw

Length: 19min 30sec (1170 seconds)

Published: Mon Feb 06 2023