Tan Thuy Hoang's terracotta army made from 2 places

Warriors and horses in the tomb of the famous Chinese emperor were made from different regions, the analysis of pollen on clay statues revealed it.

Terracotta army in the tomb of Tan Thuy Hoang.(Photo. ABConline)

The terracotta army with 8099 warriors and horses found in the grave in 1974 surprised the scientists. They were made with the intention of protecting the emperor's underworld, buried with him around 210 BC to 209 BC.

Now, at least one mystery about their origin has been elucidated.

When plants grow at the time of the Qin Dynasty 2000 years ago, pollen grains fly in the air and fall into clay. Ya-Qin Hu, head of research at the Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences and colleagues, squeezed debris from the terracotta army, washing and separating its components. The organic matter found was analyzed to find pollen.

The team found pollen on warriors mostly derived from herbaceous plants, while pollen taken from earth horses mainly came from woody plants such as pine, ginkgo.

This difference proved that the earth horses were built near the grave, while the warriors were made from a farther land.

These horses are very large (about 2 meters long) and heavy (nearly 200 kg) compared to warriors weighing only about 150 kg. They are also made more sophisticated with fragile legs. Scientists surmised that it was probably more intentional to build horses near the grave than to ease transport.

T. An