How did the Qin army, which swept away the six countries and ruled the world, line up its troops? How is the production process of Qinling terracotta figurines? The answers to these age-old mysteries have begun to surface in history. On January 12, the Shaanxi Provincial Cultural Relics Bureau released the important archaeological discoveries of Shaanxi in 2022, among which the archaeological excavation of the mausoleum of the First Emperor of Qin has made new gains, archaeologists carried out the third archaeological excavation of the large burial pit outside the mausoleum - Pit No. 1 for more than ten years, and more than 220 new terracotta figurines were found, and the arrangement of the military array was initially clarified, and the production process of the Qinling terracotta figurines was also clarified.
This is the general figurine found by the third archaeological excavation of Pit No. 1.
The third archaeological excavation of Pit No. 1 began in 2009, with an excavation area of about 430 square meters, and has so far cleaned more than 220 terracotta figurines, 16 pottery horses, 4 chariots, as well as horses, weapons, production tools, etc.
This is a painted figurine found by the third archaeological excavation of Pit No. 1.
According to Shen Maosheng, a researcher at the Mausoleum Museum of the First Emperor of Qin, the architectural structure of pit No. 1 is frame-type, and the technology is more primitive than that of the box-type burial pit, and it can be inferred that it was built earlier in the mausoleum. At the same time, this archaeological excavation also made a number of breakthroughs: clarifying the types and generies of weapons, clearing the first shield in the pit, confirming the functions of special figurines, and initially clarifying the arrangement of military formations. Shen Maosheng said that the archaeological excavation also clarified the process of making terracotta figurines: after the terracotta figurines are molded into large scales, they are first carved in detail, and then the arms are bonded.
This is the shield found by the third archaeological excavation of Pit One.
Qin Terracotta Army burial pit is a group of large burial pits outside the mausoleum of the First Emperor of Qin, of which the No. 1 pit is the largest in area, rectangular in plan, with a total area of 14,260 square meters, according to the arrangement density estimate, about 6,000 terracotta figurines and pottery horses can be unearthed after all excavations.