"After three years of research, we can now determine that the clay figurines of the Hanyang Mausoleum were indeed dressed in clothes, and the materials were cotton and linen and silk fabrics, while the armored warrior figurines had cowhide residues on their bodies. Zhao Jing, a second-level researcher and former vice president of the Yangling Museum of Emperor Hanjing, said.
The scientific and technological testing research report of the clothed terracotta figurines of Hanyang Mausoleum has been published
A few days ago, the "Micro Trace Decoding - Research Project Report on the Clothing of Hanyang Mausoleum Dressing Terracotta Costume Based on Micro Trace Detection" was published by the editor-in-chief of the Emperor Yangling Museum of Hanjing and published by Sanqin Publishing House. The book is the research result of the project "Scientific and Technological Detection and Research of Clothed Terracotta Figurines of Hanyang Mausoleum", which systematically introduces the experiment, detection and analysis process of how to apply biological and microbiological techniques to collect samples of residues from different parts of the surface of the Hanyang Mausoleum Clothed Terracotta Figurines, and preliminarily restores the garmented terracotta figurines with armored samurai figurines as an example according to the relevant experimental conclusions and combined with archaeological data and literature investigation.
On April 29, a reporter from Huashang Daily Gale News interviewed Zhao Jing, the project leader of this research, Zhao Jing, a second-level researcher and former vice president of the Yangling Museum of Emperor Hanjing.
"The difficulty is first of all sampling, and multidisciplinary and multidisciplinary exploration has been carried out"
Zhao Jing introduced that the Hanyang Mausoleum clothed terracotta figurines are different from the Qin figurines, the Qin figurines are made of dress-wearing figurines, and the Hanyang-Mausoleum dress-style terracotta figurines are first burned and then put on clothes on the figurines. Archaeologists have speculated that these nude figurines should have been dressed in clothes, but they were just decayed. But analysis and speculation are not conclusive after all, and convincing evidence must be produced to confirm it. The study began in 2019 and was delayed to 2022 due to the pandemic. Over the past three years, we have worked with our partners to use modern scientific and technological means and use a variety of technologies to carry out verification. ”
"The first challenge we encountered was sampling. Because the Hanyang Mausoleum has been excavated for many years, even the recently unearthed things have been more than ten years, some nude figurines have been displayed on the exhibition line for many years after being unearthed, the environment has undergone great changes, and the cultural relics management has gone through many work links, resulting in some modern substances attached to the terracotta figurines, so there are no sampling conditions. Therefore, we selected terracotta figurines in the cultural relics storehouse that have not been polluted by modern external substances for sampling, and the types of terracotta figurines selected include armor figurines, samurai figurines, and maid figurines. We cooperated with the Hangzhou Silk Museum to use enzyme-linked immunoglobulin detection (ELISA) for technical verification, and found that although the armor on some armored warrior figurines was missing, there were residues of cowhide substance molecules on their bodies. ”
"In order to avoid the shortcomings of single-discipline technology, we carry out multidisciplinary and multidisciplinary exploration, and cooperate with the School of Life Sciences of Northwest University to use a variety of biological techniques for detection, and apply morphological analysis, elemental analysis, stable isotope analysis, High-throughput sequencing analysis of microorganisms and the detection of cultureable microorganisms, combined with instrument testing and chemical analysis to detect the residues of Han figurines clothing, based on scientific research data, analyzed and judged that the material of Han figurines clothes is hemp and mulberry silk, and the conclusion is clear: these naked figurines did indeed have clothes, cotton and linen, and silk fabrics, and the armor of the warrior figurines should be made of cowhide. In addition, the nude figurines originally had arms, and the body and arms of the terracotta figurines were connected with wood, so there was a lot of carbon remaining. Some of the biological techniques used in this research work, such as microbiological testing, have not been done before. The development of the project has enriched and deepened the research on the dress-style terracotta figurines of the Han Dynasty. ”
"In the face of problems that cannot be solved by traditional archaeology, the application of science and technology is indispensable"
Zhao Jing said that the significance of this research work, in addition to figuring out whether these nude terracotta figurines are wearing clothes, has also brought some inspiration for the protection of cultural relics: for the cultural relics in the collection, it was generally believed that as long as they are kept without damage, this is a kind of protection. But in fact, this is only storage, not scientific and technological protection, because the connotation of many cultural relics is limited to the actual conditions and has not been revealed. Therefore, the scientific and technological protection of cultural relics is not only the preventive protection and restoration of cultural relics, but also the exploration and interpretation of the deep connotation of cultural relics. Problems that could not be solved in the past should be carried out in-depth scientific and technological research on the protection of cultural relics with new technologies, new means, and new methods. Moreover, many of the work of cultural relics protection can not be completed by a single discipline, it requires the participation of multiple or even a dozen or dozens of disciplines, and the cooperation and integration of multiple disciplines in cultural relics protection will inject strong support into the inheritance and sustainable development of cultural relics.
Huashang Daily Gale News reporter Ma Huzhen (courtesy of Emperor Yangling Museum of Hanjing)
Source: Huashang Net-Huashang Daily