Lifting the Veil of the Mausoleum of Qin Shihuang
Ever
since the discovery of the underground terra-cotta army in
Xi'an in 1974, archaeologists have been baffled by a conundrum:
There is not a single civilian official among the 6,000-7,000
earthenware figurines unearthed from the grand underground
complex of Emperor Shihuang of the Qin Dynasty (known as Qin
Shihuang), a ruthless but efficient ruler who united China
and established a complete bureaucratic system during his
reign (221-206 BC).
After relentless exploration, archaeologists have finally
solved the mystery. They recently found a dozen terracotta
civilian officials in a burial pit at the southwestern corner
of the mausoleum of Qin Shihuang.
The mausoleum of Qin Shihuang was one of the grandest projects
in the world at the time. It consisted of imposing city walls
and palaces at ground level, and sprawling under?ground labyrinthine
palaces. Although the structures on the ground have long vanished
in conflagration, under?ground treasures have been constantly
discovered. Among the most glorious treasures is the terracotta
army, which was supposed to protect the emperor from disturbance.
Since early last year, large-scale explorations have been
conducted at the site of the mausoleum. In May last year,
archaeologists discovered a bur?ial pit under an orchard in
the south?western corner of the mausoleum. After two months
of excavation, the basic structure of the pit was revealed.
The pit is a 144-square-meter earth-and-wood underground chamber,
con?sisting of a front and back chamber and a sloping pass.
With wooden walls, floors and beds, the front cham?ber has
a 4-meter-long and 2.9-meter-wide room at its south, and the
back chamber is a rectangle 20.6 meter long and 3.8 meter
wide.
Painted earthenware figurines and skeletons of horses were
found in the two chambers. In the beginning, archaeologists
presumed the pit was merely a stable where the emperor's horses
were kept. As for the figurines, they were believed to be
stablemen.
Yet this assumption didn't hold out as the excavation and
research went on. According to the Book of 
Rites,
ancient people considered the southwest a place where noble
or senior people resided. Among the 12 earthenware figurines
that have been excavated, eight stand 1.89 meters high. All
are in long robes and pants, and they also wear long, flat
official caps, with their hands tucked in their sleeves. Their
faces have a variety of expressions, some are apprehensive,
some are happy, some are angry and others are placid. The
other four fig?ures stand 1.90 meters high, and also wear
long, flat official caps. Dressed in tight outfits, these
four all look for?ward with their arms stretching out?wards,
holding reins.
Although these figurines are dressed in a similar way to the
terra?cotta warriors, they all wear single or double-board
long official caps, which were considered symbols of aristo?crats.
Among the terracotta warriors, however, only a few wear official
caps. In ancient China, caps of differ?ent color, quality
and shape represent?ed different ranks. In accordance with
the hierarchical system of the Qin Dynasty, these figurines
wearing long official caps should be high-ranking officials.
What is most unusual is that the eight figurines with hands
tucking inside sleeves are civilian officials, which have
not been seen before.
Archaeologists discovered that, without exception, the civilian
offi?cials have oval-shaped holes between their left arms
and their chests, which experts believe must be where bam?boo
slips and other materials used for writing were put. In addition,
under their right armpits hang earthenware razors and whetstones,
probably for cutting and erasing writings. All these officials
are in a standing position, seemingly awaiting orders from
their superior. Given this, experts conjured that the eight
figurines must be stand?ing on call in a certain government
agency, recording whatever orders were given by their superior.
So what type of government agency does the underground chamber
imitate? In the southern chamber, archaeologists discovered
four sharp-edged bronze tomahawks. In addition, they also
found, in the sleeves of two figurines, vertical rectangle-shaped
holes, which are probably for holding tomahawks. In ancient
China, the tomahawk was a symbol of supreme law enforcing
power sanctioned by the emperor. With the tomahawk, law enforcers
were able to behead the con?victed before reporting the case
to the emperor.
Given this, experts presume that the burial pit must be the
underground duplication of the "supreme court" in
the Qin Dynasty, and the eight civilian officials were in
charge of the day-to-day legal affairs of the state. Based
on this presumption, experts decided that the different burial
pits in and around the mausoleum of Qin Shihuang all represent
various government agencies.
Among the 12 earthenware fig?urines, one official standing
alone in the southern chamber looks special. He not only has
a hairstyle different from the other 11, but also has an office
of his own. Obviously he is the boss there, yet his double-board
offi?cial cap suggests he is, at the most, a boss of the department.
So where is the big boss, or the head of the "supreme
court"?
Such
questions may remain unan?swered forever, as the burial pit
had been previously looted. On the back of one figurine is
a hole obviously done by the impact of a hammer. This may
be a trace left behind by thieves trying to probe for treasure
inside the fig?urines. Usually there are many "objects"
in the office, but archaeologists have not yet found a single
one, even after combing the chamber several times.
Archaeologists have, so far, dis?covered about 180 burial
pits around the mausoleum of Qin Shihuang. All of them appear
to have been burnt, the same as the ground-level structures
of the mausoleum. The burning of the mausoleum has been a
controversial historical issue. While most people believe
Xiang Yu, the rival of Qin Shihuang, burnt it; others think
it was either self-ignition caused by methane gas seeping
from underground, or a burial ritual of the Qin Dynasty.
The excavation of the new burial pit, however, challenges
the assump?tion that the mausoleum had perished in fire, as
not a single trace of fire has been found in the pit. As the
only bur?ial pit that was not burnt, the under?ground chamber
still maintains its original structure.
Though spared from fire, the bur?ial pit has suffered from
flooding seven times, with seven layers of silt accumulating
in it. The water dam?aged paint on the earthenware fig?urines
and broke the skeletons of the horses apart. Experts estimate
that at least 20 slaughtered horses had been placed in the
back chamber.
Experts are yet to decide the exact significance of the burial
pit, but one thing is certain: The discovery of the pit will
inspire new hypothesis and new questions, thereby pushing
for?
ward research on both the mausoleum and the Qin Dynasty.