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The Guilfordian

The student news site of Guilford College

The Guilfordian

Pollen samples may be missing link to ancient Chinese kilns

The famous Terracotta Army ofthe first emperor Xin Shi Huang (panoramio.com)
The famous Terracotta Army ofthe first emperor Xin Shi Huang (panoramio.com)

The first emperor of China, Qin Shi Huang, marked the beginning of imperial China, a period that lasted from around 221 B.C.until 1912 with the fall of the Qing Dynasty. To many historians, Qin Shi Huang was a fearful emperor who never spent the night in the same room twice in a row and rode in two different carriages to confuse assassins. After all, three attempted assassinations were committed against him.

He was fearful even in death, with his 2,200-year-old tomb surrounded by a clay army of 8,000 soldiers, 300 horses and 200 chariots.

The making and origin of the weighty figurines of this Terracotta Army has stumped archaeologists for years.

However, recently discovered ancient pollen may help solve the mystery and lead scientists to the kilns where China’s Terracotta Army was made.

“When the plants were flowering in the time of the Qin Dynasty 2,000 years ago, the pollen flew in the air and fell in the clay, even if the pollen could not be seen with the naked eye,” lead author Ya-Qin Hu said to Discovery News.

Soils from different regions of the world contain distinct pollen types within the vegetation. According to The Journal of Archaeological Sciences, by using the “signature” pollen samples from the clay figures, researchers may be able to pinpoint where the Terracotta Army was sculpted.

After a team from the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing mixed crushed samples from a few figures and acid to break apart the different residues, they found 32 different types of pollen – a large amount.

They were able to recognize that the horses and the soldiers were made in different areas.

The terracotta horses’ pollen and soil came mainly from trees, which had a similar pollen signature found in soil samples around the emperor’s mausoleum; the pollen samples from the warriors were similar to herbaceous plants samples, according to BBC News.

Although there are several known ancient kilns around China, archaeologists are unable to pinpoint which of the kilns were used in the making of the Terracotta Army.

“One important step towards solving the mystery of where the clay army came from,” said Dr. Arlene Rosen from the Institute of Archaeology at University College London, U.K. However, she added, “Using pollen has its advantages and disadvantages.”

If the clay came from an area near a water source, the clay may contain pollen from many other sources due to the pollen washed up on shore from the water source. However, if the clay is from an older source than the Army is, it could help researchers understand the vegetation of ancient China.

Archeologists hope that with the newly found pollen signatures, they will have more sufficient evidence to one day find the exact location of the kilns used to create the 2,200-year-old statues.

If this research is successful, it will help future archaeologists.

“This work may open a new trail for archaeologists in regard to ancient terracotta or pottery,” said Ya-Qin Hu, the leader of the research project, to Beijing Review. “The pollen can tell us things we want to know.

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