A video grab from CCTV shows a military helmet discovered from site K9801
Posted on 12/21/2013 8:42:48 AM PST by SunkenCiv
According to a Tuesday report by China Central Television (CCTV), stone helmets and armor for both soldiers and horses have been discovered at the mausoleum of Emperor Qin, some 35 kilometers from Xi'an in Northwest China's Shaanxi Province.
Emperor Qin, or Qin Shihuang, first unified the Chinese territory in a centralized state as an absolute monarch in 221BC, and founded the Qin Dynasty.
About 700,000 workers toiled unceasingly until the emperor's death to construct his mausoleum, which has been inscribed in the UNESCO World Heritage List.
The most famous discovery from the mausoleum was the life-sized terracotta statues of warriors in 1974.
According to the CCTV report, archeologists predict that more than 6,000 sets of helmets and armor are buried under site K9801, which has recently been excavated, almost the same number as the Terracotta Warriors unearthed in the mausoleum's Pit 1, which opened to visitors in 1979.
The report said armor had been developed as early as the Qin Dynasty, according to historical records, but this is the first time that Qin armor was excavated.
(Excerpt) Read more at globaltimes.cn ...
A video grab from CCTV shows a military helmet discovered from site K9801
Looks like an early model diving bell...oops..they hadn’t invented glass yet..
I was wondering about that, thinking that all of our ancestors were really tough to wear rocks and battle. P.S. Please excuse punctuation.
Seems like using glass would be counterintuitive. Even safety glass conjures a visual of some poor warrior falling on his face in the heat of battle spitting out glass beads.
The whole thing was one big socialist make-work slave labor project.
Except for the socialist and make-work parts you're quite right. People always try to project the ideologies and policies of today into the distant past. They certainly don't fit into ancient China.
Socialism hadn't been invented, though tyranny and totalitarianism had been. The Qin were big on Legalism, an extraordinarily harsh philosophy of government.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legalism_(Chinese_philosophy)
Sometimes harshness is counter-productive. The story of how the eventual founder (Liu Bang) of the Han dynasty (successor to the Qin) rebelled is instructive.
He was leading a group of 20 or so men from his village to the site they'd been ordered to for the corvee. Had to be there by a certain date. Delayed by floods, couldn't make it.
Liu Bang called the men together, asked what the penalty was for being late. "Death," they replied.
So what is the penalty for rebellion? Also death. A little thought and Liu had the kernel of his army.
At least they had jobs.
Socialism is merely a modern pretext for the same old despotism that has been around for a long, long time. But I guess I’ll go back to putting in the /s tag again. :(
Nothing much has changed in a couple of thousand years. It’s always the choice between protection and situational awareness.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
