Editing Terracotta Army (section)

== Warrior figures ==

===Types and appearance===
[[File:I was impressed with the life-like expression (35300697030).jpg|thumb|left|upright|A terracotta general]]

==== The warriors ====
The terracotta figures are life-sized, typically ranging from {{convert|1.75|metre}} to about {{convert|2|m}} (the officers are typically taller). They vary in height, uniform, and hairstyle in accordance with their portrayed rank. Their faces appear to be different for each individual figure, scholars have identified 10 base facial forms which were then further developed to give each figure individuality in terms of facial morphology.<ref name="national geographic">{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TrPmZXt-wIEC&pg=PA27 |title=The Terra Cotta Warriors |publisher=National Geographic Museum |page=27 |access-date=29 March 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230329073020/https://books.google.com/books?id=TrPmZXt-wIEC&pg=PA27 |archive-date=29 March 2023 |url-status=live}}</ref> The figures are of these general types: armored [[infantry]]; unarmored infantry; [[cavalrymen]] who wear a pillbox hat; helmeted drivers of chariots with more armor protection; spear-carrying charioteers; kneeling crossbowmen or archers who are armored; standing archers who are not; as well as generals and other lower-ranking officers.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DbtrAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA110 |title=The Terracotta Warriors: The Secret Codes of the Emperor's Army |first=Maurice |last=Cotterell |publisher=Inner Traditions Bear and Company |date=June 2004 |isbn=978-1591430339 |pages=105–112 |access-date=29 March 2023 |archive-date=29 March 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230329073020/https://books.google.com/books?id=DbtrAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA110 |url-status=live }}</ref> There are, however, many variations in the uniforms within the ranks: for example, some may wear shin pads while others not; they may wear either long or short trousers, some of which may be padded; and their body armors vary depending on rank, function, and position in formation.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DbtrAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA103 |title=The Terracotta Warriors: The Secret Codes of the Emperor's Army |first=Maurice |last=Cotterell |publisher=Inner Traditions Bear and Company |date=June 2004 |isbn=978-1591430339 |pages=103–105 |access-date=29 March 2023 |archive-date=29 March 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230329073027/https://books.google.com/books?id=DbtrAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA103 |url-status=live }}</ref> There are also terracotta horses placed among the warrior figures.
{{multiple image|perrow=2|total_width=450|caption_align=center
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| image1   = Xi'an Terracotta Army coloured statuettes.jpg
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| footer=Figures with some of their natural coloring, and the pigments used on the Terracotta warriors
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Originally, the figures were painted with ground precious stones, intensely fired bones (white), pigments of [[iron oxide]] (dark red), [[cinnabar]] (red), [[malachite]] (green), [[azurite]] (blue), [[charcoal]] (black), [[Han purple and Han blue|cinnabar barium copper silicate mix]] (Chinese purple or Han purple), tree sap from a nearby source (more than likely from the [[Toxicodendron vernicifluum|Chinese lacquer tree]]) (brown),<ref name="azurite">{{cite magazine |last=Larmer |first=Brook |date=June 2012 |title=Terra-Cotta Warriors in Color |magazine=[[National Geographic]] |pages=74–87 |url=https://www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/2012/06/terra-cotta-warriors/ |url-access=subscription |access-date=10 December 2019 |archive-date=10 December 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191210122059/https://www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/2012/06/terra-cotta-warriors/ |url-status=dead }}</ref> and other colors including pink, lilac, red, white,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2010-09/09/content_11278335.htm |title=Terracotta army emerges in its true colors |work=[[China Daily]] |date=September 9, 2010 |last=lie |first=Ma |access-date=July 21, 2019 |archive-date=24 January 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200124003247/https://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2010-09/09/content_11278335.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> and one unidentified color.<ref name="azurite"/> The colored lacquer finish and individual facial features would have given the figures a realistic feel, with eyebrows and facial hair in black and the faces done in pink.<ref>{{cite book |title=Imperial Tombs of China |date=1995 |publisher=Lithograph Publishing Company |page=76}}</ref>

However, in [[Xi'an#Climate|Xi'an]]'s dry climate, much of the color coating would flake off in less than four minutes after removing the mud surrounding the army.<ref name="azurite"/>

====The acrobats====
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| image1   = Qin Terracotta Acrobat (9897907493).jpg
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| image2   = Qin acrobat, Pit K9901, Qin Mausoleum.jpg
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| footer=Two of the ''"[[The Acrobats|Acrobats]]"'' from pit K9901.<ref name="Acrobats"/>
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Excavations in Pit K9901 have uncovered in 1999 a series of associated terracotta sculptures that have been dubbed "''[[The Acrobats]]''", which have been remarked to display an advanced understanding of human anatomy.<ref name="DQ">{{cite journal |last1=Qingbo |first1=Duan |title=Sino-Western Cultural Exchange as Seen through the Archaeology of the First Emperor's Necropolis |journal=Journal of Chinese History |date=January 2023 |volume=7 |issue=1 |page=22 |doi=10.1017/jch.2022.25 |s2cid=251690411 |language=en |issn=2059-1632 |quote=Stimulated by his discovery of the terracotta entertainers at the necropolis, which display a style of sculpture unprecedented in East Asia, as well as by the internal steplike architecture embedded within the emperor’s tomb mound, Duan began to explore the influence of West Asian cultures on the Qin. He published some preliminary ideas on this topic in his 2011 monograph on the necropolis, but it was most fully explored in three articles published in successive issues of his university journal, Xibei daxue xuebao, in 2015 (translated here in their entirety).|doi-access=free }}</ref> The original function of these statues remains unclear, but they have been described as either potentially acrobat or dancer figures. The number of these figures uncovered thus far are relatively few compared to the more noted warrior figures, with the total discovered probably numbering a dozen. The figures are bare with the exception of a loincloth as dress. These figures are very vivid and less stereotypical than the soldiers, especially through the dynamic treatment of the musculature and bone joints.<ref name="DQ"/> Some of the men are very lean, while others have massive bodies. Several of them are shown in the process of moving or making gestures. These terracotta statues demonstrate an advanced mastery of the depiction of the shapes and proportions of the human body.<ref name="Acrobats">{{cite journal |last1=Nickel |first1=Lukas |title=The First Emperor and sculpture in China |journal=Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies |date=October 2013 |volume=76 |issue=3 |pages=422–427 |doi=10.1017/S0041977X13000487 |url=https://doi.org/10.1017/S0041977X13000487 |language=en |issn=0041-977X |quote=}}</ref>

Eleven of such figurines from Pit K9901 have since been subsequently unearthed with seven of them found in a degree of preservation that made them capable of being largely reconstructed from their fragment shards.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Chen |first=Yumin |date=November 2013 |title=Reflections on China's First Collection of Terracotta Acrobats (an exhibition review) |url=http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1470357213498175 |journal=Visual Communication |language=en |volume=12 |issue=4 |pages=497–502 |doi=10.1177/1470357213498175 |issn=1470-3572}}</ref>
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| footer = Terracotta Army General (Left), Mid-rank officer of the Terracotta Army in [[Xi'an]] (right)
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==== Speculations on possible influences ====
Since the time of their discovery, the figures have been noted for their exceptional stylistic realism and individualism, with assessments having found that no two figures share the exact same features.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=von Falkenhausen |first=Lothar |date=2008 |title=Action and Image in Early Chinese Art |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/44171471 |url-status=live |journal=Cahiers d'Extrême-Asie |volume=17 |pages=51–91 |doi=10.3406/asie.2008.1272 |issn=0766-1177 |jstor=44171471 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230130043011/https://www.jstor.org/stable/44171471 |archive-date=30 January 2023 |access-date=30 January 2023}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Chen |first=Yumin |date=2013 |title=Reflections on China's First Collection of Terracotta Acrobats (an exhibition review) |url=http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1470357213498175 |url-status=live |journal=Visual Communication |language=en |volume=12 |issue=4 |pages=497–502 |doi=10.1177/1470357213498175 |issn=1470-3572 |s2cid=147420437 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230130043016/https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1470357213498175 |archive-date=30 January 2023 |access-date=30 January 2023}}</ref> The earliest note on this aspect was that of 20th century art historian German Hafner who, in 1986, was the first to speculate on a possible [[Hellenistic]] link to these sculptures due to the unusual display of naturalism relative to general Qin era sculpture: "the art of the terracotta army originated from Western contact".<ref name="Duan">{{Cite journal |last=Qingbo |first=Duan |date=2022 |title=Sino-Western Cultural Exchange as Seen through the Archaeology of the First Emperor's Necropolis |journal=Journal of Chinese History 中國歷史學刊 |language=en |volume=7 |pages=21–72 |doi=10.1017/jch.2022.25 |issn=2059-1632 |s2cid=251690411 |quote=More than thirty-five years ago [1986], there was a European scholar (German Hafner, 1911–2008) who considered that the art of the terracotta army "originated from Western contact, originated from knowledge of Alexander the Great and the splendor of Greek art." Lukas Nickel of SOAS has put forward a similar proposition. |doi-access=free}}</ref> This idea was also generally supported by [[Duan Qingbo]], site chief archaeologist from 1998 to 2006, though noting that "the only thing" in extant archaeology which may hold a close similarity to the figures in terms of their artistic style is that of the later 1st century BCE Central Asian [[Khalchayan|Khalchayan statuary]].<ref name="Duan2">{{Cite journal |last=Qingbo |first=Duan |date=2022 |title=Sino-Western Cultural Exchange as Seen through the Archaeology of the First Emperor's Necropolis |journal=Journal of Chinese History 中國歷史學刊 |language=en |volume=7 |pages=21–72 |doi=10.1017/jch.2022.25 |issn=2059-1632 |s2cid=251690411 |quote=The only thing that closely matches the artistic style of the imperial Qin terracotta warriors is the head of a painted pottery figure unearthed in Uzbekistan (...) The way of assembling the head and body for this Kushan figure of a warrior (possibly Saka) was the same as that employed for the Qin terracotta warriors, in that they were fabricated separately, and then the head was inserted into the trunk of the figure. |doi-access=free}}</ref> Li Xiuzhen, senior site archaeologist,<ref>{{cite web |title=Dr Xiuzhen Li, School of Archaeology, University of Oxford |url=https://www.arch.ox.ac.uk/people/dr-xiuzhen-li-0 |website=www.arch.ox.ac.uk |language=en}}</ref> also acknowledged the possibility of Hellenistic influences, stating: "we now think the Terracotta Army, [[The Acrobats|the acrobats]] and the [[:File:2009 Bronze Goose from Qin Shihuang Terracotta Army Burial.jpg|bronze sculptures found on site]] were inspired by ancient Greek sculptures and art."<ref>{{cite web |date=12 October 2016 |title=Western contact with China began long before Marco Polo, experts say |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-37624943 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200316221530/https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-37624943 |archive-date=16 March 2020 |access-date=19 October 2023 |website=BBC News}}</ref> She later also asserted ultimate Chinese authorship: "the terracotta warriors may be inspired by Western culture, but were uniquely made by the Chinese."<ref name="han-sil">{{cite web |author1=Hanink, Johanna |author2=Silva, Felipe Rojas |date=20 November 2016 |title=Why China's Terracotta Warriors Are Stirring Controversy |url=https://www.livescience.com/56939-china-terracotta-warriors-stir-controversy.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200105042337/https://www.livescience.com/56939-china-terracotta-warriors-stir-controversy.html |archive-date=5 January 2020 |access-date=5 October 2017 |publisher=Live Science}} Originally published in {{cite news |last1=Hanink<!-- Associate Professor of Classics, Brown University --> |first1=Johanna |last2=Silva<!-- Assistant Professor of Archaeology and the Ancient World, Brown University --> |first2=Felipe Rojas |date=18 November 2016 |title=Why there's so much backlash to the theory that Greek art inspired China's Terracotta Army |url=https://theconversation.com/why-theres-so-much-backlash-to-the-theory-that-greek-art-inspired-chinas-terracotta-army-67488 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200914140156/https://theconversation.com/why-theres-so-much-backlash-to-the-theory-that-greek-art-inspired-chinas-terracotta-army-67488 |archive-date=14 September 2020 |access-date=22 February 2018 |work=The Conversation}}</ref>

Others have argued that such speculations rest on flawed and old Eurocentric ideas that assumed other civilizations were incapable of sophisticated artistry and thus foreign artistry must be seen through Western traditions, with site archaeologist Zhang Weixing stating that "there is no substantial evidence at all" for any such linkage.<ref name="han-sil" /> Raoul McLaughlin, an independent researcher on Roman trade, stated that there is no Greek influence on the Terracotta Army and emphasized the differences in artisanship, construction material, and symbology.<ref name="WHC">{{cite journal |last1=Bulla |first1=Patrick Michelle |date=October 2019 |title=The Qin Dynasty, the Hellenistic Empire, and the Art that May Connect Them: Why Exploring Cultural Connections Matters for Educators and Students of World History |url=https://worldhistoryconnected.press.uillinois.edu/16.3/forum_bulla.html |url-status=live |journal=World History Connected |volume=16 |issue=3 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230606084945/https://worldhistoryconnected.press.uillinois.edu/16.3/forum_bulla.html |archive-date=6 June 2023 |access-date=29 October 2023}}</ref> Darryl Wilkinson of [[Dartmouth College]] has instead argued that the Qin era display of sculptural naturalism, alongside that of the pre-Columbian [[Moche culture]] in Peru, indicate that "the Greeks did not invent naturalism" and that "sculptural naturalism is not the product of any one culture's civilizational 'genius.{{'"}}<ref>{{Citation |last=Wilkinson |first=Darryl |title=On the Ontological Significance of Naturalistic Art |date=2022 |work=Ancient Art Revisited |pages=47–66 |url=https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9781003131038-3/ontological-significance-naturalistic-art-darryl-wilkinson |access-date=2023-10-10 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231019071933/https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9781003131038-3/ontological-significance-naturalistic-art-darryl-wilkinson |archive-date=19 October 2023 |url-status=live |publisher=Routledge |doi=10.4324/9781003131038-3 |isbn=978-1-003-13103-8}}</ref>

===Construction===
[[File:Terracota Warriors - Guardians of China's First Emperor at the National Geographic Museum - 4116782456.jpg|thumb|upright=1.5|Construction of the terracotta statues: a modern diorama by the Mausoleum Site Museum.<ref>{{cite web |title=China's Terracotta Army: Exploring the Tomb Complex and Values... |url=https://learninglab.si.edu/collections/chinas-terracotta-army-exploring-the-tomb-complex-and-values-of-chinas-first-emperor/pA9gHHEwGyGpE7hx#r/293995 |website=Smithsonian Learning Lab |language=en |access-date=23 October 2023 |archive-date=8 December 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221208001634/https://learninglab.si.edu/collections/chinas-terracotta-army-exploring-the-tomb-complex-and-values-of-chinas-first-emperor/pA9gHHEwGyGpE7hx#r/293995 |url-status=live }}</ref>]]
The terracotta army figures were manufactured in workshops by government laborers and local craftsmen using local materials. Heads, arms, legs, and torsos were created separately and then assembled by [[luting]] the pieces together. When completed, the terracotta figures were placed in the pits in precise military formation according to rank and duty.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.upf.edu/materials/huma/central/abast/ledder.htm |title=A Magic Army for the Emperor |publisher=Upf.edu |date=1 October 1979 |access-date=3 December 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111128181533/http://www.upf.edu/materials/huma/central/abast/ledder.htm |archive-date=28 November 2011 |df=dmy-all}}</ref> In 2021, morphological studies have shown that there is a strong resemblance between the statues and that of the local region's modern inhabitants, which has led some scholars to theorize that the high level of stylistic realism stems from the figures being modelled on actual soldiers.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Hu |first1=Yungang |last2=Wang |first2=Jingyang |last3=Lan |first3=Dexing |date=2021-05-01 |title=Statistical analysis of the differences of head and face features between terracotta warriors and modern multi ethnic groups based on 3D information extraction |journal=IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science |volume=783 |issue=1 |pages=012096 |bibcode=2021E&ES..783a2096H |doi=10.1088/1755-1315/783/1/012096 |issn=1755-1307 |s2cid=235387759 |doi-access=free}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Hu |first1=Yungang |last2=Lan |first2=Desheng |last3=Wang |first3=Jingyang |last4=Hou |first4=Miaole |last5=Li |first5=Songnian |last6=Li |first6=Xiuzhen |last7=Zhu |first7=Lei |date=2022-03-21 |title=Measurement and analysis of facial features of terracotta warriors based on high-precision 3D point clouds |journal=Heritage Science |volume=10 |issue=1 |pages=40 |doi=10.1186/s40494-022-00662-0 |issn=2050-7445 |s2cid=247572024 |doi-access=free}}</ref> The faces were created using [[Molding (process)|molds]], and at least ten face molds may have been used.<ref name="national geographic" /> Clay was then added after assembly to provide individual facial features to make each figure appear different.{{sfn|Portal|2007|p=170}} It is believed that the warriors' legs were made in much the same way that terracotta drainage pipes were manufactured at the time. This would classify the process as [[assembly line]] production, with specific parts manufactured and assembled after being fired, as opposed to crafting a figure as one solid piece and subsequently firing it. In those times of tight imperial control, each workshop was required to inscribe its name on items produced to ensure quality control. This has aided modern historians in verifying which workshops were commandeered to make tiles and other mundane items for the terracotta army.

====Mass grave pit of the Necropolis workers====
A grave pit was discovered and excavated in 2003 with 121 skeletons retrieved which has been identified by scholars to be attributable to the site workers. The individuals have been assessed to be predominantly from the age range of 15 to 40 years old, with an average height of around 1.7 meters. Many studies have concentrated on analyzing these workers including craniometric as well as genetic studies, which were conducted to try to understand the workers' origins. According to [[Duan Qingbo]], lead archaeologist and Director of Excavations at the Mausoleum from 1998 to 2006, DNA analysis work on a group of 19 skeletons, in comparison with 33 contemporary Chinese individuals, showed that the workers and laborers analyzed exhibited a diverse range of ethnicities, traceable to that of both Han and minority ethnicities, with a particular concentration of individuals from southern China.<ref>{{Cite journal | author-link=Duan Qingbo |last=Qingbo |first=Duan |date=2022 |title=Sino-Western Cultural Exchange as Seen through the Archaeology of the First Emperor's Necropolis |journal=Journal of Chinese History 中國歷史學刊 |volume=7 |language=en |page=12 |doi=10.1017/jch.2022.25 |s2cid=251690411 |issn=2059-1632 |doi-access=free|quote=}}</ref>

=== Weaponry ===
[[File:Bronze jian of the Terracotta Army.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|Bronze ''[[jian]]'' sword]]
[[File:Terra Cotta Warriors, Guardians of China’s First Emperor.jpg|thumb|left|A bronze helmet unearthed from the site]]
[[File:Terra Cotta Warriors, Guardians of China’s First Emperor 1.jpg|thumb|left|A suit of armor unearthed from the site]]

Most of the figures originally held real weapons, which would have increased their realism. The majority of these weapons were looted shortly after the creation of the army or have rotted away. Despite this, over 40,000 bronze items of weaponry have been recovered, including swords, daggers, spears, lances, battle-axes, scimitars, shields, crossbows, and crossbow triggers. Most of the recovered items are arrowheads, which are usually found in bundles of 100 units.<ref name="lecture" /><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.travelchinaguide.com/attraction/shaanxi/xian/terra_cotta_army/weapon_1.htm |title=Exquisite Weaponry of Terra Cotta Army |publisher=Travelchinaguide.com |access-date=3 December 2011 |archive-date=2 March 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200302224541/https://www.travelchinaguide.com/attraction/shaanxi/xian/terra_cotta_army/weapon_1.htm |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |title=Making Weapons for the Terracotta Army |author=Marcos Martinón-Torres |author2=Xiuzhen Janice Li |author3=Andrew Bevan |author4=Yin Xia |author5=Zhao Kun |author6=Thilo Rehren |date=2011 |journal=Archaeology International |volume=13 |pages=65–75 |doi=10.5334/ai.1316 |doi-access=free}}</ref> Studies of these arrowheads suggest that they were produced by self-sufficient, autonomous workshops using a process referred to as ''cellular production'' or ''[[Toyotism]]''.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/chinese-terra-cotta-warriors-had-real-and-very-carefully-made-weapons/2012/11/26/999b9cb4-2840-11e2-b4e0-346287b7e56c_story.html |title=Chinese terra cotta warriors had real, and very carefully made, weapons |first=Jennifer |last=Pinkowski |date=26 November 2012 |newspaper=The Washington Post |access-date=19 October 2016 |archive-date=19 October 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161019150519/https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/chinese-terra-cotta-warriors-had-real-and-very-carefully-made-weapons/2012/11/26/999b9cb4-2840-11e2-b4e0-346287b7e56c_story.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Some weapons were coated with a 10–15 micrometer layer of [[chromium dioxide]] before burial that was believed to have protected them from any form of decay for the last 2200 years.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.chinatourguide.com/xian/terracotta_warriors_details.html |title=Terracotta Warriors (Terracotta Army) |publisher=China Tour Guide |access-date=28 July 2011 |archive-date=29 October 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191029054408/http://www.chinatourguide.com/xian/terracotta_warriors_details.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=K5PpAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA102 |title=China's imperial tombs and mausoleums |author=Zhewen Luo |year=1993 |publisher=Foreign Languages Press |isbn=978-7-119-01619-1 |access-date=28 June 2010 |page=102 |archive-date=29 March 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230329073021/https://books.google.com/books?id=K5PpAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA102 |url-status=live }}</ref> However, research in 2019 indicated that the chromium was merely contamination from nearby lacquer, not a means of protecting the weapons. The slightly alkaline pH and small particle size of the burial soil most likely preserved the weapons.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Martinón-Torres |first1=Marcos |display-authors=etal |title=Surface chromium on Terracotta Army bronze weapons is neither an ancient anti-rust treatment nor the reason for their good preservation |journal=Scientific Reports |date=4 April 2019 |volume=9 |issue=1 |pages=5289 |doi=10.1038/s41598-019-40613-7 |pmid=30948737 |pmc=6449376 |bibcode=2019NatSR...9.5289M}}</ref>

The swords contain an alloy of copper, tin, and other elements including nickel, magnesium, and cobalt.<ref>{{cite magazine |url=http://www.nationalgeographic.co.uk/terracottawarriors/assets/tcw-exhibition-eguide.pdf |title=Terracotta Warriors |year=2009 |magazine=National Geographic |access-date=28 July 2011}}{{dead link |date=December 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> Some carry inscriptions that date their manufacture to between 245 and 228 BCE, indicating that they were used before burial.<ref name="bm">{{cite web |url=https://www.britishmuseum.org/PDF/Teachers_resource_pack_30_8a.pdf |title=The First Emperor – China's Terracotta Army – Teacher's Resource Pack |publisher=British Museum |access-date=15 June 2017 |archive-date=15 December 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161215125655/http://www.britishmuseum.org/PDF/Teachers_resource_pack_30_8a.pdf |url-status=dead}}</ref>

===Precedents and legacy===
{{multiple image
|image1 = Funerary figurines from the mausoleum of Lu Wu, Prince of Liang.jpg
|caption1 = Han dynasty funerary terracotta from the mausoleum of the Prince of Liang.
|image2= Han Terracotta Warriors, Pit 1, Han Tomb of Liu Wu, King of Chu (10082899994).jpg
|caption2 = Han dynasty terracotta warriors of the Tomb of Liu Wu, King of Chu.}}
Only very few figurines are known from before the time of the terracotta army, so that the humanistic and animalistic style may have appeared dramatically new to their contemporaries.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Nickel |first1=Lukas |date=October 2013 |title=The First Emperor and sculpture in China |url=https://doi.org/10.1017/S0041977X13000487 |journal=Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies |language=en |volume=76 |issue=3 |pages=416–418 |doi=10.1017/S0041977X13000487 |issn=0041-977X |quote=From the centuries immediately preceding the Qin Dynasty again we know of only a few depictions of the human figure (...) figures of people and animals were very rare exceptions to the conventional imagery of the Zhou period (...) Depictions of the human figure were not a common part of the representational canon in China before the Qin Dynasty (...) In von Falkenhausen's words, "nothing in the archaeological record prepares one for the size, scale, and technically accomplished execution of the First Emperor's terracotta soldiers". For his contemporaries, the First Emperor's sculptures must have been something dramatically new.}}</ref> In extant archaeology, only rare and very small terracotta warrior figurines are known from the end of the [[Zhou dynasty]] in 4th-3rd century BCE, such as the ''[[Taerpo horserider]]'', the first known representation of a cavalryman in China, from a military tomb in the Taerpo cemetery near [[Xianyang]] ([[Qin (state)|Qin state]] of the [[Warring States period]]).<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Nickel |first1=Lukas |date=October 2013 |title=The First Emperor and sculpture in China |url=https://doi.org/10.1017/S0041977X13000487 |journal=Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies |language=en |volume=76 |issue=3 |pages=416–418 |doi=10.1017/S0041977X13000487 |issn=0041-977X |quote=In addition, there are the statuettes of two horse riders which came to light in a late fourth-century bc tomb in Taerpo 塔兒坡, Xianyang, Shaanxi, which are believed to be the earliest depiction of riders in China....}}</ref><ref name="MK">{{cite journal |last1=Khayutina |first1=Maria |date=Autumn 2013 |title=From wooden attendants to terracotta warriors |url=https://www.iias.asia/sites/iias/files/nwl_article/2019-05/IIAS_NL65_1213.pdf |url-status=live |journal=Bernisches Historisches Museum the Newsletter |volume=65 |page=2, Fig.4 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231022115230/https://www.iias.asia/sites/iias/files/nwl_article/2019-05/IIAS_NL65_1213.pdf |archive-date=22 October 2023 |access-date=22 October 2023 |quote=Other noteworthy terracotta figurines were found in 1995 in a 4th-3rd century BCE tomb in the Taerpo cemetery near Xianyang in Shaanxi Province, where the last Qin capital of the same name was located from 350 to 207 BCE. These are the earliest representations of cavalrymen in China discovered up to this day. One of this pair can now be seen at the exhibition in Bern (Fig. 4). A small, ca. 23 cm tall, figurine represents a man sitting on a settled horse. He stretches out his left hand, whereas his right hand points downwards. Holes pierced through both his fists suggest that he originally held the reins of his horse in one hand and a weapon in the other. The rider wears a short jacket, trousers and boots – elements of the typical outfit of the inhabitants of the Central Asian steppes. Trousers were first introduced in the early Chinese state of Zhao during the late 4th century BCE, as the Chinese started to learn horse riding from their nomadic neighbours. The state of Qin should have adopted the nomadic clothes about the same time. But the figurine from Taerpo also has some other features that may point to its foreign identity: a hood-like headgear with a flat wide crown framing his face and a high, pointed nose.}} Also in {{cite book |last1=Khayutina |first1=Maria |title=Qin: the eternal emperor and his terracotta warriors |date=2013 |publisher=Neue Zürcher Zeitung |isbn=978-3-03823-838-6 |edition=1. Aufl |location=Zürich |page=cat. no. 314}}</ref> The rider wears [[Central Asian]], [[Saka|Scythian]]-style clothing,<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Qingbo |first1=Duan |date=January 2023 |title=Sino-Western Cultural Exchange as Seen through the Archaeology of the First Emperor's Necropolis |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/3F6506262A9ED57C9DC3827EEAA6B230/S2059163222000251a.pdf/sino-western-cultural-exchange-as-seen-through-the-archaeology-of-the-first-emperors-necropolis.pdf |url-status=live |journal=Journal of Chinese History |volume=7 |issue=1 |page=26 Fig.1, 27 |doi=10.1017/jch.2022.25 |s2cid=251690411 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231022115226/https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/3F6506262A9ED57C9DC3827EEAA6B230/S2059163222000251a.pdf/sino-western-cultural-exchange-as-seen-through-the-archaeology-of-the-first-emperors-necropolis.pdf |archive-date=22 October 2023 |access-date=22 October 2023 |quote=In terms of formal characteristics and style of dress and adornment, the closest parallels to the Warring States-period Qin figurines are found in the Scythian culture. Wang Hui 王輝 has examined the exchanges between the cultures of the Yellow River valley and the Scythian culture of the steppe. During a 2007 exhibition on the Scythians in Berlin, there was a bronze hood on display labeled a "Kazakh military cap." This bronze hood and the clothing of the nomads in kneeling posture [also depicted in the exhibition] are very similar in form to those of the terracotta figurines from the late Warring States Qin-period tomb at the Taerpo site (see Figure 1). The style of the Scythian bronze horse figures and the saddle, bridle, and other accessories on their bodies are nearly identical to those seen on the Warring States-period Qin figurines and a similar type of artifact from the Ordos region, and they all date to the fifth to third centuries BCE.}}</ref> and his high pointed nose suggests he is a foreigner,<ref name="MK" /> but these early statuettes have been argued to lack the naturalistic and realistic quality of the Qin terracota army.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Nickel |first1=Lukas |date=October 2013 |title=The First Emperor and sculpture in China |url=https://doi.org/10.1017/S0041977X13000487 |journal=Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies |language=en |volume=76 |issue=3 |pages=416–421 |doi=10.1017/S0041977X13000487 |issn=0041-977X |quote=}}</ref>

The terracotta army left a legacy however, as funeral terracotta armies are known from later dynasties, although in a less stern and militaristic style, and with much smaller statuettes, such as the [[Western Han]] [[Yangjiawan terracotta army]] (195 BCE) or [[Yangling terracotta army]] (141 BCE).<ref>{{cite book |last1=Chong |first1=Alan |url=https://www.academia.edu/55217857 |title=Terracotta Warriors: The First Emperor and His Legacy |date=1 January 2011 |publisher=Asian Civilisations Museum |access-date=22 October 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231221093005/https://www.academia.edu/55217857 |archive-date=21 December 2023 |url-status=live}}</ref> The human-sized monumental style of the Qin emperor has thus been observed by scholars to be a relatively short-lived artistic phase which would not reappear until the 4-6th centuries CE with the onset of monumental [[Buddhist sculpture]] in China.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Qingbo |first1=Duan |author-link=Duan Qingbo |title=Persian and Greek Participation in the making of China's First Empire (Video timing: 45:00-47:00) |date=9 April 2019 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=ASy32tcsYbk&ab_channel=ChinaOnscreen |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231027041415/https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=ASy32tcsYbk&ab_channel=ChinaOnscreen |archive-date=27 October 2023 |access-date=25 October 2023 |publisher=Video of 2018 conference at UCLA |language=en}}</ref>