How are the Terracotta Warriors made？ Listen to experts solve many puzzles.

Experts simulate the restoration of Qin Terracotta Warriors and understand the research and production technology and technology.

Details of simulated restoration of Terracotta Warriors and Horses

　　How are the tall terracotta warriors and horses shaped? How big a kiln does it take to fire clay figurines? Where does the clay for making pottery figurines come from? On October 11th, the reporter learned from the research group of Qin Terracotta Warriors’ production technology and process simulation restoration that experts have solved many puzzles of terracotta warriors’ production through simulation restoration.

　　Where does a lot of clay come from?

　　The statement of "using local materials" is a bit one-sided

　　This year marks the 45th anniversary of the discovery of Terracotta Warriors and Horses. The terracotta figures unearthed from the Mausoleum of the First Qin Emperor cover many types, such as the army, dancing, swearing and ceremonial ceremonies. It is possible to find that there are more than 10,000 pieces of pottery figurines, and making these life-size pottery figurines must require a lot of pottery clay, but where these clay come from has been a problem that has puzzled the academic community for many years.

　　Zhang Weixing, the leader of the research group on the simulation and restoration of Qin Terracotta Warriors and Horses, said: "According to the general theory of ancient pottery making, the clay used for pottery making is generally made from local materials. Traditionally, it is believed that the terracotta warriors and horses clay came from nearby areas, but whether the terracotta warriors and horses clay was taken from around their burial pits or from a concentrated area of the Qinling Mountains, because archaeology has not found large-scale traces of soil mining near the mausoleum area, it is impossible to get an exact scientific conclusion. "

　　Since last year, the research group has collected a lot of soil samples around the Qin Mausoleum by the method of simulated restoration, and found that no matter pure loess, loessial soil derived from loess, brown laterite or backfill soil in the rumored pit of terracotta warriors and horses, they can’t be directly made into clay figurines due to problems such as strength, hardness and adhesion, and the soil composition is not in good agreement with the composition of terracotta warriors and horses. Later, after repeated experiments, it was found that only the loam and brown laterite collected from the stratum of Qin Dynasty were prefabricated and mixed with about 20% sand to reach the standard of making clay adobe, and the composition of the fired pottery figurines was the closest to that of the real Qin figurines.

　　Zhang Weixing believes that the construction of the Mausoleum of the First Qin Emperor has strict organization and planning. When making clay figurines on a large scale, the selection and preparation of soil must be a large-scale professional behavior of national professional institutions, and it is very likely that the craftsmen who collect soil in a unified way, store it in a centralized way and then distribute it to the government for unified production. Each craftsman and his team choose different admixture and production technology according to the pottery figurines they need to produce. Imagine that it is not impossible for this systematic national project to uniformly allocate a large amount of clay from Xianyang area or even the wider Guanzhong area and even the whole country.

　　Although the source of a large number of clay has not been completely determined, the research group is sure that the past statement of "using local materials" is a bit one-sided. Zhang Weixing said: "The research on the source of clay should stand at the height of national engineering and expand the scope of research."

　　Are the Terracotta Warriors made by foreigners?

　　It is a fine sculpture of Qin people.

　　Because of its highly realistic production skills, the Terracotta Warriors and Horses are in sharp contrast with the way that the pottery figurines of other dynasties in ancient China are more expressive. Therefore, experts at home and abroad have suggested that the shaping of Terracotta Warriors and Horses may draw lessons from foreign sculpture techniques, and there are even legends that Terracotta Warriors and Horses are made by foreigners. In this regard, the conclusion given by the research group after research is — — The Terracotta Warriors and Horses used the traditional crafts of China, and it was a fine sculpture of the Qin people themselves.

　　Sun Wei, a member of the research group, graduated from the Sculpture Department of Xi ‘an Academy of Fine Arts and has many years of experience in sculpture production. However, in this simulation restoration study, his past professional knowledge was subverted again and again. He said: "Western sculptures and our modern sculptures, when making such large-scale works, should put up shelves to support the center of gravity and outline of the large-scale works. But the terracotta warriors and horses are hollow, and no traces of shelves have been found at all. How was it molded? "

　　This problem puzzled Sun Wei for a long time, until one day, he found fingerprints and traces of clay strips on a piece of terracotta warriors and horses that had not been repaired, so he tried to simulate the terracotta warriors and horses by using the clay strips used in pottery making in Shang and Zhou Dynasties in China. After prefabrication, repeated beating and mud awakening, the selected clay was rubbed into mud strips slightly thicker than the thumb by Sun Wei, and slowly rolled up one by one, because he had to constantly adjust the center of gravity and reinforce the mud strips. At first, he could only roll 40 cm high a day.

　　"It is difficult to find the center of gravity. In the Shang and Zhou Dynasties, pottery made by this method was limited to small round or square vessels, but if the center of gravity was not found, it would collapse." Sun Wei said. In the process of finding the center of gravity of pottery figurines, Sun Wei found that the best way to use it was to imitate the posture of the figurines. Where the center of gravity of the human body is, the center of gravity of the figurines is there. Later, he built six terracotta warriors and horses in different shapes by using the method of clay strips. Many fingerprints that appeared in different positions in the terracotta warriors and horses in the past represented what they meant, and they were suddenly enlightened by finding the right production method.

　　"Experiments have proved that those fingerprints actually have no special significance, that is, they were left behind by craftsmen who forgot or couldn’t reach the details at the end of production. The successful production of these six terracotta figures shows that Qin people had the ability and method to shape large-scale terracotta figures at that time. Terracotta Warriors and Horses were the fine sculptures of Chinese in the Qin Dynasty. " Sun Wei said.

　　How big a kiln does it take to burn terracotta warriors and horses?

　　The height of the inner diameter of the pottery kiln should be more than 2m.

　　Terracotta Warriors and Horses belong to large-scale sculpture-fired works of art, and the basic process of making Terracotta Warriors and Horses is hand-molding, then firing in the kiln, and painting on the surface after the utensils are cooled down. The research group believes that the Terracotta Warriors and Horses are all local products in China in terms of production technology, materials and concepts. It not only inherited the tradition and technology of pottery making in the pre-Qin period, but also influenced the Han Dynasty and even later times.

　　The firing of terracotta warriors and horses should be different from that of traditional pottery and building components. However, for many years, the pottery kiln for firing terracotta warriors and horses has not been found in archaeology, which urges scholars to change their thinking and consider whether a large number of small pottery kilns can also complete the firing task.

　　Four of the six clay figurines made by the research group by simulating the Qin Dynasty process have been fired, and the effect is highly similar to that of Qin Terracotta Warriors. In the process of simulated firing, the research group found many kilns, but they couldn’t complete the task because they didn’t meet the firing conditions. Later, they found a slightly larger kiln, put four clay figurines in it and fired them together. At the high temperature of 1000℃, it took a whole week for these four clay figurines to become "real terracotta warriors and horses". Therefore, the research group determined that the temperature of firing terracotta warriors and horses should be around 1000℃, and the time should be at least one week, and the height of the inner diameter of the pottery kiln for firing terracotta warriors and horses should be at least 2 meters, so that the complete terracotta warriors and horses can be fired.

　　However, large-scale pottery kilns have not been found around Lintong. Where were these pottery figurines fired in the past? Zhang Weixing said: "This is very similar to where to borrow soil, so we think that the study of Terracotta Warriors and Horses should be broken ‘ Local materials and local firing ’ The traditional concept, put it in a larger perspective to consider. "

　　It is understood that the experiment of the research group is still in progress. In the next step, they will conduct a simulation experiment on painting and painting. Maybe the experts will find the answers one by one on the ratio of painting pigments, painting technology and mineral sources. (Text/Reporter Zhang Jia Figure/Reporter Zhang Yuming)