Horses in Qin mortuary practice: new insights from Emperor Qin Shihuang's mausoleum

Abstract

The horse played a crucial role in China through the first millennium BC, used both for military advantage and, through incorporation into elite burials, to express social status. Details of how horses were integrated into mortuary contexts during the Qin Empire, however, are poorly understood. Here, the authors present new zooarchaeological data for 24 horses from an accessory pit in Qin Shihuang's mausoleum, indicating that the horses chosen were tall, adult males. These findings provide insights into the selection criteria for animals to be included in the emperor's tomb and invite consideration of questions concerning horse breeds, husbandry practices, and the military and symbolic importance of horses in early imperial China.

Salt enrichment and its deterioration in earthen sites in Emperor Qin’s Mausoleum Site Museum, China

“…As indicated in Table 10, under controlled environmental conditions, the concentration of soluble salt ions can be reduced by more than 30%. According to the standards for museum environment control, 41,42 a suitable range of temperature and humidity and reducing their fluctuations can control the soil evaporation effectively, thus mitigating the enrichment degree of soluble salt ions and thus the development of salt damage to the soil.…”

“…By setting different boundary conditions, such as rainfall, evaporation capacity and potential transpiration rate of According to relevant standards of museum environment control 41,42 vegetation, scenarios of the preservation of earthen sites can be simulated. As shown in Table 8, the existing indoor preservation conditions and controlled environmental conditions were proposed in this study in order to evaluate the protective effect of the site under different conditions.…”

“…As indicated in Table 10, under controlled environmental conditions, the concentration of soluble salt ions can be reduced by more than 30%. According to the standards for museum environment control, 41,42 a suitable range of temperature and humidity and reducing their fluctuations can control the 2under controlled environmental conditions, (e) Ca 2+ under indoor preservation conditions, (f) Ca 2+ under controlled environmental conditions, (g) Na + under indoor preservation conditions and (h) Na + under controlled environmental conditions. soil evaporation effectively, thus mitigating the enrichment degree of soluble salt ions and thus the development of salt damage to the soil.…”