Since Qin Shihuang 13 years old ascended the throne, he began to build a large luxury mausoleum in Lishan. Elite craftsmen from all over the country participated in this huge project and recruited 720,000 people to participate in the construction of the mausoleum.
The Terracotta Warriors and Horses in Qin Shihuang's Mausoleum are known as "the eighth wonder of the world". Each pottery figurine has a unique style and different weapons. In fact, the scale of the Terracotta Warriors and Horses of the Qin Shihuang Mausoleum far exceeds everyone's imagination, which can be seen from its construction time: the Qin Shihuang Mausoleum was built in 246 BC and the construction time was as long as 37 years.
It is generally believed that farmers in Xiyang village of Lintong began to dig wells between 65438 and 0974. However, archaeological excavations show that there have been many opportunities in previous historical periods, and people have encountered different forms of terracotta warriors and horses fragments. Some archaeologists spliced these pottery pieces into terracotta warriors and realized that this was the army buried with the mausoleum of the First Qin Emperor, and this was the real discovery of terracotta warriors and horses.
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Martyrdom is a cruel and barbaric funeral system that germinated with the disintegration of primitive public ownership and prevailed until slavery was established? [9]。 The most prosperous era of human martyrdom was the Yin and Shang Dynasties, and there were martyrdom in the tombs of nobles in Shang Dynasty. In the Gong Ling area of Anyang Yin Ruins, more than 5,000 people have been martyred in more than a dozen tombs that have been excavated. ?
The Zhou Dynasty drew lessons from the tyranny of the Shang Dynasty and emphasized "Mingde Bao Min". The birth and implementation of Zhou Li greatly suppressed the phenomenon of martyrdom, but it was not eradicated. During the Spring and Autumn Period, countries competed for hegemony, the times were turbulent, and others were killed. During the Warring States period, the vassal states abolished the system of human sacrifice. In the first year (384 BC), Qin officially abolished the system of human sacrifice.
Social changes in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period prompted changes in burial customs, and human sacrifices appeared, that is, pottery figurines and wooden figurines replaced human sacrifices. The original meaning of "figurines" is human sacrifice. When human martyrdom gradually faded out of people's field of vision, "figurines" became proper terms for pottery sculptures, stone carvings and portraits in tombs.
The Terracotta Warriors and Horses in Qin Dynasty are typical and the peak of human sacrifice figurines. The reason why the Terracotta Warriors and Horses reached such a high level in scale and fidelity was not only the wisdom of craftsmen, but also the will of the first feudal emperor Qin Shihuang in history.
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