Iron scale armour from the mausoleum of China’s First Emperor and its wider context

Summary

This is an abstract from the "New materials and new insights for our understanding of the First Emperor's Mausoleum and early imperial China" session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

The excavation of a complete suit of iron armour from Tomb M1 (associated with the Mausoleum complex of China’s first Emperor Qin Shihuang), has an provided an opportunity to characterise this unique find and situate it within the broader context of the Qin empire and Eurasian technology. Though corroded, individual scales retained information related to basic morphology, surface texture, decoration, and microstructure as revealed by X-radiography and micro X-ray Fluorescence reveal scales covered in lacquer and painted with polychrome pigments. Optical and scanning electron microscopy combined with X-ray microanalysis indicate that the armour scales are comprised of heavily worked low carbon steels derived from decarburised cast iron. These findings show close stylistic alignment with armoured figures from the contemporary Terracotta Army East of the main complex, but also sharp technological contrast in choice of material. We consider this evidence in its capacity to shed new light on the transition from bronze to iron weapons in 3rd Century BCE China.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 90th Annual Meeting, Denver, CO (2025)   •
• New materials and new insights for our understanding of the First Emperor's Mausoleum and early imperial China

Keywords

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 51011