Building the Mausoleum of the First Qin Emperor: Preliminary Patterns from Building Elements in Four Ancillary Pits

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 First Qin Emperor's Mausoleum is invaluable for understanding the very first dynasty of Imperial China – the Qin Empire. Except for the well-known Terracotta Army pits, over 180 ancillary pits containing different objects with unique meanings have been discovered within the mausoleum. Excavations revealed many ancillary pits were burnt, transforming timbers into charcoal, yet this has not been systematically studied. In this study, we examined 681 charred wooden building elements from the Terracotta Army pits 1 and 2, the Stone Armour Pit (K9801), and the Acrobat Pit (K9901), including crossbeams, pillars, square timbers, floor panels, side planks, sills, etc. The building structures were exclusively constructed by coniferous wood, especially subalpine conifers, but no further correlations between the taxon composition and element type were found. However, the taxon composition for different pits shifts from Cupressaceae growing at lower elevations to subalpine conifers, which indicates a construction sequence progressing from K9801 to K9901 and then to the Terracotta Army pits. The results imply a significant anthropogenic impact on the timber source(s) even before the construction of these pits and also suggest timber supply from a relatively distant mountainous region rather than adjacent Mount Li, indicating sophisticated logistical planning and resource mobilisation.

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): 51007