The terracotta army, still only partially excavated, guards the mausoleum of Emperor Qin Shi Huang who died in 210 BC. #TombTuesday Photograph of the terracotta army. Hundreds of the figures s
The terracotta army might be the most famous part of the Emperor's tomb but he was also buried with replicas of many other parts of imperial life - including administrative offices, parks, stables, and more!

📷: Terracotta bureaucrats and chariot drivers found in an admin office
In one of these accessory pits, thought to represent one of the administrative offices of the Empire, even the remains of over 20 real horses were found!

📷: The horses being excavated
Research revealed these horses were, on average, 1.4 metres tall at the whithers making them even taller than the terracotta animals included in the army.

📷: Horses of the terracotta army / Sewel / CC BY-SA 3.0
Horses were prized in Qin society, so of course, the Emperor had to have the best ones - even in death.

Find out more in the original research (£) doi.org/10.15184/aqy.2…
The opening picture of the terracotta army by Jmhullot / CC BY 3.0

Bureaucrats by Aaron Zhu / CC BY-SA 3.0

• • •

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh
 

Keep Current with 🅰ntiquity Journal

🅰ntiquity Journal Profile picture

Stay in touch and get notified when new unrolls are available from this author!

Read all threads

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

PDF

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video
  1. Follow @ThreadReaderApp to mention us!

  2. From a Twitter thread mention us with a keyword "unroll"
@threadreaderapp unroll

Practice here first or read more on our help page!

More from @AntiquityJ

Aug 10
🆕: Researchers have identified the ingredients in chemistry formulae from an 2,300-year-old Chinese text, revealing ancient metallurgy was more complex than expected.

An #AntiquityThread (paper: buff.ly/3QgrdMP) 🧵1/11 Drawing of a furnace. One m...
The Kaogong ji was written in China in the 1st millennium BC. It's the oldest known technical encyclopedia, detailing items from swords to instruments and how to make them - including formulae for mixing bronze. 2/11

📷: Bronze weapons from around the time of the Kaogong ji Image
“These recipies were used in the largest bronze industry in Eurasia during this period,” said Dr @RuiliangLiu from the @britishmuseum “Attempts to reconstruct these processes have been made for more than a hundred years, but have failed.” 3/11
Read 11 tweets
Aug 8
It's International #CatDay! 🐈‍⬛

Here's a cheery feline decorating an >1000-year-old Late Paracas ceramic vessel from Peru. 🐈

🔗 from 2018 (🆓) buff.ly/35YLnUS A ceramic pot with a spout....
We've been obsessed with our kitty companions for millennia - people were buried with them (& foxes) during the #Neolithic in the eastern Meditteranean, around 7,000 BC!

🔗 from 2019 (🆓) buff.ly/2Pvm59I
📷: Neolithic burials with 🐈/🦊 Image
Cats are most famously associated with ancient Egypt, where they were kind of a big deal. Many deities were depicted with cat heads and mummified felines were given as votive offerings.

📷: Statuette of the cat-headed deity Bastet. From the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Image
Read 5 tweets
Jul 20
🆕: Archaeologists have identified a key fortress of the Parthian Empire, which ruled from Turkey to Pakistan ~2,000 years ago, that may be a lost city.

An #AntiquityThread (paper: buff.ly/3INUXO5) 1/ 🧵
The mountain fortress of Rabana-Merquly, in modern Iraqi Kurdistan, features four-kilometer-long defenses and two associated settlements. 2/10

📷: Location of Rabana-Merquly
Over the past 13 years, archaeologists from Germany and Iraq have been studying the site. They carried out excavations and fully mapped the site - something that could only be done with drones due to the mountainous terrain. 3/10

📷: Photo of the site taken from a drone
Read 10 tweets
Jul 20
This is an Inca observatory at Incahullo in Peru, with windows designed to track lunar and solar events.

~500 years after the observatory was used to track the moon, Neil Armstrong took his first small steps on it #OnThisDay in 1969. A circular stone structure in front of a hill in an arid lan
The light shining into the structure at sunset moves throughout the year, helping track the farming season.

Looking out the structure, the windows frame key events like the solstice and lunar standstill.
Historical records indicate the Inca capital, Cusco, had a similar observatory.

📸: European drawing of Cusco's main square. In the bottom right is a structure with similar windows, said to be where astronomical observations were made.
Read 4 tweets
Jul 19
Archaeologists found over 100 previously unknown settlements north of Hadrian's Wall from around the time of Roman occupation.

A #FestivalOfArchaeology thread 1/6 🧵 Landscape shot with Hadrian...
Thes settlements were found between #HadriansWall, built in AD 122, and the Antonine Wall, built around 20 years later when the Empire expanded further north for a brief period. 2/6

📷: The walls by NormanEinstein / CC BY-SA 3.0 Image
Recently, an analysis of lidar from the region around Burnswark hillfort revealed 134 new indigenous Iron Age settlements in the region, even though it had been extensively studied in the past. 3/6

📷: Known and newly identified sites Image
Read 6 tweets
Jul 19
This is an entire wooden tomb, from ~583 BC, being removed as a single 80-tonne block. #TombTuesday Image
The tomb was buried in waterlogged soil, so it was exceptionally well preserved. The large wooden structure was 4.6 × 3.8m.

📷: Composite image of the tomb. Labels mark wood type and radiocarbon dates obtained from the wood. Image
Inside was a female buried with an impressive collection of grave goods made from gold, jet, and amber.

A probable male was also found but had a much simpler set of jewellery - only a few bronze pieces.

📷: Golden earing, likely from the female's grave goods. Image
Read 4 tweets

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!


This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3/month or $30/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Don't want to be a Premium member but still want to support us?

Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal

Or Donate anonymously using crypto!

Ethereum

0xfe58350B80634f60Fa6Dc149a72b4DFbc17D341E copy

Bitcoin

3ATGMxNzCUFzxpMCHL5sWSt4DVtS8UqXpi copy

Thank you for your support!

Follow Us on Twitter!

:(