Qin Shi Huang’s Terracotta Army is considered one of the greatest archaeological discoveries of the 20th century.
Speaking of Qin Shi Huang (259 BC-210 BC) – the first emperor in Chinese history – historians and archaeologists cannot help but mention the great underground wonder he left for later days inside. His huge mausoleum: Qin Shi Huang’s army of soldiers more than 8000 statues of baked clay.
More than 4 decades after the day the terracotta army was accidentally discovered, the brave soldiers of Qin Shi Huang are still one of the 5 most expensive, mysterious and attractive archaeological finds for Vietnam. researchers.
Here are the 5 greatest archaeological discoveries of the 20th century, invite readers to follow:
US Army Tan Thuy Hoang
Perhaps, people would hardly be able to admire the great underground wonder built from the time of 246 BC if not for a farmer in Shaanxi (China) who accidentally found the first statue. when he dug a well for water in 1974.
Since then, three large-scale archaeological excavations have discovered thousands more soldiers of baked clay and many weapons and horse statues. At that time, the historian knew that this army of nearly 100,000 soldiers was guarding the sleep of the emperor Qin Shi Huang.
What is surprising is that each soldier statue is life-sized, with different hairstyles, faces, ears, expressions and auras. The weapons are still sharp to this day.
As the emperor with great merit in building and perfecting the Great Wall, it is not surprising that Qin Shi Huang prepared his afterlife so thoughtfully. To build his tomb, he ordered more than 700,000 people to work day and night for nearly 40 years.
The scale and power of this mausoleum is fully demonstrated in this mausoleum: In the huge mausoleum of Qin Shi Huang is not only the terracotta army of 8000 statues and countless horses and weapons, but this underground wonder is also built. Built based on strict feng shui rules and sophisticated trap system – Punish anyone who dares to disrupt the emperor’s sleep.
The journal Archaeological Research in Asia, citing historical records of ancient astronomers, said: The Tomb of Qin Shi Huang was designed in a perfect north-south direction. This complex of tombs fully converges geographical and astronomical factors.
PHARAOH TUT .’s GOLD MASK
Egypt – the land of mysterious giant pyramids – has always been one of the names that attracts the most powerful archaeologists in the world.
Referring to Egypt, people quickly think of Giza, the pharaohs, the ultimate mummification and the mysteries buried for thousands of years under the superficial tombs in the hot desert. Among them, King Tut and his mysterious golden mask made historians constantly study and learn.
King Tutankhamun (King Tut) was an Egyptian Pharaoh of the 18th Dynasty, who reigned from 1332-1323 BC, during the New Kingdom period of Egyptian History.
The 11kg golden mask (replica of the king’s face) is the embalmed body of a young king who died in 1323 BC at the age of 19, after ruling for 10 years.
The solid gold base sparkles with lapis lazuli, turquoise and other semi-precious stones. The chin is adorned with a beard made of gold, and on the forehead is a vulture and a cobra, the gods together symbolizing the unification of Lower and Upper Egypt.
The mask reappeared in the modern world in 1922, when British archaeologist Howard Carter discovered King Tut’s nearly intact tomb in the Valley of the Kings, a vertical royal burial ground along the Nile in ancient Egypt.
Until now, many historians have not found the reason why Pharaoh Tutankhamun died so early. The fact that tomb robbers dig and ‘knock’ many parts of King Tut’s tomb area makes it difficult for researchers to reconstruct history thousands of years ago.
HUGE STONE HEAD
Referring to Mexico – the country of North America – many people think of the Teotihuacan valley where the most monumental pyramids of the Sun and Moon are located, representing the ancient architecture of the Americas – but forget the Olmec civilization. first in this country.
Rising from the swampy forests of the Gulf Coast of Mexico between 400 and 1400 BC, the Olmec civilization had an incredibly vibrant culture with 1-0-2 artifacts in the world. The most prominent of them all is the huge work of art they call the colossal stone head.
More than two millennia after the Olmec’s heyday, a farmer accidentally dug a giant rock head, revealing the great history of the ancient Mexicans.
This head statue is the first of 17 similar heads that have not been restored. They are said to be portraits of Olmec rulers.
The majestic statues are 1.5 to 3 meters tall, each weighing several tons. What this giant basalt artifact has in common is its almond-shaped eyes, flat nose, and plump lips. But the head statue carries a unique and different image, expression and headgear. Archaeologists think it was because the Olmecs wanted to express the faces of each ruler differently.
Made of basalt, but archaeologists discovered that most of the heads were located about 100 km from the basalt quarry. That is why, researchers have not been able to understand how the Olmecs were able to transport monoliths weighing nearly ten tons to the central square for carving and display.
THE DEATH SEA BOOK ONLY
In 1947, Muhammed ed-Dib, a nomadic Bedouin shepherd, went in search of a lost goat along the cliffs of the Dead Sea.
Unexpectedly, a farmer’s search for a lost goat opened the door to one of the greatest archaeological discoveries of the 20th century: In a narrow cave, Muhammed ed-Dib discovered discovered clay jars containing ancient scrolls written between 300 BC and 70 AD. They are part of the Dead Sea Scrolls – One of the greatest and most accomplished handwritten works in human history.
The Dead Sea Scrolls are a collection of 981 different records, dating back 2,000 years. About 230 of them transcribe stories from the Hebrew Bible or the Christian Old Testament. The rest contain other religious texts, such as prayers, hymns, and teachings.
Although the Dead Sea Scrolls are primarily written in Hebrew, historians have also found texts that are older than Hebrew, including several dialects of Aramaic, Greek, Latin, and Hebrew. Arabic.
Over the years, archaeologists have found more scrolls from 12 caves in the eastern Judaea Desert, present-day West Coast. Thanks to the right conditions, some of the scrolls remained intact, while the rest were mostly damaged, forming a repository of more than 25,000 pieces of parchment and papyrus.
The difficult puzzle for historians and archaeologists is how this surviving piece of paper lacks countless pieces to complete. In the future, the DNA method could be useful because many scrolls are made of animal skins.
From what can be read, researchers argue about the author set of the scroll. Some historians argue that the volumes came from many different sources, from many different authors; others attribute it all to a Jewish sect that lived near 12 caves in the first century AD.
Until now, the Dead Sea Scrolls still contain many questions that keep researchers searching for answers.
WILLENDORF WARRANTIES
Short, fat and almost 30,000 years old, the Venus of Willendorf is an Ice Age female icon. This 10 cm tall statue depicting a woman with breasts, buttocks, abdomen but no feet or facial features is one of the most important archaeological artefacts and artifacts of modern archaeology. grand.
Archaeologists found the figurine in 1908, about a week into excavations at Willendorf II, a site in Austria along the Danube, about 80 kilometers from Vienna. Archaeologists named this statue the Venus of Willendorf.
During the 1900s and 2000s a number of other excavations took place there that, thanks to increasingly improved methods, unearthed two Venus figurines and hundreds of stone tools.
Across Europe, nearly 200 similar statues have been unearthed with dates ranging from 23,000 to 40,000 years old.
Although modern scholars refer to these artifacts as Venus, after the Roman goddess of love and fertility, the sculptors actually lived as far back as ancient Rome. at least 20 millennia ago.
The question for archaeologists is: It is not clear why the people of the Ice Age carved these figurines? Researchers believe they are used as fertility symbols, self-portraits. Currently Venus of Willendorf is on display at the Natural History Museum in Vienna, Austria.
Source: Discover Magazine
