Giving Terracotta Warriors a fighting chance

The original Terracotta Warrior, on which the replica on show is based, was unearthed from pit No 2 in the Qinshihuang Mausoleum. It is the only one with a green face and is highly valuable for archaeological research, according to deputy curator of the museum Zhou Ping.

Zhou said that to showcase the green-faced Terracotta Warrior - half-kneeling and painted in green and red - to the public, the museum came up with the idea of promoting a replica by utilizing achievements in archaeology, materials science, arts and crafts, as well as new digitalization technology, such as spectrum analysis, high-definition scanning and 3D printing.

She said that almost all original restored figures will be put back where they were in the tomb, but a few with well-preserved colors will be stored in laboratories and warehouses, among them the green-faced one.

To preserve the pigments on the Terracotta Warriors and Horses, experts at the museum now use polyethylene glycol, or PEG film, formed by electron beam irradiation to reinforce and secure the raw paint. Moreover, the full preservation chain starts as early as excavation, with equipment on-site analyzing the material composition.

Research findings also show that, the color Chinese purple, which is unique in the world, was found on the Qin Terracotta Warriors. Chinese experts have discovered that the color mainly consists of synthetic barium copper silicate pigments. There are a dozen more colors on the Qin Terracotta Warriors and Horses such as cinnabar red, azurite blue, malachite green and antique white. On top of this, the exhibition deals with matters beneath the surface.

Models of the manned submersible Shenhai Yongshi, or Deep Sea Warrior, and its carrier - China's scientific research vessel Tansuo 1 - for the exploration mission involving two ancient shipwrecks in the South China Sea, probably dating back to the middle of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), were also displayed.

"I think our ultimate goal is not to satisfy the archaeologists' curiosity, but to finally showcase the relics to society," said deputy director of National Centre for Archaeology Sun Jian at a forum related to the exhibition on Sept 26 in Chongqing.

A leading underwater archaeology expert in China, Sun shared thoughts on the underwater protection of individual cultural relics at the forum. He said it takes decades to excavate a shipwreck site, and with specially designed cutting-edge equipment and materials, it can be protected and restored underwater, under the Convention on the Protection of Underwater Cultural Heritage.