Qin Stone Armor

In April 1998, archaeologists discovered a large burial pit about 200 meters southeast of the earthen mound of the tomb of Qin Shi Huang. With an area of 13,000 square meters, it was named as 9801 accompanying Burial Pit. At present, 87 collars of stone armor, 43 stone helmets and stone rein components have been unearthed in the 153 square meters of test excavations, among others. They are not armors for actual battle, but rather medieval objects for the burial of Qin Shi Huang.

This stone armor is very close to the shape of Qin Terracotta Army armor. Qin stone armor is divided into stone armor and stone helmet, the material is green-gray karstic limestone, fine texture and uniform color. The stone armor is composed of 612 small pieces, weighing about 18 kg. It is 75 cm long, 125 cm high at the top and bottom, and 43 cm wide at the left and right. It is composed of collar, shoulders, front and back body, waist, and left and right shoulders. The shape of the armor is rectangular, square, trapezoidal and fish scale. The surface of the nail is slightly bulging outward to form a certain curvature, and the nail is 3.5-10 cm long and 0.2-1.1 cm thick. Each edge has a round hole for piercing, and the edges and corners are polished smooth. The pieces of armor are made of flat copper wire with each other to form a complete armor. Most of the original copper wires are broken and decayed.

The height of the stone harness is 31.50 cm, and the surface of all the pieces has a slight outward curvature. There are round, equal trapezoid, tile, curved, pointed tail, and boot-shaped pieces, and they are divided into top and side pieces. This stone armor is composed of one top piece and 73 side pieces of different shapes, weighing about 3.2 kg. There are six layers from the top to the bottom. According to the principle of “the top piece presses the bottom piece and the front piece presses the back piece”, the lowermost layer of the armor is turned out and fits closely to the body with flat copper wire. The lowermost layer is turned out and fits closely to the body. The pieces on the face and jaw are also specially treated. When worn on the head, only a small area such as the eyes and nose are exposed. The other parts of the head are tightly wrapped, providing effective protection. The whole piece is opened and closed by a “T” shaped brass hook and clasp at the lower jaw. All the edges of the stomach piece and all the corners of the joints are carefully polished and well made. 

The armor pieces of Qin stone armor are all cut and polished from lapis lazuli. The armor pieces were designed in different shapes according to different parts of the body, including rectangular, square, isosceles trapezoid, round, mantle, arc, and pointed tail. Each piece has small square or round holes and is joined together with flat copper wire. The unstacked edges of the armor have a wiped edge to trim the armor, and the unstacked corners have wiped corners to make the stacks of armor fit each other more closely. These armors and suits of armor are beautifully formed and highly crafted. However, they were not actual combat equipment, but rather medieval weapons for the burial of Qin Shi Huang according to the concept of “death is like alive”.

We know that stone chips are easily chipped when drilling. To make armor pieces with an average thickness of 5mm and a drilling diameter of only 3.5mm is not an easy job even today by hand alone. Experimental data shows that it would take about a year to make one collar stone armor by hand, based on 8 hours of work per person per day for Qin people. So how much time and effort was spent on the manufacture of these stone armors? We cannot know so far.

The restoration of stone armor is also a very difficult challenge for archaeologists. In addition to exceptional patience, one must have excellent professional knowledge. Only with a good understanding of the history of armor development and ancient military history, it is possible to restore these armors to their original condition.

If the tomb of Qin Shi Huang is a temple of art with rich connotations, the discovery of the stone armor is a new door that opens the world of Qin weapons and equipment. Today, when we gaze at this stone armor again, it seems to us that the Qin people’s armor and bloodshed figure emerge again.