Well well well look at this. For once in stereotypical archeological history an archeological find that "Is NOT" pseudo religious in nature, a temple, a ritual, an afterlife army, a boat to cross into the afterlife....whatever.

20 thousand years from now assuming it survives Hoover dam will not be a dam any more. It will have been an ancient sacrificial platform for the mythical Lake god "Mead" which was constructed by the high priest Hoover, known for his mystical sucking sounds and cleanliness.

How......Refreshing...Really.

S&F

The emperor may have commissioned his terracotta army not for his death and afterlife, but to decorate his palaces during his life. They probably lined the walls of his great halls, a paean to his vanity or ego, or some incessant desire to constantly immortalize his valiant warriors as artwork. Then he died. And the next emperor was like "Okaaay, so what exactly do we do with all these things? What about that big area behind the school no one uses, let's just stick 'em in a pit and bury them back there, and pretend this never happened..."

that makes more sense to me... because along with the soldiers there were ducks and other animals made with the same amount of detail.... so i vote for this guys idea... because if they were training dummies they would have been a standard to meet efficiency needs... the first emperor of china did more than unify the country he was also responsible for setting up a standard that china was lacking.... such as standardizing measurements, writing, and what not

I'm not buying it,the guy had a replica of the UNVERSE built into a mountain made out of jewels and MERCURY for crying out loud
to say that he wasn't egotistical enough to make a clay army is to miss the mark completely

if you're gonna have a dummy army it seems to me that you would make it out of something lighter and less unweildly than terra cotta ,not the most portable of substances. More like straw filled sacks like scarecrows

also if you are going to practice deploying armies you wouldn't use life size individually detailed terra cotta figures in the thousands, you would use black pebbles and white pebbles so to speak

it makes sense for a guy to build a terra cotta army if he is a crazy as this guy was ,remember he died because he drank some lethal substance in an attempt to find an elixer of immortality.

Originally posted by snowen20


How......Refreshing...Really.

S&F

Modern western man often forgets how enveloping religion once was - it controlled everyting and was part of every aspect of life - lots of places and cultures still like that on earth. Anthropologist have confirmed that and archaeologist tend to follow the historical example.

First I must say a most refreshing approach to a topic. This seems to be because no one has any preprogrammed absolute on the purpose of these and, as such, the discussion is full of great ideas.

I wonder why archeologists always seem to think an obsession with death is the reason for everything. Case in point, the Pyramids and the "death" chamber. It seems fairly clear that Tut - and irish bloke, moved in long after they were built and had no clue what they were really for, the death chamber thing is wrong but because those who saw it first can't think of any other reason, they assume that is it and then everyone one who comes along after has to PROVE that meme, a guessed meme, wrong.

I am amazed at those who contend that prior to 1500, everyone who looked to the sky was simply obsessed with movement, movement of things that had zero effect on their lives - planets, stars, star systems. In fact, in a great many cases the "obsession" was not about just knowing mercury goes this way and not that, but because leaving the planet was a daily occurrence until it was forbidden about 2000 years ago after the earth was quarantined. Knowing where planets were going to be was necessary for navigation.

I can say this from personal experience. I have done something that only I know what the true purpose is for. Now, or even 100 years into the future, not one single person will get it right - not one. So the idea that these folks are know it alls is funny.

As for our clay people. Back in the day an army was as much for show as for fighting. The pomp and display was theatrical stare down of who's army is bigger - some battles were one before they started by this effort. If we assume that the army he had would be better served to be bigger, it is possible the were made to create a larger army - in appearance, to the enemy. If the enemy was met out in the field, far enough away, the soldiers would look real. They were kept underground to give spies nothing to look at while not in use. In the absence of blow up plastic or Styrofoam, it would seem clay was it. It is also possible they were made by each soldier to look like himself, as a kind of way to pass the time, or even to add discipline - sailors mop the deck endlessly to have something to do.

I like a theorem that uses some common sense rather than always tie what they can't explain to afterlife & religio-mystical purposes. So, thumbs up.

Having said that, I wonder how feasible it was to move and position these things. How strong were the statues back in the day and how much do they weigh?

I also think the theory would fit the Chinese tactical mindset quite well. All of their hand-to-hand combat skills utilize some form of "dummie" as do their horseback/archery arts, so maybe the fellow is on to something.

Good one, OP.

I was hoping to get a member that had some good insight and/or knowledge of any Chinese finds related to possible ancient aliens and/or reasoning behind the Warriors-now with the new theory entered into the mix.

Since joining ATS, one thing I can say for sure I am for sure about.....

China's past holds keys to many of the questions we seek.

Makes sense. Good targets for projectiles at a distance. Could see what kind of damage weapons would have on a space group of soldiers. S&F

Originally posted by anon72
I was hoping to get a member that had some good insight and/or knowledge of any Chinese finds related to possible ancient aliens and/or reasoning behind the Warriors-now with the new theory entered into the mix.

Since joining ATS, one thing I can say for sure I am for sure about.....

China's past holds keys to many of the questions we seek.

I'm going with the idea that this tomb has no connection to AAH, seems pretty well recorded historically that the guy was megalomaniac ,and he conscripted the entire resources of his country and people to make this tomb . The world is full of extravagant tombs, nothing extraterrestrial unless there is space ship buried with him!

what is all over China is pyramids that are not to anyones knowledge tombs just google Chinese pyramids pretty weird stuff there

I'm also not quite convinced that they were used for 'training'. It just doesn't seem very practical. Though some parts of the army may have been mass-produced, it has very fine details as well.

Why waste man-power and hours on details when they're just training models?