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Ancient Greeks May Have Influenced the Creation of China's Terracotta Army
Archaeologists have suggested that ancient Greeks may have been in contact with China nearly 1,500 years before the arrival of Marco Polo, and that Greek sculptors influenced the creation of the Terracotta Army:
China and the West were in contact more than 1,500 years before European explorer Marco Polo arrived in China, new findings suggest. Archaeologists say inspiration for the Terracotta Warriors, found at the Tomb of the First Emperor near today's Xian, may have come from Ancient Greece. They also say ancient Greek artisans could have been training locals there in the Third Century BC.
Polo's 13th Century journey to China was the first to be well-documented. However, Chinese historians recorded much earlier visits by people thought by some to have been emissaries from the Roman Empire during the Second and Third Centuries AD. "We now have evidence that close contact existed between the First Emperor's China and the West before the formal opening of the Silk Road. This is far earlier than we formerly thought," said Senior Archaeologist Li Xiuzhen, from the Emperor Qin Shi Huang's Mausoleum Site Museum.
[...] Farmers first discovered the 8,000 terracotta figures buried less than a mile from the tomb of China's first emperor Qin Shi Huang in 1974. However there was no tradition of building life-sized human statues in China before the tomb was created. Earlier statues were simple figurines about 20cm (7.9ins) in height. To explain how such an enormous change in skill and style could have happened, Dr Xiuzhen believes that influences must have come from outside China. "We now think the Terracotta Army, the Acrobats and the bronze sculptures found on site have been inspired by ancient Greek sculptures and art," she said.
Also at National Geographic.
Did Ancient Greeks Help Build China's Terracotta Army?
Greek sculptors may have helped carve the famous terracotta warriors that have for more than 2,000 years watched over the tomb of Qin Shi Huang, China's first emperor.
Historians and archeologists excavating the tomb surmise that the statues, which were unusual for the time period, were influenced by Greek sculpture, suggesting that East and West met much earlier than previously thought.
"We now think the Terracotta Army, the acrobats and the bronze sculptures found on site, have been inspired by ancient Greek sculptures and art," Li Xiuzhen, a senior archaeologist at the site, told the Guardian.
Not the sort of thing that senior scientists on the Chinese mainland usually suggest.
(Score: 0, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 24 2016, @09:03PM
In the 1970s, some folks thought that the people of Mesoamerica could not possibly have figured out how to build giant stone pyramids on their own and there just -had- to be a technology transfer from Egypt to the Western Hemisphere.
So, they tried to sail across the Atlantic in a boat they made out out of reeds. [wikipedia.org]
That did not go well.
Occam's razor suggests that maybe different human societies each have smart guys that figure out things on their own.
-- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 3, Informative) by Phoenix666 on Tuesday October 25 2016, @01:54AM
But, if you had read the wikipedia article you linked to, Heyerdahl's first attempt got within 100 miles of the Caribbean Islands before breaking up. But that was after it made it 4,000 miles. There was a second attempt with a slightly modified design that included a key element they had neglected from the pictures, and it did make the trip. Heyerdahl also did a similar voyage to prove that Egypt could have traded with the Indus Valley using ships made of reeds; they succeeded, and the ship was still seaworthy after 5 months. They burnt it as a protest against wars in the region in 1978.
So what actually happened is the opposite you intended, to say that it was impossible for ancient civilizations to have had real, ongoing contact with each other using the technology available to them at the time.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 25 2016, @03:45AM
The success or failure of the expedition wasn't meant to be a major argument in my comment.
I will note that they launched from Morocco, not Egypt, so there's that to factor in.
The biggest thing that affected their first try was that they saw a taut cord from the aft section to the mid section in the old images and thought that it was just for decoration, so they left it out.
...but mostly, I wanted to point out that this stuff reeks of White people thinking that the less White people's skin is, the more stupid they are.
-- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by PinkyGigglebrain on Tuesday October 25 2016, @10:23AM
So what about this one?
http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Ming-Dynasty-replica-junk-sails-across-Pacific-3265631.php [sfgate.com]
It went much better than the attempt you mentioned. Of course it only proved that it could be done, not that it actually happened in ancient times.
"Beware those who would deny you Knowledge, For in their hearts they dream themselves your Master."