Abstract
At the heart of bureaucratic practice during Warring States and early Imperial China were regular, small acts of accountancy in which objects and people were marked so that their movements could be kept track of, their quality checked and their numbers marshalled. In the mausoleum complex of the Qin Shihuang (259-210 bc, the First Emperor of the Qin Dynasty), the longer texts and shorter inscribed marks found on the bronze weapons of the Terracotta Army are reasonably well known, and such information helps us to understand aspects of Qin craft organisation and logistics at this crucial period of Chinese state formation. This paper’s modest starting point is a study of two further, less well-known ink inscriptions found on crossbow triggers from Terracotta Army Pit 1. Using multispectral photography, digital microscopy and Raman analysis, we uncover evidence of further marks on the same two triggers that suggest a similar pattern of ‘matching’ marks as suggested by the incised evidence. We also identify the black substance used to make the marks as a soot-based ink. Spatial analysis of both the inked and incised trigger marks then provides wider context for how such marking practices amongst Qin bronze-workers may have operated.
Highlights
The marking of names, codes, numbers or abstract symbols on artefacts is a commonplace practice in many complex societies worldwide, whether such marks are motivated by a desire for artistic accreditation, piecework payment, manufacturing quality control, military accounting or by several other possible factors [1]
As a complement to the above results from multispectral photography, and alongside closer-range digital microscopy, Raman spectroscopy was performed with a Renishaw inVia Raman Microscope, using a 514 nm Nd:YAG laser for the full spectral range from 100 to 4500 cm−1
As a complement to the above results from multispectral photography, closer-range digital microscopy allowed us to confirm the presence of carbonaceous, black material in the locations identified as definite marks (Fig. 4a, b)
Summary
The marking of names, codes, numbers or abstract symbols on artefacts is a commonplace practice in many complex societies worldwide, whether such marks are motivated by a desire for artistic accreditation, piecework payment, manufacturing quality control, military accounting or by several other possible factors [1]. This paper takes as its modest starting point, a reinvestigation of two previously identified ink marks on bronze crossbow triggers from Terracotta Army Pit 1. In contrast to incised marks which are commonplace on a variety of weapons from the mausoleum [11, 12], ink marks have only very rarely been identified so far. Three black-painted marks have so far been identified on the over 200 crossbow triggers recovered from Pit 1 (with the characters Jia 甲 (1st of the ten Heavenly Stems notation), Wu 武 (martial) and Jiu 九 (the number nine), while a red-painted mark (Sigong, 寺工, referring to the Qin central workshop) has been found on a lance scabbard [12,13,14]. By applying a range of analytical techniques—multispectral photography, digital microscopy and Raman spectroscopy—we are able both to
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