In 1995 Chinese archaeologists excavated an ancient tomb of the Western Han Dynasty dating back some 22 hundred years in Xuzhou. Their excavation unveiled nearly 2,000 valuable pieces of cultural relics and about ten thousand remains of ancient scale armor, all severely rusted. The tomb, built inside Lion Hill in the east of Xuzhou, held the corpses of Liu Wu, the third king of the Chu Kingdom, and his wife. Liu Wu was the King of Chu from 174 to 154 BC, when he committed suicide after a failed rebellion.
When archaeologists found the iron pieces of armor scattered, they knew the tomb had been robbed. But the shattered armor was the most valuable historical relic, and the most precious cultural artifact of the tomb, as experts believe that Liu Wu wore the helmet and suit himself when directing troops on the battlefield. The scale armor was woven from iron pieces of various sizes which archaeologists have been sorting for the last three years. Ge Mingyu has participated in the restoration work and has this to say.
?The most difficult part was sorting and counting the iron scales, since there were so many of them. We name the armor the fish scale armor, because each of the scales is like a fish scale. Once we knew how many there were, they still needed to be categorized. The whole process took 3 years to finish. It was a huge amount of work, as rust had filled almost all the tiny eyes of the metal scales, and each one needed to be meticulously cleaned.?
The restored suit of armor is now a marvelous piece of artwork. It not only demonstrates the superb craftsmanship of the time, but also shows the surprisingly superior quality of the Han dynasty?s military equipment. Qiu Yongsheng, an archaeologist, says the scale armor was optimized for combat. The scale vest is a prime example.
?The invention of the scale vest is a milestone in armor engineering. The vest was strong enough to protect the soldier?s shoulders and torso, while allowing ample flexibility, as each little scale of iron could adapt to the soldier?s individual body movements. A scale vest could be composed of as many as 2,000 tiny scales, each pierced with 6 to 10 eyes, allowing them to be woven together.?
The Xuzhou excavation also revealed that the helmets contained steel, further evidence that 2,000 years ago, Chinese people were already skilled at making steel from iron.
(CRI August 15, 2002)
