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. 2016 Jun 2:6:26731.
doi: 10.1038/srep26731.

Tracing the locality of prisoners and workers at the Mausoleum of Qin Shi Huang: First Emperor of China (259-210 BC)

Ying Ma  1 , Benjamin T Fuller  2 , Weigang Sun  3 , Songmei Hu  3 , Liang Chen  4 , Yaowu Hu  2   5 , Michael P Richards  1   6
Affiliations

Tracing the locality of prisoners and workers at the Mausoleum of Qin Shi Huang: First Emperor of China (259-210 BC)

Ying Ma et al. Sci Rep. .

Abstract

The mausoleum complex of the First Emperor of China, Qin Shi Huang (259-210 BC), is one of the most famous and important archaeological sites in China, yet questions remain as to how it was constructed and by whom. Here we present isotopic results of individuals from the Liyi (n = 146) and Shanren sites (n = 14), both associated with the mausoleum complex. Those buried at Liyi represent the local workers/inhabitants of the Qin population, and the δ(13)C (-8.7 ± 1.5%) and δ(15)N (10.3 ± 0.7%) values indicate that they consumed predominately millet and/or domestic animals fed millet. In contrast, the Shanren individuals were prisoners forced to construct the mausoleum (found buried haphazardly in a mass grave and some in iron leg shackles), and their δ(13)C (-15.4 ± 2.9%) and δ(15)N (8.0 ± 0.6%) results indicate a more mixed C3/C4 diet, with possibly less domestic animals and more wild game protein consumed. This pattern of decreased millet consumption is also characteristic of archaeological sites from southern China, and possible evidence the Shanren prisoners originated from this region (possibly the ancient Chu state located in modern day Hubei Province and parts of Hunan and Anhui Provinces). Further, this finding is in agreement with historical sources and is supported by previous ancient DNA evidence that the mausoleum workers had diverse origins, with many genetically related to southern Chinese groups.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no competing financial interests.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
(a) Map of mainland China showing the location of the Shanren and Liyi sites in Shaanxi Province (shaded) and the additional archaeological sites mentioned in the text. Shaded circle represents an estimate of the original Chu state from which the mausoleum workers may have originated. (Map was created by the authors, Ying Ma and Weigang Sun, using MATLAB and CorelDRAW) (b) Picture showing the excavation of the mausoleum workers from the Shanren site. (c) Picture showing the burial of one of the Liyi individuals (Note: the bronze sword and ceramic pottery grave goods). (Pictures b and c were taken by the author, Weigang Sun).
Figure 2
Figure 2. Human and animal δ13C and δ15N results from the Liyi and Shanren sites.
Figure 3
Figure 3. Human δ13C and δ15N values (mean ± sd) from the Liyi and Shanren sites, and the previous published isotopic results from pre-Qin and Qin populations in north and south China.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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