‘Exceptionally rare’: 6-sheep chariot unearthed near mausoleum of China’s first emperor
- Previous first historical record of a 6-sheep chariot had come 400 years prior to this most recent discovery
- Chariot appears to be part of an ancient burial ritual
Archaeologists in China unearthed a group of chariots – including a rare “six-sheep” carriage – near the mausoleum of China’s first emperor Qin Shi Huang (r. 221-210BC) in northwest China’s Shaanxi province.
The sheep were likely part of a burial ritual, indicated by the fact that the animals were lined up in an organised fashion. While the chariot’s main body had deteriorated, evidence of tools used to draw a carriage remained on the sheep bones.
Jiang Wenxiao, the leader of the archaeological excavation project, said in the official announcement that the discovery was “exceptionally rare” in Chinese archaeology.
Horse and ox-drawn chariots were common in ancient China, so archaeologists often find those remains – including in this excavation.
However, historical records of sheep-drawn carriages are uncommon, so finding physical evidence of their existence represents a breakthrough.
This chariot was also far older than the first appearance of the six-sheep carriage in historical records.
Before the recent discovery, the oldest example of a six-sheep carriage came from descriptions of Emperor Wu (r. 266-290), the founder of the Jin dynasty (266-420), who would ride a sheep-drawn carriage every evening to take a tour of his palace complex.
The behaviour appears in an ancient sentence that says Emperor Wu was “seeking luck in a sheep carriage,” the first time a mention of a six-sheep carriage appeared in history until now, according to the official announcement.
At the current site, the archaeologists also unearthed a separate wooden chariot that was well-preserved and included an ornate wooden umbrella. It is believed to be the oldest known chariot of its kind.
The area is filled with horses and chariots that seem to be associated with burial traditions from the Qin dynasty (221-206BC). There is a wide variety of chariots in the surrounding area, and the number of horses per vehicle differs between locations.
The discovery will present an invaluable primary source for scientists researching ancient Chinese burial practices.
The tomb did not belong to Emperor Qin Shi Huang, and scientists are currently analysing it to determine to whom it belonged.
The six-sheep chariot is not the first rare artefact discovered in this particular tomb.
In 2020, researchers announced that they had found an ancient silver camel figurine at this exact location. It is the earliest known example of a camel ornament appearing in China. The camel artefact is important because it suggests China was trading with West Asia during the Qin dynasty.
Emperor Qin Shi Huang was the first leader to unify China and started the Qin dynasty. While scientists are confident that the mausoleum belonged to Emperor Qin Shi Huang, they have not yet discovered his actual burial chambers.
In 2021, the government funded a project to determine if cosmic rays could be used to find Qin Shi Huang’s resting place by pinpointing objects of cosmic origin that could be hidden in hard-to-find locations.
The Qin Shi Huang mausoleum is 70 times the size of the Forbidden City and is the largest known tomb ever built for a single individual in the history of humankind.
