Geochemical Clues to Ancient Chinese Manufacturing and Supply Chain Management

Emperor Qin Shihuang’s Terracotta Army is an ancient ceramic assemblage of immense scale, importance, and world renown. It is thought that these approximately 8000 life‐sized ceramic soldiers and horses were installed in battle formation in several underground pits outside the tomb of the first emperor of China to protect him in the afterlife [1]. This impressive funerary assemblage has the potential to shed light on the planning and execution of large‐ scale building projects by the Qin Empire, including topics such as the division of labor, quality control, standardization, and logistics management.

The Terracotta Army’s cultural significance limits destructive analysis to small, context- less statue fragments. However, in material studies on ancient ceramics, context is crucial. Non-invasive techniques like portable X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy (pXRF) are used to characterize these statues in situ.

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