Dear Pam,
At the ICAZ 2002 in Durham there was an interesting presentation on the horses from the terracotta army. I am not sure if it is published somewhere. Here is the information from the conference's summary book. I suggest you contact the original author (I have included the email address that was valid in 2002 -- I am not sure if it is still correct).
Hope this might help.
Eric Olijdam,
Adriaan Butijnweg 1,
NL-4411 BT Rilland.
The Netherlands.
Visit my webpage on:
http://independent.academia.edu/EricOlijdam
YUAN, J. The horses of the mausoleum of the First Emperor of Qin in Shaanxi, China
Session: Equids in Time and Space
Abstract:
Qinshihuang was the first emperor of a unified China. He lived from 259-210 BC and was buried in a mausoleum 6 km east of the Lintong area of Xi'an City in Shaanxi. Surrounding the burial mound are various pits containing objects to accompany the deceased. The excavations of grave good pit number 6 at the mausoleum has revealed one wooden chariot, 12 terracotta warriors and many horse bones. According to skeletal analysis of the horse assemblage, we can confirm that the minimum number of individuals (MNI) is nine, all of which were interned in the pit after first being killed. After measurement and calibration we have determined that the average horse body length was about 206 cm, the average height of the head was approximately 165 cm and the average height at the shoulders was close to 132 cm. The forelimbs were 77 cm long and the rear limbs were 82 cm long on average. All of the individuals represented were more than ten years in age. There are three maxilla that are sufficiently well preserved to confirm whether or not the horses had canines -- all had canines present (suggesting they were non-castrated, adult males). There are six mandibles from which a similar confirmation can be made and in five of these six cases canines are found; one was lacking canines. Of the four pelvic bones that were discovered, all of them demonstrate characteristics that are consistent with those of male horses. Taken together, this evidence suggests that most, if not all, of the horses placed within this context were male horses. All of the terracotta and bronze horses found in grave good pit number 1 and in the bronze chariot pit at the Qinshihuan Mausoleum were horses that pulled chariots. We can clearly see that these horses all had penises but did not have testicles, and were therefore all depicted as castrated. This is certainly the earliest definitive evidence we have of castration in China - dating to at least 2210 years ago. Additionally, the genitalia of the horses for riding -- discovered in grave good pit number 2 at the mausoleum -- include not only penises,
but also testicles, which suggests that these types of horses were not depicted as castrated. This demonstrates that castration was used selectively for certain purposes. Possibly all horses used for pulling chariots were castrated, while war horses were left unneutered. Based on the comparison of terracotta horses, bronze horses and real horse remains from the pits accompanying the mausoleum of the first emperor of Qin, it appears that in terms of
evidence of genitalia, the terracotta horses and bronze horses are not consistent with the zooarchaeological evidence from horses that were actually used to pull chariots.
Keywords: China, pit, male horse, castrate
Jing Yuan,
Chinese Academy of Social Sciences,
Institute of Archaeology,
27 Wangfujing St.,
100710 Beijing, China.
Tel +86 10 84252197, Fax : +86 10 651355332
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