Naked Figurines of Han Yangling

Some 40 kilometers away from the Emperor Qin Shihuang's mausoleum stands a huge mound. This is Han Yangling, tomb of the fourth emperor Liu Qi of the Western Han (206 B.C.-26 A.D.). 
  

Naked Figurines

Mysteries have accompanied the excavation work since the 1990s. Several thousand pottery figurines have been unearthed from the site. But, those human figurines, men and women, were all naked. About 60 centimeters high, they were painted in salmon pink with true-to-life features including genitals and bellybuttons. But, archeological workers couldn't find their arms.

When more warrior figurines were discovered, the answer was found. Traces of loricae and cloth were discovered on their surfaces, indicating those human figurines were once dressed in beautiful clothes or loricaes when they were buried. With mini-sized iron weaponry, the cavalrymen were riding wooden horses. The holes on the pottery figurines arms were used to fix in wooden arms making them movable as today's dolls. However, over the course of time, the clothes and wood arms decayed, leaving the figurines naked and armless.

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