Ancient scale armor unearthed shows Han Dynasty's artistry, technology

A set of scale armor dating back to the Western Han Dynasty (206BC-AD25) was recently found in the tomb of Liu He, the Marquis of Haihun. Known as "fish-scale" armor due to its layers of scales, its smallest piece is 1 centimeter wide and about 0.2 centimeters thick. 

Following a preliminary restoration study, experts said that the armor was crafted using iron, bronze and leather materials that had been lacquered. This detail indicates that the technology used in armor-making during the Han Dynasty period had achieved a very high level of excellence, the Xinhua News Agency reported on Saturday. 

Yang Jun, a research fellow from the Jiangxi Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, told Xinhua that these armor pieces were found in the tomb of Liu He in the western part of the outer coffin, where weaponry was installed. 

Bai Rongjin, a research fellow with the Institute of Archaeology, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times that "the smallest armor piece was only 1 centimeter wide and 0.2 centimeters thick."

Bai, who has worked in armor restoration for more than five decades, said that scale armor has mostly been unearthed from tombs dating back to the Han Dynasty. 

Usually, armor pieces measure between 4-10 centimeters. Even the exquisite iron armor pieces unearthed from the Western Han (206 BC-25 AD) tombs of Prince Liu Sheng measure 2-3 centimeters in width. The presence of smaller armor pieces indicates that more armor pieces were needed to make the armor and that the forging was more refined, explained Bai. 

He also analyzed the uniqueness of the materials and style of these armor pieces. In general, Han Dynasty armor was made of one single material, however, the scale armor found in the tomb of the Marquis of Haihun was made of iron, copper, and leather.

The discovery marks the first time that such a composite design from the Han Dynasty period has been found. 

Yang, who is the leader of the excavation team at the tomb of the Marquis of Haihun, said that the armor pieces were unearthed along with swords. 

Based on the traces of patent leather on site, it has been inferred that the items were packed in lacquer boxes. 

However, when the tomb was unearthed, archaeologists discovered that the lacquer boxes had rotted away, and the armor and swords appeared to have been piled up.

"The tomb is known to have survived earthquakes and rising groundwater levels caused by the intrusion of Poyang Lake, China's largest freshwater lake. The burial environment has left the armor pieces thin and fragile," explained Yang. 

The team decided to box up the cultural relics and carry out conservation research through laboratory archaeology. It took archaeologists two years to extract about 6,000 armor pieces from the boxes. After preliminary restoration research, the cultural conservation team were able to deduce that the armor had been crafted using lacquered materials.

Experts noted that given armor's importance on the battlefield, techniques in armor-making have been evolving for thousands of years. 

This new discovery has provided important research materials for archaeologists. 

Cao Long, a research fellow with the Shaanxi Academy of Archaeology, told the Global Times on Sunday that the discovery is very significant as the armor is very complete.

Cao is also the team leader of the Han tomb archaeological team. He suggested that "to further understand the distribution range for the armor pieces, technology such as X-rays could be leveraged." 

He said that a key question to answer during restoration is how the armor pieces were weaved together. 

"After all, the armor from the Qin Dynasty [221BC-206BC] turned out to use opposite patterns from the Han Dynasty in the upper and lower parts of the armor," said Cao.