In China, toy soldiers were found, which supposedly appeared at the very beginning of our era. Scientists have already given the find the code name "Miniature Terracotta Army". The toys were found in the Chinese province of Shandong by accident - during construction work. Now scientists suggest that the tomb of the imperial son should be located nearby.
Of course, this toy army is far from 8 thousand soldiers of the Terracotta Army. In total, about 500 artifacts were found at the excavation site - toy people, animals and buildings. Among them - chariots, infantrymen, cavalrymen, watchtowers - this is the army. Cavalry sculptures have a height of 62-67 cm, soldiers are proportionally lower - 22-30 cm. Chariots are a little more than a meter long, towers a little less than one and a half meters long.
As noted by archaeologists, the soldiers were found placed in line. In general, the "burial" itself is in this case a large pit, which scientists have divided into several conventional parts - on the cardinal points.
So, the infantrymen stood in formation in the middle of the pit, the cavalry and the rest - in the northern part. Also excavated was a miniature theater with figures of musicians, sleeping quarters, a granary, a kitchen and figurines of pigs and bulls - they were found in the northern part of the excavation site.
These ceramic sculptures are estimated to be approximately 2100 years old. It is reported that this conclusion was made on the basis of the "design" of the found items and comparison with similar items that were found and dated earlier.
This date is partly based on the assumption that this toy city was made for Prince Liu Hong, who was the son of Emperor Wu Di, who ruled from 141-87 BC. It is known about him that he died very young and, most importantly, the city where he lived was in the same region of China.
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So scientists suggest that there must be a large burial nearby, where the young prince himself is buried. It is reported with reference to local residents that earlier here, where the current artifacts were found, there was a large hill or even a mound. But it was demolished in the 60-70s of the last century during the construction of the railway. The presence of such a hill was confirmed by old aerial surveys that were made during the construction of the road.
Despite the fact that the identity and even the purpose of the found artifacts are not yet precisely known, the find itself is, of course, very valuable. Scientists have already noted interesting points - for example, they said that the faces of the same cavalrymen belong to "ethnic minorities", that is, they do not correspond to the ideas of how the Chinese themselves should have looked at that time.
Theoretically, interesting conclusions can be drawn from this - let's say that mercenary soldiers from other countries served in the imperial cavalry. Toy buildings give an idea of what real buildings of the time might have looked like. In general, scientists have received a lot of room for speculation and the advancement of various theories.
