CHINA ARQUEOLOGIA golden-age-chinese-archayeolog

The figure exemplifies the key stylistic qualities
of Qin sculptures. Despite its slightly contrapposto
stance, with feet apart — a function of the archer's
role — the figure is essentially two-dimensional.
The effect of literally transcribed elements, such as
his coiffure and his belt, is balanced by a certain
stiffness and slightly distorted proportions. Each
figure, in its posture, gestures and attributes, embodies
the intrinsic parameters of a particular rank
or specialization within the army.
Archery was considered one of six noble arts
in ancient China — a ritual as well as a military art.
Finds of bronze and copper arrowheads (approximately
45,000 were unearthed from the three pits)
and elaborately decorated triggering mechanisms
(which served to launch the arrow) testify to
the central role of the crossbow in the arsenal of
Bronze Age weaponry. The distribution of warriors
armed with such long-range weapons in Pits i and 2
gives some indication of the awesome shooting
force of an advancing Qin army.
The arm of the most common Qin crossbow
measured between 135 and 145 centimeters; the
"cross," made of wood or bamboo, was approximately
76 centimeters long. The Qin army also used
larger vertical bows that would have required the
use of one foot to secure the bow when drawing
back the string to launch an arrow. 2 LK
1 Excavated in 1976; reported: Shaanxi i988b, 1:68-71;
2: fig. 63.
2 Regarding the crossbows, see Wang 19943, 312 - 324;
Ledderose and Schlombs 1990, 313-318.
378EARLYIMPERIAL CHINA