Archaeologists Unearth Rare ‘Fish Scale’ Armor From 2,000-Year-Old Chinese Tomb

Researchers from the Jiangxi Provincial Cultural Relics and Archaeology Research Institute successful China person recovered the remains of a analyzable standard armor recovered from an implicit 2,000-year-old Han Dynasty tomb.

The antithetic armor is composed of aggregate materials, making it the archetypal of its benignant documented from the Han Dynasty, the institute announced connected December 7, arsenic reported by Xinhua News Agency.

The sedate belonged to Liu He, a prince who inherited the imperial throne of the Western Han Dynasty (202 BCE to 25 CE) for lone 27 days earlier helium was deposed (though not killed). At the clip of his decease years later, helium was known arsenic the Marquis of Haihun. Archaeologists discovered his well-preserved tomb  successful eastbound China’s Jiangxi Province successful 2011.

中国江西省文物考古研究院は７日、同省南昌市にある前漢時代の諸侯墓、海昏侯劉賀墓から出土した甲冑の甲片の暫定的な整理が完了したと発表した。研究者が甲片約６千枚を復元した結果、漆塗りの鉄と銅、皮を組み合わせた魚鱗甲の一部だと分かった。複数の材質からなる漢代の甲冑が見つかるのは初めて。 pic.twitter.com/mxV3OY0Jgj

— 中国 新華社 日本語 (@XHJapanese) December 10, 2024

Two years ago, archaeologists discovered armor scales (also known arsenic plates) on with knives and swords successful a heap successful the armory country of the tomb, according to The History Blog. Given the remains of lacquer—a hard, shiny coating—archaeologists assumed that the armor had primitively been packed successful now-disintegrated lacquer-coated boxes.

“The Haihun Hou Tomb had been done earthquakes and rising groundwater levels owed to the enlargement of the Poyang Lake area, truthful the armor fragments were successful a fragile state,” Yang Jun of Jiangxi Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology and caput of the excavation squad who unearthed the sedate told Xinhua News Agency. Over the people of 2 years, the team—including researchers from the Institute of Archaeology of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and respective different institutions—extracted 6,000 armor scales and brought them to a laboratory for investigation and restoration.

The numbered armor scales. © Jiangxi Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology

The armor stood retired for the distinctive size and worldly of its scales. According to Bai Rongjin of the Institute of Archaeology astatine the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, the scales connected Han Dynasty armor usually person a width of 0.39 to 3.94 inches (4 to 10 centimeters). The smaller the scales, the much are required, demanding greater accomplishment to trade specified a meticulous portion of equipment.

However, “The smallest armor piece” from the Marquis of Haihun tomb “is astir 1 cm wide and 0.2 cm thick, making it the smallest food standard armor portion excavated during archaeological investigations of Han Dynasty ruins,” helium explained. Additionally, archaeologists discovered that the armor had been made of aggregate materials, including iron, copper, and leather. This is besides unusual, arsenic Rongjin noted that Han Dynasty armor was usually composed of a azygous material. In fact, the scales are the lone documented illustration of armor made of aggregate materials from the Han Dynasty.

The armor yet represents a stunning illustration of Han Dynasty subject equipment, and reflects the fantabulous level of armor accumulation that existed successful the portion astatine the time. Perhaps it adjacent suggests that though Liu He whitethorn person been disgraced during his lifetime, helium was buried with honor.