Buried deep under a hill in central China, surrounded by an underground moat of poisonous mercury, lies an entombed emperor who's been undisturbed for more than two millennia.
The tomb holds the secrets of China's first emperor, Qin Shi Huang, who died on Sept. 10, 210 B.C., after conquering six warring states to create the first unified nation of China.
The answers to a number of historical mysteries may lie buried inside that tomb, but whether modern people will ever see inside this mausoleum depends not just on the Chinese government, but on science.
"The big hill, where the emperor is buried — nobody's been in there, " said archaeologist Kristin Romey, curatorial consultant for the Terracotta Warrior exhibition at New York City’s Discovery Times Square. "Partly it's out of respect for the elders, but they also realize that nobody in the world right now has the technology to properly go in and excavate it."
The Terracotta Warrior exhibition, featuring artifacts from the Qin dynasty and nine life-size statues from the extended burial complex built for Qin Shi Huang, is on display through Aug. 26. [Photos: Terracotta Warriors Protect Secret Tomb]
Qin Shi Huang (pronounced "chin shuh hwang") was born in 259 B.C., first son to the king of Qin, one of six independent kingdoms inside modern China. These kingdoms had been warring for more than 200 years, but through a combination of military strength, strategy and natural disasters, Qin Shi Huang conquered them all, proclaiming himself not just a king, but also an emperor — the first of China.
Scholars still debate the details of how this occurred, and what unique tactics allowed the Qin emperor to achieve what no one had managed before.
When he died, Qin Shi Huang was buried in the most opulent tombcomplex ever constructed in China, a sprawling, city-size collection of underground caverns containing everything the emperor would need for the afterlife. The ancient Chinese, along with many cultures including ancient Egyptians, believed that items and even people buried with a person could be taken with him to the afterlife.
But instead of burying his armies, concubines, administrators and servants with him, the Qin emperor came up with an alternative: clay reproductions.
In 1974, a group of farmers digging wells near Xi'an, China stumbled upon one of the most shocking archaeological discoveries of all time. The life-size terracotta solider they dug out of the ground turned out to be just one of an army of thousands, each utterly unique, with individual clothing, hair and facial features.
For almost four decades, archaeologists have been excavating the site. So far, they've uncovered about 2, 000 clay soldiers, but experts estimate there are more than 8, 000 in total.
"They're going to be digging there for centuries, " Romey predicted.
Still, scientists have yet to touch the central tomb, which holds a palace containing the body of Qin Shi Huang.
"It's really smart what the Chinese government is doing, " Romey told LiveScience. "When we went into [Egyptian King] Tut's tomb, think about all the information we lost just based on the excavation techniques of the 1930s. There's so much additional that we could have learned, but the techniques back then weren’t what we have now."
"Even though we may think we have great archaeological excavation techniques right now, " she said, "who knows, a century down the road if we open this tomb, what they're going to say?"
The decision whether to explore the tomb anytime soon, or ever, is up to the government of China. That decision will likely be influenced by the pace of technological progress.
"In archaeological conservation, every year you have major new developments, " Romey said. "When we began excavating [the soldiers] in the '70s, the minute they were exposed to air and sunlight, the pigment just flaked off. Now they’ve figured out a new technique where they can actually preserve the paint as they excavate."
Perhaps, if science advances enough, that excavation wouldn't cause serious damage to the burial site, and the tomb will finally be opened. [Album: The Seven Ancient Wonders of the World]
"I wouldn’t be surprised if you had some sort of robotic visual survey going in there at some point, " Romey said.
And despite their
desire to protect the treasures of antiquity, archaeologists are itching
with curiosity to find out what's inside Qin Shi Huang's central tomb.
秦始皇的陵寝：我们能否一窥究竟?
这一大堆历史谜题的答案或许就埋在陵墓里，但现代人能否一窥这座宏伟壮丽的皇陵的内部，不仅取决于中国政府当局，还有科技。
“这座葬着秦始皇的山峦----无人曾涉足，”考古学家克莉丝汀 洛梅伊说道，她是在纽约发现时代广场举办的兵马俑展览的展品顾问，“部分是出于对先辈的尊重，但他们也认识到至少在现今的世界无人能有技术进入和采掘陵寝。”
兵马俑展览8月26号开展，展览呈现了秦朝的工艺品和真人大小的九座雕塑，这些雕像出自秦始皇的延伸墓葬群。
战国时期
秦始皇生于公元前259年，是秦王的第一个儿子，秦国亦是当时中国境内六国之一。这六国间相互交战200多年，但综合武力，谋略和天灾的因素，秦始皇最终征服了六国，他宣称自己不仅是一位君主，更是一位帝王-----中国的第一位皇帝。
学者们至今仍为秦皇一统中华的细节争论着，是怎样独特的谋略使得秦皇做到了之前无人能完成的伟业。
秦始皇死后，葬在了中国史上最雄伟复杂的墓葬群中，这个不规则延伸，如城池般大小的地下墓穴集齐了一位帝王死后所需的一切。古中国，和包括古埃及在内的许多文明一样，相信陪葬品甚至与死者同埋的殉葬人能与死者一同往生。
但与其让他的军队，妻妾，臣工们殉葬，秦皇想到了替身：陶土俑
令人震惊的发现
1974年，一群农民在西安附近挖井，由此中国偶然得到了史上最让人震惊的考古学发现。他们挖出的真人大小的陶土士兵如一队上千人的军队一样，每个都非常独特，有各自不同的服饰，发型和面部表情。
将近四十多年来，考古学家们一直在采掘着这处遗址。到目前为止，他们发现了2000具兵马俑，但专家估计总共应有8000多具。
“他们可能要花几世纪去挖掘。”洛梅伊说道。
但是，科学家们仍未达到墓穴的中心地带，那里埋藏着一座宫殿，里面躺着秦始皇的遗体。
“中国政府的做法很睿智，”洛梅伊对《生活科学》杂志的记者说道，“当我们去埃及王图特的陵墓时，所想到的是因20世纪30年代的开采技术而失去的信息资料。我们本可以得到更多的资料，但以前没有我们现在的技术。“
”就算我们觉得我们现在有了先进的考古挖掘技术，“他说，”但谁知道一个世纪以后我们打开陵墓的时候，我们又会怎么说？“
开放陵墓？
是否要随时挖掘或永不探索陵墓取决于中国政府。这个决定很可能会影响到采墓技术进步的进程。
”在考古学保护方面来说，每年你都要修习最新进展，“洛梅伊说，”当我们在70年代挖掘兵马俑的时候，它们在空气和阳光中暴露一分钟，它们身上的颜料就会剥落一分。现在科学家们已找到一种新技术能实际维持兵马俑身上的颜料，使它们一如刚出土那天。“
也许，如果科学先进到足以在开采时使被埋的遗址免遭严重损毁，那陵墓也许有一天能重见天日。
”如果你有一些陵墓内部的机器成像勘测，我不会惊讶。“洛梅伊说道。
而且不论他们多么想保护这座古老的珍宝，考古学家们都好奇得心痒难耐，想去发现秦始皇陵墓的中心到底藏着什么。
水银河
古代记载中写到秦皇创造了一个完整的地下王国和宫殿，包括模仿夜空建造的天花板，以珍珠作繁星。而墓穴中应满是陶土制的侍妾雕塑，却从未被发现，尽管专家们估计它们一定在墓群的某处。
而且秦始皇陵一直被认为是以一条液态水银河环绕着的，古代中国认为这样能带来永生。
”这有点讽刺，“洛梅伊说道。”这也许就是他死亡的原因，通过摄入汞。他吃这些含水银的丹药是因为他想长生，却反而使他在39岁就丢了性命。”
水银深壕也是考古学家们迟迟不愿探墓的另一个原因，就是这么做好像实在太危险，根据陵墓周围的土壤样本，显示了那里的汞污染程度相当高。
最后，科学家和历史学家须得权衡他们想要知道更多的欲望和如此追根刨底带来的损害。
“考古从根本上来说是一种破坏性的科学，”洛梅伊说道。“你得破坏它才能了解它。”
