China’s famous Terracotta Army is hiding a secret which could rewrite history
Archaeologists discover evidence which sheds new light on the story of human civilisation and could reshape our understanding of the ancient world
The Terracotta Army of China is regarded as one of the world's most beautiful and mysterious artistic creations.
But the eerie sculptures may also be hiding a secret that could change our understanding of human history.
It was believed that the terracotta soldiers were designed and built by local craftsmen, before being buried alongside the first emperor of China to guard him in the afterlife.
Now it's been claimed that the army may have been inspired by Greek sculptors, suggesting there was a link between great civilisations in the West and East much earlier than previously thought.
Li Xiuzhen, a senior archaeologist at the site of the army in Xinjian province said: "We now have evidence that close contact existed between the first emperor’s China and the west before the formal opening of the Silk Road. This is far earlier than we formerly thought.
"We now think the Terracotta Army, the acrobats and the bronze sculptures found on site, have been inspired by ancient Greek sculptures and art."
Lukas Nickel, chair of Asian art history at Vienna University, added: “I imagine that a Greek sculptor may have been at the site to train the locals.”
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Marco Polo, a Venetian, won fame after travelling to China and returning to tell the tale in a book published in 1300.
But if the archaeologists are correct, Europeans and Chinese people may have traded and exchanged ideas as much as 1,500 years before Polo's historical journey.
If they met to build an army of terracotta figures, what else did they get up to?
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