Mausoleum of the First Qin Emperor solution?

[Cryptid_Control]

Okay I might be way out to left field with this, but if the problem with this tomb is letting air in, why isn't it possible to build a sort of entrance like space stations have. As In they'd suck out the air before you enter. And with a good enough hazmat suit the mercury shouldn't harm you either.

Are there other issues with entrance besides this and the Chinese gov? Would just our presence in the tomb be enough to start damaging the inside?

[Claire.]

It's unlikely we'll ever see it, at least not in this lifetime. Some archaeologists suggest that it may take centuries before the site is fully excavated which is disappointing because it would be incredibly fascinating to see it exactly as it was. The following is a partial answer to your question. The source article itself is an interesting read, and provides more details on the challenges facing archaeologists.

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."

Source: Live Science

[SHaYap]

Its not only big or huge ... its massive ... and no one has any idea where to start ...

~

[Hod]

It's funny that it's such a historic place (maybe the most mysterious unopened tomb in the world), but if you go there, you can just walk all over the hill. I hiked to the top and all around it. It would be nice to see what's in it, but I'm not holding my breath.

[Sir Wearer of Hats]

I remember being told/reading somewhere the reason the Chinese have never opened the tomb is because of folklore that he'd come back and they don't want that to happen!

[Hanslune]

2 hours ago, Lord Fedorable said:

I remember being told/reading somewhere the reason the Chinese have never opened the tomb is because of folklore that he'd come back and they don't want that to happen!

I suspect when they enter it will be found to have been looted. Big obvious tombs tend to get targeted in times when authority breaks down...but let's hope I'm wrong

 

 

I suspect when they enter it will be found to have been looted. Big obvious tombs tend to get targeted in times when authority breaks down...but let's hope I'm wrong.

Some large Japanese tombs may not have been entered but then I suspect no one has inspected them for that as they will never be opened with the current culture in place.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kofun

Edited November 1, 2016 by Hanslune

[SHaYap]

1 hour ago, Hanslune said:

I suspect when they enter it will be found to have been looted. Big obvious tombs tend to get targeted in times when authority breaks down...but let's hope I'm wrong.

I doubt that ... this tomb is famous for all the wrong reasons and if it were breached or compromised there would be signs of the artifacts out in the antiquities black market by now ...

~

[Hanslune]

3 hours ago, third_eye said:

I doubt that ... this tomb is famous for all the wrong reasons and if it were breached or compromised there would be signs of the artifacts out in the antiquities black market by now ...

~

Looted in antiquity is what I meant.

[Unusual Tournament]

18 hours ago, Cryptid_Control said:

Okay I might be way out to left field with this, but if the problem with this tomb is letting air in, why isn't it possible to build a sort of entrance like space stations have. As In they'd suck out the air before you enter. And with a good enough hazmat suit the mercury shouldn't harm you either.

Are there other issues with entrance besides this and the Chinese gov? Would just our presence in the tomb be enough to start damaging the inside?

I think you're right it saying that it might be the secretive nature of the Chinese communist government and their interpretation of history rather than any supposed damage that might occur if the tomb is opened.

[SHaYap]

3 hours ago, Hanslune said:

Looted in antiquity is what I meant.

The same  applies ... there still will be indicators out in the public or private 'collectors' and most of all some museum will have something wittingly or unwittingly being displayed out in the open.

Qin Shi Huang Ti is one of the most if not the most well known and among the most documented of the ancients we know of , we know of available records of what he did what he ate what he wore what he liked who his favorite artists were where he liked his silks etc etc ... so if something related to his tomb is out there it wont take long to pop up, one of the main reasons the historians are sure the tomb is still untouched and also may be why most looters would have left it alone, further more the Qin weren't exactly well loved back in the days and if this Qin fella had his tomb desecrated you can be sure someone would not be able to contain themselves and be blabbering about it at one time or another ~

[Hanslune]

4 hours ago, third_eye said:

The same  applies ... there still will be indicators out in the public or private 'collectors' and most of all some museum will have something wittingly or unwittingly being displayed out in the open.

Qin Shi Huang Ti is one of the most if not the most well known and among the most documented of the ancients we know of , we know of available records of what he did what he ate what he wore what he liked who his favorite artists were where he liked his silks etc etc ... so if something related to his tomb is out there it wont take long to pop up, one of the main reasons the historians are sure the tomb is still untouched and also may be why most looters would have left it alone, further more the Qin weren't exactly well loved back in the days and if this Qin fella had his tomb desecrated you can be sure someone would not be able to contain themselves and be blabbering about it at one time or another ~

Perhaps but given 2,200 years since his burial and the imperfect records of that period to include not mentioning the terra cotta army a breach is certainty possible.

[SHaYap]

58 minutes ago, Hanslune said:

Perhaps but given 2,200 years since his burial and the imperfect records of that period to include not mentioning the terra cotta army a breach is certainty possible.

Other Emperors perhaps ... in fact there are records of the feudal warlords making efforts of searching and offering rewards for locating the Tombs of previous Dynastic Royalties ... and there were many that were looted ... but this particular fella evaded all efforts ... my personal opinion is that it was too mind boggling massive that no one even suspected that it was where it was in the first place ... remember that even the Terracotta Army even though it was well known and recorded in the annals of the QIn Dynasty it wasn't till very recent that it was rediscovered and even then it was by accident (mostly no one believed the official records and thought it was 'mythical' and overly exaggeration)... even the experts in China could not believe it was built on such a massive scale ... initially it was thought to be a warehouse or the site where the Terracotta  Army was produced ... it wasn't till after many years later of accumulating the archeological artifacts that the academia was convinced ...

Even now the projected schedule for recovering and restoring the surrounding area of the tomb itself is about 80 years last I read ... that is if everything goes as planned ... and no more surprises in store

~

[woopypooky]

I read somewhere supposedly the entire tomb itself was modelled like a palace city for the emperor to rule in his afterlife. Even with glittering stars on the ceiling. One can only wonder how much treasures was in there. 

[Earl.Of.Trumps]

Apparently, if they open it up, the paints on the terracotta figures will flake and fade almost immediately. That will be tough to get around.

[Piney]

10 minutes ago, Earl.Of.Trumps said:

Apparently, if they open it up, the paints on the terracotta figures will flake and fade almost immediately. That will be tough to get around.

Boobytraps and mercury fumes don't help either. They are trying to figure them out. 

[Awlsew]

They won't open the tomb because they are concerned about the mummy. More than likely it is caucasian.

[Piney]

20 minutes ago, Awlsew said:

They won't open the tomb because they are concerned about the mummy. More than likely it is caucasian.

Although the Eastern Iranians heavily influenced Chinese culture, I wouldn't go that far. 

[jaylemurph]

26 minutes ago, Awlsew said:

They won't open the tomb because they are concerned about the mummy. More than likely it is caucasian.

Man, wypipo are good at writing themselves into other peoples’ histories, but I didn't know we were good enough to replace corpses. 

—Jaylemurph has 

[Awlsew]

23 minutes ago, Piney said:

Although the Eastern Iranians heavily influenced Chinese culture, I wouldn't go that far. 

The Dead Tell a Tale China Doesn’t Care to Listen To

URUMQI, China — An exhibit on the first floor of the museum here gives the government’s unambiguous take on the history of this border region: “Xinjiang has been an inalienable part of the territory of China,” says one prominent sign.

But walk upstairs to the second floor, and the ancient corpses on display seem to tell a different story.

One called the Loulan Beauty lies on her back with her shoulder-length hair matted down, her lips pursed in death, her high cheekbones and long nose the most obvious signs that she is not what one thinks of as Chinese.

https://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/19/world/asia/19mummy.html

[Awlsew]

23 minutes ago, jaylemurph said:

Man, wypipo are good at writing themselves into other peoples’ histories, but I didn't know we were good enough to replace corpses. 

—Jaylemurph has 

In the late 1980's, perfectly preserved 3000-year-old mummies began appearing in a remote Chinese desert. They had long reddish-blond hair, European features and didn't appear to be the ancestors of modern-day Chinese people. Archaeologists now think they may have been the citizens of an ancient civilization that existed at the crossroads between China and Europe.

https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/chinamum/taklamakan.html

[Hanslune]

3 minutes ago, Awlsew said:

In the late 1980's, perfectly preserved 3000-year-old mummies began appearing in a remote Chinese desert. They had long reddish-blond hair, European features and didn't appear to be the ancestors of modern-day Chinese people. Archaeologists now think they may have been the citizens of an ancient civilization that existed at the crossroads between China and Europe.

https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/chinamum/taklamakan.html

https://www.forbes.com/sites/kristinakillgrove/2015/07/18/these-red-haired-chinese-mummies-come-from-all-over-eurasia-dna-reveals/#2ca8a9be3e2c

More on that

[Awlsew]

One of the most fantastic finds in the last half of the twentieth century has to be the discovery of a Northern European tribe found in the northeast corner of Xinjiang province, near the Celestial Mountains and the Taklimakan Desert on the edge of the Gobi desert.

https://owlcation.com/humanities/The-White-Tribes-of-Ancient-China

[Piney]

15 minutes ago, Awlsew said:

The Dead Tell a Tale China Doesn’t Care to Listen To

URUMQI, China — An exhibit on the first floor of the museum here gives the government’s unambiguous take on the history of this border region: “Xinjiang has been an inalienable part of the territory of China,” says one prominent sign.

But walk upstairs to the second floor, and the ancient corpses on display seem to tell a different story.

One called the Loulan Beauty lies on her back with her shoulder-length hair matted down, her lips pursed in death, her high cheekbones and long nose the most obvious signs that she is not what one thinks of as Chinese.

https://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/19/world/asia/19mummy.html

This has nothing to do with the Han ethnic group and Xinjiang has always been Iranian until the Turks and Mongols moved in. 

[Hanslune]

7 minutes ago, Awlsew said:

One of the most fantastic finds in the last half of the twentieth century has to be the discovery of a Northern European tribe found in the northeast corner of Xinjiang province, near the Celestial Mountains and the Taklimakan Desert on the edge of the Gobi desert.

https://owlcation.com/humanities/The-White-Tribes-of-Ancient-China

Why? Proto-Europeans could wander around just like everyone else. I would say it's interesting but not unexpected

Fantastic were finding the Deniscovians and Hobbits and confirmation of Neanderthal DNA in much of HSS - but not all.

Edited August 21, 2019 by Hanslune

[Piney]

6 minutes ago, Awlsew said:

One of the most fantastic finds in the last half of the twentieth century has to be the discovery of a Northern European tribe found in the northeast corner of Xinjiang province, near the Celestial Mountains and the Taklimakan Desert on the edge of the Gobi desert.

https://owlcation.com/humanities/The-White-Tribes-of-Ancient-China

They were Eastern Iranians. Not "Northern Europeans"