Who Really Built the Terracotta Army? Fingerprints Reveal a Surprising Secret

A new study analyzing fingerprints on Terracotta Army statues reveals that only about 45% of the prints likely belong to adult men, about 33% to adult women, and about 22% to children and adolescents under 15, challenging the assumption that only men built the army.

A new study published in the Journal of Cultural Heritage examined fingerprints on Terracotta Army statues, which have stood near the tomb of China's first emperor, Qin Shi Huang, for over 2,200 years. The researchers, led by Xiaoshi Li from the Museum of the Mausoleum of the First Emperor, examined 36 warrior statues from one excavation pit and identified 91 fingerprints, of which 79 were analyzed. The distances between fingerprint ridges vary with age and sex, and the researchers used a statistical model to estimate the worker distribution. The results show that only about 45% of the prints likely belong to adult men, about 33% to adult women, and about 22% to children and adolescents under 15. This finding challenges the prevailing assumption that only adult men built the Terracotta Army. The researchers emphasize that the percentages refer to the fingerprints examined, not the actual number of workers, and that experienced craftsmen may have smoothed their prints while apprentices left more marks. The study provides the first quantitative biological evidence for the possible participation of women and children in the production of the statues.