The restoration of the largest archaelogical discovery--a chemical problem: conservation of the polychromy of the Chinese terracotta army in Lintong

Heinz Langhals; Daniela Bathelt

doi:10.1002/anie.200301633

The restoration of the largest archaelogical discovery--a chemical problem: conservation of the polychromy of the Chinese terracotta army in Lintong

Angew Chem Int Ed Engl. 2003 Dec 1;42(46):5676-81. doi: 10.1002/anie.200301633.

Authors

Heinz Langhals¹, Daniela Bathelt

Affiliation

¹ Department Chemie, Universität München, Butenandtstrasse 13, 81 377 München, Germany. langhals@lrz.uni-muenchen.de

PMID: 14661198
DOI: 10.1002/anie.200301633

Abstract

The conservation of the polychromy of the terracotta army of the first Chinese emperor Qin Shihuangdi represents a special problem because of the deterioration of the ground layer consisting of organic material. This was triggered due to it having spent more than 2200 years in water-saturated soil. The consolidation of the polychromy was achieved through polymerisation of a specially adapted combination of monomers.