Archaeologists Unearth Rare ‘Fish Scale’ Armor From 2,000-Year-Old Chinese Tomb

Researchers from the Jiangxi Provincial Cultural Relics and Archaeology Research Institute in China have recovered the remains of a complex scale armor recovered from an over 2,000-year-old Han Dynasty tomb.

The unusual armor is composed of multiple materials, making it the first of its kind documented from the Han Dynasty, the institute announced on December 7, as reported by Xinhua News Agency.

The grave belonged to Liu He, a prince who inherited the imperial throne of the Western Han Dynasty (202 BCE to 25 CE) for only 27 days before he was deposed (though not killed). At the time of his death years later, he was known as the Marquis of Haihun. Archaeologists discovered his well-preserved tomb  in east China’s Jiangxi Province in 2011.

中国江西省文物考古研究院は７日、同省南昌市にある前漢時代の諸侯墓、海昏侯劉賀墓から出土した甲冑の甲片の暫定的な整理が完了したと発表した。研究者が甲片約６千枚を復元した結果、漆塗りの鉄と銅、皮を組み合わせた魚鱗甲の一部だと分かった。複数の材質からなる漢代の甲冑が見つかるのは初めて。 pic.twitter.com/mxV3OY0Jgj

— 中国 新華社 日本語 (@XHJapanese) December 10, 2024

Two years ago, archaeologists discovered armor scales (also known as plates) along with knives and swords in a pile in the armory room of the tomb, according to The History Blog. Given the remains of lacquer—a hard, shiny coating—archaeologists assumed that the armor had originally been packed in now-disintegrated lacquer-coated boxes.

“The Haihun Hou Tomb had been through earthquakes and rising groundwater levels due to the expansion of the Poyang Lake area, so the armor fragments were in a fragile state,” Yang Jun of Jiangxi Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology and head of the excavation team who unearthed the grave told Xinhua News Agency. Over the course of two years, the team—including researchers from the Institute of Archaeology of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and several other institutions—extracted 6,000 armor scales and brought them to a laboratory for analysis and restoration.

The numbered armor scales. © Jiangxi Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology

The armor stood out for the distinctive size and material of its scales. According to Bai Rongjin of the Institute of Archaeology at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, the scales on Han Dynasty armor normally have a width of 0.39 to 3.94 inches (4 to 10 centimeters). The smaller the scales, the more are required, demanding greater skill to craft such a meticulous piece of equipment.

However, “The smallest armor piece” from the Marquis of Haihun tomb “is about 1 cm wide and 0.2 cm thick, making it the smallest fish scale armor piece excavated during archaeological investigations of Han Dynasty ruins,” he explained. Additionally, archaeologists discovered that the armor had been made of multiple materials, including iron, copper, and leather. This is also unusual, as Rongjin noted that Han Dynasty armor was usually composed of a single material. In fact, the scales are the only documented example of armor made of multiple materials from the Han Dynasty.

The armor ultimately represents a stunning example of Han Dynasty military equipment, and reflects the excellent level of armor production that existed in the region at the time. Perhaps it even suggests that though Liu He may have been disgraced during his lifetime, he was buried with honor.