The following paragraphs are from a draft of an essay about the preservation of the Terracotta Army. For the sake of the logic and cohesion of this essay, arrange the paragraphs in the most logical order.
- 1In 1974, farmers digging a well near Xi'an, China, stumbled upon one of the greatest archaeological discoveries of the twentieth century: the Terracotta Army. Thousands of life-sized clay soldiers, horses, and chariots stood in silent sentinel, buried to protect the tomb of China's first emperor. To the modern observer, these statues seem to be composed of plain, grayish-brown clay. However, chemical analysis has revealed that each warrior was once coated in a brilliant array of colors—ranging from bright red and purple to green and blue—creating a lifelike spectacle.
- 2To achieve this vibrant realism, ancient artisans first applied a base layer of organic lacquer, harvested from the sap of the local Chinese lacquer tree. Once this primer dried, the artisans painted the warriors with mineral pigments. The lacquer served a crucial function, binding the paint to the clay and preventing the pigments from flaking. Unfortunately, this elaborate multi-step painting process, which ensured the statues' initial splendor, would also prove to be their greatest vulnerability during modern excavation.
- 3This vulnerability became apparent immediately upon the excavation of the first pits. Having spent over two thousand years in damp, airtight underground chambers, the ancient lacquer layer had absorbed significant moisture. When exposed to the dry air of the excavation site, the lacquer began to dehydrate, curl, and flake off in less than fifteen minutes. As the lacquer peeled away, it pulled the precious pigment layer with it, leaving the warriors stripped of their historical colors and reduced to their bare clay bodies.
- 4Recognizing the urgency of the situation, a collaborative team of Chinese and German conservation scientists set out to find a solution to this rapid degradation. They developed a preservation method that involved spraying the freshly unearthed terracotta with a solution of polyethylene glycol (PEG) to replace the evaporating water. The statues were then exposed to electron beams, which cured and hardened the PEG, locking the fragile lacquer and paint layers in place. Thanks to this scientific breakthrough, modern visitors can now appreciate the warriors in all their original, colorful glory.
Answer
The correct order of the paragraphs is: the introduction to the Terracotta Army, the explanation of the lacquer painting technique, the description of how exposure caused flaking, and the summary of the scientific treatment used to stop the degradation.
The correct order follows a clear chronological and causal progression: the introduction of the Terracotta Army, the description of how the lacquer base was applied to achieve that realism, the explanation of how this lacquer became a vulnerability during excavation, and finally the collaborative scientific solution to halt the degradation.
Step-by-Step Solution
Key Concept
Logical paragraph reordering using transition words, cohesive phrases, and pronoun-antecedent reference links.