The ancient Terracotta Warriors have found themselves embroiled in a modern day conflict, with the BBC set to present new research indicating that Western contact with China began long before the adventures of Marco Polo.

Senior Archaeologist Li Xiuzhen from Emperor Qin Shi Huang's Mausoleum Site Museum told the BBC: "We now have evidence that close contact existed between the First Emperor's China and the West before the formal opening of the Silk Road. This is far earlier than we formerly thought”.

The new theory supposes that Greek artisans trained the craftsman who made the famous Terracotta Warriors, first discovered by farmers in 1974.

Dr. Xiuzhen avers that the know-how came from sources outside China—most likely Ancient Greece. Earlier Chinese statues found are much smaller in size than the warriors and he thinks it unlikely that the ability to create the larger statues would emerge endogenously over such a short period of time. "I imagine that a Greek sculptor may have been at the site to train the locals," he said.

In addition to this, another study has found European mitochondrial DNA at sites in Xinjiang province that allegedly can only have come from some early intrepid Westerners. This means it is possible that Westerners lived and died in the region as early as the time of Qin Shi Huang, China’s first Emperor, who lived from 259-210 BC.

However, a Chinese archaeology expert has panned the version of events as put forward by the BBC. "[They] are dishonest with their research and always take things they imagine as fact," said Ni Fangliu speaking to the Global Times.

Ni said that the building of the tomb was well documented at the time within the Records of the Grand Historian and there is no mention of western contact or instruction within them.

Ni said that Chinese culture at the time was one of the most advanced globally and that there exists Chinese statues of a parity with the 'Venus De Milo' but that they were made earlier than the Ancient greek masterpiece.

[Images via The BBC]