13. Discovering Qin She Huang’s Tom revolutionized our understanding of Ancient China
On March 29th, 1974, some Chinese farmers were digging a well near the old Chinese city of Xianyang, in a region full of underground springs and watercourses. The workers found some strange figures, and advised the authorities. Chinese archaeologists visited the site, and soon discovered that the farmers had stumbled across one of the greatest archaeological sites of the world: Qin Shi Huangid’s burial complex. Huge pits housed thousands of life-sized statues of warriors, each with unique facial expressions, dressed and positioned according to rank. Behind them were horses and chariots, the entire force presumable placed there to guard the emperor in the afterlife.
The Terracotta Warriors, as they came to be known, are mostly gray today, but they had originally been painted in bright colors. Further excavations have revealed swords, arrows, spears, and other weapons, many in pristine conditions, that shed light on ancient Chinese warfare. The pits, four of which have been excavated so far, are now open to tourism. Astonishingly, the thousands of Terracotta Warriors are just a fraction of Qin Shi Huangdi’s gigantic tomb complex: the bulk his grand burial monument has yet to be excavated.
