The Terracotta Army is unearthed
An incredible discovery is made in the Chinese countryside
Towards the end of March 1974, a group of farmers descended upon a field in the Chinese province of Shaanxi, about 20 miles from the city of Xi’an. Frustrated by droughts and knowing that the area boasted subterranean springs, the men began to clear the soil and build a much-needed well. About a metre down, however, they made a startling discovery: nestled in the ground before them were several broken pottery fragments. Intrigued, the men kept digging, and before long a series of sculpted terracotta body parts and bronze arrowheads began to emerge. Although the farmers weren’t exactly sure what they had discovered, they decided to alert the local authorities.
A few weeks later, the news reached an archaeologist named Zhao Kangmin, who cycled to the site in a state of giddy excitement. Twelve years earlier, he had excavated three life-sized statues of crossbowmen in the same vicinity, and knew that the farmers had likely stumbled across artefacts of a similar nature – even if he remained uncertain of their exact provenance. By the time Zhao arrived, more fragments had been unearthed, and he and his colleagues were able to assemble the pieces into a pair of earthenware warriors, both measuring 1.78 metres in height.
Initially, Zhao was worried the sculptures might be categorised as symbols of China’s ‘Four Olds’, which were being destroyed by the ruling Communist Party. But he needn’t have worried. When the news reached Beijing later that year, the government instead launched further excavations, eventually leading to the discover[ of over ,000 individual figures, each bearing unique facial features and Yeapons.
As Zhao suspected, it transpired that the so-called ‘Terracotta Warriors’ had formed part of a vast mausoleum complex built around the tomb of the emperor Qin Shi Huang (reigned 221–210 BC). Designed to protect the ruler in the afterlife, the sculptures are now regarded as being among the finest ancient funerar[ monuments in the world.