Terracotta Army

Workers made each soldier in pieces.

They made legs, a body, arms and a head from clay. They baked the pieces until hard and joined them. Then they painted them in bright colors. Each soldier got his own face.

Each soldier was built from separate parts, such as legs, body, arms and head, that were made of clay, fired in a kiln and then put together. The makers gave every soldier his own detailed face, so no two look exactly alike.

The soldiers were once painted in bright colors made from minerals, but most of the paint has worn away. UNESCO says the figures are so lifelike that you can see details of their uniforms and even the horses' harnesses. They tell experts a lot about how potters and metal workers worked over 2,000 years ago.

Britannica describes the figures as assembled from separately fired sections yet given individually detailed faces, and once brightly painted with mineral colors. UNESCO calls them hyper-realistic, with no detail neglected, from uniforms and equipment to the horses' halters, and regards them, with the bronze carts, as major works of Chinese sculpture before the Han dynasty; it stresses their value for understanding the techniques of Qin potters and bronze-workers.

The pits also yielded richly decorated chariots of wood (now decayed) and bronze, iron farm tools, bronze and leather bridles, and objects of silk, linen, jade and bone. Britannica notes that bronze weapons cast from an unusual alloy of 13 elements are still shiny today.

The soldiers stand in long rows.

Archers stand at the front. Other soldiers and horses with chariots stand behind. One small room holds 68 figures who may be the leaders. One room is empty!

The army stands in a planned order, the way armies were arranged at that time. Archers stand at the front, then rows of foot soldiers and chariots, with more soldiers at the back. They all face east.

The first pit holds most of the army. A second pit has more than 1,300 figures, with foot soldiers, chariots and horsemen. A third has just 68 figures, probably the army's commanders, and a fourth pit is empty. Each pit is now covered by a building so visitors can look down at the soldiers.

Britannica describes the main formation as following the military rules of the time: a vanguard of bowmen and crossbowmen, outer files of archers, groups of infantry and charioteers, and an armored rear guard. Of three nearby chambers found in the 1970s, one holds more than 1,300 figures forming a smaller force of infantry, chariots and cavalry; one holds 68 figures, probably an elite command unit; and one is empty.

UNESCO reads the ensemble as unique evidence of military organization in the Warring States period (475 to 221 BCE) and the Qin empire (221 to 210 BCE), and notes that the army watching over the emperor faces outward from the tomb. The four excavations are roofed over and serve as an on-site museum while archaeological work continues.

The emperor's own tomb is under a big hill of earth.

Nobody has opened it yet. Near it, archaeologists found a stable full of horse bones and even a zoo for unusual animals!

The emperor's own tomb lies under a huge mound of earth, still 51.3 meters high. It has never been opened. The ancient historian Sima Qian wrote that it held a whole underground city.

Around it, archaeologists have found nearly 200 pits. They hold an underground stable with horse skeletons, half-size bronze chariots and even a zoo for unusual animals. The whole area is so big that archaeologists expect it will take many more years to explore.

UNESCO records that the grave mound survives to 51.3 m inside a rectangular, double-walled enclosure oriented north to south, a layout that echoes the plan of the Qin capital, Xianyang, with the palace enclosed by walls within further walls. The tomb itself remains unexcavated; Britannica notes that it is said to be a vast underground palace.

Nearby pits have yielded a subterranean stable of horse skeletons, an assemblage of half-size bronze chariots, 70 individual burial sites and a zoo for exotic animals. Britannica reports that archaeologists expect it to take years to uncover the whole complex. Since 2010 a provincial conservation plan has limited building in nearby Lintong district to protect the setting from urban growth and tourism pressure.