Terracotta Army of Qin Shi Huang
Ejército de terracota de Qin Shi Huang
- Date
- 29 de marzo de 1974 · confidence high
- Place
- Lintong, Xi'an, Shaanxi, China
- Credited to
- Peasants Yang Zhifa and companions (while digging a well); archaeologists of Shaanxi
- Field
- Cosmos & Earth
What was discovered
Peasants digging a well found terracotta figures that turned out to be part of an army of about 8000 life-size soldiers, each individual, guarding the mausoleum of China's first emperor (210 BCE).
Coordinates of the army pits. The emperor's central tomb remains unexcavated; Sima Qian described rivers of mercury, and surveys detect anomalous mercury levels.
What it led to
- Archaeology of the Qin empire
- Cultural tourism in Xi'an and World Heritage status (1987)
- Studies of assembly-line production and ancient pigments (Han blue)
Built on
- Sima Qian's records of the mausoleum
- Archaeology of the People's Republic of China
Made possible
- Preservation of ancient polychromy