The Terracotta Warriors

The Terracotta Army is a collection of terracotta sculptures depicting his armies buried with the emperor Qin  with the purpose of protecting the emperor in his afterlife. The figures were only discovered in 1974 by local farmers.

They  vary in height according to their roles, with the tallest being the generals. They include warriors, chariots and horses.

The Terracotta Army contains  more than 8,000 soldiers, 130 chariots with 520 horses, and 150 cavalry horses, the majority of which remained buried in the pits near Qin Shi Huang’s mausoleum.

The different ethnicities of warriors can been seen , under scoring the multi cultural racial nature of ancient China .

Other terracotta non-military figures were found in other pits, including acrobats, strongmen, and musicians.

It’s thought up to 700,000 workers were required to build mausoleum and many did not survive

The Mausoleum itself is unopened and it’s thought to include palaces, pavilions and offices. Its said Mechanically triggered crossbows have been set to thwart  tomb robbers