29th March: The Terracotta Army

China's great Terracotta Army was uncovered on 29 March 1974, near the ancient capital of Xian. Here are some things you might not know about it.

1. The terracotta army consists of more than 8,000 soldiers, 130 chariots, and 670 horses. Some are not in uniform so are possibly spies.
2. It's not only soldiers - figures of musicians, acrobats, and concubines have been found as well, plus figures of birds such as cranes, and ducks.
3. Each figure is different. Each has unique facial features; some have Beards and different types of headgear. The soldiers stand at different heights depending on their rank, the generals being the tallest. Eight moulds were used to shape the heads, but after that, individual facial features and expressions were sculpted on by craftsmen using clay.
4. It is the largest archaeological find of its kind - nearly 56 square kilometers, and they haven't finished excavating it yet. There is thought to be a whole lot more to find, including the tomb of the emperor himself. In September 1987, the Terracotta Army was praised as the Eighth Wonder of the World by former French President Jacques Chirac.
5. The Terracotta Army was commissioned by China's first emperor, Qin Shi Huang, for his mausoleum. Construction began on the mausoleum and the army as soon as he ascended to the throne at the age of 13 in 246 BC. Rather like the ancient Egyptians, his tomb was kitted out with things the Emperor might need in the afterlife. Over 700,000 labourers worked on the project. They carried on building the soldiers for about 40 years.
6. A bit about Qin Shi Huang. On the one hand, it was he who unified the Chinese provinces and established the capital at Xianyang. Written script, a system of canals and roads, advances in metallurgy, standardised weights and measures and the early Great Wall came out of his reign. However, the emperor was a cruel man who would have scholars killed if they disagreed with him. Many of the workmen who built his tomb were killed so that the location of the tomb would remain a secret. Qin Shi Huang was afraid of death and sent thousands of people out to find the elixir of life for him. Most of them never came back, because they knew if they returned empty handed they would be executed. Qin Shi Huang believed mercury was the secret and took mercury tablets - and died at the age of 50 from mercury poisoning.
7. There are high levels of Mercury in the ground around the site. It's thought that even though he died from mercury poisoning, the emperor was so convinced mercury was the key to eternal life that he had flowing rivers of the stuff installed in his tomb.
8. The location of the tomb did remain hidden for thousands of years, only to be discovered by accident in 1974, by some farmers attempting to dig a well. The farmers found a pit with about 6,000 terracotta soldiers in it. The site was soon identified as the burial place of Emperor Qin, and excavations began almost immediately.
9. Soldiers must have weapons, of course, and sure enough, there are plenty of those in the tomb as well. There are around 40,000 bronze weapons, including battle axes, crossbows, arrowheads and spears. The weapons had been chrome plated, a technique that was first used in modern times in 1937, thus proving the ancient Chinese had a remarkable knowledge of metallurgy. The horses had saddles, as well, which challenged the accepted thought that horse saddles were invented by the Samaritans in 365AD.
10. The statues are 175–190 cm tall. Originally, they would have been painted in colourful lacquer paint, which has largely faded away.

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