Terracotta Warriors—the Eighth Wonder of the World? I don’t know when they added eight, or who gets to decide, but it must have been sometimes after 1974, when a lucky farmer, Mr. Yang, discovered the first vault while digging a well on his land. A few years later, two other pits were discovered around Vault One.
So where did these 8,000 distinct army men come from? The infamous first emperor, Qin Shihuang, of course. He wanted to immortalize his great army, while protecting his nearby tomb at the same time. Only about 2,000 figures have been unearthed so far, but each one has distinctive and different features, poses, and faces. Underground, the figures were all painted as well, but upon exposure to the air, the paint faded and disappeared almost immediately.
Sometime before its more recent discovery, parts of the underground army were discovered by a seemingly angry mob (according to the video they showed at the museum) and many of the relics were broken and destroyed. Thus, the excavation process is also an assembly process for restoring the figures and lining them up in the rows.
So where did these 8,000 distinct army men come from? The infamous first emperor, Qin Shihuang, of course. He wanted to immortalize his great army, while protecting his nearby tomb at the same time. Only about 2,000 figures have been unearthed so far, but each one has distinctive and different features, poses, and faces. Underground, the figures were all painted as well, but upon exposure to the air, the paint faded and disappeared almost immediately.
Sometime before its more recent discovery, parts of the underground army were discovered by a seemingly angry mob (according to the video they showed at the museum) and many of the relics were broken and destroyed. Thus, the excavation process is also an assembly process for restoring the figures and lining them up in the rows.
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