Historical records also note that the emperor created an entire city, Liyi, to house the workers building his tomb, some of whom never left. Some historical estimates put the number of workers involved at around 700,000, though more contemporary estimates indicate the process could have involved far fewer. The emperor’s tomb, and the figures that fill it, were built over the course of more than three decades between 246 and 210 B.C., when Qin Shi Huang died. Consequently, the warriors were found shattered in the dirt, awaiting painstaking reconstruction by archaeologists. He and his men are said to have looted the emperor’s tomb, including the weapons within, and leaving it to burn. The destruction is usually attributed to Xiang Yu, a warlord vying for the throne after Qin Shi Huang’s death. Many of the figures were smashed, and there were signs of a fire in the tomb. When archaeologists first began uncovering the terracotta warriors, it was clear that some catastrophe had befallen them long ago. Soldiers, while a third contains a command unit of 68 high-ranking officers. A second pit has a smaller force of cavalry and other The largest pit contains an estimated 6,000 soldiers (some have yet to be excavated) arranged into precise groupings containing infantry, archers, charioteers and crossbowmen, overseen by officers. The warriors were found in a collection of pits located to the east of the main burial complex. The emperor’s tomb itself, marked by a large earthen mound, has never been opened for fear that the contents might be damaged by exposure to the air. The rivers were said to have once flowed with liquid mercury, an assertion backed up by elevated mercury levels in the soil nearby. Along with his army, Qin Shi Huang’s tomb contains bronze carriages, terracotta musicians and artificial rivers replete with bronze birds. The inanimate warriors are part of a much larger necropolis complex that spans more than 20 square miles. The Terracotta Army is thought to contain around 7000 soldiers. The soldiers were originally decorated with a rich palette of colors including white, red, green, blue and black, though their paint has since faded. Faces differ from soldier to soldier, lending the warriors another touch of realism. Officers are both taller and more lavishly equipped than the regular infantry, decked out with kits of armor and decorative sigils of rank. The chromium likely came from the lacquer coating the statues, scientists now think, and the weapons were instead preserved by the unique alkaline soil. But more recent research put that theory to rest. Those speculations were based on traces of the element chromium, also present in stainless steel, found on the bronze weapons. The weapons were found in an astonishing state of preservation which led some researchers to speculate that craftspeople in ancient China had discovered a special metallic coating to preserve their implements for the ages. Some 40,000 arrowheads have been recovered from the tomb, as well as bronze swords, spears, battle axes, crossbows, shields and more. TheĪrmy, created in the third century B.C., was equipped with real weapons made of bronze, in addition to chariots and hundreds of terracotta horses. They look to the east, toward the conquered territories of the Qin empire, perhaps to fend off would-be invaders after the emperor’s passing. The Terracotta Army is thought to contain around 7,000 soldiers, in addition to statues of entertainers, officials and more. Perhaps nowhere else are we granted this kind of glimpse into history: a testament to the wealth and power of the first Chinese empire, built for the very man who created it. The resulting masterpiece is a picture-perfect image of an ancient Chinese fighting force, armed and ready for battle. Thousands of laborers toiled to build the necropolis in which the warriors stand, and an entire economy of craftspeople and workshops was involved in the creation of the thousands of figures that make up the army. The spectacle of an eternal fighting force is captivating, but the Terracotta Army is also fascinating for what it represents.
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