Shocking: In 1974, a farmer in Xi’an, China, accidentally unearthed the astonishing Terracotta Army – more than 8,000 clay soldiers buried for 2,200 years.

The Terracotta Army refers to the thousands of life-size clay models of soldiers, horses and chariots that were placed around the great mausoleum of Shi Huangdi, the first emperor of China and founder of the Qin Dynasty, located near Lishan in Shaanxi Province in central China.

The purpose of the army was likely to act as protective figures for the tomb or to serve their ruler in the next life. The site was discovered in 1974 AD, and the realistic army figures provide a unique insight into ancient Chinese warfare, from weapons to armor or chariot mechanics to command structures. Shi Huangdi was desperate for immortality, and in the end, his terracotta army of over 7000 warriors, 600 horses, and 100 chariots has given him exactly that, at least in name and in deed. The mausoleum site is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, although the inner tomb itself has yet to be excavated.

The first emperor of China

Shi Huangdi (also known as Shi Huangti) was the king of the Qin state, which unified China beginning in 221 BC and then founded the Qin Dynasty. He ruled as the first emperor of China until his death in 210 BC. His reign was brief but eventful, most of it infamous enough to earn Shi Huangdi a lasting reputation as a megalomaniacal despot. The period saw the construction of the Great Wall of China, the infamous Burning of the Books, in which thousands of literary and philosophical works were destroyed, and the construction of a sumptuous royal palace. The emperor seems to have been especially interested in acquiring immortality, a quest no doubt further motivated by his surviving three assassination attempts. Scientists were tasked with discovering life-prolonging elixirs, and young emissaries were sent across the East Sea in search of the legendary Penglai, the land of the immortals.

Failing to achieve his goals of artificially prolonging his life, Shi Huangdi resorted to the age-old expedient of autocratic rulers and had a massive mausoleum built instead. In fact, the entire massive project was begun in the early years of his reign, as its preparation required a prodigious amount of labor. An administrative district was established on the site, where 30,000 families were forcibly relocated and tasked with building the largest tomb ever seen in the history of China or any other country. In the end, no doubt when Huangdi realized that time was running out, hundreds of thousands of forced laborers were sent to carry out the project. One way or another, Shi Huangdi would be remembered long after his reign. The Terracotta Army seems to have achieved that goal.

Huangdi Mausoleum

The Shi Huangdi Mausoleum, actually a complex of multiple burials covering an incredible area of 35 to 60 square kilometres, was discovered in 1974 AD buried at the foot of the artificial Mount Li near Lishan (present-day Lintong), 50 kilometres east of the Qin capital Xianyang in central China’s Shaanxi Province. The tomb itself remains unexcavated, but its spectacular army of terracotta defenders has been, in part, unearthed and has already earned the site the title of “World’s Largest Tomb”. The buried tomb mound is in the form of a three-step pyramid, measures an impressive 1,640 metres in circumference, 350 metres on each side and rises to a height of 60 metres. The complex is surrounded by a double wall.

Overview of the Terracotta Army

According to legend, the tomb contains great riches, but also includes diabolical traps to ensure that Huangdi rests in peace forever. The traps and the interior were described by the historian Sima Qian (146-86 BC) in the following passage from his Shiji:

• More than 700,000 convict laborers from around the world were sent there. They dug three springs, poured liquid bronze, and secured the sarcophagus. Houses, officials, unusual and valuable objects were moved to fill it. He [Shi Huangdi] ordered craftsmen to make mechanism-operated crossbows. Anyone passing by them would be shot immediately. They used mercury to create rivers, the Jiang and the He, and the great seas, through which the mercury circulated mechanically. On the ceiling were celestial bodies, and on the floor were geographical features. (Shelach-Lavi, 318)

The floor map with its geographical models and the ceiling with a painted universe symbolized the emperor’s status as Son of Heaven and ruler of God on Earth. Qian also notes that members of Huangdi’s harem were buried together with their deceased emperor and many craftsmen and workers as well, to keep the fabulous wealth of Huangdi’s grave goods secret forever.

The Terracotta Warriors

To protect his tomb or perhaps even to ensure that he had a bodyguard on hand in the next life, Shi Huangdi did much more than his predecessors. Ancient Chinese rulers often had two or three statues to stand as guardians outside their tombs, but Huangdi opted for an entire army of them. The Terracotta Army is actually one of only four likely to exist, as the part excavated so far (1.5km away from the mausoleum) is on the eastern side and is likely duplicated on the other three sides of the tomb. Even this one-quarter section has not been fully excavated, as only three of its four pits have been fully explored by archaeologists.

Chinese Terracotta Warrior

Glancs (CC BY)

The main of the four pits containing the army discovered measures 230 x 62 metres and is between 4 and 6 metres deep. It housed around 6,000 slightly larger-than-life-sized representations of infantry (1.8-1.9 metres high), chariots and horses. The pit, which originally had wooden columns supporting a wooden beamed roof, is divided by 10 brick-lined passageways. The floor was made of compacted earth which was then paved with over 250,000 ceramic tiles. The second pit, slightly smaller and R-shaped, contained around 1,400 figures. In keeping with an obvious attempt to exactly recreate a real army, pit 3, measuring 21 x 17 metres, contains commanders and resembles a command post on the battlefield.

In addition to the infantry, the army includes 600 horses and almost 100 chariots carrying officers and riders and having a team of two, three or four horses. The soldiers were placed in regular ranks and are depicted in different postures: most are standing while some are crouching. Their particular mix and arrangement of officers (slightly taller than all the others, with their general being the tallest of all), cavalry, crossbowmen, skirmishers, archers, charioteers and grooms give the illusion of a complete battlefield army ready for action. There are light infantry units with archers positioned on the flanks and front, heavy infantry behind them, while chariots bring up the rear with their officers, matching the troop deployments mentioned in ancient military treatises.

The scale of the work must have required a huge amount of firewood to feed the pottery kilns in which the figures were made, as well as the countless tons of clay from local deposits needed to make figures that weighed up to 200 kilos each. In addition to the impressive end result, the undertaking was a triumph of organisation and planning.

Chariot, Terracotta Army

Dennis Jarvis (CC BY-SA)

A great deal of effort has been made to make each figure unique, even though they are all made from a limited repertoire of body parts assembled from moulds. These pieces are 7.5 cm thick and consist of a head, a torso, a leg, another leg that acts as a pedestal, two arms and two hands. The faces and hair, in particular, were modified to give the illusion of a real army made up of unique individuals, even though in reality there are only eight types of torso and head. The hands were also modified with straight or bent fingers and changes in the angle of the thumb and wrist. The figures were not glazed, but lacquered to protect them and painted with bright colours; traces of red pigment remain on some figures. It is astonishing to think that all this almost infinite variety and realism was never meant to be seen by anyone.

Each figure would have held some form of weapon, probably authentic ones such as swords, halberds, spears, bows and crossbows, but most of these have long since been stolen, as they were valued for their bronze. The swords that were still in place retained their sharp edges and each bore an inscription with the name of its maker and supervisor. The warriors have seven variations of Qin armour, which (by imitation) is usually in the form of riveted or joined panels of leather or metal, a design and materials confirmed by rare archaeological finds elsewhere and in descriptions in texts and other art forms such as tomb paintings elsewhere. Some infantrymen wear no armour, and shields are another notable missing item, despite evidence of their use in Qin armies from other sources. It is also possible that they were stolen in antiquity, as some figures appear to have held an item in each hand.