The Terracotta Army is a force of life-size clay soldiers and horses. They were buried to protect Qin Shi Huang, China’s first emperor, after his death. Farmers found them by accident in 1974. Today they are one of the best-known archaeological sites on Earth.
This guide covers where the army is, what its name means, how it was found and what the pits contain. It also covers a few details that most visitors miss.
Where Is the Terracotta Army in China?
The army lies in the Lintong area of Xi’an. Xi’an is a city in Shaanxi province. If you are searching for the Terracotta Army location, that is your answer: Lintong, Xi’an, Shaanxi.
The soldier and horse pits are about 1.5 kilometers east of the emperor’s tomb. The soldiers are not inside the burial mound. They stand in separate pits beside it.
The whole site sits inside a protected area of 56.25 square kilometers. UNESCO counts more than 600 archaeological features there. They include tombs, accompanying pits and the remains of buildings.
The layout of the tomb complex copies the plan of Xianyang, the Qin capital. Xianyang was a city of nested walls with palaces inside. The emperor built his afterlife home on the same pattern.
What Does the Name Mean?
The Chinese name is bīngmǎ yǒng. It means ‘soldier and horse funeral statues’. The name says what the figures were for. They were funeral objects, not decorations.
The English name comes from the material. Terracotta is baked clay. Each soldier is made of fired earth.
The purpose was protection. The figures were placed in the tomb complex to guard Qin Shi Huang in the afterlife. Think of a security guard at the door of a building. The emperor wanted the same thing, only for the next world.
Who Built It, and Why
Qin Shi Huang was born Ying Zheng. In 221 BCE he united the warring kingdoms. He then took the title Qin Shi Huang Di, which means the First Emperor of Qin.
Work on his tomb complex had started earlier, in 246 BCE. The historian Sima Qian reported that 700,000 people worked on it.
The emperor died in 210 BCE. The army was prepared to protect him in the world after death.
How the Army Was Found
In March 1974, local farmers were digging a well. They hit fragments of fired clay figures. That find started the discovery of the army.
The first pit was only the start. In the summer of 1976, two more main pits of soldiers were found. The museum opened to the public on 1 October 1979.
In 1987, UNESCO added the emperor’s tomb complex to the World Heritage List. The soldier pits are part of it.
Timeline
- 246 BCE Work on Qin Shi Huang’s tomb complex begins.
- 221 BCE Ying Zheng unites the warring kingdoms and takes the title Qin Shi Huang Di.
- 210 BCE Qin Shi Huang dies.
- March 1974 Farmers digging a well find fragments of terracotta figures.
- Summer 1976 Pits 2 and 3 are discovered.
- 1 October 1979 The Terracotta Army Museum opens to the public.
- 1987 The tomb complex joins the UNESCO World Heritage List.
- 2014 A study publishes a comparison of the figures’ ears.
- 2019 A study disproves the claim that ancient chromium treatment protected the bronze weapons.
How Many Soldiers Are There?
The famous number is 8,000. It needs care.
A 2007 estimate says the three main pits hold more than 8,000 soldier figures. That is an estimate of what lies in the ground. It is not the number of figures already excavated.
Horses add to the total. Estimates for the whole army include 130 chariots pulled by 520 horses. They also include 150 cavalry horses.
The Three Pits
Pit 1 is the largest. It is 230 meters long and 62 meters wide. It has 11 parallel corridors. Picture 11 long lanes side by side, with soldiers standing in them.
Pit 2 covers about 6,000 square meters. According to the museum, it represents archers, cavalry, infantry and chariot units. It is a mixed force, not a single block of infantry.
Pit 3 is small, about 520 square meters. Its layout leads researchers to read it as the command center for the troops in the first two pits.
What the Soldiers Look Like
Most soldiers stand between 1.75 and 2 meters tall. That is the size of a real adult man.
They are not copies of one figure. Rank shows in clothing, hairstyle and height. A visitor who looks closely can tell an officer from a common soldier.
The soldiers also carried real weapons. The bronze weapons include swords, spears and crossbow trigger mechanisms, and all of them could be used in battle. These were not props.
Details You Won’t Find in Guidebooks
The soldiers were painted. Today most of them look earth-colored. At first they carried colored pigments applied over a layer of lacquer. The army once looked far brighter than it does now.
Roughly 40,000 bronze arrowheads were recovered. Digs at the Terracotta Army site found about that many. It gives a sense of how well supplied this clay force was.
Not every figure is a soldier. Other pits in the tomb complex held statues of officials, acrobats, strongmen and musicians. The emperor’s afterlife included a court, not only an army.
Pit 4 is empty. This pit in the army area has nothing in it. Researchers read this as a sign that the work was never finished.
No two ears matched. A 2014 study by Bevan and colleagues compared the shapes of 30 ears from the statues. No ear had exactly the same shape as another. This is a small human touch in a mass-produced army.
A myth about the weapons fell apart. One claim said the bronze weapons survived because of an ancient chromium-based anti-rust treatment. A 2019 study tested 464 weapon pieces. Only 37 had 0.1 percent chromium or more on the surface. The study showed the chromium came from neighboring lacquer layers. It was not linked to how well a weapon was preserved.
Is the Emperor’s Tomb Open?
No. The pits with the soldiers have been excavated. The central burial chamber holding Qin Shi Huang’s body has not. That chamber remains unexcavated.
The Museum and Planning a Visit
The Emperor Qinshihuang’s Mausoleum Site Museum runs the site. It opened to the public on 1 October 1979, and it covers the pits described above.
If you plan to go, check the museum’s official ticketing page for current ticket information. That page also describes Pits 2 and 3. Plan your route around the three pits. Pit 1 is the biggest. Pit 3 is the smallest, and it is the command center.
When you reach the first pit, look for rank. Check the clothing, the hair and the height. Ask yourself which figures are leaders. You will see more than a crowd of clay men.
FAQ
How many soldiers are in the Terracotta Army?
A 2007 estimate puts more than 8,000 soldier figures in the three main pits. That number is not a count of figures already dug up. Estimates for the whole army also include 130 chariots pulled by 520 horses, plus 150 cavalry horses.
Where is the Terracotta Army?
It is in the Lintong area of Xi’an, in China’s Shaanxi province. The pits lie about 1.5 kilometers east of the first emperor’s tomb.
What does the Terracotta Army mean?
The Chinese name, bīngmǎ yǒng, means ‘soldier and horse funeral statues’. The figures were placed in the tomb complex to protect Qin Shi Huang after his death.
Has the emperor’s tomb been opened?
No. The pits with the soldiers have been excavated, but the central burial chamber that holds the emperor’s body has not.
Sources
- Wikipedia — Terracotta Army en.wikipedia.org
- Vikipedi — Toprak Askerler tr.wikipedia.org
- UNESCO — Mausoleum of the First Qin Emperor whc.unesco.org
- National Geographic — Emperor Qin’s Tomb nationalgeographic.com
- Emperor Qinshihuang’s Mausoleum Site Museum — About bmy.com.cn
- UCL — Scientists shed light on preservation mystery of Terracotta Army weapons ucl.ac.uk
- Scientific Reports — Surface chromium on Terracotta Army bronze weapons nature.com
- Journal of Archaeological Science — Computer vision, archaeological classification and China’s terracotta warriors discovery.ucl.ac.uk
Image: 51714-Terracota-Army.jpg — xiquinhosilva, CC BY 2.0
