Terra Cotta Army, Xi'an, China by T. E. Smith-Lamothe

Discovered by farmers digging a well in 1974, the terra cotta army had lain buried since the time of the first Emperor of China, Qin (pronounced "Chin" which gives us the English name for the nation: China). The soldiers were made as part of an extraordinary burial complex in the years before and after Qin's death in 210 BC. Only a portion of the army has been uncovered and the nearby burial mound itself has never been excavated. The soldiers are not life size, for the most part they are slightly larger. Various molds were used to create the feet, legs, torso, and arms, but the heads, although done in molds, too, were individualized by additions or subtractions to the still wet clay. Hair style, hats and armor designate different ranks from private to general (to use modern terminology)and battlefield duties (archer, infantry, cavalry, etc.). The clay was originally lacquered in bright colours, and working weaponry was carried. These weapons were robbed by rebellious soldiers relatively soon after Qin's death and the robbers used torches underground which caught the wooden roof on fire and led to the collapse of the buried structural supports. The soldiers and horses are unearthed in fragments and then meticulously glued together again. For more information, go to: en1.xian-tourism.com /