We were up early and met with our local guide Michael. Today we would be off to see the Terracotta Warriors. After a bus ride through the busy streets of Xi'an and out in to the countryside it made a welcome break to see some green land in China. We arrived in just over an hour. Throughout the journey Michael gave us a run down on the history and told us about what to expect. The site was accidentally discovered in 1974 by farmers digging a well for water. Instead they un-earthed the first fragment of what would be one of China's greatest archeological discoveries, an army of undead warriors for the Emperor Chin from over 2000 years ago. At the moment over 3000 warriors have been un-covered and there are thousands more to be un-earthed.

The story goes that the emperor of China at the time wasn't a very nice bloke, into his invading and the like and was also mega paranoid. During his life he was always surrounded by an army of bodyguards so after he passed to the afterlife he wanted to have the same protection and had his warriors individually made - 8000 of them! He died suddenly before his army was complete and was swiftly interred beside them in a mausoleum area that still to this day is the largest area ever recorded. Just after the old chap snuffed it, the peasants and farmers revolted and there was an uprising/struggle for power in which most of the warriors were smashed and destroyed and the pits in which they were placed had the ceilings burned and caved in. Little was known about the location and was mostly strands of folklore and legend about the great army until it was un-earthed by accident. It was also an un-believable stroke of luck that the well wasn't just a foot away or the site would have been missed altogether, as when un-covered they had found the far extreme corner of what would become the pit 1 exhibition.

Today the un-earthing of further warriors has been stopped whilst the technology becomes available to further protect the warriors as they are un-covered, as many still had the remnants of paint still visible on the pieces but due to rapid re-oxygenation this soon dissolved away.

Of the warriors un-earthed they have each had to be painstakingly re-constructed from the fragments un-earthed due to the uprising over 2000 years ago. The most complete and most prized statue is that of the archer as this was mostly still intact compared to others that had a tougher fate bestowed. Of the 3000 figures restored many still have missing limbs and heads. But the sight of what has been recovered is pretty amazing. We walked around the 3 different pits the first is the most complete an army of infantry flanked on the outside by archers. The second pit was deeper and contained generals who weren't in a uniform regimented pattern. The third pot apparently had housed animals but to be honest we didn't get to see these as most of the 2nd and 3rd pit were still pretty much un-excavated. There were also the bronze carriages made for the emperor to do his travels when he was in the other realm. Their sophisticated craftsmanship and James Bond touches confound and remain a mystery to this day: they include an air conditioned carriage with built-in vaults for heating or cooling, an umbrella with mechanisms for tilting it against the sun at rise, midday and sunset and for firing bolts as a method of protection. You can't be too pre-cautious about protection even when undead! One final mystery was un-earthed also: a bronze sword that was chromium plated - a process that shouldn't have been around as it was invented nearly 2000 years later and requires electric??

So a really fascinating day, if not a little eerie seeing row upon row of undead army! This was pretty much the excuse to be at Xi'an for our trip and one worth taking in my opinion, you can't come much closer face to face with relics of this age.
Mike and Kelly