It was up nice and early for our 2.5hour drive out to see the Terracotta Warriors with the hope that we would get there before the crowds. We arrived around 11am and met up with our local guide who at first seemed as much use as an underwater hairdryer with the charisma of a pebble but once we'd got him to slow down his speech significantly so that we had a chance of understanding him, he eventually turned out to be not only very informing but a good laugh too.

The Terracotta army is the most significant archaeological discovery in China attracting over 2 million visitors from home and overseas each year. Bing Ma Yong to give it its mandarin pronunciation was discovered in 1974 by 3 farmers who were digging a well not far from Xi'an. They discovered an edge of the vaulted tombs containing the thousands and thousands of warriors in various different conditions who had originally been commissioned by the crazy first emperor of China Qing Shi Huang who reigned between 259-210BC. The site is now of course a UNISCO world heritage site and the excavations are still continuing albeit at a slower pace than before.

After our guides introduction we were treated to a 360degree movie telling us all about the first Emperor, his brave battle to become the first person to unify 5 out of 6 of China's individual kingdoms and his self proclamation to be the first emperor! He ordered the creation of his terracotta warriors in order to guard his mausoleum and accompany him into the next life. Incidentally he also had approximately 3000 of his concubines buried alive also to keep him company!

The terracotta figures were manufactured both in workshops by government labourers and also by local craftsmen. The head, arms, legs and torsos were created separately and then assembled. Studies show that eight face moulds were most likely used, and then clay was added to provide individual facial features. Once assembled, intricate features such as facial expressions were added. It is believed that their legs were made in much the same way that terracotta drainage pipes were manufactured at the time. This would make it an assembly line production, with specific parts manufactured and assembled after being fired, as opposed to crafting one solid piece of terracotta and subsequently firing it. Upon completion, the terracotta figures were placed in the pits in precise military formation according to rank and duty.

The terracotta figures are life-like and life-sized. They vary in height, uniform and hairstyle in accordance with rank. The coloured lacquer finish, individual facial features, and actual weapons and armour from battle were used in manufacturing these figures created a realistic appearance. Shortly after the death of Qin in 210 there was a rural uprising as the local farmers and peasants, who previously had been used as a sort of slave labour to construct the warriors and the emperors mausoleum, wanted to gain revenge for what had happened to them. During the uprising they broke into the newly sealed pits containing the warriors and set fire to the wooden supports and smashed the warriors into tiny pieces. The original bronze weapons that the terracotta army was originally issued with were then stolen and the warriors now lay as they did over 2000 years ago in shards and pieces awaiting the very patient and painstaking restoration by keen archaeologists from all round the world..

Heading to the first pit of four pits current in the excavation you have a picture in your mind as to what it is going to look like but it does not prepare you for the enormity of the excavation. They are solidly built with rammed earth walls and ground layers as hard as concrete. Pit one, 230 meters long, contains the main army, estimated at 8,000 figures. Pit One has 11 corridors, most of which are over 3 meters wide, and paved with small bricks with a wooden ceiling supported by large beams and posts. This design was also used for the tombs of noblemen and would have resembled palace hallways. The wooden ceilings were covered with reed mats and layers of clay for waterproofing, and then mounded with more soil making them, when built, about 2 to 3 meters higher than ground level.

Getting our first close up look at the warriors, albeit from a couple of meters above and behind some barriers, they seemed so lifelike. Their features and dress had been recreated so well and their individual looks have such a steely stare that they appear as if they once were real and simply have become fossilised. Once we had walked around looking at the recreated warriors in their formations and I had taken far more pictures than necessary we walked to the other end of the covered pit number one to what was described as the hospital area. This is where all the pieces of the jigsaw puzzle are put together. These range from fairly distinguishable large chunks of terracotta that you can easily say is part of an arm or part of a leg but they also put in pieces the size of your little toenail which have to be matched to the correct body. There were standing soldiers, standing archers, kneeling archers, generals and horses all in different states of repair from some being no more than a couple of legs to completely finished bar an ear or two.

We then moved on to pit 3 which was the command post where the high ranking officers and a war chariot are contained. This excavation is much smaller than the massive pit one due to the fact that there were not as many high ranking officers. Again the statues in this pit were smashed by the rioting hoards following Qing's death so these too have been painstakingly patched and stuck back together. The main difference with these was that as they were high ranking officers the faces actually represented their faces and the plinths that they stood on not only had the signature of the sculptor but also the signature of the officer. After more photos we moved on to pit two, which has cavalry and infantry units as well as war chariots, and is thought to represent a military guard. This was still a work in progress site with most of the warriors still in pieces and some of it still remains un excavated below the wooden ceilings. The work on the excavations have ceased until some new technology from Germany is brought over which will allow for the future newly uncovered fragments which still hold their original vivid painting colours. The current excavation and preserving techniques mean that within a matter of days the colours have completely faded to a light terracotta and then the whole statue turns a light grey colour and the painted decoration is lost forever.

Finally in the hall that contained pit 2 there were some excavated warriors that had been put in glass boxes allowing you to get up close and personal with them. Among these warriors was the only one to have been excavated whole out of the 8000 odd figures they have found so far. He was a kneeling archer and being able to get close to him you can see that the face detail is amazing and there is some red painting left on his tunic at he back.

The Terracotta Army has been described as the only other set of historic artefacts (along with the remnants of ruins of the Titanic) which can draw a crowd simply on the back of its name alone. We certainly weren't disappointed in what we saw especially as we had not only got to see the real thing in the flesh and in all its entirety rather than as a small travelling exhibition, but we had actually met one of the 3 farmers who had discovered this wonder back in 1974.