In 1974, a group of farmers were slowly digging a well in Xi’an, China, when one of them hit something hard with his shovel. As he kept digging, he realized he had discovered an ancient clay statue.
Archeologists knew the first emperor of China, Qin Shi Huangdi, had an underground mausoleum somewhere in the area. But the mausoleum had been hidden intentionally after he died in 210 B.C., and caretakers planted trees on top in hopes it would never be found. But as archeologists began to investigate, they realized the clay statue was one of thousands buried just beneath the surface.
Called the Terracotta Army, there are no other burial sites that rival this underground army. And in recent years, new technologies have helped scientists understand how they came to be. Archaeologists have even found 20 more Terracotta Warriors in 2022.
