Near to the ancient capital of China, aka Xi’an, is a living museum for the Terra Cotta soldiers. After uniting China, the first emperor spent 40 years constructing himself a tomb. Over 750, 000 people were engaged in the construction process at one point or another. So far, archaeologists have uncovered 4 distinct dig sites where these soldiers were to be placed as sentinels, guardians and counselors to the emperor after he died. Dig 1 is the largest and has thousands of soldiers there. Dig 3 is the headquarters and guards of high-ranking officers, Dig 2 has archers and other types of soldiers, and Dig 4 has no soldiers in it. Experts have discerned that there were to be terracotta soldiers placed therein, but the effort, though 40 years long at that point, failed.
After this first emperor died, many peasants were outraged at his cruelty and they stormed Dig one and destroyed much of his army there. The Digs were hidden underground and were not linked to one another, so the other Digs, when found, were not as damaged.. not that the passaged of 2000 years won’t have an effect all of its own, of course.
O, what cruel people can accomplish with limitless resources and lots of time.
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