The first soldier was discovered in the 1970s by a farmer who was digging a well. Farmland in rural areas was actually not government owned, but part of a compound. The farmer who discovered the soldier though reported his finding to the government. He was rewarded with 20 kuai (a little more that $2 US today, probably a bit more then). That farmer was actually at the museum and he’s since learned how to sign his own name so that he can autograph books for visitors.
Archaeologists started digging after the initial discovery and discovered thousands of soldiers buried in battle formation guarding the gates of the Emperor Qin’s tomb. There are supposedly about 8,000, but only about 2,000 have been dug up. They haven’t even gotten to the actually tomb yet. The soldiers that are still buried are painted, but the paint has faded, so archaeologists and scientists are working on ways to preserve the paint before doing some more excavating.
The Warriors and Horses museum was a bit like being in a tame version of Indiana Jones, the display areas are actually buildings constructed over the excavation pits so you can look down on the soldiers in their formation below the ground. You can go into the first pit where the first soldier was discovered and the soldiers are lined up in rows. In the next, the soldiers were prepared to curry messages for the emperor and there were quite a few archers. The third pit still looks like piles of dirt and hasn’t been excavated because exposing the wooden beams in the ceiling over the soldiers’ heads to air would make them crumble, so they are working on ways to stop this.
I’m thinking now that I might like to become an archaeologist and dig up the rest of the tomb. I could change my major and keep on studying, how ‘bout that Dad? I’d have to of course improve my Chinese because something tells me I’d have to say more than “Please, thank you and I don’t want that.”
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