China's Terra-Cotta Warriors and the First Qin Emperor

In March 1974, a group of peasants digging a well in China’s drought-parched Shaanxi province unearthed fragments of a clay figure—the first evidence of what would turn out to be one of the greatest archaeological discoveries of modern times. Near the unexcavated tomb of Qin Shi Huang—who proclaimed himself first emperor of China in 221 B.C.E.—lay an extraordinary underground treasure: an entire army of life-size terra-cotta soldiers and horses, interred for more than 2,000 years.