Known for 2,000 years...
Discovered in 1974
"They poured molten copper and bronze to make the outer coffin, and the tomb was filled with models of palaces, pavilions, and offices as well as fine vessels, precious stones, and rarities."
--Sima Qian, Records of the Grand Historian, 89 BCE
Creation of The Terracotta Figures
Underground Mount Li in Shaanxi China were the 7,000 clay officers, soldiers, horses and chariots that Qin Shi Huangdi had ordered to make outside his tomb. However, the contractors during Qin's time did not know how to make life-sized figures but they were familiar with the tecnology they could've used. They created a manufacturing system one like we have today and split into section for different procedures. They used the technoly of pipes and tiles. The clay that they used came from the Lishan the mountain nearest to the emperor's tomb. Each figure was built bottom to top and each had a different facial structures. The constructors had used extraordinary detail for each figure. They had included beards, eyebrows, mustaches,etc. The other body parts resembled how a soldier would look including their rank and armor.
Why were these figures built around Qin Shi Huangdi's tomb?
Qin Shi Huangdi was obsessed with immortality he was also afraid of assassination, therefore he never slept in the same room two nights consecutively. He wanted to rule forever ,therefore he had tried elixirs of mercury, climbed mountains of the legendary gods, and sent hundreds of children out to sea to reach an island that was rumored of wise men who knew the secret to immortality. When he was thirteen he had planned to built a palace of figures that guarded him and mocked the army he already created but in clay. For the purpose of immortality he had rivers of mercury in the palace. Qin wanted to take his reign to the afterlife with him. This remains in China today as a popular attraction and legacy.