The Naked Terracotta Warriors

Since their discovery in 1974 the martial ranks of the Qin Terracotta warriors have fascinated the world. Yet mere kilometres away on the other side of Xian, an extraordinary, and perhaps even more significant later discovery remains almost unknown to the outside world A Han dynasty mausoleum complex covering 56 square km with an estimated 100,000 pottery figures of warriors, civilians, men, women, cattle, utensils and weapons far exceeding the Qin dynasty tomb. The excavated naked figures are one third of life size, finely individually crafted, they consist of naked terracotta bodies, anatomically correct and painted flesh-colour, with individual, painted faces and perhaps most surprisingly, no arms. With unique and unprecedented access and for the very first time outside of China, we reveal this extraordinary mausoleum comprising the emperors tomb, empress tomb, the south and north burial pits, ceremonial site, human sacrifice graveyard and criminals cemetery. This special takes us to the breath-taking excavation site where the sheer scale and beauty of the figures is revealed. Graphic realisation shows us how this vast scheme was created, while dramatic reconstruction takes us back 2000 years to a time when one man held together a sprawling empire and planned in exquisite detail the path of his own afterlife. We uncover arguably the most remarkable archaeological find in China and tell the story of the Han Empire and the men and women who built this astonishing tomb.

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