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It has been more than 40 years that China conducts modern archaeological researches and exercises relic protection on the Mausoleum of Qinshihuang (259 BC-210 BC), the first emperor of China's Qin Dynasty, located 36 kilometers east of Xi'an, capital of northwest China's Shaanxi Province. During the process numerous world-shocking relics were brought out, but this is just the tip of the iceberg, and more treasures remain buried in the underground palace, expert said.
China's biggest emperor tomb
Built in 38 years by 700,000 laborers, the Mausoleum of Qinshihuang is the biggest imperial tomb known to Chinese history, on an unprecedented scale with a wealth of relics found. The site where the most widely known terra-cotta warriors and horses were unearthed is even not located in the core area of the Mausoleum.
As known, around the earth cover of the Mausoleum, archaeologists found two layers of city walls joining each other, the outer wall surrounded an area about 2.13 square kilometers and thus formed the central area of the Mausoleum. The relics already found include the cover earth, the pit of bronze chariots and horses, coffin chamber, side chamber, burial article tombs, pit of rare animals, pit of armor and pits for figures of actors and civil officials respectively.
Even these important discoveries stand a small part of the whole tomb, since within the outer wall alone there remain an area of 1,300,000 square meters not surveyed, of which 300,000 square meters are covered by villages. Since the construction of the tomb underwent two periods before and after the Qin Dynasty, the whole pattern of the Mausoleum seemed not so well designed. Compared with common imperial tombs, the Mausoleum includes not only the tomb garden but extended outwardly.
Numerous cultural relics remain untouched
The Qinshihuang Mausoleum should center on the earth cover and reaches Daiwang Town in the east, Dongguan of Lintong area in the west, Fish Pond site in the north and Lishan Mount in the south, an area totaling 56.25 square kilometers, according to Yuan Zhongyi, noted archaeologist and honorary curator of the Qin Terra-cotta warriors museum.
Outside the outer wall, important sites discovered or proved include No 1, 3 and 5 pits, pit of bronze cranes, fish pond, stone armor processing yard and other construction sites. Judging from the already found sites, there should have numerous underground relics in an area of 17.5 square kilometers, which is closely connected with the Mausoleum core area. However, due to limited research conditions, only a small part outside the outer wall was surveyed.
After 2000 years' vicissitudes, the Mausoleum, though suffered damages to a certain degree, still keeps rather intact outer and inner city walls, with the earth cover not seeing any sign of large-scale damage, archaeological data told.
(People's Daily December 18, 2002)
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