THE BIG PUZZLE !!!

Warrior Pieces--The Big Puzzle!

Seeing this, you can imagine how gargantuan of a task this Terracotta Warrior recovery really is! Most of the pits actually looked like this when they first discovered them--perhaps covered in tons of sand/dirt debris. These lifesize figures were commissioned by Qin--the first Emporor of China. Eventually, this empire fell and the Han Empire was established. One of these subsequent rulers ordered the destruction of this vast array of warriors--toppling them and torching the wooden beams of the subterranean buildings in which they were housed. This is what led to the destruction of this incredible display. Thanks to this rampage, many of the pieces were reduced to dust. It's wild that anything survived. Some pieces still reveal bits of paint color. The hues we saw were blood red, royal blue, bright orange. One of the best sources to see awesome photos of the Terracotta Warriors is the Oct 1996 National Geographic article on Xi'an's Terracotta Warriors. I stumbled upon one accidentally at a thrift shop for about $0.25.

Four farmers drilling for an agricultural well accidentally happened upon these clay figures. Had their drill been off by a couple of feet, they would never have discovered this. It's amazing! Archaeologists have painstakingly recovered the fragments of the bodies and have attempted to reassemble the warriors. What an incredible process this is! A gargantuan jigsaw puzzle of sorts! I can see why many consider this find the 8th Wonder of the World!!!