BEIJING - The tomb of China's first emperor, guarded for more than 2,000
years by 8,000 terracotta warriors and horses, has yielded up another
archaeological secret.
Unearthed terracotta warriors from the Xian period are
displayed at a museum in the ancient Chinese capital of Xian in a file
photo. [Reuters]
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After five years of research,
archaeologists have confirmed that a 30-meter-high building is buried in the
vast mausoleum of Emperor Qinshihuang near the former capital, Xian, in the
northwestern province of Shaanxi, Xinhua news agency said on Sunday.
Duan Qingbo, a researcher with Shaanxi Institute of Archaeology, said the
building might have been constructed for the soul of the emperor to depart.
Archaeologists have been using remote sensing technology since 2002 to study
the internal structure of the unexcavated mausoleum.
They concluded that the building, buried above the main tomb, had four
surrounding stair-like walls with nine steps each, Xinhua said.
Qinshihuang unified China in 221 BC.
The life-size terracotta army, buried in pits near the mausoleum to guard the
emperor in the afterlife, was accidentally unearthed in 1974 by farmers who were
digging a well.