Xi'an City, Shaanxi Province, northwest China – Recent (CCTV - No access Chinese mainland)
1. Various of sign reading "Excavation Area"; terracotta warriors, war-horses
2. SOUNDBITE (Chinese) Shen Maosheng, researcher, Emperor Qinshihuang's Mausoleum Site Museum (starting with shot 1/ending with shot 4):
"In the past, the army formation of Pit No. 1 was considered to be a symmetrical north-south arrangement centered on the sixth tunnel. We have some breakthrough knowledge this time, and it has a lot of regularity in its details. For our third excavation of over 400 square meters, we found that the warriors in the front section of the eighth tunnel were armed with long weapons, and the warriors in the back section were armed with crossbows. The same goes for the ninth tunnel. All the warriors in the 10th tunnel carry long weapons. Most of the terracotta warriors in the 11th tunnel are armed with crossbows. A few are armed with long weapons and they are all officers."
3. Various of hands of terracotta warriors
4. Various of terracotta warriors
5. Various of hands of terracotta warriors
6. Terracotta warriors with number tabs
7. Various of terracotta warriors, war horse
8. SOUNDBITE (Chinese) Shen Maosheng, researcher, Emperor Qinshihuang's Mausoleum Site Museum (starting with shot 6/ending with shot 8):
"For example, the front section is full of terracotta warriors with armors, and we call them the vanguards. On both sides of the vanguards are a kind of terracotta warriors we call the "Jieze terracotta warriors" (warriors wearing a kind of kerchief). The terracotta warriors in the middle are all figures with bun heads, and behind those are all flat bun figures. Warriors with different hairstyles are in different positions and may undertake different tasks in the course of combat."
9. Terracotta warriors in excavation area
10. Various of terracotta warriors, war horse on display; visitors
11. SOUNDBITE (Chinese) Shen Maosheng, researcher, Emperor Qinshihuang's Mausoleum Site Museum (starting with shot 9):
"We probably have a more intuitive and concrete understanding of the army. We want to publish our findings as soon as possible for more people to study. Archaeology is all about explaining historical mysteries, and we may be one step closer to solving them."
12. Various of terracotta warriors, war-horses

Archaeologists have made new discoveries on the arrangement of military formation of terracotta warriors during the third excavation of Pit No.1 of the Mausoleum of Emperor Qinshihuang in Xi'an City, northwest China's Shaanxi Province.

The third excavation of Pit No.1 lasted for 13 years until 2022, but the excavated area was only over 400 square meters, accounting for only 3 percent of the 14,260 square meters of the pit.

After two archaeological excavations in the 1970s and 1980s, Pit No.1 has been designated as 27 exploration areas, and five at the eastern end have been excavated and restored for display.

Previous archaeological studies have shown that Pit No.1 is divided into 11 tunnels, where thousands of terracotta warriors formed a military formation. Pit No.1 contains a 38-way column with infantry and charioteers arranged in an orderly and well-organized manner.

The excavation was focused on the middle and back of the pit, including four tunnels from No. 8 to 11, three partitions from No. 8 to 10, and the northern side wall of the pit. More than 220 terracotta warriors, 16 terracotta war-horses and four chariots have been cleared.

"In the past, the army formation of Pit No. 1 was considered to be a symmetrical north-south arrangement centered on the sixth tunnel. We have some breakthrough knowledge this time, and it has a lot of regularity in its details. For our third excavation of over 400 square meters, we found that the warriors in the front section of the eighth tunnel were armed with long weapons, and the warriors in the back section were armed with crossbows. The same goes for the ninth tunnel. All the warriors in the 10th tunnel carry long weapons. Most of the terracotta warriors in the 11th tunnel are armed with crossbows. A few are armed with long weapons and they are all officers," said Shen Maosheng, a researcher at the Emperor Qinshihuang's Mausoleum Site Museum.

In addition to the archaeological excavation, Shen said that after summarizing and sorting out the data, part of the patterns of the arrangement of the military array in Pit No.1 were found.

"For example, the front section is full of terracotta warriors with armors, and we call them the vanguards. On both sides of the vanguards are a kind of terracotta warriors we call the "Jieze terracotta warriors" (warriors wearing a kind of kerchief). The terracotta warriors in the middle are all figures with bun heads, and behind those are all flat bun figures. Warriors with different hairstyles are in different positions and may undertake different tasks in the course of combat," said Shen.

According to historical records, on the eve of the annihilation of the Six Kingdoms, in 223 BCE, Qin and Chu armies confronted each other at Pingyu (now Pingyu County in central China's Henan Province) for a year. The Qin army was firm in defense and sharp in attack, and defeated the Chu army. Some scholars believe that the reason why the Qin Army had quite strong fighting ability was closely related to its war formations and multiple arms for joint fighting.

According to the density calculation, there are more than 6,000 terracotta warriors and war-horses in Pit No.1, forming a large phalanx of charioteers and infantry. Combined with Pit No. 2 and Pit No. 3, the infantry, cavalry, chariots and command organs are in concert. Existing studies generally believe that these terracotta warriors were the garrison of Qinshihuang. Perhaps these well-organized terracotta warriors can reflect the historical scene of Qin Dynasty's (221-206 BCE) army formation.

"We probably have a more intuitive and concrete understanding of the army. We want to publish our findings as soon as possible for more people to study. Archaeology is all about explaining historical mysteries, and we may be one step closer to solving them," said Shen.

The Terracotta Army warriors were discovered in Xi'an in 1974. They are part of the Mausoleum of Qinshihuang, China's first emperor. The mysterious graveyard is believed to be the first huge ancient mausoleum in China.