Source: CCTV
CCTV Network Information: The Qin Dynasty, the first unified centralized dynasty on the mainland, occupies a special position in Chinese history. Therefore, the archaeological excavations of the Terracotta Army of the First Emperor of Qin have extraordinary value and are known as one of the great discoveries in the archaeological history of the 20th century.
Among them, the No. 1 pit of the Terracotta Army of Qin Shihuang was discovered by chance in March 1974 by local villagers while digging wells against drought, and the protection hall was built and opened to the public on October 1, 1979. The plan of pit No. 1 is rectangular, 230 meters long from east to west, 62 meters wide from north to south, with a total area of 14,260 square meters, the largest of the three pits and if all excavated, it is expected that more than 6,000 terracotta figurines and pottery horses can be unearthed, and more than 50 chariots.
At present, three official excavations have been carried out in Pit No. 1, the restored part of the front terracotta figurines is the result of the first official excavation, and the part in the middle that has only cleared the overburden is the area of the second official excavation. Since 2009, the Terracotta Army No. 1 Pit has carried out the third excavation and achieved a number of important archaeological results, and more than 1,000 pieces (groups) such as terracotta figurines, terracotta horses and weapons have been excavated and cleaned up.
For more than 40 years, only one-seventh of Pit 1 has been excavated. Why not unearth all these underground artifacts and show them to the public? Tian Jing, vice president of the Mausoleum Museum of the First Emperor of Qin, responded to the concerns of the masses with a vivid metaphor: the excavation of cultural relics is like raising children, and a lot of work such as the maintenance of cultural relics in the later period needs to be completed in time. If there is no corresponding capacity and support, the protection and management of cultural relics may not be in place. Effective excavation and effective protection are the direction that generations of cultural relics workers have been working on.