Archaeology - Terra Cotta Warriors

The first emperor of China, Qin (Chin) Shi Huang Di, wanted to live forever, and take his army with him.  Rather than kill all of his officers upon his death, as previous leaders had done in his area, he decided to build a massive life size army out of clay.  Each soldier was crafted differently, and placed by rank with the appropriate arms and supplies.

This massive army was unknown until a farmer, working near the known grave of Emperor Qin Shi Huang Di, attempted to dig a well, and accidentally discovered the ancient pottery.

In class activities:

• Learned about religion during the warring states period
• Discussed the major advances made by Emperor Qin Shi Huang Di
• Discussed the impact of replacing killing soldiers with building clay soldiers
• Looked at images of terra cotta soldiers and hypothesized about the many missing weapons
• Read portions of an archaeological field manual
• Learned how to properly label both clay and other items
• Worked on our own dig sites, uncovering pottery and intrusive items
• Documented our finds

Optional lesson extension activities:

• Read more from an archaeological field manual 
• Watch a documentary about the Terra Cotta Warriors
• Sculpt your own Terra Cotta Soldier or Horse out of clay