Terracotta Warriors

Wow! We saw a few of the Terracotta Warriors several years ago when a small number were at an exhibition at the British Museum. But nothing prepares you for seeing the vast number all together here where they were discovered in 1974. And to think that they've so far only excavated a fraction of the total!
 
You probably already know that the 8,000+ warriors (along with horses & chariots) were created as part of his mausoleum to protect the first emperor of China (Qin Shi Huang) in his afterlife, in about 210 BC.
 
The main blip shows part of Pit No.1; the first extra shows a close-up of one of the heads (they're all different) and the second extra shows the head and shoulders of one currently under reconstruction. I didn't know before that only one warrior (a kneeling archer) was found intact - the rest were all smashed to pieces by marauding invaders in the past, so the archaelologists have done an amazing 3-D jigsaw puzzle putting so many of them together again.

They're best viewed large.