The First Emperor's tomb lies next to Mt. Li, about 40 kilometers east of Xi'an, the capitol of the province Shaanxi. The position of the tomb is between Mt. Li and the river Wei, the place was chosen according to the ancient Chinese method of reading natures signs called fengshui ("wind and water") and which the Taoist sign readers used to keep evil spirits away from the dead.
The tomb itself hasn't been excavated yet, and as far as one knows it has only been opened twice, first in 207 BCE when Xiang Yu's peasant army were looking for weapons and then 700 years later when it was plundered. It is impossible to know how ravaged the tomb really is until the excavations are finished. Despite the fact that the excavations are not yet finished, the archaeologists still knows quite much about how the First Emperor had imagined his mausoleum. In his work Shi Ji (The Historians Recordings) Sima Qian describes the following:
"As soon as the First Emperor became king of Qin, excavations and building had been started at Mount Li, while after he won the empire, more than 700,000 conscripts from all parts of the country worked there. They dug through three subterranean streams and poured molten copper for the outer coffin, and the tomb was filled with models of palaces, pavilions and offices as well as fine vessels, precious stones and rarities. Artisans were ordered to fix up crossbows so that any thief breaking in would be shot. All the country's streams, the Yellow River and the Yangtze were reproduced in quicksilver and by some mechanical means made to flow into a miniature ocean. The heavenly constellations were above and the regions of the earth below. The candles were made of whale oil to insure the burning for the longest possible time."
The second emperor (Eh Shih) made a decree (210 BCE) that his fathers childless concubines would follow with the dead emperor to his grave and be buried there alive. Once they had been buried one of the civil servants told the emperor that the artisans that had been working with the tomb knew too much about the grave and its contents. When the First Emperor had been placed in his tomb chamber and all the riches had been sealed, the middle and the outer gates were closed and no one of the workers that had been working on the tomb was ever seen again. Then they planted grass and trees over the tomb so it would look like a small mountain.
But the tomb consists of much more than what Shi Ji describes, the excavations that began in 1974 shows that Shi Ji's statement is incomplete.
For starters, the tomb covers a huge area - the hill that cover the mausoleum is about 45 meters high, some what less than half of the height that was measured in the third century. This can easily be explained due to the erosion. The circumference of the tomb is 13 kilometers. The tomb consists of an inner and outer city, the inner city has a circumference of 2,525 meters, the outer city circumference is 6,264 meters. Its outer architecture is much more intricate than what is told from Shi Ji's description. There were three gardens, four gates that led to the fenced areas, towers in the corners, a palace for sacrifices and most likely living quarters for priests and guards. Shi Huang's tomb is still not opened due to the hard work the Chinese archaeologists have when going through the vast area, it is indeed a very time consuming work. So far they have managed to uncover Shi Huang's incredible terra-cotta army. They have also found two bronze chariots drawn by four small horses. This major find was discovered in December, 1980, on the western side of the mausoleum.
Just about 2,5 kilometers east of the great tomb lies one of the greatest archaeological treasures in the world, Emperor Qin Shi Huang's vast subterranean funeral vault discovered only in 1974. Archaeologists have uncovered over 8,000 life-size figures in the vault, grouped in battle order, rank by rank, some mounted on horse-drawn chariots, others in infantry groups armed with spears, swords, and crossbows. The hangar that covers the excavation site is 18,000 square meters, which is about the same as three soccer fields. Four vaults have been excavated, Vault no. 1 being the largest and has a rectangular shape, its measures are 210 meters from east to west and 60 meters from the north to the south. The vault consists of eleven parallel corridors and nine of these measures 3 times 200 meters and the other two about 2 times 200 meters. The two narrower corridors runs along the outer side and by the eastern and western side is a gallery from north to south with four earth ramps that leads up to the surface.
Vault no. 1 is a military formation. The chambers which had a height of three meters, are arranged as a infantry regiment interred in battle formation with their faces turned against the emperor's tomb in the east. According to calculations there should be 3,210 foot soldiers in terra-cotta. They wore no helmets since this was only privileged to the officers during the Qin dynasty. But all wear harnesses. These soldiers are lined up in 40 rows, they stand four and four in the nine wide corridors and in the other 2 less wider corridors they stand two and two. The regiments vanguard is in the eastern gallery and consists of bowmen and crossbowmen without harnesses. They are in a formation of three rows from the north to the south and make up a total of almost 200 sharpshooters. One could see them as a ancient equivalent to the modern artillery of today. Most of these shooters were armed with crossbows that had a range of 200 meters. Vault no. 2 contents is a formation of chariots and cavalry with supporting troops, all turned against the east. The vault consists of 1,430 warriors and horses divided in four groups. Vault no. 3 seems to be the headquarters of the terra-cotta army, the high commander is there and also 68 terra-cotta warriors, probably officers. Vault no. 4 is empty and it is possible that it was never used.
In the beginning the archaeologists believed that each warrior had individual traits - that they were portraits of the emperor's guard-of-honor - but it has shown to be about 100 types of different faces. (There are some controversies about this, some say that each warrior is individual and some don't.) The artists who modeled the warriors made realistic portraits of each horseman, foot soldier, and servant in Emperor Qin Shi Huang's guard-of-honor. Great efforts were made when they made the terra-cotta figures, the head and hands were made separately and was then later attached to the body. The faces and their hair styles are incredible well depicted. The wealth of details is incredible. The warriors leather harnesses are so detailed that it can be used as a model to manufacture a new one. The army was fully armed, but spear shafts, bows and other wooden objects have decayed away. They have also found swords that still are sharp enough to split a hair. The weapons, over 2,000 years old, are a remarkable find. Metal assays have revealed that a special surface coating was applied to prevent corrosion, an indication of the state of metal technology even in those ancient days of China. The same technique was "discovered" in the European laboratories during the 1930's.
The Tiger emperor's tomb will without a doubt surprise the world several times for the decades to come. The mapping the archaeologists have done has already revealed that there are several underground construction sites more, where they should find new terra-cotta figures. If the preparations for the First Emperor's burial were nearly finished when the dynasty was destroyed in 206 BCE, one could be expecting that the archaeologists will dig out all those things that a grand emperor would find necessary in his life after death. One should also remember that these finds that lies at Mt. Li is scattered over an area that covers 56,25 square kilometers, which is equivalent to the English city Cambridge's entire city area. There should be plenty of room for more vaults. And the archaeologists still don't know what treasures they can find in the tomb of Qin Shi Huang Di.