BEIJING, June 9 (RIA Novosti) - China is to restart on Saturday excavation of the famous Terracotta Army site, which contains thousands of full-size figures of warriors and horses, Xinhua reported on Tuesday.
The upcoming excavation at the largest of three pits will involve an area of 200 square meters. Initially due to last a year, the works are expected to continue if they prove fruitful.
"We're hoping to find a clay figure that represented a high-ranking army officer, for example," said Liu Zhancheng, who heads the archeological team at the site near Xi'an, capital of Shaanxi Province.
Experts believe the pit houses an army of archers, infantrymen and charioteers that Qin Shi Huang, the First Emperor of China, hoped would help him rule in the afterworld.
The Terracotta Army, dating from 210 BC, was discovered in 1974 by local farmers near Xi'an. Since then, two sets of excavation works have been carried out, the last ending in 1985, and over 1,000 figures out of around 6,000 have been unearthed.
The Terracotta Army museum, which is part of the mausoleum of China's first emperor, was included in the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1987 and is one of China's most famous tourist attractions.
