Archaeologists Are Afraid To Enter China's First Emperor's Tomb.

In an ordinary field in the Shaanxi province of China, farmers made one of the most significant archaeological discoveries of all time in 1974. They unearthed pieces of a clay human figure while digging. Simply put, this was the tip of the iceberg.

The field was discovered to be perched above a number of pits that were crammed with thousands of life-size terracotta figurines of soldiers and war horses, as well as acrobats, esteemed officials, and other creatures.

Then, according to reports, he wrapped himself around a 2,000-year-old Chinese warrior statue, took a photo, and snapped off its thumb as a memento.

We can only presume that alcohol was consumed in some form.

A week later, museum workers reported the missing digit. Rohana was identified as the perpetrator by the FBI using surveillance footage. Why? In part because Rohana's thumbprints were all over the crime scene. sitting above a series of pits filled with tens of thousands of life-size terracotta replicas of soldiers and war horses, not to mention acrobats, prestigious officials, and other creatures.

The Affidavit claims that on January 23, federal officers visited Rohana's home. He displayed the missing finger, which is worth more than $5,000 and was hidden in a drawer for almost three weeks, to the authorities.

The 2,000-year-old terracotta warrior known as "The Cavalryman" has received some rather ignoble treatment, but this is not the first time the statue (or a portion of it) has been shielded from view.

When a farmer in China was excavating a well in 1974, he came across several terracotta pieces. The tomb of their master had been protected for two millennia by thousands of life-sized statues that had been buried beneath the surface, according to later investigations.

The task of this Terracotta Army, which ruled from 221 to 210 BCE, appears to have been to protect the nearby mausoleum of Qin Shi Huang. Qin Shi Huang was the imposing first emperor of the Qin dynasty.

Despite the enormous amount of mystery surrounding it, the emperor's tomb has never been uncovered, even though significant portions of the necropolis surrounding the mausoleum have been investigated. Perhaps it has been more than 2,000 years since anyone has peeked into this tomb to see the dreaded ruler imprisoned inside.

This hesitation is mostly due to archaeologists' worries that the excavation may harm the tomb and result in the loss of important historical data. Only invasive archaeological methods may now be utilized to access the tomb, running a great risk of doing permanent harm.

Heinrich Schliemann's excavations of the city of Troy in the 1870s provide one of the best examples of this. His work managed to virtually wipe out all evidence of the very city he had set out to unearth due to his haste and naivete. Archaeologists are confident that they don't want to rush things and repeat similar errors.

The possibility of employing some non-intrusive procedures to examine the tomb has been raised by scientists. Utilizing muons, a subatomic particle created when cosmic rays collide with atoms in the Earth's atmosphere, which can see through objects like an improved X-ray, is one possibility. However, it appears that few of these plans have really taken off.

There may be significantly more urgent and lethal risks associated with breaking open the tomb. Sima Qian, an ancient Chinese historian who lived around 100 years after Qin Shi Huang's passing, describes how the tomb is outfitted with booby traps that are intended to murder any intruders.

"For a hundred officials, palaces and beautiful towers were built, and the tomb was stocked with priceless treasure and valuable artifacts. Crossbows and arrows that are ready to fire at anyone who enters the tomb were ordered to be made by craftsmen. Mercury was utilized to mechanically recreate the movement of the Great Sea, the Yangtze and Yellow Rivers, and the Hundred Rivers.

This report claims that a flood of poisonous liquid mercury might wash across the gravediggers even if the 2,000-year-old bow weapons malfunction. That might sound like a hollow threat, but investigations of mercury concentrations near the tomb have revealed levels that are substantially higher than what would be predicted for a regular plot of ground.

According to the authors of a 2020 publication, "Highly volatile mercury may be escaping through cracks that developed in the structure over time. Our investigation supports ancient chronicle records on the tomb, which is believed never to have been opened or looted."

The Qin Shi Huang tomb is currently closed and hidden, but it is not forgotten. However, it's possible that when the time is right, scientific developments will eventually delve into the mysteries that have been buried here undisturbed for over 2,200 years.