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Burials of China’s Qin Dynasty Tomb Builders Found

Wednesday, May 7, 2014

SHAANXI PROVINCE, CHINA—Forty-five tombs thought to hold the remains of workers who built the mausoleum for Qin Shihuang, China’s first emperor, have reportedly been uncovered in central China. “The terracotta warriors and horses, as well as the other rare relics unearthed from the funerary pits next to the emperor’s mausoleum, might have been made by the people interred in the 45 tombs,” excavation leader Sun Weigang told China Daily. The bodies had been placed in coffins with the legs twisted, a burial custom typical of the Qin Dynasty, Sun added. Pottery in the burials could help identify the occupants of the tombs. 

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