Qin Dynasty

Pyramid of Xi'an & Terracotta Army

Location Xi'an, China

Official Date 210 BCE

Visited January 2003

◈ 3 Anomaly Score

The Mausoleum of Qin Shi Huang, the first Emperor of unified China, is the largest underground palace complex in the world, its interior sealed since 210 BCE and its extent still being mapped by geophysical survey. The terracotta army of approximately 8,000 soldiers, horses, and chariots discovered in 1974 represents only a fraction of the complex's documented contents. Ancient Chinese historical texts describe rivers of liquid mercury flowing through the mausoleum's interior as a map of the empire, and geophysical measurements have detected elevated mercury concentrations in the soil above the sealed inner burial chamber. The platform mound above the complex remains unexcavated.

Official Attribution

Builder Emperor Qin Shi Huang

Date 210 BCE

Photo Gallery · 4 photos

Pyramid of Xi'an & Terracotta Army, Xi'an, China — photo 1 of 4

Pyramid of Xi'an & Terracotta Army, Xi'an, China — photo 2 of 4

Pyramid of Xi'an & Terracotta Army, Xi'an, China — photo 3 of 4

Pyramid of Xi'an & Terracotta Army, Xi'an, China — photo 4 of 4

Aerial View Aerial view of Pyramid of Xi'an & Terracotta Army, Xi'an, China

Aerial / satellite view of Pyramid of Xi'an & Terracotta Army, Xi'an, China

Tags

Tag Analysis

Hydraulic Engineering

The evidence of this kind of engineering is still partially unverified — which should be stated. Sima Qian's Shiji, written approximately a century after construction, describes the interior of the burial chamber as containing rivers and seas of liquid mercury, mechanically circulated to model the geography of China. Crucially, this is not purely legendary: soil geochemistry surveys of the burial mound have detected anomalously high mercury concentrations in the soil directly above and around the unexcavated chamber, consistent with a large quantity of mercury having been present for centuries. If accurate, the deliberate large-scale containment and possibly circulation of liquid mercury within a sealed underground chamber is hydraulic engineering of a highly specific and sophisticated kind.

Platform Temples

The burial mound is definitionally pyramidal — a stepped earthen pyramid with a square base and tapering sides. At approximately 76 metres current height and roughly 350 metres per side at the base, it is one of the largest burial structures in the world by volume. The form — a stepped, cardinally oriented earthen pyramid serving as a royal tomb — directly parallels Egyptian, Mesoamerican, and Sudanese pyramid traditions in function and form.

Subterranean Complexes

The complex comprises:

Three excavated terracotta army pits covering approximately 22,000 square metres of underground vaulted chambers.

A fourth pit discovered but found empty — possibly abandoned mid-construction.

Numerous smaller surrounding pits containing bronze birds, acrobat figures, administrative officials, and stables.

The main unexcavated burial chamber beneath the mound, described by Sima Qian as an underground palace of enormous scale with booby-trap crossbows, gem-encrusted ceilings depicting the sky, and the mercury geography system.