The Terracotta Army is in China, near the mausoleum of Qin Shi Huang in Lintong District, Xi’an.
The figures were created during the late third century BCE for Qin Shi Huang, the ruler who unified China and became its first emperor. They were intended to protect him in the afterlife, along with horses, chariots, weapons, and other buried objects.
Local farmers discovered the main pits in 1974 while digging a well. Archaeologists subsequently identified several large excavation pits containing thousands of soldiers, officials, musicians, and animals. The figures vary in facial features, hairstyles, clothing, and equipment.
The mausoleum itself has not been fully excavated. A common mix-up is to call the army a single statue collection; it is an extensive burial complex with multiple pits and different military formations.