Cooks Island - Terracotta Warriors Silver 1oz - 29457

The Terracotta Army is regarded as one of the greatest discoveries of the 20th century! Discovered in 1974 by farmers digging a well, this enormous group of 8000 sculptures amazed the world. The excavation uncovered soldiers, horses, and carriages. This incredible army was constructed to accompany the tomb of China’s First Emperor – Qin Shihuang (259-210BC) as an afterlife guard. The most impressive feature are rows and rows of thousands of individually detailed soldiers. These soldiers were given unique features that are said to represent some of the actual soldiers of the day. Some of the soldiers are burly in size while others are given stern looks to their faces. Still others are given distinctive armor, hairstyles, and decorative clothing which represent different ranks of the soldiers. The soldiers were molded in parts, fired in a kiln like pottery, and then assembled and painted. The army laid underground for more than 2000 years until its discovery and is now considered one of the greatest archaeological sites in the world. The find was praised as the Eighth Wonder of the World and became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1987.