Interview with Netflix's 'Mysteries of the Terracotta Warriors' Archaeologist Dr. Janice Ly

Unraveling the untold narratives and mysteries surrounding the storied terracotta army

Unearthing Secrets of the Terracotta Warriors and China's First Dynasty

If you think you know about the Terracotta Warriors in China, think again. There are so many beliefs about these statues that aren’t actually true and the real history of how this Terracotta army came to be is like a real life Game of Thrones murder mystery.

Suffice to say my entire view on this topic has been flipped on its head after speaking with Dr. Janice Ly, an archaeologist who has been excavating the Terracotta Warriors for the last 30 years and who was recently featured in the Netflix documentary, ‘Mysteries of the Terracotta Warriors’.

Dr. Janice Ly

Now her and a new team of archaeologists, forensic experts and restorers are embarking on a mission to answer three unanswered questions about the Terracotta Army. Here is question number one. We’ll get to the other two shortly…

1. Who built the Terracotta Warriors and the greater tomb complex for Emperor Qin Shi Huang, China’s first emperor whose name the country is named after?

The second question feeds back into two common misconceptions about the Terracotta Warriors, one being that this clay army was discovered a long time ago.

Contrary to popular belief, the Terracotta Army was discovered only 50 years ago. On March 29, 1974, local farmers stumbled upon what would become one of the most significant archaeological finds of the 20th century. And many people believe the warriors were found like this (see below), but that wasn’t the case at all.

These warriors were not found upright and intact as many might assume. Instead, archaeologists were confronted with thousands of clay fragments littering the pits.

This brings us to the second question, which will quickly turn into a different question:

2. Why were the Terracotta Warriors left in ruins?

For this there were several theories. Looters or a natural disaster such as an earthquake may have caused a collapse.

You might be thinking, the most obvious answer is simply that the Terracotta Warriors are ancient! They were made 2,200 years ago, then buried underground. There was bound to be some natural damage over time.

And you’d be right, except there is more to the story.

It quickly became clear to Chinese archaeologists, based on the evidence they uncovered, that the warriors were deliberately destroyed, opening up new lines of inquiry about the fall of the Qin Dynasty.

2. Why were the Terracotta Warriors left in ruins?

2. Who destroyed the Terracotta Warriors and why??

The answer to this question lies in the events that caused the Qin Dynasty’s downfall. Despite its strength, the Qin Dynasty lasted a mere 15 years. The reasons for its rapid decline have long been shrouded in mystery because to this day all knowledge we possess about the Qin Dynasty comes from a single historical text—the Shiji, written by Sima Qian.

And that brings us to question number three, which is:

3. Why did the Qin Dynasty unravel so quickly?

This is why this new and unprecedented excavation is so important because now archaeologists and historians will finally be able to confirm whether or not what Sima Qian wrote 2000 years ago actually happened.

I think it’s time to answer each one of these questions…

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