Archaeologists unveil 120 stunning new figures after third dig at terracotta warriors' (photos)

Excavations in China have unearthed a stunning new collection of 2,000-year-old terracotta warriors and hundreds of other artefacts, The Daily Mail reports.

Archaeologists unveiled 120 new terracotta warriors yesterday at the Qin Shihuang Unesco World Heritage site in Shaanxi province.

The current excavation, which started in 2009, is the third at the site following two previous digs which were carried out in 1974 and 1985.

The artefacts in western China were buried with the first emperor of the Qin Dynasty in the 3rd century BC.
The latest discoveries include never-before-seen items, including war drums and a dramatic painted shield. In total, more than 310 small pieces have been newly excavated as well as 12 clay horses.

The third excavation covers about 200 square metres in pit number one - the largest and the most visited of the Terracotta Warriors And Horses Museum.

Some of the other unusual finds in the latest dig include a tool box for chariots, a crossbow, painted drum and items dyed a unique Chinese purple colouring.

The dig is expected to be finished within three years.

Once uncovered, the statues are taken to a dedicated museum to have their colours restored, before joining their fellows soldiers in the world famous exhibition.

More than 1,000 of the life-size statues, each with unique facial expressions and hair styles, have already been discovered at the site.

They were originally put in place to guard the tomb of Qin Shi Huang, the first Emperor of China.
The fierce figures are among the best-known images of China.

Reproductions in sizes ranging from miniature to full size are sold in gift shops around the country and an exhibition of 20 figures and dozens of artefacts from the tomb broke ticket sale records when it travelled in 2008 to London, California, Houston and Washington.

Cao Wei, director of the mausoleum museum site, said preserving the figures would be far more challenging than the relatively simple task of excavating them.

One archaeologist said the museum has been co-operating with a cultural relic department at a university in Germany for years trying to find a satisfactory technology to preserve the colour of the terracotta, and has 'made some headway'.