Proof read near the unexcavated tomb of qin shi huangdi—who had proclaimed himself first emperor of china in 221 b. c.—lay an extraordinary underground treasure: an entire army of life-size terra cotta soldiers and horses, interred for more than 2,000 years. theses soldiers were said to be made after each person whose purpose was to protect the emperor in his afterlife. so that he could rule in the afterlife with his army of terracotta soldiers and horses all made out of terracotta clay it took around 40 years for this to be made qin shi huangdi was 13 when he got the throne later then he set to work for his army to be made it was about 98 square kilometers (38 square miles) the soldiers were place to that there was still room for the tomb when he died his body was put in the back part then the soldiers were placed the terracotta soldiers also had weapons to make them look more real but sadly theres were looted it or they rotted away but 40,000 bronze items of weaponry have been recovered, this included swords,, spears, battle-axes,, shields, crossbows, and crossbow triggers. most of the recovered items are arrowheads there were more that were found