3D imaging reveals Chinese Terracotta Army likely modeled on real soldiers

Using the latest 3D imaging technology, a team of archaeologists have revealed that each of the figures in the famous terracotta army in China that is composed of 7,000 soldiers is modeled on an individual, real soldier.

Archaeologists from University College London (UCL) and from Emperor Qin Shi Huang's Mausoleum Site Museum in Lintong, China, have been able to digitally recreated soldiers from the army for further study, the Independent reported.

According to a National Geographic report, the team was able to accurately map the ears of a sample of 30 soldiers from a safe distance and then study their geometries back in the lab.

Archaeologist Marcos Martinon-Torres said that based on this initial sample, the terra-cotta army looks like a series of portraits of real warriors.

The terracotta figures intricate details such as horses, bows and arrows and bronze swords, the clay army had lain hidden underground for 2,000 years after it was buried alongside China's first emperor Qin Shi Huang.