Building buried in Chinese emperor's tomb
Chinese archaeologists say a 98-foot high building was buried in the tomb of the country's first Emperor Qinshihuang some 2,000 years ago.
The Xinhua news agency said Monday the archaeologists, using remote sensing, confirmed the building's presence after five years of research.
The building was buried in the 167-foot high, pyramid-like tomb of the emperor near Xian in the northwestern province of Shaanxi.
Researcher Duan Qingbo of the Shaanxi Institute of Archaeology said the building may have been built for the release of the soul of the departed Qinshihuang, who is credited with unifying China in 221 B.C. prior to becoming emperor.
It was near the same site that archaeologists in the 1970s unearthed about 1,500 terracotta warriors and horses, believed to have been buried with the emperor to protect him after his death.
Copyright 2007 by United Press International
