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The fields of _1__________________go hand in hand. Let me explain what I mean. History is often the story of a _2____________person, a person like the Emperor Napoleon. Or, history is the story of a_3_________, _4________the country of France. _5________________archaeology is the study of the people, the_6_________, and the life of ancient times. Archaeologists find out about these ancient times by studying the_7___________, monuments or tombs, or any written _8______that remain.

In today’s lecture I’m going to _9______a little_10______________________, and I’m going to talk about _11____________________________________of the late twentieth century. The history part of my talk will be about Qin Shihuang, who was the founder of the _12______________in China. He lived between 259 B.C.E and 210 B.C.E., and he is often called the first emperor of China. Just as the exploits of the Emperor Napoleon still _13__________many people and scholars today, so does the story of Qin Shihuang and his house of eternity. Today, I’m also going to be talking about what has been found, to date, in the area of Qin Shihuang’s tombs. We don’t know what _14______treasures of Chinese history and culture will be found in the tomb area (or tomb mound) in the future, but what has been discovered so far is an _15________find for ancient Chinese history and archaeology.

To set the historical context for the _16______of Qin Shihuang’s House of Eternity, I’d like to first talk a little bit about_17_____________. His name was Ying Zheng. And before he unified the empire in 221 B.C.E., China had been torn apart by wars between seven regional kingdoms. Under the leadership of Ying Zheng, one of these regional kingdoms., the Kingdom of Qin, eventually_18_________________ the other six kingdoms. Ying Zheng’s defeat of the other six kingdoms _19______________two things: First, it ended the power of these other six kingdoms. Second, the _20__________of the seven kingdoms started a centralized imperial system that lasted more than 2000 years.

When he became Emperor, Qin Shihuang did a number of things to unify and protect his_21__________. First, he standardized _22____________Chinese characters. Prior to his unification of the empire, the writing of Chinese characters _23_______in the different kingdoms. When Qin Shihuang became Emperor, he decreed that a standardized system of Chinese characters was to be used throughout the empire. Next, he decreed that there would be just one system of_24______________, and one system of currency, rather than many different systems, as had been the case before unification.

To protect his new empire from the barbarian tribes to the north, he ordered the construction of the Great Wall of China._25__________, there already were small walls scattered across the northwest frontier of the empire, but Qin Shihuang had these walls _26____________________1500 miles of __27_________________and protection for his empire. Qin Shihuang also began an _28_________road-building project. In the second year after unification, construction of three major imperial highways was begun. These

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highways eventually _29_____________6800 kilometers (or 4225 miles) throughout the empire. Just in_30____________, by the year 150 C.E. the Roman Empire’s road system was about 5984 kilometers or 3718 miles. The Roman Empire’s system stretched all the way from Scotland to Rome and then to Jerusalem.

Qin Shihuang also began another large construction project- the building of his tomb or mausoleum. It seems that as soon as the Emperor_31_________, he became preoccupied with death, and with constructing a magnificent House of Eternity for his afterlife. At this point, I’m going to segue from talking about the biography of Qin Shihuang to talking about the archaeology part of my lecture. Let’s see. OK. As I mentioned, when Qin Shihuang became emperor, he _32_____________________________________of his House of Eternity. And what an incredible House of Eternity it was! Archaeologists believe that 700000 laborers were forced to work on the tomb for about eleven years. The entire area of the tomb covers approximately 56.25 square kilometers. It is believed that the tomb was intended to be a microcosmic replica of the Qin capital around the years 221 to 210 B.C.E. Archaeologists also believe that Qin Shihuang’s tomb contained imperial _33______________filled with rare gems and other treasures, and that it also contained_34______________. It is even believed that the _35_________________was pumped through the tomb to create the image of _36______________in the tomb area. Can you imagine rivers of mercury in a tomb? A 12000-square-meter area at the site of the tomb has a very high mercury content-in fact, ten times higher than that of the surrounding area so archaeologists think that it is very likely that the Mercury Rivers did, indeed, flow through the tomb area.

Without a doubt, _37___________________of the Emperor Qin’s House of Eternity are the terracotta warriors and horses found in the tomb area. In 1975, Chinese _38____________built a museum on the excavation site to preserve these terracotta warriors and horses, and the other incredible treasures that were being uncovered. Today, the museum covers an area of 16300 square meters. That means the area is more than two football fields long! The area is_39________________________________, or what are called pits: No.1 Pit, No2 Pit, and No.3 Pit. No.1 Pit is the_40________ of the three pits; it’s approximately 960 square meters in size. It first opened to the public on China’s National Day in 1979. in No.1 Pit, there are columns of soldiers at the front, followed by war chariots at the back. It is _41__________that there are 3210 terracotta foot soldiers in this pit, alone. Two rears later, in 1976, No.2 Pit was unearthed. It contained nearly a thousand warriors and ninety wooden chariots. This pit was opened to the public in 1994, and today visitors from all over the world go to see Qin Shihuang’s House of Eternity, and to see his terracotta army that was to protect his tomb. Altogether more than 7000 terracotta soldiers, horses, chariots, and even _42__________have been found in these three pits, and more will likely be found in the future as archaeologists continue to _43________and explore and excavate the tomb

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area.

_44_______________________________what Peter hassle of National Geographic magazine says about the ancient Chinese emperors’ view of the afterlife. Mr. Hassle says that the emperors of ancient China saw the afterlife as a continuation of life on Earth, much as the Egyptians did. He also notes that archaeologists working on the tomb of the first Emperor of China are “dusting off a window to the past.” They’re dusting off this window to give us a vision of what mattered to the ancient rulers and their cultures. We have much more to learn from the tomb of the First Emperor of China as excavation of the tomb area continues. We don’t know when the excavation will be complete. Chinese official say that the tomb mound of the first Chinese emperor will not be excavated until preservation techniques have advanced significantly.

Well, that’s about all I have to say for today. For homework,_45_____________________________________ of the terracotta warriors and horses found in Qin Shihuang’s tomb. See you next time.