Documentary digs up fascinating facts on farmer's famous find

(M, 77 minutes, Netflix)

4 stars

Half a century ago, a farmer in the Shaanxi Province in China was digging a well when he discovered some shards of pottery.

Those shards led to a much larger discovery - an army of warriors made of terracotta.

The Terracotta Warriors have become one of the most famous finds from the ancient world in the 50 years since, but how much do we really know about them?

Mysteries of the Terracotta Warriors, an entertaining and educational new documentary on Netflix, delves into the discovery, preservation and historical context of the 8000 figures in the ancient royal city from the Qing dynasty.

With the most famous images of the Terracotta Army revealing rows and rows and standing warriors, it's easy to think that archaeologists either found them that way in an undisturbed cavern, or carefully removed them from centuries of sediment in one piece. But the reality is quite different. Archaeologists and preservationists working at the site explain that all the warriors were found smashed, and only through meticulous, painstaking work have they been reassembled to their standing positions.

The doco features interviews with professionals working on the site currently, historians, and even one of the original archaeologists who helped uncover the lost gems back in 1974. This is mixed in with footage from current excavations and repairs, as well as reenactments of the Qing dynasty period. Oftentimes historical documentaries or documentary series feature lacklustre reenactments with acting so horrible you're immediately distracted. But, luckily for us, this series avoids unnecessary drama in the reenacted pieces and believably brings the newly formed China of 2200 years ago to life.

We learn about the skilled craftsmen recruited from across the empire who designed and made the Terracotta Warriors. Amazingly, each individual figure has distinct features, and no two are identical - proving that they weren't the results of moulds, but rather individually designed.

We also learn about the succession squabble in the wake of the first emperor's death. With histories taken from the influential ancient Chinese book Shiji (known in English as the Records of the Grand Historian), we're guided through some of the important players of the period, including one of the emperor's sons (who would ascend to the top job himself), and two of his trusted advisors.

Just like you'd expect to see in House of the Dragon, the tensions between the emperor's children, concubines and relatives is high, and there's an awful lot of murder and bloodshed in the short, 15-year Qing dynasty. While this part of the history is generally accepted to be factual, there are still many questions that archaeologists and historians are working to answer about the founding dynasty, and hopes that the further they explore the emperor's burial complex in Xian where the warriors were found, the more they'll learn.

We're teased by the difficult removal of a coffin, reliably believed to contain the remains of a member of the ruling elite from the period, and what secrets it may offer once analysed.

While not all questions raised in the documentary can be answered, Mysteries of the Terracotta Warriors provides an engaging and illustrative glimpse into one of the most exciting archaeological discoveries in the world.