Charge! That's the battle cry of scientists working to unearth hundreds of clay warriors, horses and chariots from a tomb south of Beijing, China. They are racing against the clock to preserve the ancient terra-cotta figures. Buried for 2,000 years, the statues' painted decorations will fade if they are exposed to the air for too long.
Villagers planting trees in the area late last year found the soldiers. Pictures of the foot-tall army were recently released.
The soldiers are smaller but similar to an amazing army of life-size clay soldiers found in China in 1974.
The recent find shows scholars something new about the Han dynasty, which ruled China from 206 B.C. to 220 A.D. The clay soldiers are buried in order of their rank, probably indicating a military or royal formation.
David Sensabaugh, an Asian art expert at the Yale University Art Gallery, thinks the figures represent a royal procession. Such formations appear in Han drawings and writings. They were likely intended as "a display of power, not a march to war," he says.
Much of the army remains buried. It may be thousands strong.
"This find tells us more about Han burial practices," says Sensabaugh, "and who accompanied them into the afterlife."