Restoring color to China's Terracotta Warriors

Now visitors can see for themselves the scarlet hair bands, pink faces, scarlet lips, purple robes and pants of the warriors. [Photo/Xinhua]

The first excavation began on Pit No 2 in 1994. Nearly 8,000 life-size warriors and horses along with tens of thousands of pieces of weaponry have been uncovered in three pits.

"We sprayed an antiseptic substance to the layers once the warriors were unearthed, wrapped them with plastic membranes to keep them humid and had skilled workers to clean the surface and work on them in labs," says Hou Ningbin, curator of the museum.

The new techniques can keep the paint stable for over ten years, he said.

The technology has been used on repairing unearthed artifacts from other parts of China.

"Now visitors can see for themselves the scarlet hair bands, pink faces, scarlet lips, purple robes and pants of the warriors. They can also visit our digital museum to explore the vividness of colors on the warriors," Hou says.

"The excavated part of the mausoleum is about 1 percent of the total. What we know is the tip of an iceberg. Many more things remain buried underground, but we'd rather things remain as they are now, because we may not be technically ready to protect them yet," Hou says. "The world of colors down below is still a mystery, and we need to be patient."