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When farmers digging a well in 1974 discovered the Terracotta Army, commissioned by China’s first emperor two millennia ago, the sheer numbers were staggering: an estimated 7,000 soldiers, plus horses and chariots

But it’s the huge variety of facial features and expressions that still puzzle scholars. Were standard parts fit together in a Mr. Potato Head approach or was each warrior sculpted to be unique, perhaps a facsimile of an actual person? How could you even know?

Short answer: The ears have it. Andrew Bevan, an archaeologist at University College London, along with colleagues, used advanced computer analyses to compare 30 warrior ears photographed at the Mausoleum of the First Qin Emperor in China to find out whether, statistically speaking, the auricular ridges are as “idiosyncratic” and “strongly individual” as they are in people.

The most massive complex of preserved ancient structures in the country is 600 years old.

The Terracotta Army Museum was just a small part of the the mausoleum of the Qin Dynasty's first emperor. His mausoleum was known for its sheer grandiose size.

The National Museum is the third most visited museum in the world, but with so many other interesting places in Beijing to go to, foreign tourists often miss this premier national museum on the eastern side of Tian'anmen Square.