The Figure Array & Gate Guardians

Past the cave mouth lies an array of figures: 62 of them, 31 pairs, each pair 1.5 meters apart, facing one another all the way to the end of the passage. They have none of the imposing grandeur of terracotta warriors meant to be admired—each one stands with lowered brow, silent, as if waiting for something.

The deepest pair are the gate guardians, watching over a stone gate 2 tons in weight and 0.4 meters thick. A line of characters is carved upon the gate.

What is truly wrong with these figures can only be seen when you draw close and raise a lamp—their eyes, the pupils carved as a single vertical line.