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To the east, two sacrificial horse trenches were unearthed, one inside, the other outside of the walls. The number of horses buried indicated the important role they played in daily life. Only skeletal remains of horses were discernible. A knife found a horse's mouth indicated the slaughter of the horses before their burial. Artefacts bear inscriptions such as "middle stable," "palace stable" or "left stable." Other pits that held clay models of birds and animals were discovered in the western section between the walls. The trenches were arranged in three lines. That in the centre held earthen coffins containing clay animals. The two lines on either side had kneeling figurines, seemly the stablemen, 68-73 cm in height. However, without doubt, the most striking sacrificial trenches are those containing the Qin Terra Cotta Army. Three trenches cover over 20,000 square meters, and hold more than 7,000 life-size terra cotta horses and armoured warriors.
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Sacrificial
trenches containing carts and horses were unearthed some 20 meters west
of the tomb. In 1980, two bronze carriages, decorated with geometric and
cloud-shaped patterns, were found in a trench some 7 meters long by 2.3
meters wide.