A terracotta general had been unearthed with more than 120 warriors in northwest China's Shaanxi Province, archeologists said Monday.

The terracotta general is large in size while its armor plates are small, delicate and well-made, suggesting "it is a general of high rank," Shen Maosheng, deputy head of the excavation department at the Terracotta Warriors Museum.

It is the 10th terracotta officer unearthed since the warriors were first discovered in 1974 when a villager dug a well.

The new terracotta warriors were unearthed in a third excavation that began June 13, 2009.

The terracotta warriors were buried with the First Emperor of the Qin Dynasty (221 B.C. to 206 B.C.).

In the stadium-like 400-square-meter excavation site, archaeologists are working on two 20-meter-long, three-meter wide trenches that are scattered with terracotta fragments.

The terracotta general lies in the middle of one trench, with parts of two chariots by its sides. Its lower half remains intact while its upper body is in pieces.

Bronze arrows and bows have also been found in the trenches.

The excavation is open to the public. Visitors can walk by the site and watch the archeologists at work.

(Xinhua News Agency June 29, 2010)