All-woman archaeological team digs up history in Chongqing

Due to the physical nature of field work, archaeologists were mostly male. But in recent years, more female archaeologists have become involved in field work.

After lunch, Zhu Xuelian, a 46-year-old team member, sat at a computer and carefully drew an image of a pottery object with complex ornamentation.

Zhu says that the team's work covers a wide range of tasks, including field excavation, scientific and technological archaeology, artifact restoration and drawing.

"Archaeological drawing is an important link in the collation of archaeological data, and one needs to be able to withstand loneliness," says Zhu, adding that once she is immersed in her work, she can sit at the computer all day. "If I need to draw complicated objects, I can only complete two objects a day."

In the course of a year, the team members can spend more than 200 days doing archaeological work in the field, spending the rest of the time studying their achievements and writing reports.