The Story of the Chongqing Women's Archaeological Team

Adhere to the cultural memory of archaeological excavation in the field——The story of the Chongqing women's archaeological team

　　Xinhua News Agency, Chongqing, March 7th, title: Persevere in the field archaeological excavation of cultural memory - the story of the Chongqing women's archaeological team

　　Xinhua News Agency reporter Li Xiaoting

　　During the Waking of Insects season, on the banks of the Wujiang River in Wulong District, Chongqing, Yanni and her team members finally waited for a heavy rain.

　　The torrential rain softened the soil and made Yanni happy, "The drought since last summer has made the soil at the exploration site hard and difficult to excavate. With this rain, the subsequent work will be much easier. "

　　Yan Ni is the leader of the women's archaeological team of the Chongqing Municipal Institute of Cultural Relics and Archeology. She has been engaged in field archaeological work for more than 10 years, and being with loess and pottery sherds has become her daily life.

For a long time, due to the particularity of field work, most archaeologists are men.

In recent years, more and more female archaeologists have interpreted female power with love and persistence.

　　This women's archaeological team was established in 2012. Over the past 10 years, it has organized more than 10 fieldwork for cultural relics investigation and exploration projects. They can be seen in the cultural relics investigation and exploration project of Shuanghekou Reservoir in Wanzhou and the scientific and technological archaeological work of the Diaoyucheng site in Hechuan. figure.

　　In May 2022, at the staged excavation site of the Xiaotianxi Tombs in Fuling, Chongqing, the reporter saw Yanni and her team members for the first time.

The archaeologists squatted in an ash pit under the scorching sun. Their long-term field work made their skin tan.

Yan Ni introduced to the reporter: "From the cultural relics unearthed from the ash pit, it is speculated that there may be an early Ba people's production and living settlement around the excavated area during the Shang and Zhou dynasties."

　　"Archaeology is not a romantic thing. Most of the time it is boring and rigorous. All speculation requires us to constantly search for evidence and discover people's stories behind things." Yan Ni said, this process is exciting, and this That's the beauty of archaeology.

　　Archeology is not all exciting "discovery" trips. In an office, the reporter saw Zhu Xuelian, a 46-year-old member of the female archaeological team, sitting by the computer, carefully depicting a piece of pottery with intricate patterns.

As the smooth and smooth lines are slowly pulled apart, the cultural relics that have been sleeping for thousands of years can have a portrait.

　　Zhu Xuelian introduced to the reporter that they are a multi-departmental archaeological team, covering professional and technical personnel in fields such as field excavation, technological archaeology, artifact restoration, and drawing.

　　"Archaeological drawing is an important part of archaeological data collection. It takes patience to do this work." Zhu Xuelian sat in front of the computer for a whole day, "If it is a utensil with complicated patterns, you can only draw two pieces at most in a day."

　　365 days a year, members of the women's archaeological team spend more than 200 days in the field archeology, and the rest of the time will be in the unit to study archaeological results and write archaeological reports.

　　"Excavation is the most basic part of archaeological work. Follow-up research work such as restoration, drawing, and card making will be carried out, and the research results will be released to the public." Zhu Xuelian said.

　　In one archaeological excavation work after another, the team members ate and lived together, learned from each other, and continued to improve their business.

At present, the nine members of the women's archaeological team have all grown into leaders in their respective fields.

Ma Xiaojiao, who joined in 2011, and Li Feng, who joined in 2014, are engaged in botanical archaeology and animal archaeology respectively, filling the vacancy of researchers in related fields of the Institute.

　　"Our nine team members can now independently lead a team to conduct investigations and excavations, and some of them even brought up apprentices." Yanni said, "Three young girls joined our archaeological work in Wulong this time. They are field archaeologists students in the class."

　　It is reported that the third field archeology training course in Chongqing, undertaken by the Chongqing Institute of Cultural Relics and Archeology, was recently launched. More than 10 cultural and museum staff from various districts and counties in Chongqing have entered the training course, and more than half of them are female workers.

　　Xiang Jinglu, a "post-90s" cultural and museum worker from the Fuling District Museum in Chongqing, feels that every day is full of freshness.

"I have never been to the field in districts and counties. I can be in charge of an exploration project by myself during this field training and carry out excavation work under the guidance of the teachers. I am full of expectations." Xiang Jinglu said that she will return to Fuling in the future to continue to cultivate In the cultural and cultural industry, explore the stories behind the cultural relics.

　　xinhuanet