"Excavation is the most basic part of archaeological work," says Zhu. "Follow-up research work, such as restoration and drawing, should be carried out to release research results to the public, which can bring cultural relics to life."

During major excavation work, the teammates eat and live together, learn from each other and continuously improve. The original nine members of the team have grown into experts in their respective fields.

Ma Xiaojiao, who joined in 2011, and Li Feng, who has worked there since 2014, are engaged in plant archaeology and animal archaeology, respectively, filling their institutes' gap in researchers in those fields.

"We nine can now independently lead the team to conduct investigations and excavations, and some people are also training their own apprentices," says Yan.