Out with the old, in with the new

The work of one young Chinese archaeologist is capturing the imagination of his peers, breathing new life into old artifacts, Wang Xingwei reports.

"Pit Manager", that's the nickname of Xu Danyang, a 27-year-old archaeologist, as given by his colleagues.

Xu is a member of the archaeological team working at the Sanxingdui Ruins site in Deyang, Sichuan province, which provides glimpses of an ancient civilization dating back more than 3,000 years. Xu's nickname stems from the excavation of sacrificial pits at the site.

"After its excavation in 2020, I was assigned to Pit No 4 and became the team leader in charge of half a dozen people, so they started calling me 'Pit Manager'," Xu smiled.