Bone technician coaxes secrets from relics

Preparing artifacts for examination requires diligence and precision, Wang Qian and Shi Baoyin report in Zhengzhou.

In the quiet laboratories above the country's ancient soil, He Qiaojuan is fully concentrated on the fragile bone under her hands. With a tabao — a delicate ink pad she crafts herself from floss cotton — she coaxes secrets from relics older than empires.

For 35 years, the senior technician from the Institute of Archaeology at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences has been the bridge between China's earliest written words and modern eyes.

"Many misunderstand. They think we ink the artifact itself. Not so," He says.