Foreign students get hands-on experience at digs

From Virginia classrooms to excavating 3,000-year-old tombs in Beijing's heatwave, Virginia Commonwealth University junior Kaitlyn Jenkins experienced archaeology's front lines this summer — drenched in sweat.

From June to earlier this month, a group of university students from North America traveled to Beijing to participate in an international field archaeology summer program at the Liulihe site, which dates back more than three millenniums and covers 5.25 square kilometers in the Fangshan district on the capital's southwestern outskirts.

The site was where the capital of Yan vassal state of Western Zhou Dynasty (c. 11th century-771 BC) was located. It marked the beginning of Beijing as a city.