Getting the earth to reveal our history

Inside the city, various functional districts were discovered, such as a sacrificial section, as well as an area for producing stone tools used in pottery manufacture.

Zan, the 29-year-old archaeologist, engaged in lots of projects involving pottery excavation after he graduated from Wuhan University.

"Tens of thousands of examples of red pottery were found in just one place, signaling that there were pottery workshops," says Zan.

The pottery was figure-shaped or bore images of animals. Most of the items were cups used for drinking water or alcohol. Some big red cups-the tallest was about 20 centimeters-might have been used for sacrifice.

"When they were unearthed, the color was very bright, but faded due to oxidation," recalls Zan.