The Mysterious Ancient City That’s Rewriting Chinese History

SICHUAN, Southwest China — Xu Feihong has spent the last decade working at archaeological sites all over China. But his latest dig is unlike anything he’s experienced.

Each morning, the 31-year-old begins his shift by ducking inside a giant air-conditioned glass dome. He pulls on a full hazmat suit, surgical gloves, and a face mask. Then, he lays down flat on a wooden board and is slowly winched down into a deep pit.

The archaeologist has spent weeks digging while hanging horizontally inches above the soil — like he’s doing an impression of Tom Cruise in “Mission Impossible.” The elaborate precautions ensure that nothing — not even a stray hair, or a bead of sweat — contaminates the precious earth beneath him.

“This is the fanciest dig I’ve ever seen,” Xu tells Sixth Tone. “The level of resources devoted to it is astonishing — and unique. Only Sanxingdui deserves it.”

China is lavishing funding on Xu and his team for good reason. The researchers, who are based at a remote site near the southwestern city of Chengdu known as Sanxingdui, believe they’re close to unlocking one of Chinese archaeology’s greatest mysteries.

In the 1980s, a group of researchers found two pits at Sanxingdui crammed full of strange relics: piles of elephant tusks, gold masks, and bronze figures with wild, bulging eyes. The objects were 3,000 years old, and unlike anything previously uncovered in China.

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