Sewing needles prove vital for clearing fossils

A team of amateur excavators in Zhenghe County, northwest China's Gansu Province have cleared more than 10,000 pieces of ancient animal fossils using a simple instrument -- a sewing needle.

Zhang Youhui, 28, is leading the team using the implement to carefully scratch away at dry clay on pieces of vertebrate fossil.

He said needles are cheap and a handy way for clearing fragile fossil pieces. "My team has recovered a third of 30,000 fossils at the Hezheng Ancient Animal Fossil Museum," he said

Dubbed as the "Kingdom of Fossils," the county located on the Loesses Plateau, has fossils of animals such as woolly rhinoceros, stegodons and hipparions, an ancient horse species unique to the Yellow River valley.

Fossils are easily found in the impoverished county of Zhenghe.

However, professional excavation and protection of the resources is a "headache" for the local government.

Wang Haiming, an official with the museum, said the county, which is on the state poverty-relief list, cannot afford to hire a professional team to excavate and protect its fossil reserve.

"We have to economize on budgets. Without financial assistance, the volunteers can only use simple tools to restore fossils," he said.

The most eye-catching exhibit is a phalanx formed of more than 80 rhinoceros skulls. It is a restoration of a crowd of animals that were suddenly buried in motion more than 12 million year ago. The formation of the fossil "army" reminds visitors of the Terra Cotta Warriors, according to Ci Haiyan, a museum guide.

Zhang said the amateur excavation team is composed of a dozen local volunteers with a high-school education or less.

"We don't have a high education, but we do this job with ardent love for the animal fossils," 33-year-old team member Zhang Lu said.

He works as an assistant to archeologists whenever they come to the county to study. Volunteers learnt techniques from them and used instruments like hammers, awls and needles to repair the fragmented bones.

"The team members are very innovative. We have used wood and glass reinforced plastic to prop up bones while restoring the animal's vertebral formation," said Zhang.

He added, "We were born and brought up on this land. It is our duty to protect our history through preserving the fossils."