East Asian Archaeology Seminar Series Assistant Professor Rowan Flad Peabody Museum 57G (617) 495-1966 e-mail Professor Rowan Flad is an assistant professor of anthropological archaeology working in China.  He holds an A.B. from the University of Chicago and an M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of California, Los Angeles.  His research is currently focused on the emergence and development of complex society during the late Neolithic period and the Bronze Age.  This research incorporates interests in diachronic change in production processes, the intersection between ritual activity and production, the role of animals in early Chinese society – particularly their use in sacrifice and divination, and the processes involved in social change in general.  Recently he has conducted excavations at a salt production site in the eastern Sichuan Basin and has started a new field project in the Chengdu region focusing on prehistoric settlement patterns and social evolution in that region.  The Chengdu Plain project is a multi-disciplinary effort by several institutions from the U.S. and China to examine the changes in landscape use and resource exploitation during a period in the development of Chinese society that was critical in the development of centralized, regional polities.  In collaboration with scholars from Peking University, The Chengdu City Institute of Archaeology, UCLA, and Washington University in St. Louis, and National Taiwan University.  Prof. Flad will be conducting systematic archaeological surveys in the Chengdu plain in an area known to contain late Neolithic walled settlements with the goal of ascertaining the pattern of settlements across this region during the periods leading up to, during, and following the construction of these sites.  The associated photograph shows Prof. Flad at one of these walled settlements, the site of Mangcheng in Dujiangyan County, Sichuan.  The survey work in this area will illuminate the prehistoric situation in one of the most under-investigated yet important regions in China. Prof. Flad’s recent work at the site of Zhongba, in the county of Zhong Xian, Chongqing Municipality, stresses the importance of using multiple lines of evidence in archaeological research.  The Zhongba study focuses on the organization of production at a specialized salt manufacturing site and involves analysis of ceramic, spatial organization, zooarchaeological remains, burials, and textual material.  These data are the subject of several publications that are in press or in preparation.  Other recent publications present new data on the animal sacrifices discovered at Shang Dynasty sites including the walled site at Yanshi, Zhengzhou, and Xiaoshuangqiao, and mortuary analyses of the early Bronze Age cemetery of Dadianzi in Inner Mongolia.  These studies relate to Prof. Flad’s interest in the relationship among various categories of social activity: ritual, craft production, subsistence, trade, etc. and a particular interest in examining the role that animal exploitation played in these different aspects of ancient society.  Fall 2005 Anthropology 1010. Introduction to Archaeology A comprehensive introduction to the practice of archaeology and major themes from our human past: How do archaeologists know where to dig? How do we analyze and understand what we find? What do we know about the origins of the human species, agriculture, cities, and civilization? The lecture/laboratory format integrates methods and theory, and utilizes Peabody Museum collections, to provide an overview of analytic and interpretive techniques to reconstruct ancient diet, trade, and political systems. Anthropology 1210. The Archaeology of Early China A survey of the archaeology of China from the Neolithic (ca. 10,000 BCE) through the end of the Bronze Age (ca. 220 BCE), with an emphasis on the emergence of complex society during the late Neolithic and Early Bronze Age. We survey important archaeological finds from these periods and examine relevant issues in anthropological archaeology. Sections will involve the discussion of materials from the Peabody and Sackler Museums. Spring 2005 Chinese Archaeology: Paleolithic - Shang (Undergraduate / Graduate Course) This lecture course intensively surveys the archaeology of China from the Paleolithic (ca. 1 million years before present) up to and including the Shang Dynasty (ca. 1050 BC), with an emphasis on the emergence of complex society during the late Neolithic and Early Bronze Age.  We survey many of the most important archaeological finds from these periods in China and examine various issues in anthropological archaeology as they relate to data from early Chinese contexts. The Archaeology of Production (Graduate Seminar) This seminar explores various issues related to production in archaeological contexts.  Topics include specialization, craft production, production and power, the practice / performance of production, production and gender, ritualized production, and the production of memory. Fall 2004 Rediscovering Past Societies: A Survey of World Prehistory (Undergraduate Course) Anthropology 100 is an introduction to World Prehistory. We will be exploring some of the major themes from our human past, beginning with the evolution and behavior of our closest hominid ancestors from over five million years ago and continuing up through the formation of the great civilizations of the Old and New Worlds.  A sub-text of the course will be how archaeological knowledge is constructed.