Under the direction of Dr. Prudence Rice, Mr. Haining Wang will collect data for his doctoral dissertation. He will conduct archaeological research in three areas of China and combine fieldwork with analysis of excavated ceramic materials. He will attempt to understand the factors which led to the development and adoption of pottery in this region. Pottery first appears in China approximately 10,000 years ago in many regions. There is no suggestion that it is other than an indigenous invention or was introduced from elsewhere. Mr. Wang will study sites in three widely separated regions which are ecologically distinct. He will examine site reports and materials recovered to reconstruct, as far as possible, subsistence practices and social organization. He will attempt to calculate population sizes and population density. He will also visit sites and determine and record the surrounding physical environment. In particular he wishes to understand what potential resources were available to inhabitants of the region. Finally, he will conduct laboratory analysis of excavated ceramic remains to determine the specific functions which ceramic vessels served. He will carry out chemical analysis of residues adhering to shards to learn what individual vessels contained. Archaeologists are intrigued by the fact that ceramics appear in many parts of the Old World at roughly the same time. Although it is possible that knowledge of the practice spread from one source, the appearance of ceramics is always one of a larger complex of traits which include new forms of social organization and subsistence practices. Researchers do not understand which of these are most directly responsible for the development and adoption this trait which constituted a major technological advance. Mr. Wang's carefully designed project should shed new light on this question. This research is important for several reasons. It will provide data of interest to many archaeologists. It will address a question of major significance and assist in the training of a promising young scientist.
