"Researchers have deciphered enigmatic recipes for metal-making contained in an ancient Chinese text, revealing unexpected complexity in the art at the time.
Six chemical formulas are given in a Chinese text from 300BC known as the Kaogong ji. The manuscript, known as The World’s Oldest Encyclopedia of Technologies, forms part of a detailed archive of early imperial rule, which archeologists have been trying to decode since the 1920s."
The desert of far northwestern Utah stretches 60 miles from the arid border of Nevada to the saline-crusted shores of the Great Salt Lake. The terrain is exceedingly flat, punctuated only by the intermittent dry arroyo, rocky hill or volcanic cinder cone. Horned lizards and jack rabbits dart between thorny shrubs and scrawny box elder trees. Apart from the occasional cattle ranch or sheep-herding camp, the landscape appears desolate and lonely, forgotten in the expanse of geologic time.
Chinese President Xi Jinping recently stressed the importance of furthering the study of Chinese civilization to enhance the historical awareness and cultural confidence of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and society, while unswervingly following the path of socialism with Chinese characteristics to realize national rejuvenation.
When did populations of Homo sapiens first arrive in China and what happened when they encountered the Denisovans or Neanderthals who lived there? A new study in Nature by an international team of researchers opens a window into hunter-gatherer lifestyles 40,000 years ago. Archaeological excavations at the site of Xiamabei in the Nihewan Basin of northern China have revealed the presence of innovative behaviors and unique toolkits.
The Asian Studies Program at Vanderbilt University is accepting applications for a tenure-track Assistant Professor in Asian Environmental Studies to begin in the Fall 2020 semester. Regional specialization is open to any area(s) of East, South, and Southeast Asia. Academic training may come from any discipline(s) in the humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences.
The UNESCO Chair on Heritage Futures at Linnaeus University in Sweden invites applications for a
Post-doctoral Fellowship (2 years full-time) in Heritage Futures
The Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures and Stanford Archaeology Center invite applications for an one-year post-doctoral scholar position in Chinese Archaeology. The successful candidate will demonstrate prior achievement in research in Chinese Archaeology with a preference in archaeological sciences. The candidate will put forth a coherent proposal for research at Stanford University and will be expected to teach one or more courses and to engage with faculty and graduate students at the Archaeology Center. The faculty sponsor of this post-doctoral scholar is Professor Li Liu.
INSTITUTE OF ASIAN AND ORIENTAL STUDIES / CHINESE STUDIES
The Traditional China Chair at the Institute of Asian and Oriental Studies
of the University of Zurich is looking for a postdoc in East and Central
Asian archaeology, art history or palaeozoology/-botany. Postdoctoral work
will be carried out under the auspices of the Swiss National Science
Foundation (SNSF) project “Sino-Indo-Iranica rediviva – Early Eurasian
migratory terms in Chinese and their cultural implications” (PI: Prof.
Wolfgang Behr). The project will investigate Central Asian loan words of
Iranian, Indian, Tocharian and other linguistic origins in Chinese
epigraphical and transmitted texts from early antiquity to the Sui
unification (581 CE). Linguistic results will be compared to evidence from
from material culture and the natural environments with the aim of gaining
deeper insights into the development of the flourishing trade routes
linking China and Central Asia since the onset of writing in China.
As part of the project, a database of Chinese terms with their (putative)
foreign equivalents and material culture correlates will be compiled and
published online. The successful applicant will conduct a thorough
investigation of material traces reflecting contact during the time of the
investigated textual evidence in close coordination with the other three
project participants as well as external collaboration partners.
A fixed term full-time postdoctoral appointment for 36 months is available to work on the ERC-funded project “Encounter: Demography, Cultural change, and the Diffusion of Rice and Millet during the Jomon-Yayoi transition in prehistoric Japan”. https://www.encounterproject.info/. The role is for an analytical chemist or archaeological scientist to conduct lipid and protein residue analysis on Final Jomon and Early Yayoi ceramic vessels. You will generate data that will advance our understanding of the transition to farming in Japan. N.B. Prior doctoral training or equivalent experience in the field of organic residue analysis is highly desirable.
You will join the University of York’s world-renowned BioArCh group, where you will benefit from a highly multi-disciplinary and engaging working environment. You will work closely with the residue analysis group under the direction of Prof. Oliver Craig, although you have your own remit within the project and the opportunity to complete first authored publications. You will be supported by our team of dedicated technicians and have access to all the instrumentation needed to undertake the research on site. As part of this project, you may also be expected to make occasional visits to Japan to undertake sampling and dissemination of the results with the project partners, and to Cambridge where other team members are based.