New fieldwork or research discoveries? Upcoming conference or workshop? New job opening or fellowship posting? New book?

Share the latest news of your work with your colleagues, advertise for job or fellowship openings, find participants for your conference session and more on the SEAA blog.

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VISITING RESEARCH SCHOLAR PROGRAM - Institute for the Study of the Ancient World (ISAW), NYU

Editor's note: while these positions are not East Asia specific, several East Asia-focused scholars have held them in recent years, so it is worth applying. https://isaw.nyu.edu/visiting-scholars

The Institute for the Study of the Ancient World (ISAW) is a center for advanced scholarly research and graduate education, which aims to encourage particularly the study of the economic, religious, political and cultural connections between ancient civilizations. In an effort to embrace a truly inclusive geographical scope while maintaining continuity and coherence, the Institute focuses on the shared and overlapping periods in the development of cultures and civilizations around the Mediterranean basin, and across central Asia to the Pacific Ocean. The approaches of anthropology, archaeology, geography, geology, history, economics, sociology, art history, digital humanities, and the history of science and technology are as integral to the enterprise as the study of texts, philosophy, and the analysis of artifacts.

ISAW anticipates appointing visiting scholars in several different categories for the 2021-22 academic year. Applicants in all categories should be individuals of scholarly distinction or promise in any relevant field of ancient studies who will benefit from the stimulation of working in an environment with colleagues in other disciplines. Scholars with a history of interdisciplinary exchange and scholars whose academic interests include parts of the ancient Old World that are often underrepresented in traditional academic departments, including Africa, Central Asia, South Asia, and Southeast Asia, are especially welcome and encouraged to apply.

Research Assistant, Archaeological Database of China, collaborated by Tsinghua University and Hong Kong University

The Archaeological Database of China, collaborated by Tsinghua University and Hong Kong University, is looking for a research assistant to help curate data from the second phase of its project. Successful applicants would work on archaeological materials from the Neolithic to the Northern and Southern dynasties. Please note that work would be conducted entirely in Chinese. As such, applications should have high fluency in the Chinese language.

Research Fellow in Chinese History, Academia Sinica

Research Fellow Position at Academia Sinica

1. Rank: Assistant Research Fellow (1 position available)

2. Areas of Specialization: Chinese History

3. Qualifications:

(1) Applicants with a domestic or foreign doctorate degree recognized by the Ministry of Education; or applicants scheduled to receive a domestic or foreign doctorate degree in related fields by June 30, 2021
(2) For foreign applicants, the ability to speak and write (fluently) in Mandarin is preferred.

The said wooden spinning top

Discoveries: Japan’s oldest spinning top recently uncovered in ancient settlement with links to Korean immigrants

What is likely to be Japan’s oldest spinning tip was recently unearthed in the Minami-Shiga archaeological site in Otsu, Shiga Prefecture. The site was thought to have been inhabited by immigrants from the Korean Peninsula. The top was unearthed together with other ceremonial items such as sacred spikes and peach seeds. Judging from pottery sherds found in the same ditch, the wooden spinning top, dates to the late Kofun period, which lasted from the late 6th to early 7th century.

NEW BOOK: Drawn and Written in Stone: An Inventory of Stepped Shrines and Early Rock Inscriptions in Upper Tibet (ca. 100 BCE to 1400 CE)

Author: John Vincent Bellezza 

Synopsis 

Drawn and Written in Stone explores the religious history of the highest part of the Tibetan Plateau through its rock art and inscriptions. It is focused on facsimiles of ritual and ceremonial monuments carved and painted on stone surfaces and rock inscriptions in the Tibetan language, vital archaeological and historical materials for appraising the development of religion in Tibet, ca. 100 BCE to 1400 CE. By probing the complexion of figures and letters in stone, this work considers how early cult traditions contributed to the establishment of Tibetan Buddhism and a rival faith known as Yungdrung Bon. Outside of the Indian cultural context, relatively little has been written about the historical antecedents of these popular Tibetan religions for a want of sources. This monograph helps remedy this large gap in Tibetan studies by drawing upon the author’s surveys of rock art and rock inscriptions conducted in upmost Tibet between 1995 and 2013. 

The Compensations of Plunder: How China lost its Treasures cover

NEW BOOK: The Compensations of Plunder: How China lost its Treasures, by Justin M. Jacobs

From the 1790s until World War I, Western museums filled their shelves with art and antiquities from around the world. These objects are now widely regarded as stolen from their countries of origin and demands for their repatriation grow louder by the day. In The Compensations of Plunder, Justin M. Jacobs brings to light the historical context of the exodus of cultural treasures from northwestern China.

BAR book cover

NEW BOOK: BAR S2992 – Bronze Weapons of the Qin Terracotta Warriors, by Xiuzhen LI

Over 40,000 lethal bronze weapons were discovered with thousands of terracotta warriors in the tomb complex of the Qin First Emperor (259-210 BC). This book carries out the first systematic and comprehensive study on these weapons to investigate the mass production and labour organisation in early imperial China.  The research draws upon extensive measurements, typological analysis and related statistical treatment, as well as a study of the spatial distribution of the bronze weapons. A combination of metrical and spatial data is used to assess the degree of standardisation of the weapons’ production, and to evaluate the spatial patterns in the array of the Terracotta Army. This provides further information about the labour organisation behind the production, transportation and placement of weapons as they were moved from the workshop and/or arsenal to the funeral pits. Integrating these insights with inscriptions, tool marks, and chemical analysis, this book fills a gap in the study of mass production, the behaviour of craftspeople, and related imperial logistical organisation in the Qin Dynasty (221-206 BC), marking the most crucial early stage in Chinese political unification.

https://www.barpublishing.com/bronze-weapons-of-the-qin-terracotta-warriors.html

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