Tang Institute for Early China Special Lecture:

Paleoethnobotany in the Chinese Bronze Age:
Understanding Early Urbanization through
Plant Remains

A talk and discussion by Dr. Xuexiang Chen (陈雪香),
Professor of Archaeology, Shandong University (China)
Visiting Professor, Yale University

Wednesday, May 13 at 4:30pm

403 Kent Hall

RSVP by May 8, 2026

Abstract

Urbanization during the Chinese Bronze Age was not merely a demographic aggregation, but a profound transformation of social organization and lifestyle. Drawing on two decades of archaeobotanical findings from major urban centers and secondary sites in the Central Plains and the Shandong region, this report re-examines the life of early cities through paleoethnobotanical evidence.

As an archaeologist, Xuexiang Chen investigates the origin and spread of early agriculture and its role in the development of social complexity in early China. Her research focuses on the period from the Neolithic through the Bronze Age. She has conducted several fieldwork projects in the Haidai region of the lower Yellow River. Since 2007, she has served as a faculty member in the School of Archaeology at Shandong University. She is currently a visiting professor at the the Council on East Asian Studies, MacMillian Center, Yale University.