Archaeology in Action

Since 2001, the Middle Mekong Archaeological Project has recovered several prehistoric and historic earthenware ceramics from test excavations at four cave sites and from surveys of other sites in north central Lao PDR in southeast Asia. Analysis of this rich ceramic dataset allow scientists to begin piecing together the economic and technological dimensions of past societies of this important region. With the goal of understanding how earthenware was produced, exchanged, and used across the tributary rivers flowing into the Mekong in the Luang Prabang region, Dr. Marie-Claude Boileau will discuss recent fieldwork and ongoing laboratory analysis in the Penn Museum’s Center for the Analysis of Archaeological Materials.