International Postdoctoral Fellows Program: An Ethnoarcheological Study of Specialized Pottery Production in Guizhou Province, China

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This award is under the International Postdoctoral Fellows Program, which enables U.S. scientists and engineers to conduct three to twelve months of research at foreign centers of proven excellence. The program's awards provide opportunities for joint research, and the use of unique or complementary facilities, expertise and experimental conditions abroad. This award will support a four-month postdoctoral research visit by Dr. Anne Underhill to the Museum of the Qiannan Buyi and Miao Autonomous District in China. The goal of Dr. Underhill's research is to examine archaeological indicators of different kinds of specialized pottery production. She wants to determine whether or not criteria described in the literature can be supported and if new criteria can be developed. She will assess vessel standardization and diversity in order to identify variation among family (household industry) specialists and individual workshop production. Dr. Underhill will also assess spatial indicators of organization of production such as number and location of work tools and size of work space. She will attempt to determine whether differences in scale and intensity of production can be recognized as well. Dr. Underhill feels that the south- central Guizhou would be an excellent study area given the quantity of communities where potters use traditional techniques. The award recommendation provides funds to cover international travel, a stipend for four months and an allowance for field expenses.