Dr. Alison Kyra Carter
Alison Carter is an Assistant Professor in the Anthropology Department at the University of Oregon. She received her PhD from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2013. Her research interests are broadly focused on the political economy and evolution of complex societies in Southeast Asia. Other research interests include the archaeology of East and South Asia, materials analysis and LA‐ICP‐MS, craft technology and specialization, household archaeology, ritual and religion, trade and exchange, and bead studies.
Dr. Carter’s current research project focuses on exploring households of non-elite members of Angkorian society and the daily activities of Angkorian households, primarily through field-based research. Additional projects include using pXRF to undertake soil chemistry on anthropogenic house floors and occupation surfaces and Neutron Activation Analysis (NAA) to examine the compositions of Angkorian stonewares. Additionally, she has a long-standing project examining trade and exchange networks in Southeast Asia through the compositional analysis of stone and glass beads using LA-ICP-MS. You can read more about Dr. Carter’s research here.
Dr. Carmen Sarjeant
Carmen Sarjeant is an Honorary Associate of the Anthropology Department at the University of Oregon. Dr. Sarjeant’s research in Southeast Asia concentrates on settlement patterns at the inception of Neolithic occupation (c. 4200-3000 BP) and the social interactions that took place, particularly socio-technological communication amongst potters within and between communities in southern Vietnam. Using macro- and microscopic analyses, including scanning electron microscopy-energy dispersive spectrometry (SEM-EDS), a comprehensive picture of the manufacture of a ceramic vessel or sherd can be characterized, inclusive of its morphology, surface treatment and fabric. Shared pottery traditions have been observed in ceramic assemblages at sites within southern Vietnam and they exhibit parallels with other ceramic technologies in the wider Neolithic landscape of mainland Southeast Asia. Local innovations and adaptations were also developed at each site soon after they were established to suit local requirements and resource availability at these newly inhabited settlements. Ceramic analyses have the potential to contribute to our understanding about the choices potters made in the past, the organization of ceramic production within communities, how these technologies were transmitted over time and space, and the ways in which these ceramic technology networks may correlate to other material culture, settlement patterns, and social developments.
Tiyas Bhattacharyya
Ms. Bhattacharyya is a graduate student in the Anthropology Department studying with Dr. Carter. She is interested in household archaeology during the Angkor period in Cambodia. Her Masters research looked at stoneware ceramics from Basaet and her PhD research will focus on faunal analysis. Her additional interests include trade relations and stable isotope analysis. She has undertaken fieldwork in Belize and Cambodia.