Research and Teaching Interests

Chinese Archaeology; emergence and persistence of complex societies in the Sichuan Basin; Interregional Interaction and the Proto-Silk-Road; Technology and Technological Change; Specialization; Zooarchaeology. Emergence and development of complex society in the late Neolithic period and the Bronze Age in China; diachronic change in production processes; intersection between ritual activity and production; the role of animals in early Chinese society - particularly their use in sacrifice and divination; and processes involved in social change in general.

Rowan Flad's research focuses on the emergence and development of complex society during the late Neolithic period and the Bronze Age in China. He has conducted excavations at a salt production site in the eastern Sichuan Basin and has recently completed a regional survey in the Chengdu region focusing on prehistoric settlement patterns and social evolution. New research is focused on the late Neolithic and early Bronze Age in southern Gansu. Current research and writing projects focus on several aspects of social complexity including: specialized production and technology, the anthropology of value, mortuary analysis, archaeological landscapes, interregional interaction, cultural transmission, and animal and plant domestication.