Professor Dame Jessica Rawson

rawson
Honorary Research Associate
+44 (0)1865 278137
jessica.rawson@merton.ox.ac.uk

Research Interests

The archaeology of China and Inner Asia, particularly the relationship between ancient China and its mobile and semi-sedentary neighbours in the mountain, steppe and semi-desert landscapes which surround the Central Plain; cultural ecology and the construction of difference in China and Western Asia; early Chinese material culture as evidence for religious concepts and beliefs; and the development and function of ornament across Eurasia.

The work will continue over the next few years in conjunction with the Flame project in the Research Laboratory for Art History and Archaeology, University of Oxford, investigating the circulation of bronze across Eastern Siberia and China. 

Research Profile

Current Activities

Research into the impact of warfare, concepts of beauty and changing beliefs in Chinese society from 1500 BC to AD 1000 (as 2014 Slade Professor of Fine Art at the University of Cambridge); the impact of interactions between central China, Western Asia, and the pastoralist communities of the Steppe during the Zhou (c. 1045- 221 BC), Qin (221-210 BC), and Han (206 BC-AD 220) periods; on the structure and contents of Chinese tombs; and on exoticism in the Han to Tang periods (200 BC-AD 900).

Publications