Connected Kilns: Examining interconnections of Trade in Southern China and the Philippines using LA-ICP-MS

Summary

This research, part of an ongoing dissertation project, examines a network of maritime trade between imperial China and Southeast Asia by considering issues of both production and distribution through the comparison of the chemical signatures of paste from porcelain samples obtained through Laser Ablation Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectroscopy (LA-ICP-MS). Porcelain samples have been collected in the Philippines, and porcelain and clay samples have been collected from kiln and habitation sites in southern China. This is a vast network, so the scalar nature of this work, looking at local, regional, and interregional systems is important in explaining the process involved. While part of a larger discussion on the larger network and connections involved therein, this research will, in particular, present results examining the differentiation and overlap of kiln sites from southern China (such as Dehua, Lulin, Gou Tou Shan, and Zhangzhou wares), as well as from an associated habitation site. This research highlights the potential of such an approach and produces results which show the interaction of local kilns within a larger regional framework.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 81st Annual Meeting, Orlando, FL (2016)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage