Andrew Womack headshot

Andrew Womack

Assistant Professor, Asian Studies, Anthropology

Website
swipe to see more

Andrew Womack is an anthropological archaeologist whose research focuses on early China. Prior to joining the faculty at Furman in 2020, Andrew received his PhD from Yale University in 2017, was a Visiting Faculty Lecturer at McGill University in Montreal from 2017-19, and then worked as a postdoctoral scholar at the Stanford University Archaeology Center from 2019-20. As Principal Investigator of the Excavating Andersson Project, Andrew is working with colleagues in Europe and China to investigate Chinese archaeological materials collected in the 1920s and currently stored at the Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities in Stockholm, Sweden. Analysis of these artifacts from sites across northwestern China is providing new insights into Neolithic and early Bronze Age (3200–1500BC) proto-Silk Road interaction networks linking Central and East Asia.

This research builds on Andrew’s experience in northwestern China as Associate Director of the Tao River Archaeological Project (TRAP), an international collaboration between Chinese and North American institutions mapping the intersection of technological, social, and climatic change at sites in northwestern China. He is also conducting work across northern China with recent projects at the early Bronze Age city of Shimao, the Shang Dynasty site of Guandimiao, and Western Zhou Dynasty sites in Shandong Province.
At Furman, Prof. Womack offers courses introducing students to archaeological methods and theory and world archaeology, as well as on regional archaeology of East and Central Asia. Most recently, Dr. Womack has started a new field project on the historical archaeology of the Furman campus, exploring the history of land-use over the past 200 years. Aside from archaeology Andrew spends much of his time rock climbing with his wife Elizabeth and exploring the outdoors with their racoonhound (and department mascot), Annabelle.

Prof. Womack is on sabbatical in the 2023-24 academic year.

Honors & Awards

  • Henry Luce Foundation/ACLS Program in China Studies Long-Term Early Career Fellowship, 2023-24
  • The Tang Center at Columbia University Workshop Grant, 2023-24
  • Fitch Laboratory Bursary, The British School at Athens, 2023-24
  • Franklin Research Grant from the American Philosophical Society, 2021-22
  • Associated Colleges of the South Cycle 9 Grant, 2021-22, collaborator
  • Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada Postdoctoral Fellowship, 2019-21 (declined)
  • The Tang Center at Columbia University Postdoctoral Award, 2018-19
  • National Science Foundation Dissertation Improvement Grant, 2015-17
  • J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship, 2015-16

Education

  • Ph.D. in Anthropology, Yale University
  • M.A. in the History of Art and Archaeology, The School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London
  • B.A. in Archaeology, The College of Wooster

Publications

  • Womack, Andrew, Xinwei Li, Zhiwei Guo, Hui Wang, Jing Zhou, and Rowan Flad. 2023. “From Local to Long-distance: Neolithic and Bronze Age ceramic circulation networks in northwestern China.” Antiquity
  • Lu, Qingyu, Zhi Liu, Andrew Womack, Jiayan Tian, Fen Wang. 2023. “A Preliminary Analysis of Pottery from the Dantu site, Shandong, China: Perspectives from petrography and WD-XRF.” Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports 47: 103710.
  • Jaffe, Yitzchak, Anke Hein, Andrew Womack, Katherine Brunson, Jade d’Alpoim Guedes, Rongzhen Guo, Jing Zhou, Jada Ko, Xiaohong Wu, Hui Wang, Shuicheng Li, and Rowan Flad. 2022. “Complex pathways towards emergent pastoral settlements – New research on the bronze Age Xindian culture of Northwest China.” Journal of World Prehistory 34: 595–647.
  • Womack, Andrew, Li Liu, and Nan Di. 2021. “Initial Insights into Ceramic Production and Exchange at the Bronze Age Citadel at Shimao, Shaanxi, China.” Archaeological Research in Asia 28: 100319.
  • Womack, Andrew, Rowan Flad, Jing Zhou, Katherine Brunson, Fabian Toro, Xin Su, Anke Hein, Jade d’Alpoim Guedes, Guiyun Jin, Xiaohong Wu, Hui Wang. 2021. “The Majiayao to Qijia Transition: Exploring the intersection of technological and social continuity and change.” Asian Archaeology 4: 95-120.
  • Hein, Anke, Andrew Womack, Ole Stilborg, and Evgenia Dammer. 2021. “Investigating prehistoric pottery from northwest China: from Andersson's first excavations to contemporary research.” The Bulletin of the Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities 82: 231-272.
  • Flad, Rowan, Zhou Jing, Andrew Womack, Yitzchak Jaffe, Jada Ko, Yanxi Wang, Xin Su, Pochen Chen, Ling-yu Hung, Bingbing Liu, Ruilin Mao, Hui Wang, and Shuicheng Li. 2021. “Preliminary Site Prospection Along the Tao River 2011-2013.” The Bulletin of the Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities 82: 83-134.
  • Hung, Ling-yu. Pottery Production, Mortuary Practice, and Social Complexity in the Majiayao Culture, NW China (ca. 5300–4000 BP). Edited by Anke Hein and Andrew Womack. BAR International Series: Archaeology of East Asia.
  • Womack, Andrew and Hui Wang. 2020. “Formation and Function of Majiayao and Qijia Pottery: Analysis of Formation Marks and Use-alteration on Vessels from the Tao River Valley.” Asian Perspectives 59:1, p.2-32.
  • Womack, Andrew 吴浩森. 2020. “通过卫星遥感了解土地利用类型对遗址的影响——以成都平原为例 (Understanding the Impact of Changing Land Use on Archaeological Sites through Satellite Remote Sensing: An Example from the Chengdu Plain).” Southern Ethnology and Archaeology (南方民族考古) 18: 247-256.
  • Womack, Andrew. 2020. “The Neolithic Revolution in the North, 7000-2000BCE.” In The Oxford Handbook of Early China, 7000-3000 BCE 牛津大学古代中国手册 7000-300 公元前. Elizabeth Childs-Johnson, editor. Oxford University Press.
  • Womack, Andrew, Hui Wang, Jing Zhou, and Rowan Flad. 2019. “A petrographic analysis of clay recipes in Late Neolithic north-western China: continuity and change.” Antiquity 93:371, p.1161-1177.
  • Womack, Andrew, Tim Horsley, Hui Wang, Jing Zhou, and Rowan Flad. 2019. “Assessing Site Organization and Development Using Geophysical Prospection at Dayatou, Gansu, China.” Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports 27: p.1-12.
  • Womack, Andrew, Yitzchak Jaffe, Jing Zhou, Ling-yu Hung, Hui Wang, Shuicheng Li, Pochan Chen, and Rowan Flad. 2017. “Mapping Qijiaping: New work on the type site of the Qijia Culture.” Journal of Field Archaeology 42:6, p.488-502.

Additional Professional Activities

  • 2023 New Insights into Bronze Age ceramic production in northwestern China: Petrographic analysis of Qijia and Shajing materials from the Andersson collections. Paper given at the Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology National Conference. Portland, OR, March 29 - April 2.
  • 2022 Recipes of practice: Theorizing the link between ceramic paste composition and potting communities. Session organizer at the Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology National Conference. Chicago, IL, March 30-April 3.
  • 2021. Archaeometric and Archaeological Research on Human-Environment Interaction in East Asia: Current Trends and Future Trajectories. Organizer and discussant at East Asia Archaeology Seminar, Harvard University.
  • 2021. From local to long-distance: Interregional Interaction in Neolithic Northwestern China. Department of Anthropology, Yale University.
  • 2021. Ceramic Production at the Stone-walled Citadel of Shimao: Initial Results of Petrographic Analysis, given at the Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology National Conference.
  • 2020. Does cultural interaction foment cultural change? A case study from the proto-Silk Road in northwestern China. Presentation given at the Tang Center for Silk Road Studies, University of California Berkeley.
  • 2019. Integrative Approaches to Ceramic Anthropology in Early China: New Directions in Pottery Research. A workshop held at the Tang Center for Early China at Columbia University.

Web Databases

0