Ph.D. 2002, UCLA Costen Institute of Archaeology
Assistant Professor of Art History and Archaeology

China, with its long history and culture, is an ideal location to study the processes that transformed human society on the road to civilization; and archaeology is one of the few disciplines that has the capability to not only expand our understanding of life in the time before written records existed, but also the lives of the vast majority of people and events that have gone undocumented by texts. Dr. Bennett is interested in the rise of social complexity during China’s Late Neolithic -- Early Bronze Age in terms of issues relating to production, craft specialization, and exchange. She is researching questions regarding these subjects through analyses of jade and stone ornaments and tools. Her primary interests are differing contexts of production, and the social and ideological roles these lithics and their production played in society, but functional and technological questions are also of concern. Dr. Bennett is also interested in environmental and landscape archaeology, regional analysis and survey, and field methods. She is currently participating in two China-based archaeological field projects, one of which is researching the origins and history of salt production in Sichuan Province, and the other of which is using regional survey and analysis to investigate changing settlement patterns in the Chifeng region of Inner Mongolia.

Dr. Bennett’s lecture courses cover a broad range of Asian archaeology and art history, while her seminars focus on theoretical issues and Chinese archaeology.

Courses:
The Archaeology of Ancient China
The Archaeology of Northern Asia
Chinese Art and Culture
An Introduction to Asian Art

Seminars:
East Asian Production Systems: the Archaeology of Bronze, Iron, Silk and Porcelain Production
Stone, Bone, Clay and Fiber: a Hands-on Materials Course for Art History and Archaeology Students
Seminar in Asian Art: From Ancient Worlds to Contemporary Practice