Prof. Shelach-Lavi is an archaeologist who specialized in the Neolithic and Bronze Age of North China. His project will focus on the process of animal domestication in north China and how this fundamental process shaped the nature of human-animal relations. On one level, this research addresses the interdependency that was forged between humans and animals in this region. On another level, through the examination of the depiction of animals in prehistoric art, the treatment of animals in ritualistic contexts, and in written sources (such as the Oracle Bones documents) it will also address the formation of animal categorization by human and the powers and supernatural traits attributed to animals by different societies in North China during the Neolithic and Bronze Age (c. 6000-500 BCE). The work of Prof. Shelach-Lavi will contribute to our group by broadening our chronological scope to include the prehistoric and protohistoric periods, and by addressing the formative period in the development of animal-human relations in the Sinitic world.

Read more about Prof. Shelach-Lavi here.