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16 July 1999 Vol. III, No. 2 Feature Article BU Center for East Asian Archaeology to open in fall By David J. Craig A Boston archaeologist received a bad omen in the spring of 1998 while digging in a field in the Chinese province of Henan, where he and fellow researchers believe six ancient cities lie buried. "A black car pulled up and three businessman stepped out," says Robert Murowchick, who holds research posts at BU and Harvard. "That's never a good sign. Sure enough, they wanted to put down a superhighway right there. Now we're trying to figure out who in the Chinese government to talk to about stopping it." That kind of frustration is nothing new to archaeologists working in East Asian countries. Murowchick says many East Asian countries have a history of not allowing Western archaeologists to excavate their soil, and to this day they cannot afford to prevent construction to save archaeological sites. But archaeologists digging in East Asia soon could see long-standing obstacles to their work disappear. The International Center for East Asian Archaeology, which opens at BU this fall, will provide funding and logistical support to research projects in East Asian nations, host academic seminars and educational workshops for scientists around the world, and coordinate a visiting scholars program. The center is getting off the ground with a $750,000 grant from the Henry Luce Foundation in New York. "People involved in East Asian archaeology have felt for nearly 30 years that there's a need for a place where people in the field could commiserate and share resources," says Murowchick, who helped secure funding for the center and will serve as its director. "Senior scholars from all over the world are expressing support for this." A backwards past Between World War II and 1991, the Chinese government wouldn't allow Western archaeologists to participate in fieldwork on Chinese soil. Partly as a result, China and other East Asian countries with similar laws have only minimal knowledge of modern archaeological techniques. Archaeologist Robert Murowchick thinks the International Center for East Asian Archaeology will help save artifacts such as this Neolithic Chinese clay pot. Photo by Vernon Doucette "Western scientists never were able to participate directly," says Murowchick, who earned a doctorate in archaeology from Harvard in 1989. "When I was in school, the work done by Westerners on East Asian archaeology was basically interpreting and reporting on findings coming out of China. There was no chance to do hands-on work. For my dissertation I studied Chinese bronzes in museums." Western archaeologists say the self-imposed isolation of China and other East Asian countries resulted in a backwards approach to their science. "Different countries have different ways of doing archaeology, but in terms of a theoretical basis, Chinese excavators historically have not asked the major research questions a Western scientist would ask," says Julie Hansen, associate professor and chair of the CAS archaeology department. "In many East Asian countries, digging up artifacts is just an arm of art history, a way to get things to put in museums. Researchers there also don't have the scientific facilities we do." Many of the strict archaeology regulations in East Asian countries have been relaxed in the 1990s, providing Western scientists access to East Asian soil -- much of which has never been combed for artifacts -- and East Asian researchers an opportunity to learn Western archaeological techniques. A rare opportunity East Asian archaeologists anticipate that the new BU center will give more people from their countries a chance to learn modern scientific methods, according to Ken'ichi Sasaki, an associate professor of archaeology at Meiji University in Tokyo. "Japanese scholars are not very good at putting their results into a modern, objective perspective," explains Sasaki. "They see the importance of learning to do it, so many want to come to train in the West, but they don't know where to go. Now, Boston will be the good place." And because East Asian governments have kept Western archaeologists at bay for so long, many Westerners foresee that discoveries await them in virgin Asian soil. "What I love about the field is there are huge areas of East Asia that people know very little about," says Murowchick. "There are enormous questions left to answer and it's tantalizing to think about what lies ahead. An undergraduate today could conceivably make the find of the century 10 years down the road." Yet because the top priority of the recently struggling Chinese government is promoting economic development, Murowchick says, government funding in China for excavations has actually decreased in the 1990s. In addition, he says, many construction developments threaten to annihilate precious artifacts, and sometimes entire cities. "There just isn't the money to save sites or even to do surveys to know what's being lost," he says. "The things we already know are being lost are phenomenal. The other thing we contend with over there is illegal looting. It's really bad right now because there's a real market for antiquities in the West and in Southeast Asia." A hub to promote, share science While most East Asian countries have started to allow Western archaeologists to participate in East Asian excavations, research between scientists from different countries is still very difficult to coordinate, according to Murowchick. Researchers working together often spend months collecting necessary geographical maps, have to start from scratch when arranging the rental of expensive field instruments, and receive confusing and contradictory responses from governments when applying for permits to excavate, he says. The International Center for East Asian Archaeology could make those tasks easier. "This an attempt at building something permanent that will foster permanent relationships," Murowchick says. "We'll have our own publications, we'll fund a visiting scholars program, and in times of government-to-government strain between the United States and China, the relationship between academics fostered here will serve a diplomatic function as well." Hansen hopes that the center will allow the BU archaeology department to develop a competitive East Asian program. Few archaeology departments at Western universities have prominent faculty members who specialize in East Asian archaeology, she says. "We hope to have Murowchick teach courses eventually," Hansen says, "and if we get to bring on a full-time faculty member who specializes in East Asia, we'll be on a par with any other program in the country." Christopher Reaske, vice president of development and alumni relations, says his office is helping the center attain a permanent space on campus and that it will lead the effort to acquire additional funding. He hopes $10 million can be raised for the center in the next two years. At the least, Murowchick says, the center should have a temporary home and open its library to students by September.