Collections & Research Staff
Chen Shen
Senior Curator
B.A., Archaeology, Wuhan University, China, 1987
M.A., Archaeology, University of Tulsa, OK, 1992
Ph.D., Anthropological Archaeology, University of Toronto, 1997
Chen Shen joined the ROM in 1997 as the first Bishop White Curator of Far Eastern Archaeology, an endowed curatorship. A lithic analyst, Chen examines stone tools from the Palaeolithic (1.8 million to 10,000 years ago) to determine how they were made and used by our ancestors. He uses the analytic method of use-wear analysis to shed light on related human behaviours and societies.
Chen began his archaeological fieldwork in China in 1984, followed by excavations in the U.S. and Canada. Currently he leads several projects in Pleistocene archaeology in northern China. His work focuses on discovering the origins and lifeways of our early ancestors in East Asia, and the cultural interactions leading to the peopling of America. Chen's projects are supported by research grants from Canada's Social Sciences and Humanity Research Council, the Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research (U.S.), the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and the ROM Governors.
As a museum curator, Chen is responsible for the ROM's Chinese prehistory and Bronze Age collections, galleries and exhibitions. His collection research focuses on the study of prehistoric stone tools, the pottery collection, the Shang Dynasty Anyang bronze collections, the Eastern Zhou Luoyang collection, Chinese bronze mirrors, as well as Chinese coins and Han tombs for the development of the Joey and Toby Tanenbaum Gallery of China and ROM Gallery of Chinese Architecture.
Asked what his favourite object on display is, Chen's answer often varies. At this time, he favours a pictorial hu vessel decorated with vivid scenes reflecting love and war. Unique for the metalwork of China from the 5th to 4th century BC, there are less than half a dozen of these vessels with similar motif designs known to the world. Chen sees his collection work as another kind of excavation or archaeological dig - analyzing documented objects to uncover unknown information or facts.
Chen is a professor in the Anthropology Department and in the Eastern Asian Study Department at the University of Toronto. He has published in many academic and popular journals/magazines in both English and Chinese.
Recent Publications (* peer-reviewed)
| In press | Shen, C. “The Palaeolithic Cultures of China”. Encyclopedia of Archaeology. Academic Press. |
| In press | Kuzmin, Y.V., S. Keates and C. Shen (editors). Origin and Spread of Microblade Technology in Northern Asia and North America. Vancouver: Simon Fraser University. |
| 2006 | Shen, C. “A new look at the old artwork.” Orientation, Vol. 37(3): 45–51. |
| 2006* | Wang, S. and C. Shen. “The Interpretation of Early Palaeolithic Settlement Patterns in the Luonan Basin, China.” Kaogu (Archaeology), Vol. 4(2006): 49–60. |
| 2005* | Gao X., Q. Wei, C. Shen and S. Keates. “New lights on the earliest hominids in East Asia.” Current Anthropology, Vol. 46, December, supplement: 115-120. |
| 2005 | Shen, C. “Lithic Technological Variability of the Upper Palaeolithic in Shandong Peninsular: A Techno-typological approach.” Dongfang Kaogu, Vol. 1: 1-22. (Chinese with English abstract) |
| 2005* | Wang, S.J., C. Shen, S.N. Hu, X.B. Zhang, C.F. Wang and R. Cosgrove. "A Study of Lithic Artefacts from Open-air Sites during 1995-1999 in Luonan Basin, China." Acta Anthropologica Sinica, Vol. 25(2): 88-103. (Chinese with English abstract) |
| 2004* | Fang, Y.S., Y.P. Huang and C. Shen. “Pebble Semicircle from a Lower Palaeolithic Site in Southern China.” Eurasian Prehistory, Vol. 2(2): 3-12. View article (PDF) |
| 2004 | Shen, C. “Microblade technique and microblade tradition: a case study of Shandong Microblades.” In Essays in honor of An Zhimin, edited by Tang Chung and Chen Xingcan. Center for Chinese Archaeology and Art, Chinese University of Hong Kong, pp 45-56. (Chinese) |
| 2004* | Shen, C. and W. Qi. “Lithic Technological Variability of the Middle Pleistocene at the Eastern End of the Nihewan Basin, northern China.” Asia Perspectives, Vol. 43(2): 281-301. |
| 2004* | Wang, S.J., X.B. Zhang, C. Shen, S.M. Song and X.F. Zhang. “A study of Lithic Assemblages from 1995 Excavation at Longyadong Cave, Luonan Basin, China.” Acta Anthropologica Sinica, Vol. 23(2): 93-110. (Chinese with English abstract) |
| 2003* | Peterson, C., C. Shen, C. Chen, W.Y. Chen and Y.J. Tang. “Taphonomy of an Early Pleistocene faunal assemblage from Xiaochangliang, Nihewan Basin.” In Current Research in the Chinese Pleistocene Archaeology, edited by C. Shen and S. Keates. BAR International Series 1179, Oxford: Archaeopress, pp 83-98. |
| 2003* | Shen, C. “Compromises and Conflicts: production and commerce in the royal cities of Eastern Zhou, China.” In The Social Construction of Ancient Cities, edited by M. Smith. Washington and London: Smithsonian Books, pp. 290-310. |
| 2003* | Shen, C. and C. Chen. “New Evidence of Hominid Behaviours from Xiaochangliang, Northern China: Site Formation and Lithic Technology.” In Current Research in the Chinese Pleistocene Archaeology, edited by C. Shen and S. Keates. BAR International Series 1179, Oxford: Archaeopress, pp 67-82. |
| 2003* | Shen, C., X. Gao and B.H. Hu. “Shandong Microblade Industries and Re-Evaluation of Fenghuangling Culture.” Acta Anthropologica Sinica, Vol. 22(4): 293-307. |
| 2003 | Shen, C. and S. Keates (editors). Current Research in the Chinese Pleistocene Archaeology. BAR International Series 1179, Oxford: Archaeopress. |
| 2003* | Shen, C. and S. Keates. “Current Research in Chinese Pleistocene Archaeology: an Introduction.” In Current Research in the Chinese Pleistocene Archaeology, edited by C. Shen and S. Keates. BAR International Series 1179, Oxford: Archaeopress, pp 1-8. |
Publications List (PDF)
Galleries
Joey and Toby Tanenbaum Gallery of China
ROM Gallery of Chinese Architecture
Research Projects
Chinese Coins
Hollow-brick Han Tomb
The Luonan Project
The Nihewan Project
The Shandong Project
Other Links
Archaeological Newsletter - Who Owns the Cave? - Zhoukoudian Cave Revisited
University of Toronto Department of Anthropology
University of Toronto Department of East Asian Studies
Contact Information
Department of World Cultures
Royal Ontario Museum
100 Queen's Park
Toronto, ON.
M5S 2C6
Tel.: 416.586.5691
Fax: 416.586.5877
E-mail: worldcultures@rom.on.ca
Chen Shen at the Donggutuo site, Nihewan Basin. Image courtesy of Wei Qi.
Detail of Hu wine vessel (bronze inlaid with copper), China Eastern Zhou dynasty, c. 500 – 350 BC.
