Kwang-chih Chang | |
|---|---|
張光直 | |
 | |
| Born | April 15, 1931 |
| Died | January 3, 2001 (aged 69) Boston, Massachusetts, U.S. |
| Nationality | Chinese Taiwanese-American |
| Other names | K.C. Chang |
| Occupation(s) | Archaeologist, sinologist, professor, translator |
| Known for | Pioneering Taiwanese archaeology, multi-disciplinary anthropological archaeology |
| Awards | AAS Award for Distinguished Contributions to Asian Studies (1996) |
| Academic background | |
| Education | National Taiwan University (BA) Harvard University (PhD) |
| Thesis | Prehistoric Settlements in China: A Study in Archaeological Method and Theory (1960) |
| Academic advisors | Li Ji |
| Academic work | |
| Discipline | Archaeology, anthropology, sinology, Asian studies |
| Sub-discipline | Prehistory of Taiwan, Chinese prehistory, East Asian prehistory, archaeological theory, settlement archaeology |
| Institutions | Yale University Harvard University National Academy of Sciences Academia Sinica |
| Notable students | Robin D. S. Yates, Lothar von Falkenhausen, Wu Hung, Bruce Trigger, Richard J. Pearson, Choi Mong-lyong, Li Liu |
| Main interests | East Asia prehistory, multi-disciplinary archaeology, shamanism, archaeological theory, Bronze Age society |
Kwang-chih Chang (15 April, 1931 – January 3, 2001), commonly known as K. C. Chang, was a Taiwanese-American archaeologist and sinologist. He was the John E. Hudson Professor of archaeology at Harvard University, Vice-President of the Academia Sinica, and a curator at the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology. He helped to bring modern, western methods of archaeology to the study of ancient Chinese history. He also introduced new discoveries in Chinese archaeology to western audiences by translating works from Chinese to English. He pioneered the study of Taiwanese archaeology, encouraged multi-disciplinal anthropological archaeological research, and urged archaeologists to conceive of East Asian prehistory (China, Korea, and Japan) as a pluralistic whole.