Our laboratory is currently carrying out analysis on archaeobotanical remains from a wide variety of sites across Asia including China, Tibet, Nepal, Thailand and Pakistan. Along with Steven Weber,  we are carrying out an analysis of material from several seasons of excavation from the site of Indus valley sites of Harappa and Balakot and several sites in Thailand: Promthin Tai, Nil Kham Haeng, Non PaWai, Non Mak Kla. Other current  laboratory projects include analysis of desiccated material from Mustang, Nepal and from Northwest and Southwest China. Student research in the lab is global in scope and ranges from Asia to North, South and Central America.

Previous Research:

A key focus of our lab’s research is understanding the circumstances under which agriculture spread and adapted to the Tibetan Plateau. Previous lab work included analysis of collections from the Chengdu Plain, Central China, Yunnan, and a series of sites in Tibet: Changdu Karuo, Ding-Dun and Kyung-lung Mesa and Ashaonao.

2013 Jade d’Alpoim Guedes, Hongliang Lu, Yongxian Li, Robert Spengler, Wu Xiaohong, Mark Aldenderfer. Moving Agriculture on the Tibetan Plateau: The Archaeobotanical Evidence. Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences (6): 255-269.

2015 Jade d’Alpoim Guedes, Hongliang Lu, Anke Hein, Amanda Schmidt. Early Evidence for the use of Wheat and Barley as Staple Crops on the Margins of the Tibetan Plateau. Proceedings of the National Academy of the Sciences doi/10.1073/pnas.1423708112

Another key focus of research in the lab has been on understanding the spread of agriculture to Southwest China (Sichuan and Yunnan Provinces) through a combination of the study of macro botanical remains and computational modeling.

2014 Jade d’Alpoim Guedes & Ethan Butler. Modeling Constraints on the Spread of Agriculture to Southwest China with Thermal Niche Models. Quaternary International: DOI: 10.1016/j.quaint.2014.08.003

2014 Rowan Flad, Timothy Horsley, Jade d’Alpoim Guedes, Gwen Bennett, Shuicheng Li, Zhanghua Jiang, Jiang Ming & He Kunyu. Survey, Excavation and Geophysics at Songjiaheba – A Small Bronze Age Village in the Chengdu Plain. Asian Perspectives (52)1:119-142.

2013 Jade d’Alpoim Guedes, Jiang Ming, He Kunyu, Jiang Zhanghua &Wu Xiahong. New Evidence for the Spread of Early Rice and Foxtail Millet Agriculture in Southwest China Antiquity 87 (337): 758-771.

2012 Jade d’Alpoim Guedes & Ming Jiang . Archaeobotanical Report for the Site of Xinjin Baodun: 2009 Excavations Chengdu Kaogu Faxian 2007 (in Chinese).

2010 Jade d’Alpoim Guedes & Xiaoyan Yang. Starch Grain Analysis and Dental Calculus: New Insights from the Site of Xipo, Henan Province, People’s Republic of China in Institute of Archaeology, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and Henan Provincial Institute of Archaeology and Cultural Relics (eds.) Lingbo Xipo Mudi , pp. 209-222. Beijing: Kexue Chubanshe (in Chinese)

2010 Jade d’Alpoim Guedes & Xiaoyan Yang. Starch Grain Analysis of Pottery Residue at the site of Shifodong in Yunnan Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, Institute of Archaeology, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Chengdu City Institute of Archaeology (eds.) Gengma Shifodong, pp. 383-391. Beijing: Wenwu Chunbanshe (in Chinese

2015 Jade d’Alpoim Guedes & Wan Jiao. The Archaeobotany of the Guiyuanqiao Site. Sichuan Wenwu 183(5): 81-94