Taiwan Today

Three national universities train the next generation of archaeologists.
 

In her teens, Mao Hui-ju (毛卉嬬) dreamed of excavating artifacts and  bones from bygone ages. “I grew up learning about archaeological digs in China, such as the discovery of the terracotta warriors in Shaanxi province. It seemed so cool, and I remember thinking it would be amazing to get involved in an excavation in Taiwan,” she said. Deciding to pursue an undergrdute degree in the Department of Anthropology at Taipei City-based National Taiwan University (NTU) in 2015 was the first step toward making her dream come true.
 

There is a recognized route into archaeology through university education for students like Mao, who is currently working on a postgraduate degree in the field. Apart from NTU, National Tsing Hua University (NTHU) in northern Taiwan’s Hsinchu City and National Cheng Kung University (NCKU) in the southern city of Tainan also offer courses in archaeology. Of the three, NTU’s anthropology department was established in 1928, making it the first and the leader in the field. The heads of NTHU’s Institute of Anthropology and NCKU’s Institute of Archaeology, Tsang Cheng-hwa (臧振華) and Chao Chin-yung (趙金勇), respectively, are thus both NTU graduates, as is Chen Maa-ling (陳瑪玲), former director and current professor of NTU’s Department of Anthropology. Chen noted that its undergraduate program has long featured courses in the four major branches of anthropology: archaeology, cultural anthropology, physical anthropology and linguistic anthropology. Students who major in archaeology account for about half of the over 30 students in the program, which offers wide-ranging courses in approaches to anthropology. “Archaeology is a multidisciplinary science. It starts with material studies but also involves discussing findings from sociocultural and other perspectives,” Chen said.
 

Museology, the arrangement, organization and management of museums, is another discipline included in the curriculum, as the department runs its own anthropology museum on the university’s Taipei campus. The facility is of great importance, housing over 10,000 items excavated from sites around Taiwan starting from the Japanese colonial era (1895-1945). “Many items in the archive date back ­earlier than those in similar museums around the country,” she said. “The circumstances of the discoveries are also recorded in detail.”

Further Afield

The department actively engages in exchange with academics beyond NTU, including partnerships with the U.K.’s Oxford University and University of Southampton since 2007, resulting in, for example, shared experience in applying geographic information systems (GIS) in archaeological landscape research. This has been invaluable for Chen in assessing the spatial aspect of an Indigenous site in southern Taiwan’s Pingtung County.  Wu Mu-chun (吳牧錞), a student who was involved in the academic project, sought further study in the specialty at the two U.K. universities, returning to NTU and launching a GIS course in 2017.
 

The College of Humanities and Social Sciences’ (CHSS) Institute of Sociology and Anthropology at NTHU began offering a postgraduate program in 1987, each discipline of which subsequently became standalone courses in 1998 following the 1996 launch of Taiwan’s first ­anthropology doctoral ­program. This was followed by a second doctoral program set up by NTU in 1997. In 2015, NCKU’s Institute of Archaeology also started to recruit students for ­postgraduate study and plans to launch a doctoral program later this year.
 

Each university has developed its own specialty: NTHU focuses on underwater archaeology. Tsang launched the course, and currently faculty members, together with a team of nine divers, staff the CHSS Research Center for Underwater Archaeology and Heritage founded in 2022. It conducts field surveys, facilitates research and promotes general archaeological knowledge to the public. The center trains personnel in the specialized techniques required by underwater excavations and plans to offer graduate student scholarships later this year. NTHU also established its Center for Archaeometry and Scientific Authentication in 2019 to address the shortage of advanced equipment used to examine excavated materials, a persistent issue. “Since archaeology isn’t categorized as natural science in Taiwan, it can be challenging to secure funding for equipment,” Tsang explained.   
 

In the southern city of Tainan, the NCKU College of Liberal Arts’ Institute of Archaeology trains personnel. Chao noted that the institute broadens student horizons by funding trips to sites far beyond Taiwan, including those in Cambodia, Indonesia and Greece, where they participate in field research projects. “The university is known for connecting industry with academia, and the institute reflects this by offering courses that prepare students for a career in the corporate world after graduation,” Chao said. Having sat on cultural heritage review committees at both the central and local government levels, he teaches a course preparing students to perform archaeological site surveys of land slated for construction and development in order to protect anything of historic value.

Burgeoning Opportunities

According to Chao, NCKU’s archaeological institute was established to meet a growing demand for personnel in the field, which increased following the 2005 Cultural Heritage Preservation Act formulated by the Ministry of Culture. Current regulations require those applying for excavation permits to have completed formal education in the discipline. If they hold an undergraduate degree in archaeology or anthropology, they must have at least five years’ experience on archaeological digs after graduation and have published at least two articles on the work. “Heritage is now better ­protected due to the presence of trained professionals,” Chao said. Demand for such personnel is huge because the law now requires all large-scale development projects to conduct an environmental impact ­assessment, including evaluation of on-site cultural heritage. “Taiwan’s recent development of offshore wind energy has created a need to assess cultural heritage present in marine environments, so there’s no shortage of work for ­archaeology graduates,” Tsang said, adding that Taiwan’s many museums also offer career paths.
 

There is every reason for tertiary education and training in archaeology to continue expansion, with the concomitant growth of interest in safeguarding cultural heritage and contemporary ­exploration of a unique historic cultural identity. Academic bodies promote awareness of the discipline to the general public through educational events as a catalyst for the next generation to pursue studies in the field. Academics also hope to attract interest from students already on campus, and all three universities ­offer courses to undergraduates from other ­departments. “Over 70 extra-departmental students are currently seeking a double major in our department,” Chen said. “The interest in anthropology and archaeology is growing, which is very encouraging.”

Write to Oscar Chung at mhchung@mofa.gov.tw