Laura L. Junker, PhD
Professor
Adjunct Curator, Field Museum
Anthropology, Archaeology
Contact
Building & Room:
BSB 2152
Address:
1007 W. Harrison Street
Office Phone:
Email:
About
I am an archaeologist and ethnohistorian interested in the political economy and political ecology of pre-modern chiefdoms and states. My archaeological and historical research has focused primarily on Southeast Asia maritime trading polities of the first millennium AD to European contact, particularly prehispanic chiefdoms of the Philippine archipelago, although I have also been involved in field projects in Vietnam, Laos and China. The theoretical topics emphasized in my published works include: the role of long-distance prestige goods trade; marriage exchanges and competitive feasting in Southeast Asian political economies; political and demographic aspects of warfare and slave-raiding; the long-term dynamics of forager-farmer interactions; the organization of craft production systems in complex societies; comparative political structures in Southeast Asia; ecological impacts at ancient trade ports; and gendered power relations. I carried out regional-scale archaeological research in the Bais-Tanjay Region of the Philippines continuously for severa decades, with an emphasis on the 10th-16th centuries (Early Historic Period) maritime trading polities centered on the Tanjay River Valley and adjacent uplands, with distinct small-scale swidden-farming and forager populations interacted socially and economically with coastal ports. More recently, my research emphasizes the early first millennium AD Metal Age late prehistory at Bacong in the Central Philippines, working on issues of comparison between historically known Philippine polities and their “Metal Age” precursors. I have both current and past MA and PhD students who have carried out archaeological research in the Philippines, Thailand, Indonesia, and China.
Education
PhD from University of Michigan
MA from University of Pennsylvania
BA from University of Michigan