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Elizabeth S. Berger
CB #3115, 301 Alumni Bldg., Chapel Hill, NC 27599
eberger@live.unc.edu • (413) 530-5961
RESEARCH INTERESTS
Early China and archaeology of China; prehistory of China and Inner Asia; history of health; human
ecology; pastoralism; paleopathology; paleodemography
EDUCATION
2011—present
2013
2009
PhD student (ABD), Department of Anthropology
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Advisor: Dr. Dale L. Hutchinson
MA, Department of Anthropology
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Advisor: Dr. Dale L. Hutchinson
BA (Magna Cum Laude, Departmental Honors), Interdisciplinary Major in
Archaeology, Special Concentration in Linguistics, Columbia University
Advisor: Dr. LI Feng
FUNDING
Fellowships
National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship, 2011-2016
UNC Center for Faculty Excellence Future Faculty Fellowship, fall 2015
Mooney Fellowship (UNC-CH Research Laboratories of Archaeology), 2014-2015
Foreign Language and Area Studies Fellowship (Mandarin Chinese), summer 2012
UNC-Chapel Hill Graduate School Merit Assistantship, 2011-2012
Grants
Sigma Xi Grant-in-Aid of Research ($1000)
UNC Graduate and Professional Student Federation Travel Award ($400)
National Geographic Young Explorers Grant ($5,000), 2013: Health Consequences of the Transition to
Pastoralism in the Northern Zone of China
Carolina Asia Center Pre-Dissertation Asia Travel Award ($2,000), summer 2013: Health Consequences
of Early Pastoralism in the Bronze Age Chinese Northern Zone
PUBLICATIONS

Li, F, Berger E. 2014. Intra-site Organization in the Late Bronze Age: The Application of FullCoverage Survey Methods at Guicheng, Shandong Province, China. Asian Archaeology.
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
Li, F, Berger E, Liang Z, Trinidad-Christensen J. (In preparation) Complete Coverage Surface
Survey. In Guicheng: Method and Practice in Archaeological Survey.
Presentations:
 Berger, E. (2016). Paleopathology in the Bronze Age Hexi Corridor. Symposium: Humans in
Marginal Environments. To be presented at the 2016 Annual Meeting of the American Association of
Physical Anthropologists in Atlanta, GA. (Session organizer)

Berger, E. (2015). Examining the human in human-animal relationships: towards a bioarchaeology of
Eurasian pastoralism. Presented at the Stanford Humanities Center as part of the workshop “The
Bestial and the Beastly: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Human-Animal Relationships”.

Berger, E. (2015) Bioarchaeology, human ecology, and subsistence change in ancient China. Panel:
New Perspectives on the Archaeology of Economics in China. Presented at the Annual Meeting of the
Society for American Archaeology.

Berger, E. (2015) Health Consequences of the Transition to Pastoralism in Northwest China. Invited
talk at National Geographic Society headquarters in Washington, DC.

Berger, E. (2014) Human Health and the Rise of Agro-Pastoralism in Xibei. Podium presentation at
the Huoshaogou and Yumen International Symposium on History and Culture, Yumen, Gansu
Province, China. (in Chinese)

Berger, E, Wei D, Zhu H. (2014) Caries calibration methods in a Bronze Age Inner Asian skeletal
sample. Poster presentation at the Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Li, F, Trinidad-Christensen J, Vogt N, Berger E. (2010) Guicheng and Bronze-Age Archaeology in
Eastern China. Podium presentation at the Early China Seminar, Columbia University.

Berger, E. (2009) Systematic Sampling in Intensive Surface Survey: Initial Results and Implications
of Archaeological Research at Guicheng, Shandong, China. Podium presentation at the New York
Archaeological Consortium.
Academic Theses:
 An Epidemiological Transition in the Chinese Northern Zone. (2013) Master’s Thesis: University of
North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Systematic Sampling in Intensive Surface Survey: Initial Results and Implications of Archaeological
Research at Guicheng, Shandong, China. (2009) Senior Undergraduate Thesis: Columbia University.
Translations:
 Selected chapters in Guicheng: Method and Practice in Archaeological Survey (in preparation).

Xinjiang Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology. Brief Report on the Excavation of the Gan‘gou
Site in Mori Kazakh Autonomous County, Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. Chinese Cultural
Relics (2014).

Henan Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, Sanmenxia City Institute of
Archaeology. The Excavation of the Lijiayao Western Zhou Cemetery, Sanmenxia. Chinese Cultural
Relics (2015).

Gansu Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, Northwest University Silk Road
Heritage Preservation and Archaeology Research Center. Brief Report on the 2009 Excavation of the
Qijia Culture Graves of the Mogou Cemetery in Lintan, Gansu. Chinese Culture Relics (in press).

Brief Report on the Excavation of the Tang Dynasty Tomb of Cao Yi in Fenyang City, Shanxi
Province. Chinese Cultural Relics (in press).
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PROFESSIONAL AND VOLUNTEER EXPERIENCE
UNC-Chapel Hill: Human Osteology (ANTH 414), Instructor, Fall 2015
UNC-Chapel Hill: General Anthropology (ANTH 101), Teaching Assistant, 2011—2012
Orange Country Literacy Council, Chapel Hill, NC: ESOL Volunteer Instructor, 2011—2012
Lutheran Family Health Centers Community Based Programs, Brooklyn, NY: AmeriCorps Member in
adult education and employment services, 2009—2010
Foundation Programs Glimpses of China (high school study abroad summer program), Shanghai:
Teaching Assistant, 2009
American Museum of Natural History, Biological Anthropology: Intern, 2009
American Museum of Natural History, Asian Ethnology: Intern, 2008
Rubin Museum of Art, Department of Education: Intern, 2007
Field experience:
Yangguanzhai Archaeology Field School (volunteer), China, summer 2014
ArchaeoTek Field School, Romania, summer 2013
Mongol-American Khovd Archaeology Project, Mongolia, summer 2010
Guicheng Archaeological Project, Guicheng, China, summer 2008
Athienou Archaeological Project, Athienou, Cyprus, summer 2007
TRAINING
National Geographic Storytelling Bootcamp for public communication of science, July 2015
Bone and tooth sample preparation for light isotope analysis in laboratory of Dr. Stanley Ambrose,
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, June 2015
Cementochronology (tooth cementum annulation analysis) specimen preparation, photography, and
analysis with Dr. Benoit Bertrand, Laboratoire d’Anthropologie, Direction de l’Archéologie
Préventive, Communauté d’Agglomération du Douaisis, Douai, France, December 2014
PROFESSIONAL MEMBERSHIPS
Sigma Delta Epsilon/Graduate Women in Science
Sigma Xi: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Chapter
Society for American Archaeology
American Association of Physical Anthropologists
Paleopathology Association