Dr Min Lin – Research Associate – Short Bio
My research examines how social identity is constructed in ancient societies and how social and political transformation influenced and is influenced by such construction, through the comparative study of funerary archaeology. My doctoral thesis, completed at the University of Cambridge in 2025, analysed the construction of social identity in Early Iron Age Greek and Eastern Zhou Chinese burials. By placing these two traditions side by side, the thesis demonstrated that gender, alongside social class and age, served as a determining axis of mortuary organisation in both societies, yet was materialised through two divergent strategies. At the same time, mortuary practices underwent significant development during the state formation and contributed to the pivotal formation of the two cultures.
This comparative orientation continues to shape my conviction that the comparison of different societies reveals what a single-case study cannot. My new research endeavour shifts the analytical focus from the construction of identity within societies to the interactions and material exchanges between them, examining gold and semi-precious materials such as ivory, carnelian, and faience as proxies for reconstructing networks of production, transmission, and consumption. Drawing on a material-based Social Network Analysis, and situating exchange within its archaeological and sociocultural contexts, the research aims not only to trace the flow of objects but also to identify the social behaviour of the actors involved and to assess the political and cultural consequences of exchange over time.
Alongside my research, I have been committed to fostering scholarly community and cross-cultural dialogue by convening seminar series and chairing archaeology conferences. Beyond archaeology, I am drawn to hiking, gardening, and photography, pursuits which, in their different ways, sustain my attention to landscape, growth, and the quiet observation of material things.
Doctoral Thesis:
- The Construction of Social Identity in Early Iron Age Greek and Eastern Zhou Chinese Burials: A Comparative Approach. The University of Cambridge
Selected Publications
Lin, M. (forthcoming). ‘Gender archaeology in China’, in A. Hein & J. Lovell (eds.) Oxford Handbook of the History and Practice of Chinese Archaeology. Oxford University Press.
Lin, M. (2023). ‘The origins and early development of Chinese figurative art’, in M. Martinón-Torres & N. Hou (eds.) El Legado – Las Dinastías Qin y Han: Los Guerreros de Xi’An. Museo Arqueológico de Alicante.
Doğan, E., M.P.L. Pereira, O. Antczak, M. Lin, P. Thompson & C. Alday (eds.) (2022). Diversity in Archaeology: The Proceedings of the Cambridge Annual Student Archaeology Conference. Archaeopress.