Recent Developments in Taiwan's Archaeological Institutions and Practice

Frank Muyard

The past decade has witnessed the further consolidation of Taiwan's archaeological institutions and the emergence of new research orientations. The opening of the Graduate Institute of Archaeology at National Cheng Kung University in 2015, the establishment of the Archaeological Society of Taiwan in 2017, and the continuous recruitment of archaeologists in university departments, museums, and research institutions have contributed to an expanding community of professional archaeologists and students. These developments have rebalanced the practice of archaeology across the entire island and fostered a new emphasis on public archaeology. The still relative scarcity of institutional positions in archaeology at the PhD level and below has also led to the growth of a thriving commercial archaeology sector. Some areas of research have experienced significant development: 1) scientific archaeology, particularly in the analysis of metallic and glass artifacts, as well as bioarchaeology and zooarchaeology; 2) the Metal Age and the protohistoric periods, looking for a finer analysis of the history of Austronesian indigenous peoples in Taiwan from the early 1st millennium AD to colonial times; 3) cultural interactions with East and Southeast Asia; and 4) indigenous and old settlement archaeology. Although Taiwan archaeology remains understaffed and underfunded, it is now a more robust discipline, with a steady expansion of expert knowledge and research topics, a stronger pipeline of young practitioners, a growing emphasis on more recent periods (the Metal Age, protohistory, historical and colonial archaeology) and greater concern for and cooperation with indigenous peoples, as well as interaction with the general public.