Chen Shen

Chen Shen
  • PhD
  • Senior Curator at Royal Ontario Museum

About

126
Publications
90,537
Reads
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849
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Introduction
RESEARCH INTERESTS AND PROJECTS: Art and culture of Early China; Collecting history of Chinese objects in overseas museums; Technologies and material cultures in ancient China; Relevance and application of cultural heritage in contemporary society; Best practices of the 21st century museums; Palaeolithic technologies and human evolutions in East Asia
Current institution
Royal Ontario Museum
Current position
  • Senior Curator
Additional affiliations
April 1997 - present
Royal Ontario Museum
Position
  • Senior Curator
Education
September 1992 - April 1997
University of Toronto
Field of study
  • Anthropological Anthropology
January 1990 - June 1992
University of Tulsa
Field of study
  • Anthropological Archaeology
September 1982 - June 1987
Wuhan University
Field of study
  • Archaeology

Publications

Publications (126)
Chapter
Museums are highly favored tourism destinations. Tourists eager to explore the culture and history of foreign lands also may encounter objects from their own heritages during museum visits. Visitors may ask, where do objects come from and how did they arrive from afar? On the other side, contemporary museums have amended their missions and mandates...
Article
Studying ceramics in Chinese archaeology in the early dynasties often faced the issue of analyzing ceramics high in quartz all within the same silt size due to the use of loess. The traditional method of petrographic analysis is insufficient in differentiating between these raw materials due to the nature of loess. This research presents a new meth...
Article
This research extrapolates the knowledge and choices made by the artisans through the bronze vessel casting mould production. Our discussion on the late Shang dynasty often focused on the elites in their burials, elaborate artifacts, and rituals. To comprehend the artisans, we cannot rely on the artifacts used by the elites. Artifacts that the arti...
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随着社会环境、经济环境、文化需求的改变,21 世纪的博物馆面临着诸多挑战。对此,博物馆应当在明确自身宗旨的基础上,规划日后长期的发展目标,并据此制定系列策略。今天,观众这一群体越来越受到重视。博物馆希望能够通过展览引发观众对历史、对现实、对未来的思考,借助多样的传播手段传递更为多元的文化价值。
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洛阳西汉阴纹画像空心砖上的画像是用木质模具印制而成。本文通过观察存在于画像砖上的印模边框痕迹和画像上的重影、线条断开及错位等细节,对西汉洛阳地区阳纹印模的形制和上述现象产生的原因加以探讨,对长方形和三角形砖龙的画像上多处线条断开及错位现象进行比对,推断出两种砖上龙的图像分别是用同一副印模印制的。该印模由大小、形状不同的四块印模组成,印制龙画像时是按照龙首→龙身→龙尾的顺序分段模印的。 关键词 洛阳西汉阴纹画像空心砖 问题画像 画像印模
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流失海外藏于海外博物馆的中国文物数以万计,它们是中国文化和艺术的瑰宝,也是人类 文化和艺术的一部分。在全球化的今天,重新审视它们的历史地位和遗产价值,发挥它们弘扬中国文 化、提升中华文明精神的作用十分重要。本文从文化和艺术归属的角度,初步探讨海外博物馆藏中国 文物的诠释宗旨及应考量的观点,为流失海外的中国文物的文化诠释发音,以求友声。 关键词:中国文物 海外博物馆 全球化 诠释 文化差异 归属
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本文从收藏于加拿大皇家安大略博物馆的三件分区复合纹玉璧的断代所属问题和纹饰风格类型发端,尝试钩沉以汉代玉璧为代表的葬玉制度背后的文化寓意。本文的研究对象是考古遗址墓葬出土的分区复合纹玉璧。作者通过对考古资料的整合,综合考察了129 件分区复合纹玉璧的出土信息,对比了其随葬时代、性质、墓主身份以及玉璧出土所在位置、尺寸、肉好比值区间范围等,对其功能和文化象征意义提出新认识。对以上数据信息的爬梳,实际上松绑了分区复合纹玉璧在汉代承担祭祀和随葬礼器的传统寓意,作者认为,这些玉璧既是承载着文化意义的重器,更是精英社会中风靡一时的装饰物品,主人死后随其一起封存于墓葬中。汉代社会精英权贵对分区复合纹玉璧的喜好和追捧,是千百年来古人对玉璧文化传承和时尚追求的反映,也是汉代人对史前和商周玉璧去宗教化、去礼仪...
Article
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加拿大皇家安大略博物馆收藏有大量类型多样、风格有别的北朝陶俑。有些陶俑仅从外观上即可判断是出自洛阳的北魏时期的陶俑,查阅博物馆典藏记录可知其中的两批陶俑出自河南洛阳的北魏中山王元熙墓和元熙之弟元纂墓。两墓陶俑的保存状况非常完好,它们制作精美,类型多样,用彩丰富,特别是几种式样新颖、独特的陶俑,在洛阳其他北魏墓中不曾见过,具有很高的研究价值。两墓陶俑丰富了我们对北魏陶俑的认识,为全面了解北魏陶俑的组合制度和艺术风格提供了重要的新材料。
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展览是博物馆实现自身职能的主要途径。长期以来,博物馆对于展览的重视往 往集中在展览的制作过程上,展览的正式开放也就意味着展览工作的结束。本文认为, 21 世纪的博物馆展览应该包括策展、释展、评展三个过程。策展即要明确展览的目标, 发挥策展人团队的创造性;释展是围绕着展览的具体目标,对展览的学术内容进行普及 化解读;评展是对展览有效性的展示,全面地对展览策划是否达到目标作出有效评判。 在理念上要对这三个过程“一视同仁”,在管理上要对这三个过程严格规范,应当是21 世纪博物馆展览的发展方向。
Chapter
Understanding the Building Boom This book seeks to explore the motivations behind the rapid development of museums in China. It also aims to answer the questions such as “How is the public responding?” “Who pays for these museums and how?” “How has China’s rapid urbanization affected this trend?” “How do Chinese museums balance education, scienti...
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百年以来,中国有多少文物流失海外,现存何处?现状如何?这些问题无不牵动着 国人内心深处最柔软的那片情愫。作为海外博物馆群体中的重要一员,加拿大皇 家安大略博物馆的中国文物收藏无论在数量还是质量方面都堪称翘楚。博物馆副 馆长沈辰博士以其多年的研究经验和亲身经历,为我们讲述海外中国文物流传和 收藏的故事。
Book
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In the contemporary world, unprecedented global events are challenging our ability to protect and enhance cultural heritage for future generations. Relevance and Application of Heritage in Contemporary Society examines innovative and flexible approaches to cultural heritage protection. Bringing together cultural heritage scholars and activists from...
Article
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“释展”就是怀着对现实生活和社会心理的敏锐,在公众兴趣点和专业学术知识之间找到关联,并阐释展览意欲表达的主题。释展既需要用平实生动的语言传达严谨的研究和思考,也需要对展示空间设计和平面设计进行文化阐释。释展人是策展团队的润滑剂,务必时刻自省以确保展览内容和形式背后的文化阐释符合展览一以贯之的主旨。一个成功的释展人,既能应观众所需沟通学术研究与展陈设计,提升展品的当代意义,又能令观众通过观展体验提升修养,还能帮助博物馆成功履行教育使命,提升博物馆的社会价值。通过展陈设计表达策展人/研究员为展览提供的知识,提炼出学术研究中具有时代感的信息,寻找与观众的共鸣,真正理解观众的意愿、兴趣、文化背景与接受能力,是当代博物馆“释展”的基本工作。“一切为了观众”是“释展”背后的核心理念。加强各专业之间互相理...
Article
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新世纪以来中国博物馆展览事业发展迅猛,与国外博物馆的交流活动频繁,展览策划及相关的策展人制度、理事会制度以及公众服务等均在借鉴国外经验的基础上不断完善。加拿大皇家安大略博物馆副馆长沈辰先生指出,皇家安大略博物馆等西方博物馆在curator的职责和作用,展览策划的理念和实践以及展览流程中的团队协作、对公众体验的重视、展览的筹款、董(理)事会的功能等方面的经验可以为中国博物馆的展览策划工作提供借鉴。
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Poster
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It is the museum that is in a position to make cultural heritage relevant to today’s living societies.
Conference Paper
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Ancient DNA (aDNA) analysis has revolutionized the field of archaeology with its ability to provide unique, and otherwise unattainable information about the past. However, due to the destructive nature of current aDNA techniques many museum curators are hesitant to subject their collections to this kind of analysis. This poster presents a new sampl...
Article
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20世纪末以来的世界经济形势一定程度上影响了全球博物馆的建设与发展事业,博物馆必须敞开大门、面向公众。皇家安大略博物馆作为加拿大最大的研究型综合博物馆,在近年重新 修订了办馆宗旨,将藏品确定为工作的核心,将维持和更新常设陈列和临时特展作为最基本的运营方式,围绕展览和藏品研究展开丰富的公众活动,并通过各种营销手段把展览、前沿性研究、公众活动推向公众,回报公众一个全新的体验,从而实现“成为让全球公众所关注、理解并能体验到瞬息万变的自然世界与文化世界的必要的参观目的地”的办馆宗旨。
Chapter
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This paper will take another look at the image of " two dragons running through a jade disc " on the T-Shape Silk painting recovered from the Mawangdui Tomb 1, and explore the meanings and roles of both " dragon " and " bi-disc " which they played in the social-life of Western Han. The author will first introduce the two Chinese objects from Royal...
Poster
Bronze vessels of the Shang and Zhou dynasties were extensively studied artefacts but how were they related to the ancient geographical landscape? By understanding how extensive the industry was and how far it had impacted the landscape we could further our knowledge on the ancient Shang and Zhou bronze casters as well as society. Bronze vessels re...
Presentation
In order to understand how bronze vessels were produced and the knowledge involved we cannot limit our study to simply the bronze vessels themselves. Thus, the analysis on bronze mold production plays a key role to our understanding of bronze vessel production. The focus in this study will be on the 155 mold fragments currently housed at the Royal...
Poster
To produce bronze vessels require extensive knowledge in various aspects within its method of production. Thus one method to see the producers of bronze is through understanding the type of knowledge involved and how that may reflect the people. This poster will focus on the differences between the Shang and Zhou dynasties production method startin...
Article
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Zhoukoudian, near Beijing, is where the Homo erectus Sinathropus pekinensis (Peking Man) fossils were found in the 1920s, and has always been a focus for studies of Palaeolithic archaeology in China. This paper discusses two aspects of Zhoukoudian in transition: research histories and lithic technologies. From a historical perspective, the study co...
Article
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本文探討中國東南新石器時代良渚文化(約5300-4200 BP),反山、瑤山和高城墩三個高土台墓地出土的94件玉石鉞的可能製作工藝。陸續出土的大量良渚玉石鉞一直是眾所矚目的焦點,尤其是泛著玻璃光澤,磨製精美的玉鉞,大多出土於高規格墓葬,因而大多數學者們視其為禮器與權力的象徵,備受重視,然而,有關玉鉞製作工藝研究,卻相對的少很多。 作者結合民族學與統計學,將現代鋼斧的設計原理,做為選擇測量參數的標準,以測試玉石鉞的設計與比例關係。同時結合及觀察94件玉石鉞的製作痕跡探討其製作工藝。高城墩遺址出土的20件玉石鉞數據,係經作者本人測量所得結果,反山、瑤山兩本考古報告提供了其餘74件玉石鉞詳細數據。
Article
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本文以加拿大皇家安大略博物馆为个案,尝试探讨海外博物馆一百多年来收藏中国文物 实践所经历的观念变迁以及面临的挑战。皇家安大略博物馆的早期收藏是在西方世界对东方历史和文明渴求的背景下变得一发不可收拾。而现今西方博物馆收藏中国文物的前提、需求、手段和方式都今非昔比,但博物馆研究人员(curator) 如何保证所征集的器物具有明确合法的“出处证明”,又如何恪尽职守地处理博物馆之馆藏?此类议题均值得思索和探究。
Conference Paper
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The Royal Ontario Museum (ROM), founded one-hundred years ago, is the largest museum of natural history and world cultures in Canada, with a total of over 5 million collections. Entering in the 21st century, public interests in museums’ collection and research have dramatically changed, resulting in increase of demands for more public programme, ga...
Chapter
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Article
This study investigated regional variability of human behavioral adaptation to changing environments during the Late Pleistocene. The four important Upper Paleolithic sites of Xiachuan, Xueguan, Shizitan and Chaisi from southern Shanxi Province in central China were selected for comparison on a regional scale. In order to understand the technologie...
Article
Dating middle Pleistocene hominin occupations alongside the reconstruction of paleoenvironments in China between 700 and 100 ka has always been a challenging task. In this paper, we report thermally transferred optically stimulated luminescence (TT-OSL) dating results for a Middle Paleolithic site in the Luonan Basin, central China, which we have n...
Article
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石制品微痕是进行石器功能研究、了解史前人类行为模式的重要考古证据之一。本文在以往实验研究的基础上,设计并开展多阶段燧石制品“刮骨”微痕实验,分阶段详细、直观地记录石制品刃缘使用微痕的最初形成与发展动态。实验研究表明,“刮骨”使用微痕迹随着使用时间长度的递增发生复杂的动态变化,使用微痕的发展与使用时间之间并非简单的正函数关系。片疤破损自开始在一定时间段内呈连续发生状态,随后停止发展,是确认石制品是否经过使用的良好指示。磨圆表现出由少到多、由弱及强的逐渐发育过程,可以反映石制品的使用时间和强度,也是判断使用微痕的重要参考依据。
Article
Hutouliang site, located at Nihewan Basin (North China), was radiocarbon dated to 11,600 to 10,690 years ago. From nine localities of the site, thousands of artifacts including lithic tools, animal bone fragments and features were discovered during the late 1970s field seasons. This research focuses on the stone tool functions by employing use-wear...
Article
Thousands of Paleolithic artifacts have been recovered from Paleolithic sites in the Luonan Basin, in the upper South Luohe River of central China. Their discovery suggests that the basin was an important area for hominin settlement during the Pleistocene. However, the initial timing of this occupation and the environmental conditions for this peri...
Article
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本文是对柿子滩遗址蚌饰品制作工艺的研究。该遗址分布于山西省吉县清水河流域,是一处含有细石器遗存的旧石器时代晚期遗址,年代为25000BP—10000BP。蚌质的出土遗物17 件,发现于不同地点的不同层位中,其中有穿孔的5 件,有磨制痕迹的3 件,分别发现于S9、S12A 和S29 三个地点。研究表明,蚌饰品穿孔有“钻孔”和“磨孔”两种形式,存在三种制作程序,早期到晚期的制作和穿孔技术表现出越来越进步的特点。
Article
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本文采用模拟实验和显微观察的方法以水洞沟地区发现的鸵鸟蛋皮串珠为例,对旧石器时代鸵鸟蛋皮串珠的两种生产路线尝试进行复原,归纳和讨论模拟实验中不同生产路线各个生产阶段的特征、事故及其原因,并根据实验结果推测我国及南非地区旧石器时代晚期古人类选择以生产路线1 作为鸵鸟蛋皮串珠主要制作技术的原因,最后提出鸵鸟蛋皮串珠模拟实验在未来应与微痕分析和显微CT 扫描技术结合起来应用具有广阔的前景。
Article
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The debates over the origin of modern humans have long been centered on two competing theories: the “Out-of-Africa” (single-place origin) theory and the “Multi-regional Evolution” theory. China is an extremely important region where many ancient human fossils were collected along with numerous associated faunal remains and artefacts. These cultural...
Article
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虎头梁遗址位于河北省阳原县泥河湾盆地,距今1 万年左右,出土的石制品加工精致、器型稳定。本文选择其中代表性的尖状器进行功能研究,通过微痕分析探讨其使用方式,并结合其形态特征探讨器物类型与功能之间的关系。对5 个亚类型共52 件标本的研究表明,虎头梁尖状器具有专业分工,并被装柄使用。这种工具的制作和使用特征反映了更新世末期虎头梁人群通过提高工具的效能来应对环境变化的生存策略。
Chapter
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The Nihewan Basin of northern China has been a focus of Pleistocene geological, paleontological, and archaeological studies since the early part of the last century. In the past 10 years, the ROM-IVPP research team has investigated Early Pleistocene sites in the region with an aim of investigating the earliest occupations of East Asian hominins. Se...
Article
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During 2007–2008 excavations at the Lingjing site near Xuchang, Henan Province, dated back to around 100–80 ka ago, a large quantity of mammalian fossil remains were recovered along with a remarkable cluster of Early Modern Human (EMH) skull fragments in situ. Observably some of those animal bones were probably modified into tools. A use-wear analy...
Article
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现代人起源研究是当前学术界的热点, “非洲单一地区起源说”和“多地区进化说”两种理论的交锋已有时日. 中国出土的古人类化石、伴生动物化石和文化遗存材料十分丰富, 且延续时间久, 分布地区广, 在古人类生物特征演化、技术行为发展和生存环境背景方面提供丰富的信息, 对该问题的研究举足轻重. 本文对上述两种理论的核心观点和证据进行阐述和剖析, 以中国出土的人类化石和相关资料为依据并结合分子生物学研究成果, 综合探讨论证中国现代人类本土“连续进化附带杂交”学说的合理性及其意义, 并尝试提出世界范围内“现代人类演化的区域性多样化模式”.
Book
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Ontario Museum press 2 contents 6 Welcome 8 IntroductIon
Article
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2007~2008 年河南灵井许昌人遗址发现距今10~8 万年前的古人类头骨化石, 与头骨化石同层出土有大量哺乳动物骨骼化石. 部分动物骨骼中可能存在经人工改造的骨制品.通过对遗址出土的部分骨骼化石进行微痕观察并与实验标本对比分析, 能辨认出灵井骨制品上确有锥钻、穿刺、刮削等使用痕迹以及疑似捆绑的微痕. 研究确认中国北方晚更新世早期的旧石器时代遗址中, 存在着有意识加工制作和使用过的骨制工具. 这一发现也证实了骨制工具的使用与石器一样, 是古人类技术发展和行为文化的一个重要方面.
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