Event: WEDS TALKS: Qin-Han Convict Laborers through Their Cemeteries: Tombs, Fetters, and Human Bones

ABSTRACT: Based on currently published literature, this talk offers a preliminary archaeological examination of the living conditions of Qin–Han convict laborers and the state violence they reflect. Drawing on three lines of archaeological evidence—dedicated cemeteries, iron fetters, and bioarchaeological data—it undertakes a synchronic and diachronic comparison. It further compares the archaeological picture with the documentary record of an overall rise in imperial relief measures, asking whether the two are consistent.

BIO: Wenyi Zhao 赵文浥 is a third-year graduate student at the Cotsen Institute of Archaeology at UCLA. Her research focuses on the living conditions of commoners and lower-status groups in early China, as well as the state and social violence they reflect.