Profile picture of Alison Carter

Alison Carter

Associate Professor
Anthropology
Phone: 541-346-5037
Office: 255 Condon Hall, 1218 University Of Oregon, Eugene OR 97403-1218
Office Hours: Mon/Wed 4-5pm or by appointment
Research Interests: Southeast Asian Archaeology, Compositional analysis of artifacts, bead studies

Education

PhD, University of Wisconsin Madison - 2013

Research Interests

I am an anthropological archaeologist with an interest in the political economy and evolution of complex societies in Southeast Asia. I am currently Principal Investigator and Co-Director of Pteah Cambodia (ProjecT Excavating Ancient Households), a project investigating Pre-Angkorian, Angkorian, and Post-Angkorian residential spaces in Battambang Province. Other research interests include the archaeology of East and South Asia, materials analysis and LA‐ICP­‐MS, craft technology and specialization, ritual and religion, trade and exchange, and bead studies. 

Publications

2025            Hendrickson, Mitch, Miriam T. Stark, Alison K. Carter, Piphal Heng, and Stéphanie Leroy “Place Making, Fire, and the Praxis of Becoming Angkor,” in Understanding Early Large-Scale Collectives: A Global Perspective, edited by Justin Jennings, Routledge, Oxon and New York, 346-374.

 

2025            Beyer, Kelby, Alison K. Carter, and Laure Dussubieux “Contextualizing a Collection: Compositional, Morphological, and Trade Network Insights from an Iron Age Collection of Rare Southeast Asian Glass Ornaments.” Journal of Indo-Pacific Archaeology 48: 1-20. https://journals.lib.washington.edu/index.php/JIPA/article/view/16321

 

2024            Dussubieux, Laure, Alison K. Carter, Miriam Stark, and T.O. Pryce “Provenance of Iron Age glass types present in Southeast Asia: Strontium and Neodymium isotope analysis of glass beads excavated at Angkor Borei, Cambodia.” Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports 61: 104925. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jasrep.2024.104925

 

2024            Lertcharnrit, Thanik, Wannaporn Rienjang, Alison K. Carter, Jonathan Mark Kenoyer, Randall W. Law. “Prehistoric stone ornaments from Phromtin Tai, central Thailand: New perspectives on workshop traditions through the study of drilling methods.” Asian Perspectives 63 (1), 1-51.

 

2023            Carter, Alison K. and Miriam T. Stark. “The People of Angkor,” in Asia’s Heritage Trend: Examining Asia’s Present Through its Past edited by Jong-Il Kim and Minjae Zoh, Routledge, Singapore, 217-238.

 

2023            Carter, Alison K., Miriam Stark, Rachna Chhay, and Piphal Heng. “The Angkorian House” in, The Angkorian World, edited by Mitch Hendrickson, Miriam T. Stark, and Damian Evans. Routledge, London, pp. 494-507.

 

2022            Carter, Alison K., Dougald O’Reilly, Louise Shewan, Laure Dussubieux. “Northwest Cambodia and the Mekong Interaction Sphere: Glass and Stone beads from Lovea, Phum Sophy, and Prei Khmeng.” BEADS: The Journal of the Soceity of Bead Researchers 34: 77-95.

 

2022            Carter, Alison K., Laure Dussubieux, Thomas Fenn, Thanik Lertcharnrit, T.O. Pryce. “The 

exchange of beads in Central Thailand in the protohistoric period: Glass objects from Phromthin Tai” in The Elemental Analysis of Glass beads: Technology, Chronology and Exchange edited by Laure Dussubieux and Heather Walder, Leuven University Press, pp. 161-176. Leuven Belgium. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv2z9fzr0.13

 

2022            Carter, Alison K., Elliot Blair, Carla Klehm, and Lee Panich. “Glass beads and human pasts” in The Elemental Analysis of Glass beads: Technology, Chronology and Exchange edited by Laure Dussubieux and Heather Walder, Leuven University Press, pp. 37-54. Leuven Belgium. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv2z9fzr0.7

 

2022            Carter, Alison K., Miriam Stark, Cristina Cobo Castillo, Piphal Heng, Yijie Zhuang, and Rachna Chhay. “Prasat and Pteah: Habitation in Angkor Wat’s Temple Enclosure.” Archaeological Research in Asia 32, 100405 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ara.2022.100405

 

2022            Heng, Piphal, Miriam Stark, Alison K. Carter, Rachna Chhay. “Form, Structure and Long-Term Angkorian Urbanism: A View from the Kok Phnov Site (9th-10th century CE).” Archaeological Research in Asia 31,https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ara.2022.100374

 

2022            Carter, Alison K. Building from the Ground Up: The Archaeology of Residential Spaces and Communities in Southeast Asia. Journal of Archaeological Research 31, 1-54 https://doi.org/10.1007/s10814-021-09170-4