Yifan Wang

Contact Information

Room 288B
Department of Anthropology
607 S Mathews Ave.
Urbana, IL 61801

Office Hours

By appointment
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Archaeology
Phd candidate
Graduate instructor
Research assistant

Research Interests

Maya Archaeology; Human-animal interactions; Indigenous sustainability; Stable isotopic analysis; Diet and nutrition study; Zooarchaeology, Paleoenvironmental changes, Ecology.

Education

PhD Candidate, University of Illinois,  2026 (expected)

Visiting Scholar, Harvard-Yenching Institute, Harvard University, 2018-2019 

MA, Shandong University, 2020

BA, Shandong University, 2017

 

Grants

2025 Forest T. Baker Award for American Anthropology

2025 Whitten Summer Graduate Research Fellowship, Center for Latin American & Caribbean Studies, UIUC

2024 Tinker Foundation Fellowship, Center for Latin American & Caribbean Studies, UIUC

2021-2025 China Scholarship Council Fellowship

2019 The Owens Fellowship in Mesoamerican Archaeology, Peabody Museum of Archaeology & Ethnology, Harvard University

2018 Mesoamerican Archaeology Program Fellowship, Harvard-Yenching Institute, Cambridge

Courses Taught

2025 Fall ANTH 105 World Archaeology

Highlighted Publications

Wang, Yifan, Rachel Taylor. 2025. Chapter 10. Exploring Environment-Human-Animal Sustainable Relationships in Central Belize: Insights from Stable Isotope and Zooarchaeological Analyses. Research Reports in Belizean Archaeology vol.19, pp.107-122.https://doi.org/10.62064/rrba.19.11;

Lucero, Lisa J., Rachel Taylor, Yifan Wang, Laura J. Kosakowsky. 2023 Denuded Landscapes and Exposed Neighborhoods: Results of the 2022 Valley of Peace Archaeology Project. Research Reports in Belizean Archaeology. https://doi.org/10.62064/rrba.18.24

Wang, Yifan, Luxia Cheng, Yu Dong, and Cuimin Zhang. 2018. The Dietary Stable Isotope Study of Human Bone in the Tuotou Cemetery of Yujia, in The Tuotou Cemetery of Yujia, edited by The Institute of Archaeology of Dalian, pp.121-132, Science Press, Beijing
 
Field Report
 
Wang, Yifan. Chapter 2: MF7 Site Selection, Mapping and Drone Photography. 2025. In Results of the 2024 Valley of Peace Archaeology Project: Salvage Archaeology and Beyond, edited by Lisa J. Lucero, pp.10-19. Report submitted to the Department of Archaeology, Ministry of Tourism, Belmopan, Belize.
 
Wang, Yifan, Lisa J. Lucero, and Laura J. Kosakowsky. 2025. Chapter 4: Excavating an Ancient Maya Neighborhood (MF7). In Results of the 2024 Valley of Peace Archaeology Project: Salvage Archaeology and Beyond, edited by Lisa J. Lucero, pp.41-112. Report submitted to the Department of Archaeology, Ministry of Tourism, Belmopan, Belize. 

Wang, Yifan. Chapter 3. Mapping and Site Selection. 2023. In Results of the 2022 Valley of Peace  Archaeology Project: Salvage Archaeology and Beyond, edited by Lisa J. Lucero, pp. 13-18. Report submitted to the Department of Archaeology, Ministry of Tourism, Belmopan, Belize.

Lucero, Lisa J., Rachel M. Taylor, Yifan Wang. 2023. Chapter 4. Salvage Excavation Results. In Results of the 2022 Valley of Peace Archaeology Project: Salvage Archaeology and Beyond, edited by Lisa J. Lucero, pp. 18-64. Report submitted to the Department of Archaeology, Ministry of Tourism, Belmopan, Belize.