Mr. Bounheuang Bouasisengpaseuth

Department of Heritage, Ministry of Information and Culture, Lao PDR

Bounheuang Bouasisengpaseuth (left) negotiates with the village headman so that MMAP can have access to potential archaeological sites on his land.

National Museum, Vientiane Department of Heritage, Ministry of Information and Culture, Lao PDR

Bounheuang is Deputy Director of the National Museum in Vientiane and Co-director of the Middle Mekong Archaeological Project (MMAP). His research interests are Lao prehistory, ceramics, and the protection and conservation of Lao cultural heritage.

In 2011-2012 he was a visiting scholar at the University of Pennsylvania Museum. There he studied the ceramics of Ban Chiang while taking a year-long ceramics analysis course and doing laboratory work with Ban Chiang ceramic artifacts.

In addition to MMAP, he has been involved in several other archaeological surveys or excavations in Laos, including joint projects with France, Sweden, Japan, and UNESCO. MMAP seasons: 2001, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009a/b/c, 2010, 2013

Read Bounheuang’s Blogs on the Penn Museum’s website.