Dominique Sparks-Stokes

Profile

Dominique Sparks-Stokes obtained her BA in archaeology with minors in anthropology and geology at the University of Cincinnati, followed by an MA in anthropology, with a focus on archaeology, from the same institution in 2019. During this time, she investigated the role that ceramic raw materials play in the technological development of pottery as a comparative study between the Middle Woodland Hopewell in the Ohio River Valley and the Preclassic Maya in Lowland Belize. She served as a curatorial assistant at the Court Archaeological Research Facility, located at the University of Cincinnati Center for Field Studies on the Ohio-Indiana boarder. As a result of her work there she was presented the Carol Nagel Historical preservation award by the Cincinnati Historic Preservation Association, for her collaboration with the Village of Mariemont to get sites listed on the National Register of historic places.

After completing her undergraduate and graduate education, Dominique took time to become an English teacher in South Korea whilst gaining interest in East Asian archaeology. After spending time in South Korea, she became a research scholar at Post Baccalaureate Research Education Program of Yale University, in preparation for her doctoral studies. She used this time there to work closely with faculty researching various topics in Chinese archaeology. During her research at UCLA, she plans to address questions on how the transmission of knowledge is embodied in various elements of ceramic materials through long distance trade and exchange in the Chinese Tang Dynasty.