I am an archaeologist with a strong background in bioarchaeology, specializing in using stable isotope methods to reconstruct past lifeways. My works mostly involved using reconstructed dietary and mobility patterns to address a range of interrelated anthropological and archaeological questions. I am particularly interested in issues such as gender, social differentiation/inequalities, subsistence economies, migration, cultural changes, and human/environment relationships. Over the past 10 years, I have been involved in archaeological projects spanning wide temporal and geographical ranges, including Neolithic Iran, Neolithic France, Bronze Age China, Roman Britain, Pre-contact Fiji, and many more.

Research interests

Bioarchaeology; Palaeodiet; palaeomobility; palaeoclimate; stable isotope analysis; big data analysis

Selected Publications

Gopalakrishnan S, Ebenesersdóttir SS, Lundstrøm IKC, Turner-Walker G, Cheung C [36/60], Gilbert MPT
2022 The Population Genomic Legacy of the Second Plague Pandemic. Current Biology. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2022.09.023

Cheung C, Fernández-Crespo T, Mion L, Di Giusto M, Goude G, Macdonald RA, Richards MP, Herrscher E
2022 Micro-punches vs. Micro-slices for Serial Sampling of Human Dentine: Striking a Balance between Improved Temporal Resolution and Measuring Additional Isotope Systems. Rapid Communications in Mass Spectrometry 36(21): e9380.

Cheung C, Herrscher E, Thomas A
2022 Compound Specific Isotope Evidence Points to Use of Freshwater Resources as Weaning Food in Middle Neolithic Paris Basin. American Journal of Biological Anthropology 179(1): 118-133.

Cheung C, Schwarcz H, Chisholm B
2022 Examining Prehistoric Diet at the Tung Wan Tsai Site, Ma Wan Island, Hong Kong through Stable Isotopic Evidence. Journal of Island & Coastal Archaeology https://doi.org/10.1080/15564894.2022.2029629

Cheung C, Herrscher E, Andre G, Bedault L, Hachem L, Binois-Roman A, Simonin D, Thomas A
2021 The Grandeur of Death – Monuments, Societies, and Diets in Middle Neolithic Paris Basin. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 63: 101332.

Cheung C
2021 Collagen Stable Isotope Data from East and Northeast Asia, c. 7000 BC – 1000 AD. Data in Brief 37: 107214.

Merrett DC, Cheung C, Meiklejohn C, Richards MP
2021 Stable Isotope Analysis of Human Bones from Ganj Dareh, Iran, ca. 10,000 cal. BC. PLoS One 16(3): e0247569.

Cheung C, Spzak P
2021 Interpreting Past Human Diets Using Stable Isotope Mixing Models. Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory 28 (4): 1106 – 1142.

Cheung C, Zhang H, Hepburn JC, Yang DY, Richards MP
2019 Stable Isotope and Dental Caries Data Reveal Abrupt Changes in Subsistence Economy in Ancient China in Response to Global Climate Change. PLoS ONE 14(7): e0218943.

Cheung C, Burley DV, Phaff B, Richards MP
2018 A Palaeomobility Study of a Multi-Period Site at Sigatoka, Fiji, Using Strontium Isotope Analysis. Journal of Archaeological Sciences: Reports 17: 762-774.

Cheung C. Jing ZC, Tang JG, Richards MP
2017 Social Dynamics in Early Bronze Age China: A Multi-Isotope Approach. Journal of Archaeological Sciences: Reports 16: 90-101.

Cheung C, Jing ZC, Tang JG, Weston DA, Richards MP
2017 Diets, Social Roles, and Geographical Origins of Sacrificial Victims at the Royal Cemetery in Yinxu, Shang China: New Evidence from Stable Carbon and Nitrogen Isotope Analysis. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 48: 28-45.