Andrew Womack is an anthropological archaeologist whose research focuses on early China. As Associate Director of the Tao River Archaeological Project (TRAP), an international collaboration between Chinese and North American institutions, he coordinates research on the intersection of technological, social, and climatic change at late Neolithic and early Bronze Age (3200–1500BC) sites in northwestern China. Using a mixture of geophysical survey, excavation, and ceramic analysis he is mapping the development of interaction networks that allowed for some of the earliest transfers of goods and technologies between China and Central Asia along the proto Silk Road.