DPhil Research: Melody
Melody's (proposed) thesis title is The Taste of Tea and Shape of Smell: A Sensory Archaeology Approach to Chinese Tea and Ceramics (DPhil Archaeology). The research aims to develop a toolkit of methods to investigate taste in archaeology, especially the taste of plants in the past. It uses tea (Camellia Sinensis) in China as a case study. It repositions taste as a form of knowledge, and explores what happens if we use taste as a research tool. Methods she has explored within her thesis includes headspace-analysis gas chromatography of historic tea bricks in the Pitt Rivers Museum, SEM imaging of archaeobotanical remains, and analysis of historic texts.
As part of her research, she has also organised a series of events and workshops at the Ashmolean Museum in collaboration with Dr Jenny Wang from the Weave Yard. Their project 'Breeze and Brew' explored how museum collections, academic research, and lived experiences might meaningfully intersect through shared cultural experience.
Rather than positioning visitors as passive audiences, the project invited participants to become active contributors to the interpretation of museum collections and cultural experience. Participants explored the Ashmolean’s Gallery collections and East Asian Study Room, handled objects connected to tea culture, reflected collectively on sensory experience through tea tasting, and created their own painted fans in response to what they encountered. Their reflections, stories, and artworks were later presented through a community-led digital exhibition (https://cultural-projects.notion.site/Breeze-Brew-35c034e7581d80b28131e870d35eba6b), and Dr Wang and Melody are working together to host a physical exhibition in person (projected timeline September 2026-2027).
In one session, participants took part in a tea experiment using reconstructed historical cup forms developed through archaeological research. The cups were created in collaboration with Oxford studio potter, Jynsym Ong (https://www.jynsymong.com/) and the project was generously funded by the University of Oxford Public Engagement with Research (PCER) Grant. The experience prompted wide-ranging conversations around sensory perception, memory, embodiment, and cultural experience, as participants reflected collectively on the relationship between objects and everyday experiences.
The senses are powerful and evocative to both the people in the past and the present. What types of information can we unlock from objects if we use them, touch them, and drink from them, rather than just looking at them behind glass in the museum?
Dr Wang published this article detailing their workshop experiences in The Oxford Blue: 'Breeze & Brew: reimagining community curation through fans and tea in Oxford.'
Images by Shutong Jin and Huhongyan Tian
