Joyce C. White is an American archaeologist, an adjunct professor of anthropology at the University of Pennsylvania,[1] and executive director of the new Institute for Southeast Asian Archaeology.

Her research primarily concerns decades-long multidisciplinary archaeological investigations in Thailand and Laos covering the prehistoric human occupation of the middle reaches of the Mekong River Basin.

[2] She has become a strong advocate of cultural heritage preservation and has served as an expert witness in an antiquities trafficking case for the U.S. Department of Justice.

Joyce White initially settled on a career in archaeology when she observed an excavation at a medieval church and cemetery in England at the age of 15.

While this initial incident inclined her towards a focus on Europe, this changed when she saw a photograph of Thailand during a professor's presentation on his excavation there in graduate school.

In 1978 she initiated an ethnoecological research program in the Ban Chiang area studying the local understanding of indigenous natural resources with a special emphasis on native plants.

In addition to surveys and cave excavations, a variety of scientific and capacity-building endeavors sought to enhance knowledge and skills among Asian and western archaeologists to lay the foundation for future development of archaeological research in the Middle Mekong Basin.

[14] In 2013 White founded the ISEAA, which is dedicated to the multi-disciplinary investigation of Southeast Asia’s archaeological past in order to advance that knowledge for the benefit of scholars as well as the public.

The first volume of the metals monograph, published in 2018, discusses different viewpoints used to assess the materials at Ban Chiang and other Northeast Thai sites and reviews and critiques the current archaeological paradigm.

[20] The third volume, published in late 2019, presents the Ban Chiang metallurgical evidence in a regional context and examines the site's interactions with others throughout central and northeast Thailand.

"[3] Her testimony in the case argued the seized artifacts represented more than 150 times what had been scientifically excavated at Ban Chiang and similar sites.

[3][24] In 2016, White was given an award by the United States Attorney's Office of Central California for her service as an expert witness in the US Federal investigation Operation Antiquity.