More questions than answers: the Southeast Asian Lead Isotope Project 2009-2012 (original) (raw)
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The ‘Southeast Asian Lead Isotope Project’ (SEALIP) is intended to provide reliable geochemical proxies for late prehistoric through early historic (2nd/1st millennium BCE and 1st millennium CE) local, regional, and inter-regional social interactions, in an archaeological arena lacking established ceramic typologies with which to cross modern national boundaries. We present lead isotope characterisations of the three currently known Southeast Asian prehistoric primary (mining/smelting) copper production centres: Phu Lon and the Khao Wong Prachan Valley in Thailand, and the recently discovered Xepon complex in Laos. Kernel Density Estimation shows that these production centres can be clearly distinguished isotopically, as such fulfilling the core tenet of the ‘Provenance Hypothesis’ (Wilson and Pollard, 2001: 508) and permitting SEALIP to proceed as a research programme tracing regional copper/bronze/lead exchange and provenance patterning. In addition we provide a provisional technological reconstruction of copper smelting processes at Phu Lon to complement our more established understanding of the Khao Wong Prachan Valley. Combined lead isotope and technological datasets allow us to tentatively identify trends in the evolution of Southeast Asian metal technologies and of regional social perceptions of metal exchange.
Isotopic and technological variation in prehistoric Southeast Asian primary copper production
Journal of Archaeological Science, 2011
The ‘Southeast Asian Lead Isotope Project’ (SEALIP) is intended to provide reliable geochemical proxies for late prehistoric through early historic (2nd/1st millennium BCE and 1st millennium CE) local, regional, and inter-regional social interactions, in an archaeological arena lacking established ceramic typologies with which to cross modern national boundaries. We present lead isotope characterisations of the three currently known Southeast Asian prehistoric primary (mining/smelting) copper production centres: Phu Lon and the Khao Wong Prachan Valley in Thailand, and the recently discovered Xepon complex in Laos. Kernel Density Estimation shows that these production centres can be clearly distinguished isotopically, as such fulfilling the core tenet of the ‘Provenance Hypothesis’ (Wilson and Pollard, 2001: 508) and permitting SEALIP to proceed as a research programme tracing regional copper/bronze/lead exchange and provenance patterning. In addition we provide a provisional technological reconstruction of copper smelting processes at Phu Lon to complement our more established understanding of the Khao Wong Prachan Valley. Combined lead isotope and technological datasets allow us to tentatively identify trends in the evolution of Southeast Asian metal technologies and of regional social perceptions of metal exchange.► Three prehistoric Southeast Asian copper production loci studied. ► Centres can be distinguished by lead isotope analysis. ► Extractive technology similarities may exist. ► Two of three centres importing as well as producing metal. ► First empirical evidence linking Iron Age Cambodia and Laos.
Archaeometry, 2010
and first published bronze artefacts in claimed early/middle third millennium BCE contexts from northeastern Thailand, igniting a regional 'origins' of metallurgy debate that has smouldered for 40 years (e.g., White and Hamilton 2009, Higham in press). In this paper, we present the results of a lead isotope pilot study centred on the Khao Wong Prachan Valley of central Thailand-currently Southeast Asia's only documented prehistoric copper smelting locale. These preliminary data indicate that our ongoing regional metal exchange research programme may be able to elucidate interaction networks between copper-producing and -consuming societies within and beyond Southeast Asia from c. 2000 BCE to c. 500 CE. Furthermore, we are able to offer tentative evidence relevant to 'Rapid Eurasian Technological Expansion Model'for the Sino-Siberian derivation of regional metal technologies around the turn of the third/second millennium BCE.
Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences, 2016
Myanmar has been notably under-represented in recent studies of archaeometallurgy in Southeast Asia, despite its richness in both mineral and cultural resources and its potentially central role in longdistance exchange networks linking India, China and peninsular neighbours. Here, we present original analytical data on copper-base artefacts from several Bronze Age and Iron Age sites in Myanmar. Observed microstructures range from as-cast, worked, to fully annealed; compositions include leaded copper, low-tin to high-tin bronzes, and arsenical copper/bronze. Lead isotope analyses indicate that the metal originates from different geological sources, including several that match the lead isotope signatures of known prehistoric copper mines in Thailand and Laos. These archaeometallurgical data, including evidence for secondary copper-base production, more than double those currently available for Myanmar and document the presence of multiple local alloying and working traditions, perhaps chronologically differentiated, as well as identifying possible links to primary mineral sources across the region. Overall, this adds significant new information to the emerging picture of Southeast Asian prehistoric metallurgy at the crossroads of several major ancient cultures.
SOUTHEAST ASIA’S FIRST ISOTOPICALLY DEFINED
and first published bronze artefacts in claimed early/middle third millennium BCE contexts from northeastern Thailand, igniting a regional 'origins' of metallurgy debate that has smouldered for 40 years (e.g., White and Hamilton 2009, Higham in press). In this paper, we present the results of a lead isotope pilot study centred on the Khao Wong Prachan Valley of central Thailand-currently Southeast Asia's only documented prehistoric copper smelting locale. These preliminary data indicate that our ongoing regional metal exchange research programme may be able to elucidate interaction networks between copper-producing and -consuming societies within and beyond Southeast Asia from c. 2000 BCE to c. 500 CE. Furthermore, we are able to offer tentative evidence relevant to 'Rapid Eurasian Technological Expansion Model'for the Sino-Siberian derivation of regional metal technologies around the turn of the third/second millennium BCE.
After a healthy start in the 1980s, the last decade has seen a resurgence of archaeometallurgical research in mainland Southeast Asia. Bronze Age (c. 1000 BC to c. 500 BC), Iron Age (c. 500 BC to c. 500 AD), historic (c. 500 to c. 1500 AD), and recent ethnographic primary and secondary production sites for ferrous and non-ferrous metals have received unprecedented attention, and enormous progress has been made on reconstructing regional metal exchange networks. The country notably under-represented in this coverage has been that of Myanmar, which is highly problematic because, like most of its neighbours, it is rich in both mineral and cultural resources. It is also Myanmar that, unique amongst its neighbours, shares borders with both modern day China and India, and as such is an essential territory for the understanding of long-range technological transmissions; movements of knowledge, objects and people that may have been catalysts for major socio-political change in the region. N...