The Ban Don Mun artifacts: a chronological reappraisal of human occupations in the Lampang province of Northern Thailand (original) (raw)
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The Paleolithic Site of Sao Din (Northern Thailand)
human dispersal over time and space is still debated and recent discoveries and studies in india or china demonstrate a much older presence of human during the early Pleistocene in asia according to stone tools evidence. information concerning the expansion of human groups into continental Southeast asia is generally lacking-although fossil evidence demonstrating an early human presence in insular Southeast asia does exist, i.e. indonesia. a recent survey in northern Thailand have produced a numerous series of stone tools which present an ideal opportunity for reconsidering the archaeological record of the early Pleistocene in this region. we provide a preliminary description of the geomorphological context and a brief technological analysis of the stone tools from the site of Sao Din (nan province). Technologically, this lithic assemblage presents the most similarities with southern chinese assemblages dated between 1 Ma and 0.5 Ma.
2013a Establishing the Prehistoric Cultural Sequence for the Lopburi Region, Central Thailand
This study comprises the first archaeologically-defined chronological and cultural sequence for central Thailand. Based on collaborative research between the Thai–Italian Lopburi Regional Archaeological Project and the Thai–American Thailand Archaeometallurgy Project, the results of excavations at seven pre- and protohistoric sites that witnessed three millennia of local cultural development, from the early second millennium BC onward, are synthesized herein. This study fills a significant gap in Thailand’s prehistory, also identifying important cultural interactions ranging into southern China and Vietnam that led to the formation during the second millennium BC of a ‘Southeast Asian Interaction Sphere’. This interaction sphere, at the close of the second millennium BC, facilitated the transmission of the knowledge of copper-base metallurgy from southern China into Thailand, where it reached the communities of the Lopburi Region who took advantage of their ore-rich environment. At the end of the first millennium BC, strong South Asian contacts emerge in Southeast Asia. Among this study’s salient contributions is the characterization of these critical prehistoric antecedents, which culminated in a process of localization of exogenous elements, usually termed ‘Indianization’. The impact of this dynamic process was initially felt in central Thailand in the late first millennium BC, leading over time to the rise there, by the mid first millennium AD, of one of Southeast Asia’s first ‘state-like’ entities.
2013 - Establishing the Prehistoric Cultural Sequence for the Lopburi Region, Central Thailand
Journal of World Prehistory, 2013
This study comprises the first archaeologically-defined chronological and cultural sequence for central Thailand. Based on collaborative research between the Thai-Italian Lopburi Regional Archaeological Project and the Thai-American Thailand Archaeometallurgy Project, the results of excavations at seven pre-and protohistoric sites that witnessed three millennia of local cultural development, from the early second millennium BC onward, are synthesized herein. This study fills a significant gap in Thailand's prehistory, also identifying important cultural interactions ranging into southern China and Vietnam that led to the formation during the second millennium BC of a 'Southeast Asian Interaction Sphere'. This interaction sphere, at the close of the second millennium BC, facilitated the transmission of the knowledge of copper-base metallurgy from southern China into Thailand, where it reached the communities of the Lopburi Region who took advantage of their ore-rich environment. At the end of the first millennium BC, strong South Asian contacts emerge in Southeast Asia. Among this study's salient contributions is the characterization of these critical prehistoric antecedents, which culminated in a process of localization of exogenous elements, usually termed 'Indianization'. The impact of this dynamic process was initially felt in central Thailand in the late first millennium BC, leading over time to the rise there, by the mid first millennium AD, of one of Southeast Asia's first 'state-like' entities.
An early hunter-gatherer site at Ban Non Wat, Northeast Thailand
Journal of Indo-Pacific Archaeology, 2019
The inland plains of Southeast Asia are a void in terms of early occupation by hunter gatherers. Two radiocarbon determinations from basal Ban Non Wat on the Khorat Plateau date a shell midden and possibly associated human and deer remains between 18000-20000 years ago.
Establishing the Prehistoric Cultural Sequence for the Lopburi Region, Central Thailand
2013
This study comprises the first archaeologically-defined chronological and cultural sequence for central Thailand. Based on collaborative research between the Thai-Italian Lopburi Regional Archaeological Project and the Thai-American Thailand Archaeometallurgy Project, the results of excavations at seven pre-and protohistoric sites that witnessed three millennia of local cultural development, from the early second millennium BC onward, are synthesized herein. This study fills a significant gap in Thailand's prehistory, also identifying important cultural interactions ranging into southern China and Vietnam that led to the formation during the second millennium BC of a 'Southeast Asian Interaction Sphere'. This interaction sphere, at the close of the second millennium BC, facilitated the transmission of the knowledge of copper-base metallurgy from southern China into Thailand, where it reached the communities of the Lopburi Region who took advantage of their ore-rich environment. At the end of the first millennium BC, strong South Asian contacts emerge in Southeast Asia. Among this study's salient contributions is the characterization of these critical prehistoric antecedents, which culminated in a process of localization of exogenous elements, usually termed 'Indianization'. The impact of this dynamic process was initially felt in central Thailand in the late first millennium BC, leading over time to the rise there, by the mid first millennium AD, of one of Southeast Asia's first 'state-like' entities.
Contemporary European prehistorians and classical archaeologists are blessed with an archaeological record of extraordinary richness. We have within our reach thousands of documented and excavated sites, and probably hundreds of skeletal collections associated with them. Imagine then, a parallel universe in which the 3000 year period ending in the early first millennium AD was known only from a handful of well excavated sites, and only two substantial skeletal collections. The challenge of shedding light on the ancient societies would be huge—and the rewards exhilarating. So it is with Thai archaeology today. Thanks to the efforts of the Fine Arts Department of Thailand and their colleagues from around the world, new revelations about the ancient past of this beautiful and gracious country are gradually coming to light. Pietrusewsky & Douglas's monograph is a long-anticipated contribution to this literature, and one that has opened the door to a wealth of new research opportunit...
There are two models for the origins and timing of the Bronze Age in Southeast Asia. The first centres on the sites of Ban Chiang and Non Nok Tha in Northeast Thailand. It places the first evidence for bronze technology in about 2000 B.C., and identifies the origin by means of direct contact with specialists of the Seima Turbino metallurgical tradition of Central Eurasia. The second is based on the site of Ban Non Wat, 280 km southwest of Ban Chiang, where extensive radiocarbon dating places the transition into the Bronze Age in the 11th century B.C. with likely origins in a southward expansion of technological expertise rooted in the early states of the Yellow and Yangtze valleys, China. We have redated Ban Chiang and Non Nok Tha, as well as the sites of Ban Na Di and Ban Lum Khao, and here present 105 radiocarbon determinations that strongly support the latter model. The statistical analysis of the results using a Bayesian approach allows us to examine the data at a regional level, elucidate the timing of arrival of copper base technology in Southeast Asia and consider its social impact.
2014 The Mun Valley and Central Thailand in prehistory: integrating two cultural sequences
Open Archaeology, 2014
This paper compares the later prehistory in two regions of Thailand. The Mun Valley lies on the eastern side of the Phetchabun Range, the Lopburi Region (LR) to the west. They are linked by a major pass. While the Lopburi area is rich in copper ore, the Mun Valley has none. Quality salt is abundantly available in the Mun Valley but less so in the LR. This study explores the interrelationships between the areas over a period of 2300 years which sharpens our understanding of both, and presents explanations and possibilities in the context of cultural transmission theories. Neolithic farmers with ultimate origins in China, arrived in the first half of the second millennium BC. Widespread exchange in prestige goods was a factor in the adoption of copper-base metallurgy in the late 11th century BC, when the LR became a producer, the Mun Valley an importer. With the Iron Age, (from about 500 BC), sites grew in size. During the course of this period, gold, silver, agate, carnelian and glass ornaments were ritually placed with dead elites. It is in these powerful and wealthy Iron Age communities that we can identify the early transition into states with population growth, agricultural intensification, conflict and increased production and competition over salt and metal for exchange.
Stone artefacts and recent research in the archaeology of mainland Southeast Asian hunter-gatherers.
In recent decades the study of stone artefact technology has made many technical advances and substantial contributions to the archaeology of many regions. Until recently, mainland southeast Asian has benefited little from these advances, in part because of the paucity of evidence and in part because of prevailing conceptual frameworks that were poorly suited to the available evidence. The Middle Pleistocene record has a very sparse lithic record suggestive of little more than the presence of hominins on the landscape. The Late and Terminal Pleistocene is better represented and recent work on stone artefact assemblages has demonstrated that the assemblages document important behavioural variation that challenges previous notions of Pleistocene hunter-gatherers in mainland Southeast Asia. Holocene assemblages, especially from Luang Prabang and the Salween River areas, hold promise for addressing questions about the transition to agriculture, currently a poorly understood process in mainland Southeast Asia.