Mainland Southeast Asia: Late Prehistoric

Mainland Southeast Asia Late Prehistoric.

RELATIVE TIME PERIOD: FO~~OWS the Southeast Asia Early Prehistoric. This period is considered the interface between the late prehistoric and early historic periods and is sometimes called the Protohistoric period. Com- plex polities emerged during this time along the coasts and in the river valleys of mainland Southeast Asia, and it is also likely that many subsistence strategies like hunting and gathering continued into this period. At its early end (i.e., 2500-1500 B.P.), some archaeologists have also called this period the "Iron Age," "General Period C," and the "High Metal Age." The period after A.D. 200 falls into Higham's "General Period D" and the beginning of regionally specific chronologies. In'central Burma, we see the initiation of the Pyu period, and in Central Thai- land, we see the origins of the Dvaravati period. In the Khorat plateau/Tonle Sap region, the founding of the Khmer empire signals the end of this period in A.D. 802. In northern and central Vietnam, this is a transitional phase between Bronze Age complex societies and the earliest states. To ease discussion, the period from 2500- 1500 B.P. will be glossed as the "early historic period."

LOCATION: Mainland Southeast Asia encompasses an area that stretches from the Salween river in western

Burma to the Gulf of Tonkin. Under today's national boundaries, mainland Southeast Asia includes Burma, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam. The Chinese border with Burma, Thailand, Laos, and Vietnam marks the region's northern boundary. Its southern border, from east to west, is the South China sea, the Gulf of Siam, and the Andaman sea. This entry focuses on central and northern Thailand and does not review the archaeology of peninsular Thailand in any detail.

DIAGNOSTIC MATER~AL ATTRIBUTES: Localized earthenware pottery traditions (often cord-marked, sometimes burnished, painted, or incised, and occasionally smudged) and bronze and iron metallurgical traditions (as agricultural tools, weapons, and ritual paraphernalia; some weapons are bimetallic [bronze and iron], and high-tin bronze bowls have also been found). Some regions have evidence for elaborate elite burials (e.g., interments in wooden logs called "boat burials") and moated settlements with large, organized cemeteries) and centralized settlement systems with large fortified centers (earlier walls are frequently earthen, and later walls are brick) linked to surrounding satellite settlements. Excavations at sites from this period often contain trade goods from China and India (particularly beads of stone and glass,

Mainland Southeast Asia 161

stamped kiln-fired pottery and/or rouletted ware pot- ated communities, the development of economic inten- tery, and high-tin bronze bowls), and occasionally ma- sification (which may have involved the adoption of wet- terial associated with points farther east, like the rice cultivation and specialized craft production for Roman empire. For summaries of this period, see exchange), the development of international maritime Glover (1989) and Higham (1989: 19C238). trade networks that linked mainland communities to

India and China, and the local adoption of Indian REGIONAL SUBTRADITIONS: Irawaddy river valley (Burma), religious ideology. Some of the most important histo- Chao Phraya plain (Thailand), Tonle Sap plain/Khorat rians of Southeast Asia (e.g., Coedts, Wheatley, and plateau (CambodiaIThailand), Mekong delta (Cambo- Wolters) have proposed models to explain this transition dialVietnam), Bac Bo region (Northern Vietnam). to history focusing on the interplay between external

influences and internal developments. IMPORTANT SITES: Beikthano (Irawaddy), Ban Don Ta One reason that we know so little about this period Phet (Chao Phraya plain), Noen-U-Loke (Tonle Sap is that it straddles a temporal and, by extension, PlainIKhorat plateau), Angkor Borei (Mekong delta), disciplinary, boundary. The late prehistoric period has Dong Son (Bac Bo). been the domain of anthropological archaeologists,

whereas the early historic period has been interpreted primarily by art historians and historians. In explaining the causes of emergent complexity during the first

CULTURAL SUMMARY millennium A.D., indigenists (who tend to be prehistoric archaeologists) disagree with exogenists (who have often

The period from 2500-1500 B.P. witnessed profound been historians), and most researchers are divided along technological and social changes throughout mainland disciplinary lines. Southeast Asia. The first evidence of iron metallurgy dates to c. 2500 B.P., and this period also witnessed the Environment emergence of Southeast Asia's earliest complex polities along the coasts and in the river valleys of this region. The Climute. Most of this region is included within humid preceding period (c. 4200-2500 B.P.) contains evidence of tropical continental Asia, where rainfall determines the growing economic intensification and institutionalized seasonal pattern. Nearly all of mainland Southeast Asia inequality. These trends toward technological innovation experiences a dry season (which varies with latitude) and social stratification intensified from 2500-1500 B.P., of at least 1 month, and a prolonged rainy season. when the earliest states in mainland Southeast Asia Subregions vary slightly in rainfall intensity and tem- emerged along its coasts and river valleys. Somewhat perature based on altitude and proximity to the ocean. parallel trends characterize island Southeast Asia during The area undergoes small seasonal changes in temper- this time (see "Island Southeast Asia Late Prehistoric ature and a predominant diurnal cycle of temperature Tradition", this volume), with scalar differences in the and precipitation. Some portions of the region, partic- sociopolitical and settlement organizations. Iron-work- ularly central Burma and eastern Thailand, have ing, inter- and intraregional exchange, specialization, and particularly long dry seasons. Although the sea level social ranking all characterize this period. Within 500 may have changed slightly during this period, environ- years, these unstable, shifting polities with fluctuating mental scientists have noted no major climatic shifts for centers developed into mature states and empires such as the region between 2500 and 1500 B.P. Angkor (Cambodia), Pagan (Burma); Sukhothai (Thai- The annual monsoon cycle begins with a dry season land), and Champa (Vietnam). from January to March/April that is followed by the

The early historic period is poorly known through- Asian monsoons. Shifts in the direction of prevailing out much of mainland Southeast Asia (excluding the winds bring increased moisture to parts of the region, Bac Bo region of northern Vietnam), compared with our and rainfall is concentrated in the period from July understanding of the preceding prehistoric sequence (see through December. Variability in the onset and duration Southeast Asia Neolithic and Early Bronze tradition, of monsoon rains affects river discharges and causes this volume). Ironically, this poorly understood period frequent flooding in the alluvial lowlands. From July to also witnessed profound political and economic trans- November, the northern region of Vietnam experi- formations associated with state formation elsewhere in ences powerful typhoons that sweep westward from the world. Southeast Asian archaeologists have found the South China sea and that originate somewhere evidence for the transition from autonomous to nucle- east of the Philippines. The South China sea typhoons

162 Mainland Southeast Asia

affect the eastern portion of mainland Southeast Asia. Rainfall totals vary throughout the region, but most precipitation falls during the rainy season (mid-May to late October); some areas like the Bac Bo region have relatively high annual rainfall rates (i.e., >I500 mm), while other areas such as central Burma are more arid.

High temperatures and high average humidity values characterize the region, although coasts and highland areas tend to be more humid than the interior lowlands. April experiences the highest temperatures through much of the region. Areas like the Chao Phraya basin and the Tonle Sap plain, for example, have mean annual temperatures that range between 24 and 29 "C. Areas with marked dry seasons and low humidity values tend toward high temperatures. The dry season of central Burma, for example, experiences temperatures nearly 10" higher than these zones, with winter temperatures that are comparable to other regions of the mainland.

Few paleoenvironmental studies have been published that reconstruct the Holocene climate across mainland Southeast Asia from 2500 to 500 B.P., and those studies concentrate on southern and central Thailand. Mid-Holocene marine transgressions raised sea levels 2-4 m in areas like central Thailand (and perhaps northern Vietnam), possibly creating moister climatic conditions that we see today; sea levels have de- clined gradually throughout the region since 3000 B.P.

Temperatures and relative humidity levels fluctuated throughout the Holocene, and the middle Holocene was warmer and wetter than the modern climate. Modem climatic conditions may have been reached C. 2000 B.P.

Topography. Mainland Southeast Asia consists of a combination of alluvial lowlands with their associated flood-prone valleys and surrounding uplands, which include plateaus and low mountain chains. The Sunda shelf forms a half-submerged block today, but its higher sections rise above the shallow seas to form plateaus in Burma, Thailand, Laos, and Vietnam. Ng's (1979) research uses geographic factors of climate, topography, soils, and hydrology to identify optimal areas for large populations of lowland rice cultivators during the early historic period (i.e., 2500-1500 B.P.). All five subtraditions described in this entry meet Ng's (1979) criteria for optimal environments.

North-south trending mountain chains in the region are flanked by the following rivers from west to east: the Irawaddy, the Chindwin, the Chao Phraya, the Mekong, and the Ma and Red rivers. Each of these drainage systems carries a higher volume of water than that found

in more temperate climates and creates massive ero- sion and alluviation. Hydrologically, mainland South- east Asia has a dynamic landscape: sediment deposits quickly in rivers, raising their banks and causing avul- sion in every major delta in the region. Topographical and geological change in the last two millennia consists of sedimentation at the mouth of each of the region's river deltas. Sedimentation in coastal and estuarial areas has a major impact on coastlines, as deltas grow outward as much as 60-80 m each year.

Elevation in the alluvial plains is generally low and, in some areas like the Mekong and Red river deltas, nears sea level. Various environmental factors are involved in creating favorable habitats for settlement by intensive rice cultivators, including, but not limited to, areas with arable, poorly drained alluvium and access to potable water. It is thus interesting that most regional traditions described in this section are found in areas.that share a constellation of these factors.

Geology. Most of mainland Southeast Asia rests on a foundation of metamorphic and sedimentary rocks, which thick deposits of weathered material have covered in some areas. In drier areas that are less prone to solution weathering, metamorphics appear near the surface close to groups of limestone rocks, or karst formations. In the Tonkin gulf, and along the southwestern border of Cambodia, these karstic formations . contain archaeological sites that occasionally have Pleistocene deposits.

Parent matter and soils across mainland Southeast Asia vary according to topography and geology, and many soils share weathering characteristics associated with the high temperatures and dramatic alternation of wet and dry seasons that we associate with the monsoon tropics. Prominent among these is laterization, or severe leaching of soluble minerals from the soil's upper horizons. These red and yellow tropical soils are high in iron and aluminum and are generally infertile without human intervention. The region's great deltas also hold rich, fertile soils, or fluvisols, and more than 80 percent of the region's wet rice cultivation takes place in these alluvial soils. Vertisols, or dark clay soils, are best suited to dry crops (rice, maize, soy beans, cotton, tobacco, and kapok), and farmers also rotate irrigated crops of rice and sugar cane. Vertisols are found in Vietnam, Cambodia, and the central plain of Thailand. Older terraces above the Mekong river and its deltas contain hydromorphic soils (gleysols and planosols) and gray podzolic soils; the latter soils also dominate the terraces of the Chao Phraya and the Irawaddy rivers. Nitosols (or terres rouges), occupy low hilly country and

are found in eastern Cambodia and west-central Viet- wood, banyan, and sandalwood. As elevation increases nam. to elevations of 5000 ft or more in areas like upland

South Asians viewed Southeast Asia as "the land Laos and Cambodia, we see patches of cloud forest of gold" (or Suvannabhumi). One main attraction of this characterized by cooler temperatures and higher humid- region to outsiders lay in its rich mineral resources ity. Remnants of semideciduous mixed forest, which are (particularly copper, tin, and lead). Most parts of the still found throughout interior regions such as central region are notably poor in major iron ore deposits, but and northeastern Thailand, also contain dipterocarp central Thailand and central Vietnam contain high- species. Bamboos are prevalent in certain varieties of quality copper ore deposits. Tin, for which Southeast mixed deciduous forest and are also found in open Asia was famous during the historic period, is con- savannah conditions. Recent studies of climatic and centrated in sources along a belt (20-100 km wide; vegetational change in the region suggest that, although 1200 km long), which runs from the eastern side of the climate has changed little during the last 5000-7000 central Burma down into peninsular Thailand. years, forest clearance has occurred with the expansion

of human settlement. '

Biota. Abundant rain and high temperatures promote Each vegetational zone is traditionally associated abundant plant growth throughout mainland Southeast with a different faunal suite, although recent deforesta- Asia; this region has a rich biota that is commonly tion and increasing populations have devastated wild associated with the tropics. Geographers believe that the animal populations. The muddy coasts have a varied region was once nearly completely covered by monsoon and largely aquatic fauna, including small fish (including tropical forest, with different vegetational regimes along mudskippers), turtles, and mollusks (mussels, shrimp). the coasts and rivers. Current vegetation patterns likely Mammals like sea otters, monkeys, and boars feed on do not reflect those found between 2500 and 1500 B.P., these coastal resources. Behind the mangrove and beach and human populations have colonized many coastal areas are coastal forests and inland swamps that house regions today. In the past, however, portions of muddy several types of large mammals (elephant, rhinoceros, coasts and deltaic flats in Burma, Thailand, Cambodia, water buffalo, swamp deer, and pig deer) and a variety and Vietnam likely had swamp forest vegetation (both of aquatic birds and freshwater fish. tidal and freshwater), with belts of mangrove swamp Areas of monsoon forest contain a different suite of forest fringing, many of the coasts. Muddy shores indigenous fauna and some species that thrive only in contained salt-tolerant mangrove forests, behind which primary forests. Examples include many birds, large and were brackish back swamps with nipa palms and fringed small rodents, some carnivores (like the clouded leopard with beach woodlands that included casuarina trees, and the binturong or bear civet), and the two Asian pandanus, and coconut palms. pongids found in mainland Southeast Asia: gibbons and

Most of the region has experienced intensive human siamangs. Primary and secondary forests are also the impact and landscape modification during recent e n - home of many animals that human populations have turies, and little original climax growth remains. This is hunted and consumed for millennia: different kinds of especially pronounced in the alluvial river valleys and pig, deer, cattle, pig, langur, macaque, gibbon, and deltas that, today, provide the highest crop yields in porcupine. These forests were also home to elephants, the region. The vegetational regimes described in this squirrels, civet cats, rats, bats, hares, bears, tigers, and section thus represent a picture that was more accurate various reptiles. before 1950 than today, in an era of rapid economic Savannahs and open forests may have characterized development. some riverine areas in the distant past (in areas of early

The vegetational type that dominated most of human intervention) and certain upland areas. The qual- mainland Southeast Asia in the past was semideciduous ity of grasslands is attractive to large herbivores and monsoon forest. In the dry season, the forest is adapted other mammals who also roamed the forests, and par- to frequent fires; in the rainy season, it has a dense ticular plant varieties attracted a variety of birds and undergrowth of herbaceous plants. Particular tree and rodents, whose presence in turn sustained reptilian pop- plant species vary by soil type and precipitation, with ulations of snakes (like the python, cobra, and Russell's substantial variability in the mixed deciduous forests viper). Tigers also roamed these regions in previous times, found from one end of the region to the other. In upland although today they are quite rare. Open forests are an areas where elevations exceed 2000 ft, oak and chestnut ideal habitat for larger animals; until the end of the trees are more common. Forests in cooler humid Second World War, large herds of elephant, banteng, bioclimates with well-drained soils contain teak, iron- gaur, buffalo, sambar, and deer inhabited these regions.


Settlements surrounding space for gardens and keeping animals, and cooking areas (when not found in the house itself) may

Settlement System* se t t l ement~at ter~sare~o~r l~ be found on porches attached to the house or on the in most regions in this tradition, except the Khorat ground immediately under the house. ~ ~ ~ h ~ ~ ~ l ~ ~ i ~ ~ ~ plateau and, to a far limited extent, the have thus far been unable to identify differences in size phraya basin. systematic Settlement pattern studies* and form of domestic residences that might reflect status involving analysis of aerial photography and pedestrian differences; nor have archaeologists been able to identify surveys in Thailand, however, yield some information special-purpose structures. on the location and nature of settlement systems between 2500 and 1500 B.P. AS was true in the preceding period (see "Southeast Asia Neolithic and Early Bronze Population, Health, and Disease. noth her gap in our tradition," this volume), settlements from this period knowledge of this period lies in the study of population, tend to be found along secondary drainages rather than health, and disease. Our only information for this period

along major river courses. These alluvium-rich side derives from limited paleopathological studies, and

valleys hold great agricultural potential and avoid the these studies have focused' primarily on burial popula-

most destructive effects of regular flooding. Ancient tions from Northeast Thailand. Studies of skeletal farmers likely used various hydraulic techniques to pathology Suggest a range of dental pathologies and

maximize water control throughout the rainy and dry degenerative diseases, but no consistent evidence asso-

seasons. Archaeologists equate such manipulation with ciated with warfare or interpersonal violence. Several agricultural intensification, and we see the first evidence physical anthropologists have also identified chronic for iron and for draft animals barticUlarly water conditions of anemia (i.e., thalassemia) associated with

buffalo) on sites that date to this period in mainland malaria-rich regions. Khmer inscriptions from c.

Southeast Asia. Some archaeologists like Stargardt have 1300 B.P. make reference to lice7 eye problems, and suggested a close linkage between environmental niche, ''dermatitis" or "ringworm." Whether any of these hydraulic techniques, and urbanization throughout aihents afflicted populations in the preceding millenni-

mainland Southeast Asia at this time. What urbaniza- Um is a matter of question, because archaeologists have tion means, in Southeast Asian terms, remains unclear; recovered few burials that date to this period in nowhere is this problem more pronounced than from ~ufficiently intact condition to merit paleopathological

2500-1 500 B.P. study. Several major regions experienced a trend toward

centralization that began at least as early as 2500 B.P. This period witnesses the development of regionalized Economy craft traditions that may be associated with access to available resources. It seems likely that populations in these regions became specialists in metalworking by c. 2500 B.P., although archaeologists continue to debate the nature and complexity of social organization associated with this form of craft specialization. The emergence of such specialized communities suggests heightened levels of economic and, perhaps, political integration.

Housing. Archaeological evidence for community organization ii decidedly scarce for this period, and postholes are far more commonly encountered than physical remains of houses. Consequently, little is known about the typical or "average" house form for this tradition. House remains recovered from a few excavated sites in northern Vietnam and the Mekong delta resemble those in rural mainland Southeast Asia today. Such houses consist of wood and thatch and are built on stilts, as protection against the annual rains. These houses have

Subsistence. The modal subsistence strategy during this period was likely rice cultivation, perhaps in an intensive fashion, after 2500 B.P. Some scholars suggest that, in areas that were subject to frequent flooding (particularly the Tonle Sap, Mekong delta, and Red river regions), populations may have used recession agriculture rather than irrigation techniques during this period. Few paleoenvironmental studies have thus far concentrated on the early historic period, and studies of seasonal variations in the mode of subsistence and long-term variations await future paleoethnobotanical research.

Wild Foods. Very few studies have concentrated on the contribution that wild goods made to subsistence regimes in this tradition. Previous archaeological work in the Mekong delta revealed evidence of a variety of wild animals (e.g., deer, wild boar, and perhaps wild bovid), but little systematic faunal analysis has yet been published that would shed light on the use of wild foods as part of the subsistence base during this period. Wild plants native to this region that were eventually domes-


ticated include tubers (e.g., yams, taro), tree crops (e.g., glass to these sites remains unclear. Archaeologists bananas, coconuts), among other foods. generally agree, however, that bead manufacture at such

Domestic Foodr. Chinese accounts describe a system centers was designed to produce surplus for regional of intensive rice cultivation in the Lower Mekong region distribution. Little information exists on the nature of by c. 1700 B.P., and populations probably practiced a architectural ornamentation, and our data set is biased similar subsistence strategy in all five subregions de- toward mortuary material. scribed in this entry. The recovery of abundant rice remains from burials from this period in the Khorat Trade. Lack of archaeological excavations in some hub plateau suggests that rice (Oryza sativa) formed an regions (particularly the Tonle Sap and Mekong delta important component of the diet between 2500 and areas) constrains our reconstruction of regional trade 1500 B.P. We know astonishingly little, however, about networks from 2500 to 1500 B.P. Work in northeastern the relative contribution of other plants to the local Thailand suggests that, at the beginning of the period, economy, and no studies have yet been published on however, regional systems were linked to one another animal use during this period. through trade and perhaps community-based special-

ization. We know little about that nature and distribu- Industrial Arts. Archaeological research at sites through- tion of contemporary sites throughout central and out mainland Southeast Asia provides abundant evi- northern Cambodia. There are, however, hints that dence for craft specialization during this period in a networks of bronze-working communities in the Khorat variety of media. Ceramic manufacture and metallurgy plateau interacted with those in the Mekong delta were widespread by 2500 B.P. (see Southeast Asia Neo- and coastal Vietnam, perhaps through intermedi- lithic and Early Bronze tradition, this volume). Work in ary communities along the Mekong and tributaries in northeast thailand suggests the operation of craft spe- Cambodia. We need systematic archaeological work cialization in goods like copper and bronze and low-fired throughout the Mekong region to clarify the nature earthenwares and resource extraction (e.g., salt, shell) of such interregional networks. and regional exchange networks. No archaeological Several lines of evidence suggest that these popula- evidence for large-scale ceramic manufacturing locations tions engaged in, or were linked together through, has yet been reported. Comparison with metallurgical international maritime trade. Mortuary traditions that and ceramic industries in China suggests that these two involve boat burials in the Bac Bo region and the Malay technological traditions developed in different directions peninsula have been dated to c. 2500 B.P., sewn-plank from those found farther north, although the origin of boat remains (dated c. 1500 B.P.), found in coastal these technologies is still a matter of some debate. Malaysia at the site of Pontian, contained earthenware Chinese colonization of the Bac Bo region brought with it spouted jars called kendi. This jar form appears on many a brick architectural tradition that is evident in the Han- sites around the coasts of mainland Southeast Asia after style tombs associated with this period. It is also possible c. 1600 B.P. A second line of evidence consists of a range that brick architectural traditions developed as early as of exotic goods recovered from sites throughout the 1500 B.P. in locations like the Mekong delta and, possi- region. Work at sites like Oc Eo (Vietnam), Ban Don Ta bly, Central Vietnam. Phet (Thailand), and Beikthano (Burma) all indicates

that by 1500 B.P., Southeast Asian coastal communities Ornaments. Many kinds of ornaments have been recov- engaged in trade with Indians, Chinese, and possible ered from excavations of burials from this period, others. Southeast Asia had several goods that Indian ranging from carnelian and glass beads to ornaments traders might have sought, including silk and silk yarn, made of precious metals like gold. Not only do we have tin, copper, and perhaps tortoise shell. Chinese sources evidence for stone and ceramic ornament and bead from the third century A.D. also describe Southeast production (bracelets, rings) and beads; we also see glass Asian trading ships docked at Chinese ports and carried bead and ornament production by c. 1500 B.P. in the 600-700 persons and 10,000 bushels of cargo. Although form of slags, crucibles, scrap glass, and fused glass we lack physical evidence for markets at Southeast products. Glass bead production first began indepen- Asian ports from this period, historians use Chinese dently in India and China by 3200 B.P. and was common documentary material to argue that coastal settlements at contemporary centers across the Indian subcontinent served as entrep6ts and marketplaces for international by 2500 B.P. Whether these artisans made glass locally, commerce. imported glass scrap (broken glass from the Middle International maritime commerce that linked South- East, India, or the Mediterranean), or imported bulk east Asia to China and to India/South Asia played an


important role in the development and shape of settle- in the Pyu area of Burma contain brick architecture that ment systems by the end of this period. In South Asia, may illustrate Chinese descriptions of elite residences, the period beginning c. 2500 B.P. marks the beginning but few dates have been associated directly with these of the Mauryan dynasty, and the Gupta dynasty in architectural remains. Extensive research in the Bac Bo northern India was established c. 1700 B.P. Documen- region suggests that the emergence of state formation tary sources indicate that Indian access to western trade likely brought with it a restriction of access to valued routes may have limited commercial contacts from resources during this period. 2500-2000 B.P., but political shifts and technological changes after 2000 B.P. seem to have encouraged Indian Sociopolitic.,l Organization contact with Darts of Southeast Asia. What historians cannot decipher, however, is the structure and dynamic of local and regional economies, because no systematic research has yet been undertaken to study exchange networks at these levels. These topics lie in the realm of archaeology, and previous archaeological studies have concluded that some exotic goods (in particular, glass and precious metal objects) might have been manufactured locally.

Division of Labor. So little archaeological research has been undertaken on this period that we can say little about the division of labor. Chinese visitors to the Me- kong delta reported craft specialization in metallurgy, sculpture, and other crafts. They did not, however, specify the context of specialist production sufficiently to discuss the degree of specialization or the nature of the work force (e.g., age, gender). Prehistoric archaeological evidence and the ethnographic record suggest that some activities were in the women's domain (like pottery making) and others in the men's, but no major technological changes are evident for a shift in the division of labor during this period. Archaeological analyses also suggest some degree of craft specialization and social stratification by c. 2000 B.P. If this period witnessed the emergence of state-like polities throughout mainland Southeast Asia, it is reasonable to assume that political reorganization also entailed changes in the division of labor. No archaeological research, however, has yet provided conclusive evidence on the nature of these organizational shifts.

Dryerential Access or Control of Resources. Differential access or control of resources can be manifested at several levels, from the residential to the economic. If ethnographic and ethnohistoric information is any guide, then it is likely that the temple-rather than simply powerful individuals-exerted an increasing amount of social and political control as it consolidated resources given as pious donations. Elites likely had access to higher quality materials, but no elite residence has yet been excavated from 2500-1500 B.P. Central areas of some of the larger sites in the Mekong delta and

Social Organization. Changes in mortuary assemblages and settlement patterns that began at least as early as 3000 B.P. suggest a continuous trend toward increased social differentiation and sociopolitical complexity (see "Southeast Asia Neolithic and Early Bronze" tradition, this volume). Few archaeologists have worked with a sufficiently rich data set to make inferences regarding aspects of social organization like marriage practices, family structure, and descent groups for this period. Nor did visitors to the region provide clues regarding the role that descent groups may have played in the social, political, and religious spheres of society during the early historic period. If class and gender stratification existed at 2500 B.P., the archaeological record is mute on the subject. Societies clearly underwent profound cultural changes during this time, in a transition from - autonomous to centralized societies. This was also a time of culture contact, and of exposure to non- Southeast Asian religious ideologies as Indian traders and clergy traveled east.'

The archaeological record also provides little evidence for political authority and its relations with wealth or supernatural power. Most archaeologists believe that the end of this period coincided with the development of the first complex polities and institutionalized inequality, but our only evidence for these institutions comes from the documentary record. By 1500 B.P., clear evidence exists for complex polities whose population centers contained monumental works like city walls, water control features (particularly reservoirs), and areas of restricted elite access. Whether these polities were chiefdoms or nagaras, mandalas, states, state-like entities, or complex proto-states, or even city-states is a matter of continuing debate. Not all archaeologists, however, are willing to extrapolate social structures backward in time from the "Classical period" of Angkor, Pagan, and Sukhothai, and more archaeological research is necessary to understand the nature of sociopolitical organization during this period. - Little is also known about the nature of social control during this period. Construction of large, nucleated (and often moated and walled) sites in most


of the major river valleys and on the Khorat plateau may have begun before 2500/2000 B.P. Lamentably little systematic survey has been undertaken surrounding these large settlements, but extant settlement pattern data suggest that a cluster of satellite settlements surrounded each of these centers. Evidence of physical centralization suggests social control and political/economic centralization, although little archaeological research has focused on these subjects. Mortuary analysis has identified substantial differences in the range and quantity of goods interred with individuals in cemeteries that date to this period; this pattern may provide support for the development of economic and political stratification.

Evidence for conflict between 2500 and 1500 B.P. is equivocal. Although recent models of a peaceful late prehistoric society may be unrealistic, finding clear evidence of conflict that marks this period is problematic. The tradition of encircling major settlements with earthen embankments extends back to at least 3000 B.P. in areas like the Khorat plateau and, perhaps, Eastern Cambodia. At some point between 2500 and 1500 B.P., moated sites begin to appear in central Burma, central and northeastern Thailand, northwest and southern Cambodia, and southern Vietnam. What changes are the media employed in the settlement's walls (from earth to brick or laterite), and archaeologists have not studied these changes in any detail.

Some (but not all) archaeologists believe that these walls or "ramparts" that encircle many larger sites reflect a need for defense. Chinese annals from c. 1400 B.P. describe warfare and conquest for polities of the Mekong delta and in central Burma that reportedly took place at the end of this period. Some archaeologists reason that these features instead represent water control devices in regions where fresh groundwater was scarce; other archaeologists maintain that populations would only have constructed such walls in response to military threats. No skeletal studies have yet revealed evidence for widespread (and perhaps organized) conflict, although this picture may change in coming decades. We have no evidence of specialists in war; nor do we have information regarding the relation of political authority and war. The lack of clear evidence for violent trauma on most skeletons from this period is also problematic.

Religion and Expressive Culture

The beginning of this period was the endpoint of the prehistoric period in mainland Southeast Asia. Prehistoric sites provide little direct evidence for the

study of ancient ideology and the nature of religious beliefs for the time. It seems likely that many beliefs shared by traditional Southeast Asian societies today characterized those in the prehistoric past. These include ancestor worship, forms of animism, and heal- ing through trance or spirit possession in a kind of shamanism; however, we have little archaeological evidence to support claims of this nature.

The recovery of archaeological objects with a South Asian provenance by 2000 B.P. suggests that Indic religions penetrated parts of mainland Southeast Asia in the forms of Saivism and Buddhism. We have archaeological evidence of this religion through the recovery of gold leaf with Indic iconography, crystal amulets shaped like lingam and yoni (Indian fertility symbols), bas-relief sculptural pieces, and possibly, the introduction of a ceramic vessel form called the kendi, which the Chinese Buddhist monk, I-Ching, described as a part of Buddhist ablution rituals in the 6th century A.D. Sites with the strongest evidence of Indian contact postdate 1500 B.P.; still, the pattern of contact with India after 2000 B.P. is found throughout Southeast Asia.

Questions surrounding religious belief-including those examining the nature and roles of religious specialists, their relative prestige, and the existence of shamans-are intriguing. Particularly interesting is the changing relations between indigenous beliefs and introduced ideologies. At this point, however, few archaeologists have studied these topics, in part because of the limited nature of the archaeological record. Except for the Bac Bo region, we have little direct (or indirect) evidence of ceremonies from this period and can say little about the public or private nature of ceremonies, or about their structure.

Recovery and analysis of mortuary remains that date to 2500 B.P. may suggest that ancient Southeast Asians may have practiced ceremonies as part of the interment process. We currently have equivocal chro- nometric dates for the appearance of brick mortuary features throughout the Mekong delta. Recently published radiocarbon dates from Vietnamese sites place the beginning of brick architectural construction at the end of the period under consideration (i.e., at some point around 1500 B.P.). These features, although still poorly understood, suggest the existence of ceremonial practices that might be associated with a religious ideology. The inclusion of cremations in some features, and of stone sculptural remains in others, suggests organized religion. The strongest evidence for these features, however, postdates 1500 B.P., and we have little convincing evidence of ceremonial behavior before that time.


Arts. Although populations likely practiced a wide Bronson, B. (1992). "Patterns in the Early Southeast Asian Metals

range of expressive arts during this period, few of these Trade". In Early Metallurgy, Trade and Urban Centres in Thailand and Southeast Asia, ed. I. Glover, P. Suchitta, and J. Villiers,

arts used nonperishable media. Perhaps the single most Bangkok: White Lotus, 6s114. impressive exception is metallurgy and the artistic Bronson, B., and J. White (1992). "Radiocarbon and Chronology in brilliance achieved in bronze working most evident in Southeast Asia". In Chronologies in Old World Archaeology, vols. I

the Dong Son tradition (Bat Bo region). Echoing and 2, ed. R. W. Ehrich. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 491-

technological traditions found in the Lake Dian region (vo~. 475-515 (vO1. 2). Charoenwongsa, P., and B. Bronson (1988). Prehistoric Studies: The of southern China, artisans cast large and ornate bronze and Metal Ages in Thailnnd. Bangkok: Thai Antiquity

drums decorated with elaborate designs and requiring Workina GrouD. substantial skill. The Sa Huynh tradition of northern Coed&, G. (1988). The Indianized States of Southeast Asia, ed. Vietnam also produced traditions of ceramic manufac- W. F. Vella, trans. S. B. Cowing. Honolulu: University of Hawaii

ture and stone ornament working (the ling-lingo) that Dudal, R., F. Moormann, and R. Riquier (1974). "Soils of Humid reflect a high degree of and aesthetic exper- Tropical Asiaw, In Natural Resources of Hmid Tropical Asia. Paris:

tise. At some point soon after 1500 B.P., a tradition of UNESCO, stoneworking (in architecture and sculpture) appears Glover, I. C. (1989). Early Trade between Indian and Southeast Asia, that leaves a lasting mark. Earthenware ceramics were 2nd ed. Hull: Center for South-East Asian studies.

the most common relic of artistic expression, but almost Heaqey, L. R. (1991). "A Synopsis of climatic and Vegetational Change in Southeast Asia". Climatic Change 19: 53-61.

no rock art Or art has been associated with the Higham, C. F. W. (1989). The Archaeology of Mainland Southeast period from 2500 to 1500 B.P. Asia. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Information about beliefs about death and afterlife Higham, C. F. W. (1996a). The Bronze Age of Southeast Asia. for this period derive primarily from mortuary sites. The existence of large, organized cemeteries suggests the importance that ancient populations placed on death and on interment. Variation in grave goods, and the consistent association of human burials with earthenware jars, might indicate a shared belief in an afterlife for which the deceased individual must be equipped. Burial traditions vary from one site to the next: although extended burials are common, secondary (or redepos- ited) burials have also been found. The fact that vreviouslv excavated sites do not contain abundant

Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Higham, C. F. W. (1996b). "A Review of Archaeology in Mainland

Southeast Asia". Journal of Archaeological Research 4: 3-50. Higham, C. F. W., and R. Thosarat (1998). Prehistoric Thailand From

Early Settlement to Sukhothai. Bangkok: River Books. Hutterer, K. (1982). "Early Southeast Asia: Old Wine In New Skins?-

A Review Article". Journal of Asian Studies 41: 55S570. Kennedy, J. (1977). "From Stage to Development in Prehistoric

Thailand: An Exploration of the Origins of Growth, Exchange, arid Variability in Southeast Asia". In Economic Exchange and Social Interaction in Southeast Asia: Perspectives from Prehistory, History, and Ethnography, ed. K. L. Hutterer. Michigan Papers on South and Southeast Asia No. 13. Ann Arbor: Center for South and Southeast

evidence of cremated remains suggests that Indic influ- Asian Studies, University of ~ ich igan , 23-38.

ences affected the population differentially. Kijngam, A., C. Higham, and W. Wiriyaromp (1980). Prehistoric Settlement Patterns in Northeast Thailand. Dunedin: University of

Suggested Readings

Aung-Thwin, M. (1982-83). "Burma before Pagan: The Status of Archaeology Today". Asian Perspectives 25 (2): 1-22.

Bamber, S. (1993). "Diseases of Antiquity and the Premodern Period in Southeast Asia". In The Cambridge World History of Human Disease, ed. K. F . Kiple. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, U 6 .

Basa, K. K., I. Glover, and J. Henderson (1990). "The Relationship between Early Southeast Asian and Indian Glass". Bulletin of the Indo-Pacifc Prehistory Association 1: 366385.

Bayard, D. (1992). "Models, Scenarios, Variables and Suppositions: Approaches to the Rise of Social Complexity in Mainland Southeast Asia, 700 ox.-500 A.D." In Early Metallurgy, Trade and Urban Centres in Thailand and Southeast Asia, ed. I. Glover, P. Suchitta, and J. Villiers. Bangkok: White Lotus, 13-38.

Bellwood, P. (1992). "Southeast Asia Before History". In The Cambridge History of Southeast Asia, vol. I , ed. N. Tarling. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 55-136.

Bentley, G. C. (1986). "Indigenous States of Southeast Asia". Annual Review of Anthropology 15: 275-305.

Otago Studies in Prehistoric Anthropology, vol. 15. Mabbett, I. (1977). "The 'Indianization' of Southeast Asia: Reflections

on the Prehistoric Sources". Journal of Southeast Asian Studies 8 (1): 1-14.

Malleret, L,. (195963). L'ArchaeoIogie du Delta du Mekong, 4 vols. Paris: L'Ecole Frangise d'Extr6me Orient.

Maloney, B. K. (1992). "Late Holocene Climatic Change in Southeast Asia: The Palynological Evidence and Its Implications for Archae- ology". World Archaeology 24 (1): 25-34.

Manguin, P.-Y. (1996). "Southeast Asian Shipping in the Indian Ocean during the First Millennium A.D." In Tradition and Archae- ology: Early Maritime Contacts in the Indian Ocean, ed. H . P. Ray and J.-F. Salles. New Delhi: Manohar, 181-198.

Miksic, J. (1990). "Settlement Patterns and Sub-Regions in Southeast Asia". Review of Indonesian and Malaysian Axairs 24: 86144.

Ng, R. C. Y. (1979). "The Geographic Habitat of Historical Settlement in Mainland South East Asia." In Early South Ecrrt Asia: Essays in Archaeology, History, and Historical Geography, ed. R. B. Smith and W. Watson. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 262-272.

Ray, H. P. (1994). The Winds of Change: Buddhism and the Maritime Links of Early South Asia. Delhi: Oxford University Press.


Smith, R. B., and W. Watson, ed. (1979). Early South East Asia: Essays in Archaeology, History, and Historical Geography. New York: Oxford University Press.

Stark, M. T. (1998). "The Transition to History in the Mekong Delta: A View from Cambodia". International Journal of Historical Archaeology 2 (3): 175-204.

Stark, M. T, and J. Allen. (1998). "The Transition to History in Southeast Asia: An Introduction". Internafional Journal of Historical Archaeology 2 (3): 163-175.

Wheatley, P. (1983). Nagara and Commandery: Origins of the Southeast Asian Urban Traditions. Research Papers Nos. 207-208. Chicago: Department of Geography, University of Chicago.

White, J., and V. Pigott (1996). "From Community Craft to Regional Specialization: Intensification of Copper Production in Pre-state Thailand". In Craft Specialization and Social Evolution: In Memory of V. Gordon Childe, ed. B. Wailes. Philadelphia: University Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, University of Penn- sylvania, 151-175.

Wolters, 0. W. (1982). History, Culture and Region in Southeast Asian Perspectives. Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies.

SUBTRADITIONS

Bac Bo Region (Northern Vietnam)

LOCATION: The Bac Bo region surrounds the Gulf of Bac Bo and includes the Red river (Song Hong) and Black river (Song Ca) and the Thanh Hoa and Vinh plains that these rivers have created. The Red river is approximately 1200 km in length and has two primary tributaries: the Song Lo (Clear river) and the Song Da (Black river).

DIAGNOSTIC MATERIAL A ~ U T E S : Wooden boat-coffin burials, large moated and walled sites, ring-based earthenware cooking pots; wooden artifacts (bowls, discs, hafts, boxes, and figurines); bronze drums, jars, thap (large cylinders), and other bronze containers; bronze armaments (spears, javelins, fighting axes, arrows, daggers, shields or breastplates, swords); bronze utilitarian goods (awls, chisels, needles, fishhooks, scrapers); bangles (rings and bracelets); and farming tools (socketed spades, axes, plowshares or hoes). Dong Son culture is most famous, however, for its elaborately decorated bronze drums.

CULTURAL SUMMARY

By c. 4000 B.P., we see the emergence of relatively dense settlement above the confluence of the Red and

Black rivers, in the Middle Country. Vietnamese archaeologists assign these sites to the Phung Nguyen culture, and they tend to cover 1-3 ha in area. This occupational horizon seems contemporaneous with Khorat plateau sites like Non Nok Tha and Ban Chiang (Higham 1989b: 252-254). Two useful English-language reviews of Dong Son are found in Higham (1989a: 192- 203) and Higham (1996: 73-135). A documentary record exists for the period that begins after c. 2000 B.P. and describes a collection of populations the Han Chinese described as the Yiieh people who likely included groups in and around southern coastal China and Northern Vietnam (Hui-Lin Li 1979; O'Harrow 1979). Linking the prehistoric and historic sources remains a challenge in the study of the Bac Bo region for the period 2500- 1500 B.P.

Environment

These three adjoining deltas (i.e., the Red river, Black river, and Thanh Hoa plain) are separated only by low ridges, form an extensive alluvial lowland that covers some 60,000 sq mi (Robinson 1967: 310). This delta is flat, triangular, and subject to frequent flooding: it was created through alluvial deposition over a period of millennia and advances 100 m into the Gulf of Tonkin each year. The altitude across the entire delta rarely exceeds 3 m above sea level, and much of it is 1 m or less. The area experiences frequent flooding, but has a less extreme climate than areas to the south and west because of the moist winds that move across the Gulf of Bac Bo during the dry season and moisten the lowlands (see also Higham 1989a: 192). Waterbird iconography (of cranes, herons, and egrets) on bronze drums and thap containers from this region suggests that the artisans who made these drums lived around a lake or in a deltaic lowland in which waterbirds were a common sight.

Dong Son is simultaneously a location, an archaeological "culture," and an art style. The type site for Dong Son culture is located on the south bank of the Ma river near Thanh Hoa in northern Vietnam (see special entry). It was at this site that Louis Pajot and, later, Olov Janse, conducted excavations of a cemetery that contained bronze and iron objects, ceramics, imported semiprecious stones, earthenware pottery, and artifacts of Chinese provenance. The French colonialist interpretation of Vietnamese culture main- tained that indigenous Vietnamese remained at a rudimentary level of complexity until they were an- nexed by the Chinese. Today, archaeologists agree on an indigenous origin for the Dong Son culture, which

Mainland Southeast Asia

begins c. 2500 B.P. (Chinh and Tien 1980; Higham 1989a, 1996). Dong Son culture is associated with the portion of the early historic period before substantial Han Chinese domination of the region: c. 2500- 1800 B.P.

Historical accounts note that the Dong Son culture faded immediately after the Han Chinese took Northern Vietnam under their control, at least in a nominal sense, c. 21 11 B.P. It is also at this time that we see population nucleation and the first well-dated moated and walled settlements in the Bac Bo region. Full Chinese rule of the Bac Bo region did not occur until c. 1957 B.P. and was accompanied by indigenous resistance to the northern colonizers.

Interestingly, this bronze-based culture thrived precisely during the period in which neighboring areas embraced iron-working technology. Although Dong Son sites contain some iron artifacts (and some bimetallic artifacts of iron and bronze), it is bronze, rather than iron, that dominates the assemblages of these "Iron Age" sites. For example, Janse found both Dong Son and Han-style brick tombs at the type site of Dong Son. Although both types of tombs contained similar coins, beads, and ceramics, bronze objects we now associate with Dong Son occurred rarely in the Han tombs (Janse 1958: 35). Dong Son drums display an artistic level reaching perfection that few cultures of the time could rival. The Dong Son drums, especially the early. ones, were decorated with detailed images of objects, humans, and animals that offer a window into economic, social, and political aspects of the Bac Bo world at c. 2500 B.P.

Settlements

Few settlement pattern surveys of Dong Son sites have been undertaken, in part because of differences in regional archaeological traditions. By 1979, a total of 90 Dong Son sites had been identified from the Red, Ma, and Ca river deltas (Hoang and Bui 1980). Dong Son drums (the diagnostic indicator for this archaeological tradition) are commonly associated with mortuary sites (and caches) rather than residential sites. Key sites include Dong Son (Goloubew 1929, 1937; Ha Van Tan 1980), Viet Khe and Chau Can (see English language review in Higham [1996: 11 1-1221). No published study has yet investigated the existence of settlement hierarchies or special purpose communities between 2500 and 1500 B.P. in the Bac Bo region.

Similarly, little is known about community organization and the morphology of the average Bac Bo :ommunity. Although many of these sites were large

(e.g., Lang Ca reportedly had 309 graves, and Lang Vac reportedly contains 100 graves [Higham 1996: 1 1-1 19]), we have an incomplete picture of the settlement system and community structure. Changes at the end of the period are clearer in the construction of large moated settlements at various points in the delta. One example of this trend lies in the site of Co Loa, which dates to the end of the Dong son period and ultimately covered 600 ha, including three sets of "ramparts" (e.g., Higham 1989a: 194-195, 1996: 109-1 11). Most archaeologists and historians believe that the Bac Bo region housed a socially stratified, semiurban society by c. 1500 B.P. If Bac Bo populations were part of Yiieh culture, the Chinese describe communal houses for this period (Hui-Lin Li 1979: 13).

Iconography from bronze drums and data from the type site (Dong Son) yield some information on the nature of housing during this period (see special entry). Olov Janse's 1936 excavations at the type site also produced clear evidence of residential structures in the form of wooden house foundations and associated residential material (Janse 1958). These archaeological remains, and images of raised houses on piles (some with attached granaries) on bronze drums, resemble houses built on stilts that rural Southeast Asians inhabit today. Some of the depicted houses are large and have overhanging saddle roofs. Excepting the site of Dong Son, archaeological evidence for early . historic period habitations in the Bac Bo region is still rare.

Little is known of the population size in the Bac Bo region from c. 2500-2000 B.P. The first Han Chinese census of the region in 1998 B.P. concluded that the Han-occupied regions of what are now Southern China and Northern Vietnam contained more than 980,000 inhabitants; this area was the most densely populated section of the Han empire south of the Yangtze river (O'Harrow 1979: 156). Osteoarchaeological evidence for this period is scant, in part because of poor bone preservation in the delta soils. The Nan-fang ts'ao- mu chuang (Plants of the southern regions), written c. 1700 B.P. by Chi Han, is one of the oldest inventories on tropical and subtropic plants and focuses on central and northern Vietnam (formerly Annam and Tonkin), along with southern China (Hui-Lin Li 1979). Chi Han's lists of medicinal plants suggest a range of common illnesses for this period, like gas and indiges- tion (treated with cardamom [Hui-Lin Li 1979: 38]), fever and chills (treated with wild ginger tea [39]), various childhood diseases (quisqualis was used as an antihelminthic [55]), and hangovers (treated with sugarcane syrup [57]).


Sociopolitical Organizatibn

In large part because the period 2500-1500 B.P. crosses into the historic period, historians and archaeologists have offered inferences about sociopolitical organization in the Bac Bo region. Keith Taylor (1983: 12-13), for example, noted that Lac ("ditch" or "canal") is the earliest recorded name for the Vietnam- ese people during the early historic period. If the Lac are the creators of the Dong Son archaeological tradition, then women occupied a prominent role in this society. Some scholars (e.g., O'Harrow 1979; Taylor 1983) used this linkage to argue that a matrilineal or bilateral descent system existed prior to the Han invasion c. 2111 B.P. According to this approach, inheritance systems and perhaps even descent rules changed under Han Chinese control. Using archaeological sources,

- ~ n r ~ r l 3 f ~ o n t m c t e d ~ i t h e r o n g S o n - culture had it roots in local segmentary village communities that developed into hierarchical systems that relied on the manufacture and circulation of sumptuary bronze goods in an age of iron.

The Bac Bo region presents a situation in which archaeologists must infer changes in political organization that occurred before the introduction of a written record (i.e., before c. 1800 B.P.). The archaeological data suggeA a continuous trend toward population expansion from c. 4000 B.P., and Higham (1989b: 259-263) contended that the Bac Bo region contains the clearest trends toward centralization from 2500-1500 B.P. Evi- dence from large Dong Son cemeteries and the construction of Co Loa after c. 2000 B.P. (a walled and moated settlement), are suggestive of such trends.

The proliferation of mortuary sites for the Dong Son - tradition provides a skewed picture of social stratification, in which at least some elite members of society were interred in "boat burials" at the Dong Son sites of Viet Khe and Chau Can (for parallel in the Chao Phraya basin, see notes on Tham Ongbah). These "boat burials" were hollowed logs with abundant artifacts. i n L u d l n g b r o U & m = - -

axes and spearheads (occasionally with their wooden hafts in place), earrings made of a tin-lead alloy, bronze daggers and swords, and situlae (large bronze bucket- shaped vessels). After c. 1900 B.P., burials also contained materials of Chinese origin, like Chinese seals, coins, mirrors, and halberds (Higham 1989a: 194-195).

Vietnamese historians view the early historic period (and Dong Son) as the period of the earliest state formation. Documentary records identify this period with Van Lang and the 18 Hung Kings. Historical accounts suggest that this earliest Vietnamese state was

ruled by a royal dynasty and a professional administra- tive class, bound together through hereditary privilege, mutual obligation, and personal loyalty (see also Maspero 1918). The fact that Bac Bo is located just south of the expanding Chinese states during this period suggests that Bac Bo populations interacted (directly or indirectly) with their neighbors to the north (see also Higham 1996; O'Harrow 1979). How this interaction may have affected local political organization before c. 1800 B.P. remains unclear. After that time, early historic settlements display increasing Chinese influence in portable goods (coins, mirrors, ironwork) and mortuary traditions (brick tombs).

Growing populations and emergent political control are often associated with conflict; the archaeological record of Dong Son holds suggestions that warfare

_ e ~ ~ ~ w t x e + a m s q g ~ ~ l o n ~ One review of Dong Son sites by Chinh and Tien (1980: 64) noted that c. 50 percent of the Dong Son bronze implements recovered from many sites are weapons, which the authors interpreted as clear evidence for militarism and/or ethnic warfare. The fact that bronze drum iconography includes armed wamors in boats and many kinds of weapons (e.g., crossbow, javelin, hatchet, spear, dagger, and body shield) is also notable. Physical anthropologists have reported little evidence of physical trauma that might reflect violence in burial populations, however, but poor bone preservation obstructs the most earnest efforts to study paleopathology. Chinese accounts of war ships and a crossbow technology after c. 2000 B.P. (Hui-Lin Li 1979: 13) in coastal Southern China might have also applied to the Bac Bo region.

Economic Organization

Broad outlines of the subsistence system seem clear from archaeological and iconographic evidence, although no paleoenvironmental studies of the period have been published in western languages to date. Wet-

I.iee-cuftivatim,*maf ciamsticario~ Ti id the p l o L tation of riverine and coastal resources likely formed the foundation of the Dong Son economy. Images on bronze drums portray activities associated with production such as people carrying plows, buffaloes and oxen working the fields, and farmers pounding rice and winnowing grain. Some archaeologists (e.g., Nguyen Duy Hinh 1984) argue that the Dong Son population used hydraulic techniques in their farming, particularly tidal irrigation and draft animals (also see Tessitore 1990: 35). By the period of Han Chinese contact, populations in this general region apparently practiced


rice cultivation, irrigation, and slope-terracing (Hui-Lin Li 1979: 13).

Early historic period information on subsistence is also accessible through the Chinese natural historian Chi Han's ethnobotany of Vietnam and southern China (Hui-Lin Li 1979). By c. 1600 B.P., Chi Han listed a variety of plant domesticates in that general region (Hui-Lin Li 1979: 18-19). Fruits and nuts included (but were not limited to) banana, lichee, coconut, orange (sweet, Mandarin), longan, and date palm. Several kinds of palms were recorded, and also rape-turnip, eggplant, and Chinese spinach. Yam and sugarcane. were also noted. Spices included cardamon, pepper, nutmeg, and cloves. Populations used henna and sappanwood as dyes, and several plants for fiber (banana, fan palm, sugar palm, honey-fragrance/gharuwood tree, tan bamboo). Other plans were used to extract perfume and incense from Pogostemon, sweet gum, frankincense, gharuwood, water pine, and laka wood. Some of these plants had been introduced into Southeast Asia even earlier (c. 2200 B.P.), including jasmine, sambac, date palm, citron, and pepper (Hui-Lin Li 1979: 24).

Few archaeological sites (with exceptions like Xuan La; see below) contain perishable materials that played such an important role in daily life during the early histohc period. Chinese sources, however, inform on the nature of some industrial arts after c. 1600 B.P. Not only did people use fan palms to make palm rain hats (Hui- Lin Li 1979: 63), but they produced textiles by using fibers from various plants that included the banana and bamboo. By boiling banana stems or soaking them in lime water to extract the fibers, people produced soft fibers that were finer than silk (Hui-Lin Li 1979: 13, 17). Sugar palm was used to make ropes for sewn plank boats (Hui-Lin Li 1979: 90), and people used many woods and wood products in construction and manufacture, including sweet gum, cassia, bauhinia, giant's rattle, water pine, and five kinds of bamboo (Hui-Lin Li 1979: 20). Shih-lin bamboo was used to make knives (Hui-Lin Li 1979: 134). Artifacts recovered from burials at Xuan La include preserved wooden artifacts such as bowls, discs, hafts, boxes, and figurines (Higham 1996: 118) but do not corroborate Chi Han's inventories of more perishable materials.

Standard utensils made of nonorganic materials included goods of stone, earthenware ceramic, and metal. Archaeologists have recovered ring-based earthenware cooking pots and ceramic spindle whorls, grooved net sinkers, and stone utensils. Janse (1958: 79-84) found two varieties of earthenware pottery at Dong Son: one indigenous (or locally manufactured) variety that he believed was poorly fired, and one well-

fired variety of wheelmade that he believed were nonlocal (or Chinese) ceramics. Indigenous pottery takes the form of ring-based, globular, cord-marked vessels that were likely used for cooking. Most locally made vessels that Janse (1958: Plates 51-59) illustrated consist of flare-rimmed or hemispherical jars and bowls. Chinese stamped earthenware vessels consist of jars (with and without lugs) and hemispherical bowls (e.g., Janse 1958: Plates 60-63). Some evidence exists for local ceramic production. Near Dong Son are two groups of kilns at the neighboring site of Tam-tho, and these kilns might have been in operation as early as c. 2000 B.P.

(Janse 1958: 83, footnote 149). The most extraordinary medium of material culture

in this regional tradition consists of bronze. Artisans manufactured bronze axes (square, shouldered, heeled, and some decorated), bronze military weapons (spears, javelins,. fighting axes, arrows, shields or breastplates, swords), bronze utilitarian goods (awls, chisels, needles, fishhooks, scrapers), bronze bangles (rings and bracelets), and bronze farming tools (socketed spades, plowshares, or hoes). In some cases, bronze daggers recovered from sites like Lang Vac were adorned with anthropomorphic figures (Higham 1996: 120-1 21). Al- though some of these goods may have played utilitarian roles, their recovery from mortuary contexts and their association with wooden log burials suggest that bronze was an important sumptuary item in Bac Bo society - during this time.

The two most notable forms of bronze goods consist of the bronze drum and the bronze thap. An extensive literature has developed that focuses on Dong Son bronze drums and cannot be reviewed in detail here. Some research focuses on typological classification, seriation, and the distribution of Dong Son drums across Southeast Asia (e.g., Bernet Kempers 1988; Imamura 1993; Peacock 1964, 1965; Pham Huy Thong 1983; Srarensen 1983, 1990), while other research inves- tigates aspects of production technology and its spread across the region (e.g., Hollmann and Spennemann 1985; Loofs-Wissowa 1983; Spenneman 1987). Art historians have also offered interpretations of the iconography that is evident on the bronze drums and other large vessels, like the thap (e.g., Loofs-Wissowa 1991).

Dong Son drums were made through the lost-wax method, required substantial amounts of raw material, and were generally adorned with zoomorphic and anthropomorphic decorations. These hollow vessels commonly have a flat top, straight (or out flaring) walls, and splayed feet. In 1902, Franz Heger, an Austrian ethnographer, published a study in which he


classified the Southeast Asian bronze drums into on the iconography and technology of the drums, with a four main types known as Heger Types I to IV. The secondary interest in mortuary studies. Consequently, Heger classification, which categorized the bronze we have only indirect evidence for distributional systems drums by their shape, dimension, weight, decorative and for reconstructing ancient trade networks. Although design, chemical composition, and casting techniques, the largest concentration of Dong Son-style drums is has helped to seriate bronze drum finds throughout found in the Bac Bo region, these bronze drums have mainland Southeast Asia. The bronze thap is form of been recovered from sites in Thailand, Laos, Burma, tall jar with slightly tapering sides and strap handles Western Malaysia, and Indonesia as far east as Irian (often with a lid) that comes in large and small sizes Jaya (Higham 1989a, 1996). The recovery of six bronze (small ones found in mortuary contexts). Vessel walls drums from the western Chao Phraya region (Tham of thap are often covered with decoration (either Ongbah cave; see Chao Phraya regional subtradition) geometric or anthropomorphic) and serve as burial urns suggests some level of interaction between northern for cremations or as receptacles for human heads Vietnam and central Thailand (see also Higham 1989b: (Davidson 1979: 110-1 1 1). 264-265). Interestingly, at least 56 drums have been

Just why bronze objects-and particularly large recovered from the Sunda region of Indonesia (i.e., Java, receptacles-characterize the Bac Bo region during the Sumatra, and the southern Moluccas). "Iron Age" in the rest of mainland Southeast Asia Based on this distributional patterning, one might be (including other parts of Vietnam) remains puzzling. tempted to conclude that populations in the Bac Bo Some Vietnamese archaeologists (e.g., Chinh and Tien region had far-flung economic and political ties to other 1980: 64) contend that this tradition developed in the regions in Southeast Asia. Problematic proveniences Bac Bo region because the region contains rich sources (and, often, the lack of provenience information alto- of metal ores needed to smelt bronze. The sheer amount gether) for Dong Son drums found outside northern of raw material required to manufacture a single drum Vietnam limit the nature of interpretation possible provides one indicator of the vast amount of raw regarding trade. We can trace the importance of the materials necessary for this tradition. For example, Dong Son culture by the wide distribution of Dong Son Nguyen Duy Hinh (1984: 185) noted that a single bronze drums, but cannot discover the nature of political and drum recovered from the site of Co Loa weighs c. 72 kg economic contact or control over these distant areas by and would have required 100&7000 kg of crude ore to the "Dong Son core." It is even possible that some of manufacture. In Vietnam, approximately 140 drums these drums circulated decades or centuries after their were discovered in many locations throughout Vietnam production date, particularly because areas where the from the land region of the north to the plains of the drums have been found also contain evidence of south and as far as to the Phu Quoc island. international maritime trade.

Based on their iconography and technology, Dong The very existence of Dong Son drums suggests an Son drums seem to have originated in what is now advanced level of craft specialization that was, perhaps, northern Vietnam (Bellwood 1997: 277-284). For ex- unrivaled in the rest of mainland Southeast Asia during ample, one burial from the Lang Ca cemetery contained this time. No research has yet focused on the division the remains of a crucible that could have held 12 kg of of labor in terms of either age or gender. Higham molten bronze (Higham 1989b: 261). Scholars have (1996: 116, 130-131) contended that differences in the traditionally traced the bronze-casting technology to quality of mortuary assemblages at some Dong Son Northern China, although most archaeological research sites (i.e., Viet Khe, Chau Can) suggest differential in recent decades suggests an indigenous origin for these access to the services of craft specialists. One burial goods that extends no further south than what is now from Lang Ca contains bronze manufacturing tools Yunnan province, in southern China. This indigenous (including ceramic casting molds and an associated interpretation is supported by the work of modern crucible) that might reflect the individual's role as a Vietnamese archaeologists. They have found that the metalworker (Higham 1996: 119). Questions posed by iconography of the earliest Dong Son drums shares political economists working elsewhere in the world structural features and designs with earthenware pottery regarding the contexts of production and consumption of the preceding Phung Nguyen culture (see also have not yet been asked for the Bac Bo region. On the Higham 1996: 73-1 82). production side, it remains unclear whether craft

No western-language reports have been published specialists worked directly for elites as attached spe- that focus specifically on Bac Bo trade networks from cialists (following Costin [1991]) or whether they 2500 to 1500 B.P. Most Dong Son research has focused worked independently. Likewise, few studies have


systematically studied the distribution of mortuary goods at Dong Son cemeteries to study the nature of consumption. Using ethnographic analogy with tribal Vietnamese, Janse (1958: 37) suggested that Dong Son drums were owned communally but curated by village chiefs. Determining whether bronze drums were communal or individual property through intrasite spatial analysis might shed light on the nature of sociopolitical organization during this time.


The rich iconography found on bronze drums and thap provides a window into the religious and expressive culture of Bac Bo populations that is unparalleled throughout the region for this period. So, too, does the documentary record that begins after c. 2000 B.P. (Hui- Lin Li 1979; Maspero 1918; O'Harrow 1979) and describes populations that the Han Chinese described as the Yueh people. The Yueh people likely included a broad collection of groups in and around southern coastal China and (according to some [e.g., O'Harrow 1979: 144-1451) Northern Vietnam. According to the Chinese, Yiieh populations practiced boat racing, had dragon myths (and serpent worship), and engaged in tattooing: "The spiritual life of these people' was dominated by dragon or snake worship. They were known to their contemporaries in the north as a highly superstitious people who practiced witchcraft" (Hui-Lin Li 1979: 13). Populations also used laka wood as incense to summon ancestral spirits (Hui-Lin Li 1979: 103). Whether the Bac Bo population was technically considered Yueh or whether the Yueh lived farther north, iconography from the bronze drums accords well with descriptions of Yueh customs and may elaborate on such documentary sources.

At the broadest level, ceremonies and celebrations appear to have been large social events, replete with music, dance, and other forms of display. The Ngoc Lu drum, found in 1893 in H a . Nam Ninh province southeast of Hanoi, includes plumed dancing figures in a type of kilt and high feathered headdress, musicians playing a board of gongs, and groups of figures playing bronze drums. Some Dong Son sites, like Viet Khe and Dong Son, have produced evidence of musical instruments like drums, bells, and rattles (Higham 1996: 114; Janse 1958: 63-69). Bronze drums also depict images of dancers, musicians, and musical instruments. There were bronze drums, bells, castanets, the senhs (bamboo cylinders taped to the arm or leg that rattle when dancing), and the khens (panpipes with four to six long pipes attached to a resonance box). On the Ngoc Lu and

Hoang Ha drums, images of Dong Son people sit in line on the floor beating the bronze drums with drumsticks. Dancers in ceremonial garments move in a counter- clockwise direction, each dancer holding an instrument or a weapon with one hand while the other hand forms some rhythmic gesture.

The precise function of such ceremonies remains unclear. Were these fertility rites? Funerary rituals? Victory celebrations? Chinese annals describe water rituals and rainmaking rituals that were closely associated with agriculture; the frog (or toad) iconography that is commonly associated with bronze drums is linked directly with water (Hui-Lin Li 1979: 14). Goloubew's (1932: 137-144) ethnographic research among highland tribal peoples like the Muong, and iconography on similar drums from Yunnan, suggested to him that bronze drums were modeled after drums of skin drawn over perishable cane or wood frames. Among the Muong, each bronze drum was suspended on rattan straps off the ground and hung above a circular hole for resonance: "A minimum of six drummers including a drum-major stood in a circle around it and beat it with long poles, exactly as if they were pounding grain in character" (Davidson 1979: 109; see also Bernet Kem- pers 1988). The tribal Muong beat such drums at most public ceremonies, including rice rituals, marriages, and funerals, to venerate their ancestors.

Insights into Dong Son beliefs about death and an - afterlife derive from mortuary sites and from bronze drum iconography. The association of elite burials with opulent bronze goods suggests parallels between the mortal social system and that of the afterlife. Linkages between living people and their ancestors seem close, not unlike those found across much of mainland Southeast Asia today. Following this logic, death may have been commemorated in a public fashion. Beliefs about the afterlife, reincarnation, and ghosts in the Bac Bo region during the early historic period, however, remain opaque to archaeologists today.

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Chao Phraya Plain (Thailand)

LOCATION: Central Thailand, but includes areas along the western part of the valley.

DIACSOSTIC MATERI.AL AITRIBUTES: Large, moated sites (some with earthen walls), pedestaled earthenware pottery, knobbed-ware pottery, high-tin bronze bowls, carnelian beads and pendants made of semiprecious stones (e.g., agate. amethyst, carnelian), iron tools.

MAJOR TRADITION: Mainland Southeast Asia Late Pre- historic.

CULTURAL SUMMARY

As elsewhere in mainland Southeast Asia, populations in the Chao Phraya basin underwent profound


changes in settlement and social organization from 2500 evapotranspiration rates in the soils (Cremaschi et al. to 1500 B.P., which qualitatively changed the structure of 1992: 176). society (Bronson 1979; Glover 1989, 1991). We know The western edge of the Chao Phraya plain contains less about the Chao Phraya region than, for example, the Three Pagodas pass, which may have provided the Bac Bo and Khorat areas. The western edge of the overland access to points west (including India). Inter- Chao Phraya basin included the Three Pagodas pass national contact and commerce may also have occurred and access to South Asia. The southern portion of by way of the Gulf of Siam. The fact that this region has the region included the Gulf of Siam and multiple early and substantial evidence for international contact destination points for foreign visitors. Archaeological may be explained by its optimal location, which research in the Chao Phraya basin has identified facilitated movement and contact in most directions. trends toward political centralization, integration into an international maritime network to the west and Settlements east, increased population density, and growing social stratification from 2500 to 1500 B.P. These changes, Most archaeological sites dating from 2500- with regional variation, continued after 1500 B.P. into 1500 B.P. discovered thus far are concentrated in the the Dvaravati period (see summaries in Higham 1989: western, eastern, and northern sections of the Chao 204-209; - _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ - - - Higham and Thosarat 1998: 135-144). - P h r a v d a s h AMm&urchaeologistsWM&* -

historic sites, the lack of supporting regional surveys in .most areas precludes much discussion of changes in Environment settlement patterns through time throughout the basin.

The Chao Phraya basin contains a series of rivers An exception lies in Lopburi province. Results from (including the Nan, Ping, Wang, and Yom) that descend surveys in this region suggest trends toward centraliza- from the highlands and mountains in the north, west, tion (with surrounding satellite settlements), a marked and east to unite in the lowlands as the greater Chao increase in bronze working, and the adoption of iron Phraya watershed. This large system drains about one- by c. 2500 B.P. (Ho 1992; Mudar 1993). In Central third of Thailand's territory today. Marine transgres- Thailand, a central-place hierarchy that is evident in the sions and changing sea levels characterize the Holocene succeeding Dvaravati period (Vallibhotama 1986, 1992) in this region. Central portions of the system (along the may have begun by c. 1500 B.P. Chao Phraya river from below Sing Buri to Ayutthaya, Systematic settlement pattern studies, involving Bangkok, and Samut Prakan) may have been inundated pedestrian survey, yield some information on the loca- as recently as 2000 B.P., and marine clays that extend as tion and nature of settlement systems between 2500 and deep as 14 m cover these areas (Mudar 1993: 29). 1500 B.P. (Ho 1992; Mudar 1995). In general, moated Interestingly, this central area also lacks evidence for sites are found along the fringe of the alluvial plain and late prehistoric and early historic sites; if they existed, along secondary drainage systems. Work done in flood deposits have buried them (Bronson 1979: 320). the northern and western areas of the basin suggests Sites are instead found along the western, eastern, and that settlement hierarchies characterized the region northern edges of the basin (also see Saraya 1989: 174- by c. 1500 B.P. At the top of each hierarchy was a 175; Vallibhotama 1992: 126). The southern part of the large, moated settlement center; satellite settlements region is the Chao Phraya delta and consists of an area surrounded it, radiating out in different directions (e.g., of low-lying tidal swamps and mangrove forests. Ho 1992: 43; Mudar 1995; Saraya 1989: 179; Vallibho-

-- &day,* €%tmPhr%~a*lHasa m b h a * n o r - ~ ~ . ~ ~ e ~ e T a t e l l i t e T o K ~ n i t i e s n ~ ~ e d

Holocene alluvial soils and marine clays. Some regions, in craft manufacture for the center, as Stargardt (1990) like the Lopburi area, also have outcrops of laterite and suggested occurred among the Pyu, has not yet been calcium carbonate (Cremaschi et al. 1992: Figure 1). investigated. Evidence for craft-manufacturing activities Most areas are subject to seasonal flooding in the in and around large settlements in the Lopburi area late wet season (August-October), when the rivers (Ciarla 1992) might suggest that such activities were bring the monsoon rains down to the sea. Geomorpho- widely practiced, both within moated settlements and logical research in the Lopburi region suggests the beyond them. possibility of anthropogenic change in the last 2000 Variability in regional systems may have character- years. For example, metallurgical activity (smelting) ized the Chao Phraya basin by 1500 B.P. Satellite may have led to intense deforestation, which caused settlements linked to the moated centers are often slope degradation, increased fluvial activity, and higher indicated, archaeologically, by the presence of burial


grounds and religious monuments (Vallibhotama 1992: Research in the western portion of the Chao Phraya 123), and exhibit continuity into the following Dvara- basin at Ban Don Ta Phet (see special entry) gives vati period. Vallibhotama (1992: 127) argued that, another perspective on community organization. This several centuries later, competing moated settlements site appears to have a strictly mortuary function, which in the lower part of the Chao Phraya basin-Sri suggests that burial and residential areas may have Mahosot (east) and U Thong (west)-differentially been separate from one another in this western region adopted Hinduism (Sri Mahosot) and Buddhism (U (Glover 1990: 142). Elsewhere in the basin, moated sites Thong). Throughout this period, researchers see a trend contain a combination of residential, industrial, and toward political and economic centralization. In some mortuary materials; these discrete patterns in the west- regions of the Chao Phraya basin, these trends are ern and northern part of the basin might suggest reflected in settlement shifts. Another trend, evident in regional differentiation in community organization. ceramic patterning, is the establishment of a regional cultural complex or horizon that stretches from the Gulf Economy of Thailand to the middle valley of the Chao Phraya river (Rispoli 1992: 14 1). Glover (199 1) observed that Archaeologists have devoted little research to study- populations in different parts of the Chao Phraya basin ing economic organization from 2500 to 1500 B.P., in part followed different trajectories during this period, and because of the more pressing need to develop a reliable populations may have shifted with changing emphases chronology for the region (e.g., Bronson and Dales in trade. 1972). However, researchers generally assume that

Archaeological research has concentrated primarily populations practiced lowland irrigated rice agriculture on moated sites that are found throughout the region, in in the region after 2500 B.P. (e.g., Bronson 1979: 321- part because of their visibility on the landscape. In the 322; Higham 1989; Ng 1979). Interestingly, Mudar's Lopburi area, large moated sites vary in size from (1995) settlement survey in the Lopburi district suggests 7-50 ha and are either oval or circular. Throughout the only a weak association of sites with wet-rice cultivation region, many sites have evidence of continuous occupa- land until 1500 B.P. and (perhaps) the continued use of tion from the prehistoric to the historic period or dryland farming techniques in much of the region. evidence of interrupted occupation that resumed One of the only faunal analyses reported for this c. 2200-2000 B.P. (Bronson and Dales 1972: 42; Crem- period used materials from Chansen (Wetherill 1972), aschi et al. 1992: 171-174; Ho 1992). Moats vary in where people exploited large numbers of wild animals width; at Chansen, moats were approximately 20 m until c. 1800 B.P. Remains of domesticated animals from wide (Bronson and Dales 1972: 16), while other moats Chansen include cattle (both water buffalo [Bubalus are too fragmentary to measure (i.e., Ciarla 1992). In bubalis] and Indian cattle [Bubalus indicus]), pig, dog, some portions of the region, settlement choice may be and cat. Several wild species were identified: at least closely associated with access to resources such as metal two species of deer, remains of rhinoceros and tiger, (Cremaschi et al. 1992). a single elephant tooth, and three species of mollusk.

Excavators regularly seek evidence of architectural A deer antler was also recovered from the acidic soils of features and often find postholes but little more of Ban Don Ta Phet (Glover 1990: 177). The elemental domestic habitations that were probably pile dwellings representation from Chansen suggests that butchering (e.g., Bronson and Dales 1972: 22-23; Maleipan 1979: occurred elsewhere at the settlement. As a possible 339). Archaeologists identified fragmentary remains of a temporal trend, Wetherill (1972: 45) noted a decline single residential structure at the moated site of Ban Tha in the number of deer bones which could reflersf" Khae, in Lopburi province (Ciarla 1992: 124). Brick struc- human-induced deforestation in the area. This small tures are more common, whether as religious construc- database prompts new questions, such as the extent to tions (that tend to date to 1500 B.P. or later) or as other which local populations relied on wild foods, and structures. Few sites from this period are sufficiently whether the gradual shift away from wild animal intact to study community organization; even the most exploitation might have been mirrored in a shift away : ambitious excavation projects have exposed only a frac- from the exploitation of wild plants.

tion of the ancient settlement. Although it is certainly Sites in the region contain abundant evidence of possible that moated settlements in the Chao Phraya utilitarian goods like earthenware pottery, ground stone basin contained discrete districts (like those described tools (celts, saddle querns, pestles), and iron objects like among the Pyu in Burma or even in the Mekong delta at knives and spatulas (Bronson and Dales 1972: 24-25). Oc Eo), little work has been done on this topic. In utilitarian goods, some sites have yielded evidence of


on-site manufacture of ceramics and textiles. Bronson suggested that the variability in Chansen ceramics that date from 2000 to 1500 B.P. reflects a combination of local, part-time ceramic production at the settlement and importation of products from full-time specialists at some distance from the community (Bronson 1979: 328). No direct evidence of ceramic manufacture was identified from Ban Don Ta Phet, but fabric analysis suggests the use of materials that could be obtained locally (Glover 1990: 173; see special entry).

The western sites of Ban Don Ta Phet and Chansen also provide direct and indirect evidence of textile production (see special entry). Spindle whorls were recovered from Ban Don Ta Phet, as were textile fragments (hemp, cotton, and wild silk) that adhered to bronze objects (Glover 1990: 175-176). Bronson and Dales (1972: 26) also reported impressions of a "loosely woven mosquito netting-like fabric" are visible on an iron tool (hoe haft or plowshare) from Chansen.

Although the period 25W1500 B.P. has been more closely associated with the "Iron Age" than the "Bronze Age" (Higham 1989, 1996), sites in the Chao Phraya basin contain abundant evidence of bronze: as vessels (knob-base and plain bowls, canisters, cups) bracelets, anklets, rings, ladles, bells, finials, and other objects (e.g., Glover 1980: 21, 1990: 156 et passim). High-tin bronze bowls are one of the more remarkable forms of bronze goods associated with this period and subregion (especially the site of Ban Don Ta Phet). Veerapan (1979) and Ciarla (1992) also reported indirect evidence from Sab Champa and Ban Tha Khae of on-site bronze working, and Bronson and Dales (1972: 24-25) won- dered whether some of their materials represent iron slag, which would suggest on-site iron manufacture.

Research on these sites has provided a limited amount of information on utensils and ornaments and suggests that high-tin bronze and iron were important media. More information is available on the nature of nonutilitarian items (including ornaments) from this period. In Chansen's deposits that date to 2200- 2000 B.P., archaeologists found bronze rings, bells, and bracelets, and a gold ring. Excavations also uncovered an ivory comb with incised decoration and Buddhist iconography, which Bronson and Dales (1972: 28-30) associated with Phase I1 (c. 2000-1750 B.P.) at the site. Glass beads are common at Ban Don Ta Phet (Basa 1992; Basa et al. 1990; Glover 1990; Glover et al. 1984), Chansen (Bronson and Dales 1972: 24), and most other sites in the Chao Phraya basin that date to this period.

Most published archaeological research in this region was undertaken in the 1960s and 1970s, when few archaeologists concentrated on aspects of craft

manufacture and specialization. When research has focused on aspects of craft manufacture, the emphasis has been on identifying objects that are nonlocal to the region and/or to all of mainland Southeast Asia. Beads, combs, ceramics, and objects made from precious metals and semiprecious stones have all been studied to understand material expressions of Indianization. Sev- eral researchers distinguish between local and nonlocal manufacture of ceramics (e.g., Bronson 1979; Rispoli 1992), metal objects (e.g., Bennett and Glover 1992; Veerapan 1979), and ornament manufacture, particularly of shell (Ciarla 1992) and metal (Natapintu 1988; Saraya 1997).

Some archaeologists see trade relations between sites in the Chao Phraya delta and those located along the coasts of peninsular Thailand, as the latter region was involved in the international maritime network. The site of. Khlong Thom (known locally as Khuan Luk Pad) provides one example of a glass bead manufacturing center along the west coast of southern Thailand (Bronson 1979; Veraprasert 1992). Although this settlement lacks evidence of monumental earthworks or brick construction, it contains abundant industrial refuse for tin smelting and ornament production using semiprecious stones (quartz, chalcedony) and glass, which covers an area of at least 1 sq km (Bronson 1979: 215; Veraprasert 1992).

Although markets characterized much of Thailand (then Siam) at the time of European contact, we know little about the mechanisms of distribution from 2500 to 1500 B.P. We know the least about patterns of intraregional trade in utilitarian goods, in part because of the lack of regional survey and in part because deposits from this period are often mixed with those of the succeeding (Dvaravati) period. More is known about interregional trade, if artifact similarity across sites is one index of this system. Bronson and Dales (1972; Bronson 1979: 322-324) pointed out similarities between Chansen materials and those found in the Mekong delta, which continued beyond 1500 B.P., as did Loofs (1979: 346349), based on his work at Tha Muang (U-Thong). In some cases, nearly identical objects (like the two- headed animal pendant, or ling-lingo) found at Ban Don Ta Phet were seen at sites in central and southern Vietnam (Glover 1990: 166), where they are associated with the Sa Huynh cultural tradition (see the Island Southeast Asia Late Prehistoric tradition, this volume).

Sociopolitical Organization

Few sites in the Chao Phraya basin have produced inhumation burials in stratigraphic association with

..- .. Y


artifacts that date to this protohistoric period. In some cases like Ban Don Ta Phet, acidic soils have destroyed most of the human bone in burials; in others, burials have only fragmentary human remains (see special entry). This situation has led some prominent scholars like Bronson (1979: 329) to assume that populations cremated, rather than buried, their dead. Not only does this practice represent a shift in customs from the pre- 2000 B.P. period, but it affects the archaeologist's ability to undertake systematic mortuary analysis that might yield information on social and political information. We might also explain thls dearth of inhumations (and--except Ban Don Ta Phet-of burials overall) through the development of a tradition of formalized cemetery areas away from the large settlements, as may have characterized the Pyu of central Burma (see Maleipan [1979: 3381 for Sab Champa).

Few archaeologists working in the Chao Phraya basin are willing to offer inferences regarding the nature of social organization from 2500-1500 B.P. Questions about descent patterns, family groups, and the nature of political and religious authority are best answered through intrasite spatial analysis or mortuary studies (Higham and Thosarat (1994) provide one example). Excavations in the region have produced only one substantial cemetery (Ban Don Ta Phet) and inadequate spatial coverage to offer conclusive observations. Chin (1976) identified three distinct groups in Ban Don Ta Phet's cemetery, which he suggested represented separate descent groups. Subsequent work at the site by Glover and his colleagues supported Chin's suggestion that this cemetery represented a mass grave of secondary burials (e.g., Glover 1990: 179).

We also know little about the nature of political organization during this time. The presence of monumental architecture and the extent of interregional exchange by 1500 B.P. suggested to Bronson (1979) that these centers were state-like polities whose leaders could organize large-scale public works. Examples-of such works include moats and. immense walls at settlements like Sab Champa, where the wall today averages 10 m in height (Maleipan 1979: 337). These moats commonly tapped into extant drainage systems; this was, at least, true of Ban Tha Khae (Cremaschi et al. 1992) and Sab Champa (Maleipan 1979: 338). This period lacks evidence for the kind of self-serving rulers who lived in this region several centuries later and left inscriptions that report temple founding, temple construction, and support for brahmanical royal cults.

Variation in the amount and type of mortuary goods recovered from graves in cemeteries dating to c. 2500 B.P. suggests some degree of social stratification. Remains of

boat burials and bronze drums from Ongbah cave (Kanchanaburi province) inspired one archaeologist to suggest that these goods had belonged "to a local chieftain or a lineage group" (Snrrensen 1988: 108). To him, the mortuary assemblage from Ongbah suggested a level of craft specialization that was equated with high status (Serrensen 1979) and the existence of major centers with elites who could control the labor of such artisans. Compositional and technological studies of the drums might offer evidence on whether they were manufactured locally (in the basin) or elsewhere. If these bronze drums were instead manufactured in the Bac Bo region and then traded into the Chao Phraya basin, then such evidence might reflect long-distance exchange networks and differential access to resources rather than craft specialization in this region.

The existence of moats, walls, and nonutilitarian goods in certain burials all suggests differential access to, or control over, resources. The moats and walls might also provide evidence for conflict. Burials from Ban Don Ta Phet included several types of iron weapons (spear points, arrowheads, and harpoons [Glover 1980: 241, which are suggestive of conflict. No documents exist that shed light on political organization before 1500 B.P. in the Chao Phraya basin, and no osteological evidence has been found that yields signs of phfysical trauma that might reflect conflict.


Bronson (1979: 316) noted that "protohistoric central Thailand (and, indeed, most of the rest of protohistoric South East Asia) is surprisingly empty of works of 'ideological' art," and the archae lo ical evidence of 4 religion and expressive culture is dim for the Chao Phraya basin before 1500 B.P. Mortuary evidence from a handful of sites (especially Chansen, Ban Don Ta Phet, Tham Ongbah) informs on some aspects of religion during the period 2500-1500 B.P. In parts of the Chao Phraya basin, we see formal cemeteries that contain abundant grave goods with primary (central) and possibly secondary (western) inhumations. Burials in boat-shaped wooden coffins are also found in the region, as is the occasional bronze drum. Along the upper reaches of the Khwae Yai river is the site of Tham Ongbah, which once contaiwd more than 90 boat-shaped woodeFcoffins containing human remains with substantial grave goods (e.g., iron weapons, bronze ornaments, glass and stone beads) and a cache of bronze drums that resemble contemporaneous drums from the Bac Bo (Vietnam) and Lake Dian (Yunnan, China) areas.


The association of with burials-at Sab Chin You-di (1976). Ban Don Ta Phet: Preliminary excavation re-

Champa, at Chansen, at Ban Tha Khae, and else- port? 1975-1976. Bangk0k: Chin You-di (1978). "Nothing Is New." Muang Boran 4 (4): 6-16.

whererepresents from the late prehistoric Ciarla, R. (1992). '&The Thai-Italian Lopburi Regional Archaeological period in mortuary traditions- The Pattern of damaging Project: Preliminary Results." In Southeast Asian Archaeology 1990, (or ''killing") grave goods at Ban Don Ta Phet before ed. I. C. Glover. Hull: Centre for South-East Asian Studies, - - - - placing them in graves, and of secondary burials at that University of Hull, 10>110.

site, suggests a regularized mortuary tradition ( ~ l ~ ~ ~ ~ Cremaschi, M., R. Ciarla, and V. C. Pigott (1992). "Paleoenvironment and Late Prehistoric Sites in the Lopburi Region of Central

1990: 152-154; see these practices Thailand." In Southeast Asian Archaeology 1990, 4. 1, C. Glover. reflect a set of beliefs regarding the dead and the afterlife ~ ~ 1 1 : Centre for South-East Asian Studies, University of ~ ~ 1 1 , 167- that immediately preceded the adoption of Indic religion in the region. Interpretations of religion and expressive culture at this point, however, remain speculative until more cemeteries are found and studied in the Chao Phraya basin.

Many sites occupied from 2500 to 1500 B.P. exhibit continued occupation into the following Dvaravati period, particularly in the western and northern portions of the Chao Phraya basin. This period, while mysterious in its own right, contains evidence of Indic religions through the statuary, inscriptions, and architecture that dot the landscape of the Chao Phraya basin, and this basin is considered the heartland or center of Dvaravati culture (Brown 1996: 46-60). How much of the religious and expressive culture that fluoresced during the Dvaravati period has its origins in the preceding period is another unanswered question.

References

Alvey, B. (1990). "Ban Don Ta Phet-Data Capture and Analysis." In Southeast Asian Archaeology 1986: Proceedings of the First Confer- ence of the Association of Southeast Asian Archaeologists in Western Europe, ed. I. Glover and E. Glover. Oxford: BAR International Series 561, 185-194.

Basa, K. (1992). "Early Historic Glass Beads in Thailand and Peninsular Malaysia." In Southeast Asian Archaeology 1990, ed. I. Glover. Hull: Centre for South-East Asian Studies, University of Hull, 8S102.

Basa, K. K., I. Glover, and J. Henderson (1990). "The Relationship between Early Southeast Asian and Indian Glass." Bulletin of the Indo-Pacific Prehistory Association 1 : 366-385.

Bennett, A., and Glover, I. C. (1992). "Decorated High-Tin Bronze from Thailand's Prehistory." In Southeast-Asian Archaeology 1990, ed. I . C. Glover. Hull: Centre for Southeast Asian Studies, University of Hull, 227-232.

Bronson, B. (1979). "The Late Prehistory and Early History of Central Thailand with Special Reference to Chansen." In Early Sourh East Asia: Essays in Archaeology, History, and Historical Geography, ed. R. B. Smith and W. Watson. New York: Oxford University Press, 3 15-336.

Bronson, B., and G. Dales (1972). "Excavations at Chansen, Thailand, 1968, 1969: A Preliminary Report." Asian Perspectives 15 (I): 1546.

Brown, R. L. (1996). The Dvaravati Wheels of the Law and the Indianization of Southeast Asia. Leiden, New York, and Koln: E. J. Brill.

177. Cribb, J. (1981). "The Date of the Symbolic Coins of Burma and

Thailand-A Re-examination of the Evidence." Seaby Coin and Medal Bulletin 75: 224-226.

Dumarpy, J., and M. Smithies (1995). Cultural Sites of Burma, Thailand, and Cambodia. Kuala Lumpur: Oxford University Press.

Glover, I. C. (1980). "Ban Don Ta Phet and Its Relevance to Problems in the Pre- and Protohistory of Thailand." Bulletin of the Indo- Pacific Prehistory Association 2: 16-30.

Glover, I. C. (1987) "Archaeological Survey in West-Central Thailand: A Second Report on the 1982-83 Field Season." Asian Perspectives 25 (1): 83-109.

Glover, I. C. (1989). M y Trade between Indian and Southeast Asia, 2nd ed. Hull: Center for South-East Asian Studies.

Glover, I. C. (1990). "Ban Don Ta Phet: The 1984-1985 Excavation." In Southeast Asian Archaeology 1986: Proceedings of the First Conference of the Association of Southeast Asian Archaeologists in Western Europe, ed. I. Glover and E. Glover. Oxford: BAR International Series 561, 139-1 84.

Glover, I. C. (1991). "The Late Prehistoric Period in West-Central Thailand." Bulletin of the Indo-Pacific Prehistory Association 10: 349-356.

Glover, I. C., B. A. P. Alvey, P. Charoenwongsa and, M. Kamnounket (1984). "The Cemetery of Ban Don Ta Phet, Thailand: Results from the 198Ck81 Excavation Season." In South Asian Archaeology 1981, ed. B. Allchin. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 319- 330.

Higham, C. F. W. (1989). The Archaeology of Mainland Southeast Asia. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Higham, C. F. W., and R. Thosarat (1994). Khok Phanom Di: Prehistoric Adaptation to the World's Richest Habitat. Fort Worth: Harcourt Brace College Publishers.

Higham, C. F. W., and R. Thosarat (1998). Prehistoric Thailand From Early Settlement to Sukhothai. Bangkok: River Books.

Ho, C. M. (1992)."An Analysis of Settlement Patterns in the Lopburi Area." In Early Metallurgy, Trade and Urban Centres in Thailand and Southeast Asia, ed. I. Glover, P. Suchitta, and J. Villiers, Bangkok: White Lotus, 39-45.

Loofs, H. H. E. (1979). "Problems of Continuity between the Pre- Buddhist and Buddhist Periods in Central Thailand, with Special Reference to U-Thong." In Eurly South East Asia: Essays in Archaeology, History, and Historical Geography, ed. R. B. Smith and W. Watson. New York: Oxford University Press, 342-351.

Maleipan, V. (1979). "The Excavation at Sab Champa." In Early South East Asia: Essays in Archaeology, History, and Hktorical Geography, ed. R. B. Smith and W. Watson. New York: Oxford University Press, 337-341.

Mudar, K. M. (1993). "Prehistoric and Early Historic Settlements on the Central Plain: Analysis of Archaeological Survey in Lopburi Province, Thailand." Ph.D. diss., Department of Anthropology, University of Michigan.

Mainland Southe:

. (1995). "Evidence for Prehistoric Dryland Farming in DIAGNOSTIC MATERIAL AITRlBUTFS: Mortuary CuSt, ioutheast Asia: Results of Regional Survey in Lopburi grouped urn burials in brick or earthen mounds; - . 'hailand." Asian Perspectives 34 (2): 157-194. stone/terracotta plaques inscribed with Pyu scri~:

Ban Lwn Khao. Bangkok: Fine Arts silver coins; sculptural traditions (that probably Y. (1979). "The Geographic Habitat of Historical in Mainland South East Asia." In Early south ~ a s t date 1500 B.P.), and brick masonry walls around

vs in Archaeology, History, and Historical Geography, For summaries of the region and period, see Aung mith and W. Watson. Oxford: Oxford University Press, (1972), Aung-Thwin (1982-83), and Stargardt (19'.

992). "Preliminary Report on the Pottery of Tha Khae, :entral Thailand." In Southeast Asian Archaeology 1990, Glover. Hull: Centre for South-East Asian Studies, CULTURAL SUMMARY of Hull, 129-142. 1989). "State Formation in the Lower Tha Chin-Mae ;in: The Historical Development of the Ancient City n Pathom." In Culture and Environment in Thailand iiwn of the Siam Sociefy. Bangkok: Siam Society,

1997). "Rethinking the Historical Evolution of Sukho- ~ n g Boran 23 (1): 27-48. (1979). "The Ongbah Cave and Its Fifth Drum." In Early 1 Asia: Essays in Archaeology, History, and Historical , ed. R. B. Smith and W. Watson, New York: Oxford Press, 78-97. (1988). "Kettledrums from the Ongbah Cave, Kancha-

wince." In Archaeological Excavations in Thailand Sur- ; and Minor Excavations, ed. P. Ssrensen. Occasional o. 1, Scandinavian Institute of Asian Studies. London:

We know nearly as much about developments in dry zone c. 2500-1500 B.P. from documentary reco (Chinese annals, indigenous inscriptions and Bum' chronicles) as we do from archaeological investigatic (Aung-Thwin 1982-83; Luce 1932, 1980; Stargar 1990). Both sources, however, emphasize developmen after 1.500 B.P., and something of a gap exists betwee the end of the prehistoric period (c. 2500 B.P.) and th establishment of patterns associated with the late hstoric period (post-1500 B.P.). By 1700 B.P., Chinest annals describe the Pyu as one tribe that lived along the Burmese border, and accounts written c. 1200 B.P.

.es , 95-150. provide much more detail on the location and tradi- a, S. Urban Centres in Ihe Phraya tions of these groups (e.g., Luce 1980; Wheatley 1983). Ckn~ral Thailand." In Early Metallurgy, Trade and Urban Thai,and and Southeas, Asia, ed, I. Glover, P, Suchitla, Indigenous in the 'yu language provide

liers, Bangkok: White Lotus, 122-130. another line of evidence; these inscriptions are found on la, R., and N. Seeley (1979). "The Bronze Bowls from Ban burial urns and on gold plates and may date as early as Phet: An Enigma of Prehistoric Metallurgy." World 1400 B.P. :y I I (I): 26-3 I. Jr. (1972). "Appendix: A Preliminary Report on Faunal rom Chansen." In Excavations at Chansen, Thailand.

A Preliminary Report, ed. B. Bronson and G. Dales. ,ectives 15 (1): 15-46.

Iy River Valley (Burma) Zone

20&1500 B.P.

"Pyu" tradition covers a 400-km long

Aung Thaw (1972) has summarized archaeological research on the Pyu; this research consists largely of work by the Archaeological Survey of India and of Burma from the early 1900s through the late 1960s (see also Stargardt 1990: 382-384). Work has concentrated on architectural and sculptural remains, rather than on subsistence and sociopolitical organization. Most excavations have focused on areas within, rather than around, a handful of walled sites. Radiocarbon dates from these sites suggests that the Pyu period began between 2400 and 2000 B.P. (a time that lacks documentary evidence) and continued until at least 1100 B.P. The site of Sriksetra, first occupied at the end of the period discussed in this entry, is viewed as the embodiment of Pyu culture (Guy 1998; Stargardt 1990).

a1 Burma that surrounds the ~ r a w a d d i Mu rivers. The area stretches from Halin Environment

of Upper Burma) to Winka (in the far The topography of Burma shows an overall north- bably on the Gulf of Martaban. Like the south trend in the folding pattern of hills, mountains, northwest Cambodia tradition for this and rivers, with hill country in eastern Burma. The Tone is located inland from the modern central portion of Burma consists of a structural st of Burma. depression that the Irawaddy and Sittang rivers have


drained. T o the east great lowland area is a highland plateau known as the Shan massif, and to the west is a mountain zone consisting of the Arakan Yoma mountains and the Chin hills.

Like the rest of mainland Southeast Asia, Burma's climate is under the influence of the southwest monsoon, which divides the year into a rainy season (late May to late October), a cool season (late October to mid- February), and a dry season (mid-February to late May). Central Burma is found in the "dry zone," a 400 km-long region that lies in the rain shadow created by the Arakan mountains during the Southwestern Monsoon season. Rainfall in the "dry zone" varies from approximately 500-1000 mm of rainfall each year, and average temperatures are higher than those found across mainland Southeast Asia. Today, the "dry zone" of central Burma contains scrub land (xerophilous scrub) and open jungle, and no paleoenvironmental research from this region has been published for the period 2500- 1500 B.P. Paleoenvironmental reconstructions would provide essential evidence for landscape change between 2500-1500 B.P. and support or challenge extant models of land use that assume the region was as arid then as it is today. Paleoenvironmental research on the Khorat plateau demonstrated the scale of environmental change (largely induced by humans) during the Holocene, and we do not know whether the Dry Zone was considerably more humid or vegetated during the early historic period.

Settlements

The Pyu are known through archaeological investigations of several large, fortified sites by the Archaeo- logical Survey of Burma, and through isolated finds of inscribed stones and statuary. Documentary records suggest the existence of at least seven known Pyu cities, and archaeological surveys have identified at least 1 I sites thought to be Pyu. These early historic period (or "Pyu") settlements are found along side valleys of the Irawaddy, Chindwin, and Mu rivers, which represents a shift from earlier settlement in river valleys. Archaeol- ogists believe that the following sites served as political centers between 2000 and 1100 B.P.: Binnaka, Mong Mao, Beikthano, Sriksetra, and Halin (Sriksetra is excluded from this entry because it postdates 1500 B.P.).

Most archaeological research has concentrated on excavating individual pre-Pyu and Pyu sites (e.g., Beikthano, Halin, Taungthaman), rather than on regional surveys. However, traces of Pyu occupation have been found over wide expanses of the Mu, Yin, Nawin, and Kyaukse valleys, with the possibility of Pyu

occupation in the lower Chindwin (Stargardt 1990: 51). Excavations at these sites, along with limited archaeological surveys, suggest some continuity in the occupation of the area from at least the mid-first millennium B.c., which involved nucleated, fortified settlements and (perhaps) economic specialization (Aung-Thwin 1982-83; Stargardt 1990). This previous settlement system was concentrated on the floodplain, perhaps in connection with recession agriculture (Star- gardt 1990: 46).

Most work has concentrated on the large, walled sites considered to be political and vital centers. These Pyu "cities" were circular or rectangular, with 12 gates in all, 4 on each cardinal direction, a symbolic design that may have imitated the Buddhist cosmos. They used well-fired bricks of standard size. Each of the three Pyu sites where archaeologists have worked (i.e., Beikthano, Halin, Sriksetra) has an inner enclave with a citadel that is near the site center (Stargardt 1990: 105), burial terraces, and massive brick enclosing walls. Beikthano's city walls, for example, average 2.4 m in thickness (Stargardt 1990: 158; see special entry). As is speculated elsewhere in the region, archaeologists assume that most of the Pyu population lived in houses made of perishable materials. Stargardt (1990: 183-185) points out that architectural techniques seen in the brick structures have their origins in wooden prototypes. These two materials have different load-bearing capabilities, but the Pyu clearly transferred their logic regarding roofing from the' wooden to a brick medium with little modification as early as c. 2200 B.P.

We know nothing about residential structures for the populace, which may have consisted of perishable materials, like bamboo and thatch (Aung Thaw 1968: 64), like rural housing found throughout the region today. One reason for this gap in knowledge is that archaeologists have focused on monumental architecture in large urban centers of the Pyu, and these areas may not have housed large sectors of the population. Archaeologists assume that the elite sector of the population also lived in structures made of perishable materials, but perhaps the Pyu built these structures from long-lasting hardwoods. No archaeological work has concentrated on areas of common residence. We know virtually nothing about where and how populations outside the political centers lived.

We also know nothing about population size, health, or disease for this period. Burial samples, which give physical anthropologists materials for studying health and disease, are not available for the period 2500- 1500 B.P., and the only recovered mortuary materials are cremations and calcined bone.


Economy

Researchers generally assume that populations in the Dry Zone practiced irrigation agriculture for at least two reasons. The first is because Pyu sites are found in areas that today have inadequate rainfall for year-round farming (e.g., Stargardt 1990), and the second is because irrigation systems dating back into the pre-European period are found in this region today (van Liere 1985). Aung Thaw (1968: 64), also suggested that the Pyu cultivated rice. Stargardt (1990) is emphatic in her assumption that the Pyu developed their hydraulic systems between c. 2300 B.P. and 1600 B.P. TO date, however, no ground-truthing has been undertaken on these systems to collect samples for radiometric dating. Nor have tools associated with intensive agriculture (like plow fragments) been reported from excavations of Pyu sites.

Although no paleoethnobotanical research has yet been published that might shed Light on Pyu cultigens, documentary sources (and the recovery of rice grains embedded in daub from sites that predate the Pyu like Taungthaman [Stargardt 1990: Plate 31) suggest that irrigated rice cultivation formed the staple for Pyu diets by 2500 B.P. If rice cultivation formed the subsistence base by this time, then populations may have followed a subsistence regime seen in Thailand during this time: farming, fishing, and limited forms of animal husbandry.

It is possible that ironworking began at Taungth- aman soon after 2600 B.P. (Stargardt 1990: 38). Other industrial arts, including the manufacture of utilitarian goods like ceramics and textiles, may have been widespread. At Beikthano, Aung Thaw noted that "a considerable number of the inhabitants were engaged in pottery and bead-making, weaving and producing metal objects of utility and ornaments" (1968: 64). He based this conclusion on the recovery of many earthenware ceramics (a subcategory of which may contain locally available raw materials), ornaments of earthenware and precious minerals (agate, amethyst, carnelian, jasper, quartz crystal), and various metal remains (especially iron, but also lead, gold, bronze, and copper). To date, however, no excavations have concentrated on areas that contain direct manufacturing evidence, like kilns, smelting installations, or even stockpiles of raw materials.

Brick manufacture was clearly an important occupation in or around each Pyu settlement. The Pyu may have produced bricks in standardized sizes, and bricks from the sites of Beikthano and Sriksetra have marks stamped or scratched into their surfaces (e.g., Stargardt

1990: 290-295). In the Pagan period that followed, brick marks named the manufacturing villages that supplied bricks to the political center. The fact that Pyu brick structures contain bricks of varying composition and scratching supports a model in which some villages surrounding each center distributed some of their products to the regional center.

Stargardt (1990: 250, 254-264) suggested that the Pyu made several types of ceramics locally in the Pyu region, and, perhaps specialists worked in each major center. These types included vats, water pots, cooking pots, a variety of bowls, and lamps. The focus of research on "Pyu cities" has directed attention away from studying residential areas where such utilitarian materials would be recovered. Based on the restricted nature of artifacts recovered from sites like Beikthano (see special entry), it seems l~kely that most of the population lived in areas of the site that archaeologists have not yet excavated, or that most of the population lived in small settlements surrounding this political and ritual center.

As is true elsewhere in the region for this period, populations engaged in ornament manufacture and exchange (see also the Island Southeast Asia Late Prehistoric tradition, this volume). Earthenware beads and beads made of semiprecious stones (onyx, carnelian, quartz crystal, jasper and amber, and glass) were recovered from KKG17, which is an early Buddhist "monastery" (Stargardt 1990: 280-283). So, too, was a thin stone slab that may have served as a jewelry mold. Pyu populations used ornaments in mortuary rituals, and it is also likely that-as often happened across Thailand and Cambodia-populations interred precios- ities at the base of new brick monuments that served as religious buildings. Insufficient work has thus far concentrated on excavating architectural remains to test this hypothesis.

Historians suggest that the Pyu participated in the "international" (India-Rome-China) trading network that linked polities throughout mainland Southeast Asia. Chinese documentary records describe Pyu coin- age. Silver Pyu coins, found in and around archaeological sites as far east as the Mekong delta, may have been used for trade. Silver Pyu coins are characterized by their size and design: One common symbol on these coins is the rising sun, and others are the srivatsa (the shrine of sri) and the baddhapitha (or throne). The fact that coins are easily portable makes them problematic for dating, but they have been found in parts of Thailand and the Mekong delta at contemporary sites (see also Cribb 1981; Moore and Aung-Myint 1993; Wicks 1992).


Other forms of archaeological evidence recovered from the Pyu sites, like earthenware ceramics, also suggest long-distance connections through their composition, vessel forms, and construction techniques. Ar- chaeologists have recovered sherds of red polished ware, a ceramic form manufactured in northwestern India and Rome, from the site of Beikthano, which dates between 2100 and 1900 B.P. Excavations at Beikthano also produced rouletted ware sherds that resemble ceramics from the south Indian site of Arikamedu (see special entry). Nearly identical fine-bodied sherds of spouted vessels (kendi) have been found at contemporary settlements in the Mekong delta, central Vietnam, and Bali during this period (e.g., Ardika and Bellwood 1990; Ardika et al. 1993). The template (and, less likely, the raw materials) of kendi vessels found in Pyu sites resemble such vessels found in most early historic period population centers in mainland Southeast Asia after c. 1600 B.P.

The recovery of carnelian and onyx beads from Beikthano (whose origin lies beyond Burma's contemporary boundaries) also suggests trade relations to the west. These beads may have South Asian origins, with parallels from Hastinapura and Brahmapuri. Archaeol- ogists have also noted architectural parallels in religious shrines called stupas from Beikthano and stupas from Nagarjunakonda (south-central India); at Beikthano, these stupas date to c. 1800-2000 B.P. (Aung-Thaw 1968: 64-66).

No direct information is available on the mobiliza- tion of labor, or on the gendered division of labor. The documentation of massive brick architecture (particularly buildings and walls) and water control features suggests that labor was organized for public works. Stargardt (1990: 366) draws an ethnographic analogy from the Pagan and colonial periods to suggest the Pyu division of labor. In each of these periods, rural villages had work groups and local officials who coordinated their irrigation activities. Whether communal labor was voluntary or compulsory is unknown; also unknown is the role of religion in structuring the division of labor for public works.

One might assume that the presence of internally walled areas (which Aung Thaw calls "citadels" and "palaces") represents elite quarters. One might also assume that any polity with the power to marshal public labor for monumental construction (as is evident in the Pyu centers) would also have restricted access to valuable resources. The lack of associated mortuary remains with urn burials, however, and the lack of mortuary studies on Pyu materials precludes discussion of empirical support for these claims. Again, the

emphasis on excavating areas of brick architecture skews the nature of evidence that archaeologists have recovered. Future excavations that concentrate on residential areas within these sites or on surrounding settlements should yield information that suggests the nature of control of resources.


The site of Taungthaman, located just outside the former capital city of Amarapura, has been under archaeological investigation since 197 1. Taungthaman predates the Pyu sites and may have been occupied until c. 2500 B.P. (based on thennoluminescence dates from burial pottery). The recovery of 44 primary inhumations from Taungthaman provides some suggestion of social organization immediately before the period under study (see review in Stargardt 1990: 15-16). Individuals were interred singly, with varying arrays of grave goods; some burials had ceramic bowls, while others also had stone and clay beads, fishhooks, and metal tools. Although no mortuary analysis has yet been undertaken for these burials, the patterning suggests some degree of social stratification by 2500 B.P. and a collective tradition of community organization.

Inscriptions found at Pyu sites that postdate 1500 B.P. suggest that the later Pyu spoke a Tibeto- Burman language, belonging to the same family as Burmese, the dominant tongue. This close connection has suggested to some archaeologists (i.e., Stargardt 1990: 297) that the Pyu population came to Burma from southwestern China and Yunnan province in the first millennium B.C. If this is the case, we must explain continuities in material culture between pre-Pyu and Pyu sites through means other than a shared language.

Despite the recovery of intriguing artifacts from several Pyu sites, archaeologists have devoted little attention to reconstructing the economic and political systems of the Pyu. Documentary evidence (primarily from the Chinese) suggests that the Pyu political system was based on a monarchy, which may have once unified the central plains of Burma under a single administra- tion. Scholars agree that the Pyu depended on rice agriculture as their economic staple and may have used tank and perhaps weir irrigation.

Little is known about the nature of political organization between 2500 and 1500 B.P., although occupation of Pyu settlements continued until at least 1100 B.P. Between 1500 and 1100 B.P., populations embraced Buddhism as a religion and, perhaps, as a structure for political organization. The ideology of the four buddhas of this kalpa (age) became an important component of


temple architecture, court structure, and ideology of kingship. Even during the period covered in this entry, rulers must have exercised an impressive amount of power and authority that may have involved developing diplomatic relationships with rulers of neighboring regions. As a later example, Chinese accounts describe at least two Pyu missions to China c. 1200 B.P.

Although many political centers throughout mainland Southeast Asia were walled after c. 2000 B.P., the massive fortifications that surrounded Pyu settlements are among the most impressive. The current lack of dates associated directly with brick architecture clouds the picture, however. At what point in the occupational sequence were the brick walls constructed? Did an earthen embankment surround the settlements before the construction of brick walls, and does this investment of effort reflect regularized conflict? The arrangements of city walls at sites like Beikthano suggested defensive functions to Stargardt (1990: 159), and she referred to the brick Pyu walls generally as "fortifications." Other archaeologists still cannot answer this question, and archaeologists working elsewhere in mainland Southeast Asia during this period suggest that walls and their associated ditches may have served many nondefensive functions, including water storage. Fire destroyed the site of Beikthano c. 1600 B.P., and Aung-Thaw (1968: 64) suggested that this destruction might have occurred through warfare.


So little is known about Burmese prehistory that major syntheses of Southeast Asian archaeology (e.g., Higham 1989) pay scant attention to the area; we know little about the period from 2500 to 2000 B.P. Excava- tions at Pyu sites suggest similarities in mortuary rituals with contemporary subtraditions across the mainland. Archaeological evidence of cremations sheds light on some mortuary practices among the Pyu. Earthenware urns holding cremated remains have been found with their covers/lids, as have stone urns.containing human remains. In these are found calcined human bones, ash, and clay that often fill the entire vessel. Burial urns were interred in different clusters in or around brick structures, which might suggest different social groups. Urns recovered from low brick tombs were placed into internal compartments, and most lack associated mortuary goods. Some of these, at least, are secondary burials that might have been stored elsewhere before interment in a sepulchral building (Aung-Thaw 1972: 6- 8). Some brick structures at Beikthano also contained inhumations (Aung-Thaw 1968: 63).

Some archaeologists, like Stargardt (1990: 185-190), are willing to offer ethnographically based inferences regarding social organization and burial ritual. Others, like Bronson (1992), remain skeptical of such interpretations and point to the millennium-long disjuncture between the early historic period and the colonial period. What seems clear is that the patterned distribution of mortuary materials and brick structures reflects a uniform ideology regarding death and, possibly, an afterlife. The end of this period (c. 1600 B.P.) may have witnessed an ideological commitment to Buddhism, based on the identification and relative dating of a "stupa" and a "monastery" at the site of Beikthano (Aung-Thaw 1968: 18-25; Stargardt 1990: 19 1-214).

Pyu art and iconography, particularly in bronze figurines recovered from Sriksetra (Stargardt 1990: Figure 28a), suggest that the Pyu had a rich aesthetic and expressive life. Chinese annals describe well-developed traditions of music and dance among the latter-day Pyu associated closely with Buddhism (Stargardt 1990: 373). Poor preservation, coupled with the nonmaterial nature of most expressive activities, however, has left little material for us to study regarding the Pyu before 1500 B.P.

At some point after 1500 B.P., we have evidence of Indian influence in the region in artifacts, sculptural art, architecture, and Sanskrit-derived writing systems (Aung-Thwin 1982-83; Stargardt 1990: 191-21 6). Art historians and historians believe that religious beliefs of this subregion were derived from Brahmanism, Hinduism, and Hinayana Buddhism (e.g., Guy 1998). Buddhism, during this time, derived from the Sarvasti- vardin Sect (who wrote in Sanskrit) and included the very important ideology of Maitreya, the Buddhist savior.

References

Ardika, I., W. and P. Bellwood (1990). "Sembiian: The Beginnings of Indian Contact with Bali." Antiquity 65 (247) : 221-234.

Ardika, I. W. , P. Bellwood, R. A1 Eggleton, and D. J. Ellis (1993) "A Single Source of South Asian Export-Quality Rouletted Ware?" Man and Environment 18 (1): 101-109.

Aung-Thaw, U. (1968). Report on the Excavations at Beikthano. Rangoon. Ministry of Union Culture.

Aung-Thaw, U. (1972). Historical Sites of Burma. Rangoon: Ministry of Union Culture.

Aung-Thwin, M. (1982-83). "Burma before Pagan: The Status of Archaeology Today." Asian Perspectives 25 (2): 1-22.

Bronson, B. (1992). "Review of The Ancient Pyu of Burma." Journal of Southeast Asian Studies 23 (2): 43-38.

Cribb, J. (1981). "The Date of the Symbolic Coins of Burma and Thailand-A Re-examination of the Evidence." Seaby Coin and Medal Bulletin 75: 224-226.


Guy, J. (1998). "A Warrior-Ruler Stele from Sri Ksetra, Pyu, Burma." Journal of the Siam Society 85 (1-2): 85-94.


Higham, C. F. W. (1996). The Bronze Age of Southeast Asia. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Luce, G. H. (1983). "The Ancient Pyu." Journal of the Burma Research SocFty 27: 239-253.

Moore, E, and U Aung-Myint (1993). "Beads of Myanmar (Burma): Line Decorated Beads amongst the Pyu and Chin." Journal of the Siam Society 8 1 (1): 57-87.

Myint Aung, U. (1970). "The Excavations at Halin." Journal of the Burma Research Society 53 (2): 5544.

Stargardt, J. (1990). The Ancient Pyu of Burma. vol. I : Early Pyu Cities in a Man-Made Lm&cape: Cambridge PACSEA, and Singapore: ISEAS.

Van Liere, W. J. (1985). "Early Agriculture and Intensification in Mainland Southeast Asia." In Prehistoric Intensive Agriculture in the Tropics, Part 11, ed. I . S. Farrington. BAR International Series 232. Oxford: BAR, 829-834.

Wicks, R. S. (1992). Money, Markets, and Trade in' Early Southeast Asia: The Development of Indigenous Monetary Systems to A.D. 1400. Ithaca." Southeast Asia Program, Cornell University.

Mekong Delta (Cambodia/ Vietnam)

L ~ A T I O N : Section of Mekong delta that is now contained within southern Cambodia and southern Viet- nam.

whose rulers lived in wooden palaces; some of the populace farmed, while other sectors engaged in craft specialization of various sorts. Extensive looting at sites throughout the region, and decades of war, has damaged the archaeological record of this period (Trinh Thi Hoa 1996: 123). However, archaeological research on Vietnam's side of the Mekong delta since 1975 supports the contention that the delta was the location of some of the earliest states in mainland Southeast Asia.

Environment

The Mekong delta covers c. 40,000 km2, and its interior portion constitutes one of the two most favored habitats for early historic-period settlement in mainland Southeast Asia; the other is the Tonle Sap region (Ng 1979: Map 3). Khmers know this region as the Bassac, and Yietnamese call the delta the Cuu Long (or Nine Dragons) because the rivers drained through nine separate mouths into the South China sea; in recent years, some of those mouths have dried up. Two central rivers extend their tributaries through the delta. In Cambodia, these rivers are called the Bassac and the Mekong; when the Bassac enters Vietnam, it becomes the southern branch, which is called the Hdu (or Han) Giang (Back or Lower river). On reaching Vietnam, the Mekong river transforms into the northern branch, called the Ti&n Giang (Front or Upper river).

The geology of the Mekong delta includes rocks from the Precambrian to Holocene age, and a thick layer of Quaternary alluvium covers most of the delta. Altitudinal variation is low across the delta: except for

DIAGNOSTIC MATERIAL ATFRIBUTES: Large moated central sites, evidence of pile dwellings, and burial areas with earthenware urns, pedestaled bowls, and cord-marked culinary vessels. Qualitative changes characterize the period after c. 1900 B.P., with the emergence of walled sites (some with brick walls); beads of glass and semiprecious stone; inscribed gold leaf; crystal amulets. Brick structures (stupas, funerary monuments, and/or temples) may have been constructed as early as c. 1800 B.P. and thus might be diagnostic for the latter part of this period.

the occasional rhyolite, dacite, and limestone hills, average elevation in the delta seldom exceeds 5 m (Anderson 1978: R9-Rl I). The Mekong river network carries enormous amounts of silt into the delta and, ultimately, into the South China sea at a rate of 200 ha each year (Nguyen Viet Pho 1983: 82). Accordingly, Holocene alluvium coats much of the Mekong delta, often at depths of 50-80 m (Nguyen Viet Pho 1983). A central portion of the delta is called the Plain of Reeds (Dong Thap Muoi) and contains submerged forests of mangrove and cajeput trees. So, too, does much of the delta's southern tip in Vietnam called the Ca Mau peninsula. This area is covered by mangrove and cajeput swamps and contains valuable economic resources like

CULTURAL SUMMARY timber, tannin, and vine for basketry (Pham Ngoc Toan 1983b).

Historians and archaeologists believe that this At least one-third of the Mekong delta experiences region housed one of the earliest states in mainland extensive annual flooding, particularly between August Southeast Asia c. 1800-1400 B.P. Chinese visitors to the and November. Unlike some other areas of mainland delta during this time described a "kingdom" of Funan, Southeast Asia, the Mekong delta experiences high


levels of humidity (ranging from 60-90 percent) and high temperatures, which average 25-35 OC (Pham Ngoc Toan 1983a). Climate in this region is dominated by seasonal winds and monsoons; the southwest monsoon arrives in May or June and remains until Novem- ber. Most rain thus falls between mid-May and late October; an average of 200-275 mm of rain falls each month during this season (Anderson 1978: figure 1). Prior to human modification, much of the delta was probably characterized by a marshland vegetation and (in its southern section) brackish water.

Some alluviated areas in the delta that are located away from the ocean have excellent paddy soils and potable water sources. With today's use of fertil- izer, Vietnamese farmers can produce rice yields of 8-10 tons/ha each year (Vu Cao Thai 1983). Although such fertilizers were not available during the period 2500-1500 B.P., previous archaeological work in the delta suggests a pattern of late prehistoric settlement that coincides with areas of arable land (also see Ng 1979). Some examples include the nearly 1,000,000 ha of alluvial soil along the Tien and Hau river-tracts in Southern Vietnam. Other parts of the delta, along river banks and in the southernmost section of the delta that flanks the sea, contain saline or aluminous soils that preclude farming. These regions of submerged forests have poor farming potential, but have another set of economic resources that may have been important to early historic populations for fuel and instruction.

We do not yet know the vegetation of the Mekong delta from 2500 to 1500 B.P. Today, swampy sections of Vietnam's southern delta still contain mangrove forests, which can tolerate brackish water; nearly all of the delta's arable land is now under cultivation. A French surveyor who worked in Southern Vietnam in 1890 described vast forests of mangrove and water palm and estimated the area of forests at 1,900,000 ha (Brocheux 1995: 7). In Vietnam, the Mekong delta was underpop- ulated until the late 19th century (Brocheux 1995; Nguyen Viet Pho 1983) and the French program of canalization. Low population levels in the delta between at least the 13th and 18th centuries probably had limited impact on the natural vegetation and landscape; it is possible that the highest pre-18th century population levels occurred in the delta from 2500 to 1500 B.P.

Settlements

Malleret (1960: 4-5) noted that prehistoric research was first undertaken in the Transbassac region in the late 19th century, and a half-century of indifference followed. More recent work at such Vietnamese sites as

Bung Bac (Pham Duc Manh 1996, 1997) and in the Vam Co river basin (Bui Phat Diem et al. 1997) suggests that southern Vietnam was occupied by c. 4000 B.P. and that occupation intensified after 2500 B.P. NO systematic field surveys have yet been undertaken in either Vietnam or Cambodia to study trends in settlement or to study the development of regional systems. Inspection of aerial photographs (e.g., Lind 198 1) and field reconnaissance in southern Cambodia suggests that sites frequently consist of large elevated mounds, located along natural and artificial waterways that lie a short distance from a major river.

Virtually nothing is known about the settlement history of Cambodia's Mekong delta before 1500 B.P., except for preliminary findings from the Lower Mekong Archaeological Project (Stark 1998; Stark et al. 1999). Excavations a t the site of Angkor Borei (Takeo province) suggest that this large ancient site was first settled between 2500 and 2000 B.P. and was occupied after that until at least c. 800 B.P. (see special entry). Vickery's (1986, 1996) analysis of Khmer inscriptions suggests a clustering of settlements in Southern Cambodia by c. 1300 B.P.; how much earlier this settlement shift began is still not known. Material culture and architectural remains from Angkor Borei and neighboring sites closely resemble published materials from the Vietnam- ese sites (see special entry). Nothing is yet known regarding the earliest occupation of this region; if Vietnamese research is any guide, however, it may be possible that sites that predate 2500 B.P. might be found along the northern margins of the delta, rather than in the core area (see Bui Phat Diem et al. 1997, for Vietnamese study).

The limited pattern of prehistoric occupation in the delta to date may reflect geomorphological processes (and particularly the intensive alluviation) as much as prehistoric decisions regarding areas of potential settlement. Future research should explore evidence that the Mekong delta experienced trends toward nucleated settlement and increased integration through this period. By 1500 B.P., perhaps regional systems (with a central settlement and satellites, connected by canals) dotted the Mekong delta, and these regional systems were linked to one another through trade networks.

Most archaeological sites in the Mekong delta that date to 2500-1500 B.P. contain direct or indirect evidence of habitation, but we have little clear evidence of settlement morphology. Few excavations have opened large areal expanses of sites from this period for at least two reasons. The first reason may be a Vietnamese focus on sampling a wide range of archaeological sites across the delta and an interest in architectural remains.


The second reason is that extensive looting on most sites from this period has damaged large tracts of land; Malleret (1959-63) and his successors have found it difficult to excavate large exposures on the delta's sites.

Vietnamese archaeologists have, however, identified at least three forms of sites in the "Oc Eo culture" sites they have studied (Dao Linh C8n 1998; Ha Van Tan 1986; L2 Xuln Ditm et al. 1995; Trinh Thi H6a 1996; Vo Si Khai 1998). These site types include (1) residential sites, some of which contain fragments of wooden house piles (e.g., sites of Go Thap [Dong Thap province] and Bung Bac [Ba Ria-Vung Tau province); (2) architectural sites that contain either brick or stone foundations (subterranean or above ground) and building fragments (e.g., Go Cly Trom [An Giang province] and Go Xoai [Long An province]; and (3) funerary sites or cemeteries that either contain jar burials or brick constructions whose bases contain human cremations (see especially Dao Linh CGn's 1998 report on Go Thap [Dang Thap province]). Little information is available on population and paleopathologies for this period. The Vietnamese emphasis on excavating architecture, and the lack of archaeological research in Cambodia, has not yet provided burial populations on which such research might be undertaken.

Economy

Most archaeological work to date has concentrated on developing site chronologies and on documenting the range of archaeological materials that characterize the period. Largely for historical reasons, it has been geographers and historians, rather than archaeologists, who have offered models for the economy of the Mekong delta during the late prehistoric period. Much of the delta in both Vietnam and Cambodia was off limits to researchers from the 1940s until the late 1970s for political reasons. Vietnamese archaeologists resumed work in the delta in the mid-1970s, whereas Cambodia remained inaccessible until the 1990s. Consequently, ideas about the ancient economy derive largely from historians' use of documentary sources and from geographers' large-scale studies of vegetation and settlement patterns.

Several historians (particularly Wheatley 1983) have noted problems inherent in using Chinese documentary sources that date from c. 1800 B.P. Historians disagree about the precise location of the polity called "Funan" (for competing locations, see Coedb 1968; Colless 1972- 73; Hall 1982, 1985; Loofs 196849; Vickery 1986, 1996; and Wheatley 1983) and about the political structure of Funan (e.g., Christie 1979; Jacques 1979). Despite a

paucity of archaeological support, a model of a trade- based agrarian state in the Mekong delta-based almost exclusively on Chinese documentary accounteis now firmly entrenched in the literature. Various problems inhere in this approach (Stark 1998). As one example, accounts from c. 1700 B.P. describe repositories for archives and chiseled objects (inscriptions), yet the earliest dated Khmer inscription does not appear for another 300 years.

Geographers like Ng (1979), Van Liere (1980) and Lind (1981) have used aerial photography and remote sensing data for the delta to make inferences about subsistence patterns from 2500 to 1500 B.P. They suggest that prehistoric populations used recession rice agriculture (rather than irrigation) from 2500 to 1500 B.P. Histo- rians have relied on Chinese documentary evidence from c. 1800 B.P. to develop economic models for the Mekong delta, following Paul Pelliot's seminal translation of Chinese annals that described "Funan" (e.g., Briggs 1952; Coedcis 1968; Hall 1982, 1985, 1992; Wheatley 1983; Ishizawa 1995 has provided a recent commentary based on his own translation of the Chinese chronicles).

No western-language report has yet been published on faunal remains from sites in the delta. Malleret (1959-63: 60, 13,62,344-348) noted that his excavations at Oc Eo produced remains of terrestrial and riverine fauna. The Oc Eo excavations recovered evidence of the exploitation of some varieties of deer and wild boar (see also Malleret 1959-63: 62, 346). Bovid remains, which might be wild or domestic, were also reported from the site (Malleret 1959-63: 62, 347). Populations living in this riverine environment likely exploited a wider range of resources than those leaving material traces. Riverine resources such as mollusks, fish, and turtles are also represented in tin pendants (1960: PI. CI), objects in precious stone (carnelian, malachite) or gold (Malleret 195943: 62, P. LXXXIV), and as actual faunal remains of turtles (Malleret 1959-63: 62, P1. LXXXV, LXXXVI, LXXXVII, LXXXVIII), fish (PI. LXXXIX), and croc- odile (328).

Domestic foods likely included a variety of plants and animals, but no paleoenvironmental research has yet been published that would provide information on the nature and scale of agriculture in the Mekong delta c. 2500 B.P. Third-century Chinese annals suggest that populations could produce substantial agricultural sur- pluses in rice (Coedbs 1968: 42) and discuss areas of sugar cane (Malleret 1959-63: 62, 328). A third-century chronicle noted that the people "sow for one year and harvest for three" (Pelliot 1903: 254), and most scholars interpret this statement as evidence of agricultural intensification.


Research in Cambodia's Mekong delta (Fox and identifying craft manufacture in the archaeological Ledgerwood 1999) uses ethnographic and environmen- record are more stringent than those of Malleret's time, tal sources to develop a model of prehistoric land use in and more work is needed to support these claims for which early historic populations practiced recession rice local industries. agriculture. This research, like that of Van Liere (1980), Excavations and surface collections have recovered provides useful directions for future archaeological many ceramic utensils and a small collection of flaked, work. The Oc Eo excavations also recovered samples pecked, and ground stone. Timber, bamboo, plant of domestic animals like pigs, chickens, and domestic cat materials, and faunal materials (bone, antler) likely (Malleret 195943: 62, 346); the recovery of a bronze constituted a large proportion of the utensils during this elephant object (Malleret 195943: 60, PI. LXXXVIII) period, but preservation is poor. Ceramic vessels include might also suggest domestication. The more recent culinary vessels (for cooking, storage, and serving) and excavation of shell middens and remains of domesti- stoves. Grinding slabs and mortars and pestles have cated pigs in the northern part of the delta (Vietnam's been recovered from Vietnamese sites, and fragments of Vam Co river basin) provides more faunal evidence iron and bronze may be tool fragments. Oc Eo also suggesting that populations pursued a mixed economy contained stone cupules and egg-shaped stone grinders that relied on riverine and coastal resources (Bui Phat (Malleret 1959-63: 60, 26-28). Utensils recovered thus Diem et al. 1997). far suggest an assemblage used by a farming society that

The most recent ceramic research has concen- engaged in extensive food processing. trated on developing regional chronologies, from the Excavations at Oc Eo also yielded many beads and Vam Co River basin (Nishimura and Vuong Thu Hong general ornaments in gold and various minerals: quartz 1997) in Vietnam to southern Cambodia (Stark et al. in crystals, chalcedony, agate, and onyx, rubies, and glass press). The recovery of abundant earthenware ceramics, (Malleret 1960: 33-36, 1962). Beads from the Mekong however, prompted earlier researchers like Louis Mall- delta resemble those found in central Thailand and eret to suggest that major settlements like Oc Eo were elsewhere during this time (glover 1989). Malleret also centers of craft specialization, including ceramic (195942: 62, 3) noted that their research recovered manufacture (Malleret 1959-63: 60, 92). No kilns have more than 1300 objects. Although he also suggested been recovered from the delta; in Cambodia, kiln (Malleret 195943: 62, 24-25) that gold jewelry was technology may never have been associated with earth- important for funerary practices, few inhumations - enware ceramic manufacturing (see also Boisselier have been recovered with burial assemblages that 1966: 362). Malleret contended that Oc Eo populations might support this claim. Ornaments and personal manufactured ceramics for culinary uses and for con- displays of wealth were clearly important to some tainers, used to export fermented or pickled foods sector of the population, and it seems likely-based on (1959-63: 60, 93). excavations-that this sector inhabited the settlement's

Excavations at the site of Oc Eo also recovered central places. abundant evidence of glass bead manufacture (Malleret Archaeological research on the economic organiza- 1959-63). No convincing evidence exists for glass beads tion of the delta between 250&1500 B.P. has just begun. in the region before c. 2500 B.P. (Basa et al. 1990: 366- Clear similarities in artifacts and architecture exist 367), but after this point beads are found across between materials recovered during excavations on the Southeast Asia. Whether these artisans made glass Vietnamese and the Cambodian sides of the delta. The locally, imported glass scrap (broken glass from the recovery of exotic materials during Malleret's research Middle East India, or the Mediterranean), or imported (195963) and in more recent fieldwork suggests that the bulk glass to these sites remains unclear (also see Basa delta participated in the international maritime trade 1990: 99; Francis 1990: 3-4). network to some extent, although no provenance studies

Malleret's recovery of gems and precious metals have yet been undertaken of the bulk trade goods that during his 1944 excavations at Oc Eo suggested to him may have circulated within and beyond this region. So, that centers in the Mekong delta also housed specialists too, does the Chinese description (c. 1600 B.P. [Ishizawa in metallurgy, lapidary, and bead manufacture (Malleret 1995: 161) that large ships of foreign origin, carrying 195943: 62). Large quantities of gold (as jewelry, gold several hundred passengers, made stops at the port cities leaf, and ornamentation) were recovered, as were of the delta. That delta communities were linked abundant beads of clay, stone, and gems and ornaments through a series of canals seems plausible (e.g., Paris or pendants made from gems such as chalcedony, agate, 1931, 1941), although this work, too, requires ground- crystal, onyx, rubies, and glass. Today's criteria for truthing.

190 Mainland Southeast Asia ,

Sociopolitical Organization The trends toward increasing sociopolitical complexity that characterized the period 3000-2000 B.P. else-

Archaeological research has, thus far, contributed where in the Mekong basin, which included the little to our knowledge of social organization in the development of craft specializalion and long-distance Mekong delta from 2500 to 1500 B.P. Archaeological data exchange networks (Higham 1989; White and pigott from cemeteries might inform on these issues, but little 1995), may well have occurred in the Mekong delta as intact evidence of formal cemeteries now exists to study. well. By c. 1300 B.P., Khmer and Sanskrit inscriptions Reliance on external documentary evidence, rather than and chinese annals all describe a hierarchy with archaeological data, thus characterizes efforts to recon- wealthy elites who competed with one for struct the delta's social organization between 2500 to control of areas of the delta. Vickery.s (1996: 390) 1500 B.P. Some archaeologists might use ethnographic analysis of the distribution of ~h~~~ inscriptions from analogy to infer descent Systems level- this period suggests a relatively wide area of control that ing mechanisms, and institutions of control. Society included all of southern (and some of central) Cambodia, was clearly stratified by c. 1300 B.P., when inscriptions beyond the ~~k~~~ delta itself. M~~~ problem-oriented extolling donations to the temples by patrons archaeological research, however, is required to substan- first appear. By that time we see a record tiate these claims and to understand the changing nature of rulership that historians (e.g., Vicker~ 1998) argue of soc~opol~t~ca~ organization from 2500 to ,500 B.P. may have been guided matrilineal principles before No aichaeological research has been published that 1500 B.P. provides definitive evidence for conflict in the Mekong

Third-centur~ Chinese accounts describe delta. Oral traditions and Chinese annals describe polities that consisted of walled political centers with struggles for power that included warfare and the rulers who lived in wooden palaces. From these Chinese ultimate conquest of 'GFunanv by a polity to the accounts come the model of a "kingdom" of Funan. In northeast called 6LChenlaw (see discussions in these centers, the Chinese noted, were craft specialists 1968; Hall 1982, 1985; Vickery 1986, 1996, L998). Some who manufactured and luxury goods and of the largest sites in the delta are surrounded by earthen engraved stelae and literati who developed repositories walls and ramparts (Oc Eo) or brick walls (Angkor of archives (Pelliot 1903; Wheatley 1983). One historian Borei). However, such monumental constructions might . suggests that the was a "cultural axis as as a also be related to problems of water control during the commercial center" and that Funan constituted the first rainy and cannot be conclusively cited as Southeast Asian state that ultimately had expansionist evidence for aggression. No human remains have been aims between 2000 and 1500 B'P' 1985: 5842). recovered that exhibit evidence of physical trauma, nor Debates continue between historians on the political has any study identified patterns of settlement-wide organization of Funan (chiefdom [Wheatley 19831 destruction that we often associate with internecine versus kingdom [Coedts 19681 versus state [Hall 1982, warfare. Tropical conditions mitigate against the recov- 1985, 19921) and over the relative utility of Chinese ery of such evidence, and it remains unclear how this versus Khmer 'Ources (Vicker~ 1996? lack of evidence is related to conflict in the past. 1998). How archaeological findings might contribute to, or even resolve, such discussion remains to be seen.

To date, few studies have concentrated on collec- Religion and Expressive Culture

tions of mortuary remains and brick architecture that might inform on the nature of sociopolitical organization from 2500 to 1000 B.P. Vietnamese research on architectural remains at Go CBy Trom (An Giang province) and Go Xoai (Long An province) suggests some level of organizational complexity involving both stratification and, perhaps, corvke labor, but these features may postdate 1500 B.P. Similarly, work on the jar burials and brick constructions containing human cremations at Go Thap (D8ng Thap province) provides clues regarding ancient political organization (Dao Linh CBn 1998), and these clues are opaque until the period that begins at 1500 B.P.

The first clear evidence of religion and expressive culture appears in the Mekong delta after c. 1400 B.P., with the appearance of inscribed stelae, statuary, and brick architectural constructions. Although radiocarbon dates for brick constructions in Vietnam's Mekong delta (Vo Si Khai 1998) might suggest that brick constructions were first built by c. 1700 B.P., most construction probably occurred after 1500 B.P. and therefore out of the time range of this entry.

Before 1400 B.P., the record of religion and expressive culture in the Mekong delta is very slight. Glover's (1989) analysis of evidence for interaction between South and Southeast Asia suggests that contact may


have begun by c. 2400 B.P. Most scholars agree that contact took the form of diffusion, rather than direct political control, and that one of the enduring aspects of this encounter lay in the transmission of Indic religions (Hinduism, Buddhism). Ironically, we know more about the period after initial contact, when ancient Southeast Asians developed syncretic versions of these religions. Patterns of late prehistoric cemeteries from 3000 to 2000 B.P. elsewhere in the Mekong basin, with abundant burial assemblages and carefully constructed graves, might reflect belief in the after life and a spirit world.

The lack of inhumation burials for this period, coupled with extensive looting at these sites, leaves little data that might inform on the existence and nature of religious practitioners. Most mortuary sites throughout Vietnam's Mekong delta have been damaged by looting, with rare exceptions like the site of Go Thap (Dao Linh C6n 1998). G o Thap site dates to 1600-1500 B.P., and produced assemblages with eight cremation burials (five from pits, and three from brick tombs). These mortuary features produced gold objects (e.g., images of Vishnu, Garuda, and Nandi) related to the worship of Hindu gods (Dao Linh C6n 1998: 114-1 16). By the end of the period, some portion of the delta's population embraced the Hindu religion, and the excavator suggested that these may be tombs of members of the Brahmin caste. Precisely when Indic religions were adopted remains unclear, and debates continue over the impact and origins of these Indic religions on the religious and sociopolitical organization of Southeast Asians.

Many settlements occupied between 2500 and 1500 B.P. continued their occupation for several more centuries. Ceremonies associated with Hindu and Bud- dhist religions-including religious images and reliquar- ies that art historians have dated to c. 1300 B.P.-may well have been part of community life during the preceding centuries. So, too, might the ceremonial traditions of leadership and justice that Chinese visitors to the delta described c. 1600 B.P., which Chinese visitors 800 years later also observed. These include royal processions with a king atop an elephant and criminal trials in which suspects were required to extract objects from vats of boiling water or to carry red-hot chains for seven steps to demonstrate their innocence (Pelliot 1903).

This period is particularly frustrating in the Mekong delta. because documentary evidence from succeeding centuries depicts a rich ritual life and tells a tale of power struggles and shifts in dynastic rule. How early these traditions of leadership, of political organization, and of religious and expressive culture penetrate into the period 2500-1500 B.P. is simply not known at present. Chinese accounts describe several different kinds of

mortuary practices (including, but not limited to, inhumation), and the recovery of cremated remains at the base of brick constructions suggests a widespread set of beliefs concerning the afterlife. Several excavation projects now underway throughout the Mekong delta should enrich our understanding of this region substan- tially in the next several decades.

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Vickery, M. (1986). "Some Remarks on Early State Formation in Cambodia." In Southeast Asia in the 9th to 14th Centuries, ed. D. G. Marr and A. C. Milner. Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies. 95-1 15.

Vickery, M. (1996). "Review Article: What to Do about the Khmers." Journal of Southeast Asian Studies 27 (2): 389-404.

Vickery, M. (1998). Society, Economics, and Politics in Pre-Angkor Cambodia: The 7th-8th Centuries. Tokyo: Centre for East Asian Cultural Studies for Unesco, The Toyo Bunko.

Vo Si Khai (1998). "Plans architecturaux des ancients monuments du Delta du Mekong du I" au 10' sikles AD." In Southeast Asian Archaeology 1994: Proceedings of the 5th International Conference of the European Association of Southeast Asian Archaeologists, vol. I, ed. P.-Y. Manguin Hull: Centre for Southeast Asian Studies, University of Hull, 207-214.

Vu Cao Thai (1983). "Land Resources in the Mekong Delta." Vietnamese Studies n.s. 3 (73): 4359.

Wheatley, P. (1983). Nagara and Commandery Origins of the Southeast Asian Urban Traditions. Research Papers, Nos. 207-208. Chicago: Department of Geography, University of Chicago.

White, J. C., and V. C. Pigott (1996). "From Community Craft to Regional Specialization: Intensification of Copper Production in Pre-state Thailand." In Craft Specialization and Social Evolution: In Memory of V. Gordon Childe, University Museum Monograph 93. University Museum Symposium Series, vol. VI. Philadelphia: University Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, University of Pennsylvania, 151-175.

Tonle Sap PlainIKhorat Plateau (CambodialThailand)

TIME PERIOD: General Period C, Phimai tradition (Welch 1983: 64), Ban Chiang: Late Period (300 B.c.-A.D. 200 [Bayard 1986-7: Figure 11) or Phases IV-V-VI [Higham in Bayard 1986-7: Figure 11).

LOCATION: This cultural region unites two distinct topographic areas: the Khorat plateau (Thailand) and the Tonle Sap region (Cambodia). Archaeological data show cultural similarities from the rolling uplands of the Khorat plateau to the sodden lowlands of the Tonle Sap, which begin no later than 2500 B.P.

DIAGNOSTIC MATERIAL ATTRIBUTES: Large, moated sites (some with earthen wallslramparts), regional earthenware ceramic traditions (e.g., black burnished, red-on- buff painted), cord-marked ceramics, spindle whorls, clay pellets, stone, bronze, and iron artifacts, glass and agate beads.


CULTURAL SUMMARY

Higham (1989b: 252-253) suggested that the initial occupation for major settlements in this region occurred c. 4000 B.P. Archaeological research in the Khorat plateau and Tonle Sap regions has identified trends toward political centralization, integration into an international maritime network to the west and east, increased population density, and growing social stratification by 2500-1500 B.P. As is true in the Chao Phraya plain, technological change (and especially the adoption of iron metallurgy) coincided with organizational changes that archaeologists associate with political complexity. Although this region may have remained marginal to the economic and political activity seen farther to the south in the Mekong delta and the Chao Phraya basin, sites from this period contain clear evidence for organizational shifts in the political, economic, and social realms of society.

Little archaeological research on this period has been undertaken in the Tonle Sap region of Cambodia for historical and political reasons. Most archaeological work concentrates on restoration and excavation of areas in the Siem Riep and focuses on monumental architecture from the Angkorian period (c. 1200- 550 B.P.). Compounding this problem is the civil war since the 1970s, which has made much of the Tonle Sap region unsafe for fieldwork. Previous work has been restricted to the analysis of aerial photography (e.g., Moore 1992), and ground-based fieldwork has just begun. For these reasons, the following review describes the environment of the Tonle Sap region and then concentrates its archaeological descriptions on research undertaken in Northeast Thailand.

Environment

The unique environmental characteristics of the Khorat plateau and the Tonle Sap region merit separate description. The Khorat plateau is an elevated region that encompasses an area .of approximately 156,600 sq km. The gently rolling plateau is bounded to the north and east by the Mekong, to the west by the Petchabun range, and to the south by the Dangrek range. These ranges consist of flatbedded sandstone, and the plateau was formed through a process of warping, and uplift that continued into the middle Pleistocene. The altitude on the plateau rarely exceeds 25 m. Soils on the Khorat plateau have poor natural fertility; although 56 soil types have been described by Thailand's Ministry of Agriculture, the most common soils are "sandy loams, which are weathered from "red bed" sandstones

of Triassic and Jurassic age" (White 1995: 41). Less watered sections of the Khorat plateau have a thorn forest and scrub vegetation, and considerable areas of savannah grassland that now exist may have resulted from human intervention. The plateau's modern biota reflects intensive human use of the environment; rem- nant patches of original vegetation included dry deciduous dipterocarp forest (covering 70-80% of the region's forest, and associated with depleted soils), mixed deciduous forest (found on exposed ridges with thin soils), dry evergreen forests (found along the rim of the Khorat plateau), and savanna or sparse woodland (which covers large alluvial expanses along the Mekong, Mun, and Chi rivers) (Penny et al. 1996: 21 3-214; White 1995: 41-43 and Figure 4). Much of this environmental change probably postdates the period 2500-1 500 B.P. AS a proxy indicator, environmental studies of-sites from the Sakhon Nakhon basin do not exhibit substantial changes in the faunal and floral resources between 2500 to 1500 B.P. (Higham and Kijngam 1984: 29).

Two principal rivers, the Mun and the Chi, drain the region to its southeast. Archaeological surveys in the last three decades suggest that prehistoric populations settled along these drainages for millennia (e.g., Higham 1989a, 1989b; Kijngam et al. 1980; McNeill and Welch 1991; Wilen 1986-87). The growing human population that inhabits the Khorat plateau today, however, may be a recent historical phenomenon. Archaeologists speculate that the Khorat plateau was never a large population center in the prehistoric past. However, its location along major drainages-including the Mekong river-probably facilitated movement and contact of peoples for millennia.

The Tonle Sap region is considered a lacustrine plain and contains freshwater flooded forests (UNESCO 1996: 17). This region of northwestern Cambodia has a sedimentary bedrock base, which is covered by alluvial sediments derived, in part, from weathering of the neighboring sandstone hills. Local geology in this region includes lateritic soils, secondary clays, and sandstone. Much of the lowland basin that includes the Tonle Sap ("the Great Lake") has an altitude lower than 100 m. The Tonle Sap is a unique feature of the region: it acts as a huge reservoir, which expands and contracts with the monsoon rains. Hill country surrounds the area: to the south and southwest are the Elephant (Diimrei) mountains and Cardamon (Krivanh) hills; to the north is the Dangrek range (ChuGr Phnom DlngrEk), which forms the southern margin of the Khorat plateau; and to the east is rolling hill country that separates Cambodia from Vietnam.


The plain surrounding the Tonle Sap lake contrasts markedly with soils on the Khorat plateau in its thick alluvial deposits and ideal farmland. Today, this region is one of the most productive agricultural regions in Cambodia, and most of the area is now under cultivation. Its flooded forests have a high diversity of wildlife, including a wide range of fish and waterbirds. The Tonle Sap plain also has many wild species: turtles, snake, tiger, elephant, bear, bat, porcupine, deer, along with domesticated animals. No paleoethnobotanical research has been published on the Tonle Sap region; however, this area may once have supported a mixed deciduous forest.

Settlements

Systematic settlement pattern studies, involving analysis of aerial photography (e.g., Williams-Hunt 1950; Moore 1988, 1989, 1992) and pedestrian survey (Higham 1989a; Kijngam et al. 1980; McNeill 1997; McNeill and Welch 1991; Wilen 1986-87) provide insights on the location and nature of settlement systems. At the beginning of the period, small settlements (sized 0.5-5.0 ha) were located in marshland or in low- lying interior stream valleys, away from major river valleys. Most populations lived along major watercaurs- es, and these riverine settings contained freshwater snails and crustaceans, along with fish. Large-scale water management may have converted some previously swampy areas into highly productive agricultural land. These settlements may have averaged 250-500 inhabitants and were ideal for floodwater recession agriculture.

The Khorat plateau contains abundant evidence of "moated" sites that were first constructed c. 3000 B.P.

and whose construction continued until at least 900 B.P.

These "moated" sites have been the subject of extensive archaeological interest, and previous explanations offered for their function include defense and water storage (e.g., Higham 1996; Moore 1988, 1989, 1992; Williams-Hunt 1950). Recent geomorphological research in the upper Mun valley challenges the conventional assumption that these settlements were surrounded by earthen embankments and excavated ditches (or moats) and suggests instead that populations settled along stream meanders that formed oxbows that today look like moats (Higham and Thosarat 1998: 146-147).

Archaeologists have excavated a small number of sites on the Khorat plateau, like Non Muang Kao, Noen U-Loke (see special entry), Non Yang, and Non Chai, whose occupation begins and ends in the period 2500-1500 B.P. (see review in Higham and Thosarat

1998: 148-170). Most sites, however, largely predate the period 2500-1500 B.P., and several large sites (e.g., Ban Chiang, Ban Prasat) have an "Iron Age" component that fits into the earlier portion of this period.

Whatever the origins and function of these "moated" or "enclosed" (following Moore 1992) sites, sufficient work has been done to suggest broad patterns of settlement on the Khorat plateau from 2500 to 1500 B.P. Some archaeologists believe that settlement systems utilized multiple ecological zones in the region, and site size and morphology varied with ecozone. Sites on the alluvial plain of the Phimai region, for example, varied in size (1-17 ha), but most had water-control features like moats and tanks that facilitated farming and habitation. Sites in areas with less arable land (i.e., low terrace zones, upland river valleys) might have used walls for fortifications, and goods may have moved between upland and lowland populations (McNeill 1997: 174; Welch 1983: 65-66).

Pedestrian surveys along the Mun and Chi drainages suggest that the number and average size of settlements increased during this time. Based on his settlement study of the Nam Phong piedmont zone, Wilen (1986-87: 1 14) suggested that the transition from 2500-2000 B.P. was marked by the nucleation of communities and the clustering of settlements throughout the watershed, which may have coincided with the adoption of fixed- field wet-rice agriculture. One proxy indicator of population nucleation lies in the incidence of infectious '

disease, which requires dense human populations (as vectors) to thrive. Douglas's (1996) analysis of human remains from Non Nok Tha and Ban Chiang suggested that more cases of possible infectious diseases occur from 2500 to 1500 B.P. than in preceding periods.

Because most excavation projects have concentrated on mortuary areas rather than engaging in large-scale areal excavations, little information is available on the size and layout of community organization. Recent research at Non Muang Kao, however, revealed a series of superimposed plastered floors and postholes that archaeologists have interpreted as possible house foundations or work areas (Higham and Thosarat 1998: 150). Such features, found also at the Khorat plateau sites of Non Yang (Nitta 1991) and at Ban Takhong (Higham 1996), provide rare evidence for residential functions and community organization.

Many archaeologists contend that with these hierarchies developed community-based specialization in craft production and resource procurement, perhaps in concert with fixed-field wet-rice agriculture (Bayard 1984; Higham 1989a, 1989b; Higham and Kijngam 1984; Higham and Thosarat 1998: 158-1 59; McNeill and


Welch 1991: 329; Nitta 1991, 1997; White 1986; Wilen and Welch 1991: 336-337; Moore 1988: 282-283; Wilen 1986-87). The Khorat plateau, for example, is rich in 1992). Some forms of ceramics apparently had a broader natural deposits of salt, and salt is important for geographic distribution (e.g., Phimai black) than others fermenting fish and for flavoring foods. The association and might have functioned as mortuary goods over a of basal layers of some salt mounds in Buriram and wider sector of the population (McNeill and Welch Nakhon Ratchasima province with water storage tanks, 1991: 334). furnaces, and Phimai black pottery suggests that salt These craft manufacturing traditions probably making dates as far back as c. 2500 B.P. (Nitta 1991, changed through time. Local earthenware ceramic 1997). Whether these settlement patterns were depen- traditions in the Sakon Nakhon basin, for example, dent on access to commerce along major rivers (partic- adopted technological changes that might reflect migra- ularly the Mekong) has not been investigated in any tion or intensified interaction with populations in the detail. Chi Valley c. 2100 B.P. (Vincent 1988: 189-191). Some of

these utilitarian resources may have been valued trade

Economy items, like salt (Nitta 1991, 1997), which may have circulated beyond the Khorat plateau. It seems likely

Some archaeologists link major settlement shifts that that some communities also specialized in manufactur- occurred between 2500 and 2000 B.P. throughout these ing nonutilitarian goods like metals, glass, and orna- lowland regions to the development of craft specializa- ments. However, we lack adequate sourcing data to tion (particularly in metallurgy), a prestige goods determine the relative amount of goods recovered from economy, and region-wide exchange networks for goods burials (marine shell bracelets, exotic stone disks) at sites such as iron and glass. Craft specialization and regional like Ban Na Di, which reflect local production, in integration are commonly associated with intensive contrast to the amount of goods that reflects patterns of cultivation across Southeast Asia today: the modal long-distance exchange (Higham and Kijngam 1984). subsistence strategy after 2500 B.P. involved some form Three industrial arts for which archaeological data of rice cultivation, coupled with the exploitation of are available in this region are ceramic manufacture, salt riverine and forest resources. Burials from excavated making, and metallurgy. Ceramic manufacture used sites like Noen U-Loke (see special entry) and Non Chai locally available materials, and-except for some pos- contain evidence of domesticates (e.g., pig, cattle, water sible mortuary wares like Phimai black and the red- buffalo) and riverine resources like shellfish, fish, crab, on-buff pottery of Ban Chiang that may have circulated frog, and water turtle (Higham and Thosarat 1998; more widely-had a local distribution. Salt making Kijngam 1979). Scholars disagree on how to evaluate probably took place on or near salt mounds, and evidence for the intensity of cultivation practices, with metallurgy seems to have been widespread because the some arguing for recession rice agriculture and others region contains substantial iron ore deposits. Sites in the for fixed-field (or intensive) wet-rice cultivation (e.g., Mun valley like Noen U-Loke (see special entry), Ban Van Liere 1980). Don Phlong (Nitta 1991,1997), and Ban Karbuang Nok

Mortuary contexts provide far greater information (Indrawooth et al. 1990) contain ample evidence of on the role of craft production and distribution in the ironworking in the form of smelting areas, clay-lined subsistence economy than on the nature of subsistence. furnaces, tuyeres, and slag fragments. Studies have generally focused either on luxury goods Utensils used from 2500 to 1500 B.P. were similar to that might have been incorporated into a prestige goods those used in previous periods. Household goods economy (e.g., McNeill and Welch 1991: 337) or on (particularly culinary tools) and goods associated wi& patterns of local manufacture of utilitarian goods, like craft manufacture have been found at many sites in the earthenware ceramics (e.g., Vincent 1988; Welch 1983: region and in different contexts. As an example, 64). Both approaches assume that most communities common material culture for this period in the Nam contained artisans who manufactured (and exchanged) Phong piedmont zone includes spindle whorls, clay utilitarian goods, be it nonperishable goods like earth- pellets, stone, bronze, and iron artifacts, glass and agate

zenware ceramics or perishable goods like salt, textiles, or beads, utilitarian. pottery, and some specific decorated basketry. Evidence for a regionalization in ceramic ceramic styles like red-on-black ware and black-on-buff styles and in paste compositions (Vincent 1988), and wares (Wilen 1986-87: 1 11-1 13). Ceramic stamps and changes in settlement pattern, suggests community- rollers at sites like Ban Na Di and Ban Chiang also based specialization and economic integration into appear during this period, with an as-yet indeterminate regional systems (Higham 1989a: 233-238; McNeill function.


The preceding period saw a proliferation of personal ornamentation, which commonly is manifested in burials (Higham 1996). Bronze, stone, and shell ornaments, necklaces, and bracelets are commonly associated with Bronze Age burials in the Khorat plateau, and this mortuary tradition of ornamentation continued into the period 2500-1 500 B.P. New introductions during this time include the adoption of bronze alloys and a proliferation of beads (glass, stone, agate, carnelian, gold, silver) used in necklaces and pendants. Beads have been used widely among tribal groups throughout Southeast Asia for centuries as a form of wealth, and archaeologists have applied this analogy in their interpretations of the "Iron Age."

The recovery of substantial amounts of nonutilitarian goods in Khorat plateau sites begs the question of distributional mechanisms. What was the structure of interregional interaction during this time? Did long- distance trade networks operate regularly to link the Khorat plateau to regional systems along the coasts of mainland Southeast Asia? Interpretations of distributional patterns vary, but tend to emphasize a growth in intraregional trade that outstripped the importance of interregional interaction. Based on their work in the upper Mun valley, McNeill and Welch (1991: 330-331) concluded that long-distance trade must have been limited between 2500 and 2000 B.P., because sites contain few artifacts that can be attributed in origin to areas outside that basin. Others (e.g., Higham 1989a: 233-238; Vincent 1988: 223-224), emphasize a prestige goods economy model for this region, with elites who engaged in competitive alliances solidified through the exchange of goods. Such prestige-goods models emphasize the growth of differential access to a wide range of goods, and excavations of cemetery sites from the region do reflect notable differences in wealth.


The relative wealth of cemetery sites excavated from the period 2500-1500 B.P. is offset by the small number of sites that date to this period. Few sites have yielded sufficient numbers of burials to begin to study aspects of ancient social organization. Questions about exogamy vs. endogamy, about marriage and family structure, and even about descent rules remain unanswered for the period 2500-1500 B.P. Only one cemetery from coastal Thailand, Khok Phanom Di (Higham 1989a: 65-89; Higham and Thosarat 1994, 1998: 44-63), has provided sufficient longitudinal data to begin to discuss such issues, and the bulk of this site's occupational sequence predates 2500 B.P.

Inferences about political organization rest on similarly weak ground as do those of social organization at thls time. Archaeologists use proxy measures, such as the representation of local vs. nonlocal ceramics in burials (Vincent 1988: 219, for Ban Na Di), changes in the size and primate quality of settlement systems (Higham and Kjingam 1984), or the adoption of technological changes like ironworking, to infer changes in political organization. Some archaeologists suggest that this period is characterized by "a hereditary upper chiefly class which exercised authority over a political unit larger than a settlement" (Higham and Thosarat 1998: 170). Most archaeological research to date, however, exhibits trends toward economic and political centralization that can only reflect broad patterns of political structure.

Mortuary contexts provide some evidence for sdcial stratification. Some burials at Ban Don Phlong and Non Muang Kao (Higham and Thosarat 1998: 169; Nitta 1991) consisted of clay-lined graves, and at least one grave from Ban Don Phlong contained an individual with large amounts of luxury goods (e.g., bronze bangles, bronze rings, and a necklace of agate and glass beads). Nitta (1991) suggested that this clay-lined grave may have contained a split tree log coffin, perhaps bearing some resemblance to the wooden boat-shaped coffins from Tham Ongbah in the western Chao Phraya basin (see entry).

Archaeological evidence for conflict is slim, and archaeologists continue to debate the relative importance of militarism from 2500 to 1500 B.P. (e.g., Higham 1989a; White and Pigott 1996). Occasional evidence of trauma exists, such as that reported for Noen U-Loke (see special entry). Paleopathological research on burial populations from Ban Chiang and Non Nok Tha, however, produced no patterned trauma that would suggest warfare or interpersonal violence (Douglas 1996: 294, 572). Nor does the existence of "moats" or other types of enclosures around settlements in the region suggest population circumscription and intercommunity warfare. What seems clear is that intraregional and interregional interaction intensified during this time, with the competition and conflict that such interaction entails.


The high diversity of manufactured goods provides some guidance on understanding the expressive arts of the period and place. For example, this period witnesses the first appearance of red-on-buff painted pottery in mortuary contexts in contemporary sites across much of the Khorat plateau. Such pottery is associated most


closely with Ban Chiang and with the site's cemetery (e.g., Higham 1989a: 223-225; Van Esterik 1973, 1981; Vincent 1988: 203214; White 1986). Design styles on these ceramics provide one set of iconography that might reflect a shared social identity, a particular social structure (Vincent 1988: 204), or a common cosmolog- ical view (Wilen 1992: 109).

The predominance of mortuary data from the Khorat plateau holds fewer insights into religious beliefs and cosmology than one might wish. Few burials have yet been identified as those of religious specialists, and no special-use sites (in grottoes, or with cave art) have been found in the region. One might expect, using analogy with traditional Southeast Asian cultures, that religion involved ancestor worship and belief in a rich spirit world. One might also assume that populations engaged in both public and private ceremonies, officiated by individuals with shamanic power. To date, however, archaeologists have recovered little archaeological evidence that supports either of these contentions. Some burials from Noen U-Loke that date to c. 1800 B.P. contained thick layers of silicified rice. The mechanisms by which rice was interred with the deceased are unknown, but this evidence supports the idea that death, as a rite of passage, was accompanied by ritual.

Based on his research in the Nam Phong drainage system, Wilen (1992) suggested that populations in this region had regularized mortuary traditions by c. 2500 B.P. Thirteen excavated sites in this region contain graves with thick midden deposits (sherds from utilitarian ceramics, animal bones, spindle whorls, iron fragments) that contain a variety of presumably nonutilitarian items. These materials include glass and carnelian beads, elaborately painted ceramics, and metal implements. To Wilen, the standardized mortuary ori- entation (heads to the northwest, feet to the southeast), the spatial differentiation of burials (e.g., infants in certain areas), and the inclusion of nonutilitarian goods in graves suggest the development of a more elaborate and more widely shared set of mortuary rituals than were practiced previously in this region. This contrast in patterning from 2500-1500 B.P., in which regionalization of locally manufactured goods emerges in concert with broader mortuary traditions and may have laid the foundation for the emergence of complex societies in the region only a few centuries later.

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SITES

Angkor Borei

TIME PERIOD: 2500-1 500 B.P.

LOCATION: Mekong delta, Cambodia.

DESCRIPTIVE SUMMARY

Local Environment

The site of Angkor Borei is located at the southern tip of a slightly elevated area of land, less than 10 km west of the Bassac river in Takeo province (Cambodia). Low-lying, slightly swampy area encompasses area immediately south of Angkor Borei, save for two small outcrops of granitic hills (or phnom, in Khmer): Phnom ' Da and Phnom Angkor Borei.

Physical Features .

Angkor Borei is an irregularly shaped, elevated area now covered by a contemporary town of approximately 6000 inhabitants. A dropoff in elevation largely defines the site, and a wall and ditch system encloses c. 300 ha of land. The upper portion of the wall is constructed of dry-laid brick masonry, while the lower section of the wall likely consists of an earthen embankment. The Angkor Borei river, running east-west, transects the northern portion of the site, and a north-south drainage segment (of unknown age) divides the northern half of the site into two. This site has at least three discrete areas: (1) the northeastern quadrant of the site, which is relatively sparse in archaeological evidence (approximately five brick monumental structures with associated burials and limited artifact deposits outside these structural features); (2) the central section of the site (including portions of the northwestern quadrant), which contains 4-6-m-deep cultural deposits and abundant brick debris from various monumental


constructions (the largest of which measured 200 m east-west before it was bulldozed); and (3) the southern portion of the site, which has thinner cultural deposits but complex constellations of brick mounds and water control features.

Excavations have concentrated on different loci in the central portion of Angkor Borei and have produced a radiocarbon chronology for the site that begins at c. 2400 B.P. The uppermost deposits in test trenches date to c. 1600-1300 B.P., suggesting nearly a millennium of occupation. Surface ceramics and art historians' dating of associated statuary from the site and from the Phnom Da temples suggest continuous occupation throughout the historic period (i.e., until at least 500 B.P.). Excava- tions have also produced a ceramic sequence with three discrete cultural phases that have provisionally been divided into Phase 1 (c. 2400-2100 B.P.), Phase 2 (c. 2100- 1800/1700 B.P.), and Phase 3 (c. 1800/1700-1400 B.P.).

Cultural Aspects

The site of Angkor Borei is primarily known for its later occupation (Phase 3), which has produced the earliest dated Khmer inscription in the world and the earliest Khmer sculptural tradition (known as the Phnom Da style). To historians, Angkor Borei was one of the capitals of the ancient kingdom of Funan, which the Chinese described. Various parts of the research program at Angkor Borei are still in progress, but the radiocarbon dates, survey and reconnaissance in the region, and recent excavation of part of a cemetery in its central area already provide insights into cultural aspects of the site. First, excavations at the site have identified a substantial settlement history, beginning at least as early as 2400 B.P., which developed into an important economic (and, presumably, political) center in the Mekong delta by 1500 B.P. Angkor Borei is linked to many contemporary sites by canals that still function today, and Pierre Paris (1931, 1941) noted canals that cross a 90-km distance to link Angkor Borei to the site of Oc Eo, which was then located closer to the ocean and may have been a trading entrep6t (see review in Higham 1989: 245-254).

In addition, Angkor Borei probably played an important economic role in the regional system that operated at least between 2000 and 1500 B.P. For example, abundant evidence for particular ceramic wares (and limited compositional analysis) suggests that Angkor Borei might have been a manufacturing center for some types of earthenware ceramics. Third, the plethora of brick architecture, which (using relative dating with similar features in Vietnam) was probably

constructed c. 1500 B.P., suggests that Angkor Borei was a religious or ideological center for its region. Brick constructions contained cremated remains and luxury goods at their bases, and inhumations recovered from the central area of the site contained pig skulls, earthenware vessels, and other mortuary goods in association with human remains. Evidence for social stratification and religious organization is still slim, but future excavations should inform on the nature of social, political, and religious organization at Angkor Borei and in that region of the Mekong delta.

References

Anderson, H. R. (1978). Hydrogeologic Reconnaissance of the Mekong Delta in South Vietnam and Cambodia. Contributions to the Hydrology of Asia and Oceania. Geological Survey Water-Supply Paper 1608-R. Washington, D.C.: United States Government Printing Office.

Boisselier, J. (1966). Asie du Sud-Est, Tome I ; Le Cambodge, Tome I . Paris: A. J. Picard et tie.

Briggs, L. P. (1952). The Ancient Khmer Empire. Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society.

Brocheux, P. (1995). The Mekong Delta: Ecology, Economy, and Revolution, 186&1960. Center for Southeast Asian Studies Mono- graph, No. 12. Madison: University of Wisconsin.

Christie, A. H. (1979). "Lin-i, Fu-nan, Java." In Early South East Asia: Essays in Archaeology, History, and Hritorical Geography, ed. R. B.. Smith and W. Watson. New York: Oxford University Press, 281- 287.

Coedbs,,G. (193 1). "Deux inscriptions Sanskrites de Founan." Bulletin de I'Ecole Frangaise dd'Extrt?me Orient 3 1 : 1-23.

Coedts, G. (1968). The Indianized States of Southeast Asia, ed. W. F. Vella, trans. S. B. Cowing. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press.

Colless, B. E. (1972-73). "The Ancient Bnam Empire: Fu-nan and Po-nan." Journal of the Oriental Society of Australia 9 (1&2): 21-31.

Groslier, B. P. (1935). "Ankor Bbrei." Bulletin de ~ ' ~ c o l e Frangaise d'Extrime-Orient 35: 491.

Groslier, B. P. (1966). Indochina. Cleveland and New York. The World Publishing Company.

Hall, K. R. (1985). Maritime Trade and State Development in Early Southeast Asia. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press.

Higham, C. (1989). The Archaeology of Mainland Southeast Asia. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Ishizawa, Y. (1995). "Chinese Chronicles of 1st-5th Century A.D. Funan, Southern Cambodia." In South East Asia & China: Art, Interaction & Commerce, ed. R. Scott and John Guy. Colloquies on Art & Archaeology in Asia, No. 17. London: Percival David Foundation of Chinese Art, University of London, 11-31.

Jacques, C. (1979). " 'Funan,' 'Zhenla': The Reality Concealed by These Chinese Views of Indochina." In Early South Enst Asia: Essays in Archaeology, History, and Historical Geography, ed. R. B. Smith and W. Watson. New York: Oxford University Press 371-379.

Malleret, L. J1959-63). L'Archiologie du Delta du Mikong, 4 tomes in 7 vol. de 1'Ecole Fran~aise d'ExtrEme Orient XLIII. Paris: Publica- tions.


paris, P. (1931). "Anciene canaux reconnus sur photographies the site were undertaken by Ian Glover and Pisit aeriennes dans les provinces de Ta-Kev et de Chauc-DM." Bulletin de I'Ecole Franpaise d'Extrime Orient 31: 221-224.

Paris, P. (1941). "Notes et melanges: Ancienes canaux reconnus sur photographies aeriennes et les provinces de Ta-Keo, Chau-Doc, Long Xuyen et Rach-Cia." Bulletin de I ' E C O I ~ Franpaise d9Extrime Orient 4 1 : 365-370.

Pelliot, P. (1903). "Le Fou-nan." Bulletin a2 ~ ' ~ c o l e Fran~aise d'Extrime Orient 3: 248-303.

Stark, M. T. (1998). "The Transition to History in the Mekong Delta: A View from Cambodia." International Journal of Historical Archaeology 2 (3): 175-204.

Stark, M. T., P. B. Grillin, P. Chuch, J. Ledgerwood, M. Dega. C. Mortland, N. Dowling, J. Bayman, S. Bong, V. Tea, C. Chhan, and K. Latinis (1999). "Results of the 1995-1996 Field Investigations at Angkor Borei. Cambodia." Asian Perspectives 38 (1): 7-36.

Van Liere, W. J. (1980). "Traditional Water Management in the Lower Mekong Basin." World Archaeology 1 1 (2): 265-280.

Vickery, M. (1996). "Review Article: What to Do about the Khmers." Journal of Southeast Asian Studies 27 (2): 389-404.

Vickery, M. (1998). Society, Economics, and Politics in Pre-Angkor Cambodia: The 7lh-8lh Centuries. Tokyo: Centre for East Asian Cultural Studies for Unesco, The Toyo Bunko.

Ban Don Phet

LOCATION: Western Chao Phraya basin (Kanchanaburi province).

DESCRIPTIVE SUMMARY

Local Environment

Ban Don Ta Phet is located along the western edge of the Chao Phraya basin, in Kanchanaburi province. The Three Pagodas pass is also found along the basin's western edge and is believed to have been an important route for east-west trade during the period 2500- 1500 B.P. The village of Ban Don Ta Phet is located on a low mound that rises above low swampy ground, which is today used as farmland.

Physical Features

Construction activities in 1975 revealed pottery and beads in the village of Ban Don Ta Phet (Kanchanaburi province). The Thai Fine Arts department began excavations at the site under the direction of Chin You-di in 1975-1976, and subsequent excavations at

Charoenwongsa in 1980-1 98 l- and 1984-1985. The site of Ban Don Ta Phet has a mortuary area that is approximately 40 m wide and enclosed by a ditch. A sample from organic temper in a piece of earthenware pottery produced a date of c. 2300 B.P. (Glover 1990: 155). Burial features consist of badly deteriorated inhumations in acidic soils, accompanied by a variety of grave goods. The 1975-76 excavations recovered 50- 60 burial contexts, and the 1980-8111984-85 excavations another 50 burial contexts. Archaeologists (Glover 1990; Glover et al. 1984) believe that most of these inhumations were secondary burials in one large pit and that they may have been interred on a single occasion (perhaps transferred from an earlier burial place). Some of the bronze vessels recovered from the site were incomplete, as if parts had been left at the locus of primary inhumation (Alvey 1990; Glover 1990: 140; Glover et al. 1984).

Along with poorly preserved human remains, the excavations recovered an impressive array of burial goods including bronze vessels, bracelets, anklets, rings, bird finials, and a bronze ladle; thousands of beads of glass, semiprecious stone (agate, carnelian, jade, rock crystal); and hundreds of iron tools and weapons, along with abundant earthenware pottery (Chin 1976; Warangkhana and Seeley 1979). Utili- tarian goods from the burials include earthenware ceramics (globular cooking pots, low pedestal bowls, and hemispherical bowls [Glover 1990: 170-1 73]), stone axes (Glover 1980: 24), and iron implements (axes, billhooks, digging stick blades [or plowshares], and sickles [Glover 1980: 241). Iron objects were predominantly utilitarian in function and may have been used for farming, hunting, or fishing. Most socketed spearheads that were recovered from the burials had been bent or destroyed.

Archaeologists also recovered many bronzes and two ornaments during excavations at Ban Don Ta Phet. Nearly 300 bronzes were found during fieldwork, including bronze bowls, bracelets, finger rings, and bells. Unlike bronze goods from earlier sites, none of the Ban Don Ta Phet bronzes is associated with militarism or conflict. Most extraordinary was the recovery of high-tin bronze bowls, with extremely thin walls (0.3-0.5 mm) and elaborate incised scenes of people, animals, structures, plants, and geometric designs. Virtually identical bowls have been recovered from sites in India (Bennett and Glover 1992; Rajpitak 1983; Warangkhana and Seeley 1979). A jade double-headed an'imal pendant and a carnelian lion were also among the finds from excavations at this site.


Cultural Aspects

Ban Don Ta Phet is perhaps the most important site in the Chao Phraya basin for the period 2500-1500 B.P.

because it provides information on economy and sociopolitical organization for this period. Uniformity in the range of goods represented across the burials indicates that the cemetery was used during a brief period. Com- positianal analysis of high-tin bronze hemispherical bowls and cylindrical containers from Ban Don Ta Phet suggests that they were made locally in western Thai- land. Similar bronzes have been recovered from the Khorat plateau sites of Phimai and Ban Chiang (Bennett and Glover 1992; Glover 1990; Glover et al. 1984), which might suggest an interregional trade network that linked settlements in the Chao Phraya basin to the Khorat plateau. Two ornaments suggest even more distant contact: The double-headed animal pendant is diagnostic of the Sa Huynh culture of Vietnam (see the Island South- east Asia Late Prehistoric tradition, this volume) and suggests familiarity and perhaps contact with the Sa Huynh area of central Vietnam. The complete carnelian lion (believed to be an early representation of Bud- dha) suggests contact with India, as do many beads from the site. Two bead types, the large, translucent green six-sided prism beads and etched beads, have direct technological parallels in South Asia (e.g., Glover 1989: 19-31). Knobbed-base bronze bowls are also suggestive in technology of South India (e.g., Glover 1990: 42-48).

The substantial burial population also exhibits patterning that informs on community and sociopolitical organization. Research at Ban Don Ta Phet suggests a complex community organization, with formal cemetery areas. This site appears to have a strictly mortuary function, which suggests that burial and residential areas may have been separate from each other in this western region (Glover 1990: 142). Chin You-di (1976) suggested the existence of three discrete burial clusters that might have represented lineage groups. Glover was not able to find evidence for Chin's three discrete burial groups, but plans from Chin's excavations identified a single extended inhumation (collected and cremated by the local monk to rid the village of bad spirits), which may postdate the rest of the burials. Chin's (1976) excavations at the site also concluded that some burials had greater amounts of grave goods than others, which might suggest growing social stratification within Chao Phraya communities through the period.

References

Conference of the Association of Southeast Asian Archaeologists in Western Europe, ed. I. Glover and E. Glover. Oxford: BAR International Series 561, 185-194.

Bennett, A., and Glover. I. C. (1992). "Decorated High-Tin Bronze from Thailand's Prehistory." In Southeast Asian Archaeology 1990, ed. I . C. Glover. Hull: Centre for Southeast Asian Studies, 227-232.

Chin You-di (1976). Ban Don Ta Phet: Preliminary Excavation Report, 1975-1976. Bangkok: National Museum.

Chin You-di (1978). "Nothing Is New." Muang Boran 4 (4): 6-16. Glover, I. C. (1980). "Ban Don Ta Phet and Its Relevance to Problems

in the Pre- and Protohistory of Thailand." Bulletin of the Indo- Pacific Prehistory Association 2: 16-30.

Glover, I. C. (1987). "Archaeological Survey in West-Central Thai- land: A Second Report on the 198243 Field Season." A s h Perspectives 25 (1): 83-109.

Glover, I. C. (1989). Early Trade between Indian and Southeast Asia. 2nd ed. Hull: Center for South-East Asian Studies.

Glover, I. C. (1990). "Ban Don Ta Phet: The 1984-1985 Excavation." In Southeast Asian Archaeology 1986: Proceedings of the First Conference of the Association of Southeast Asian Archaeologists in Western Europe, ed. I . Glover and E. Glover. Oxford: BAR International Series 561, 139-184.

Glover, I. C. (1991). "The Late Prehistoric Period in West-Central Thailand." Bulletin of the Indo-Pacific Prehistory Association 10: 349-356.

Glover, I. C., B. A. P. Alvey, P. Charoenwongsa, and M. Kamnounket (1984). "The Cemetery of Ban Don Ta Phet, Thailand: Results from the 1980-81 Excavation Season." In South Asian Archaeology 1981, ed. B. Allchin. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 319-330.


Higham, C. F. W., and R. Thosarat (1998). Prehbtoric Thailand: From Early Settlement to Sukhothai. Bangkok: River Books.

Ng, R. C. Y. (1979). "The Geographic Habitat of Historical Settlement in Mainland South East Asia." In Early South East Asia: Essays in Archaeology, History, and Historical Geography, ed. R. B. Smith and W. Watson. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 262-272.

Rajpitak, W. (1983). "The Development of Copper-Alloy Metallurgy in Thailand in the Pre-Buddhist Period with Special Reference to High-Tin Bronze." Ph.D. diss., Institute of Archaeology, London.

Warangkhana, R., and N. Seeley (1979). "The Bronze Bowls from Ban Don Ta Phet: An Enigma of Prehistoric Metallurgy." World Archaeology J 1 (1): 2 6 3 1.

Beikthano

TIME PERIOD: 2500-1 500 B.P.

LOCATION: Dry zone of central Burma.

MAJOR TRADITION: Mainland Southeast Asia Late Pre- historic.

Alvey, B. (1990). "Ban Don Ta Phet-Data Capture and Analysis.'' In Southeast Asian Archaeology 1986: Proceedings of the First


DESCRIPTIVE SUMMARY

Local Environment

The Irawaddy and Sittang rivers drain central Burma, and the dry zone is encased on its eastern and western boundaries by hills and mountains. Because this area of Burma lies in a rain shadow created by the Arakan mountains during the monsoon season, it experiences lower levels of rainfall and higher temperatures than most of mainland Southeast Asia.

Physical Features

Beikthano is a walled site with a rhombus shape; its brick walls average nearly 2 m in height today; the eastern side of the site is 2 mi long, while the northern and southern walls are shorter by two furlongs. This ancient settlement originally had three gates on each site, a palace site that now is a brick enclosure to the northwest of the walled site's center. The site has nearly 100 mounds of debris (some square, some circular, others irregular in shape), and an area outside the walled site contains "countless low mounds, which are urn graves" (Aung Thaw 1968: 2, 7).

Cultural Aspects

Beikthano is the oldest of the Pyu sites and might span the transition from protohistory to history in Central Burma. Most structures on the site date between c. 1800 and 1600 B.P. The absence of Buddhist sculptures and relics, ceramics that have Indian (or possibly Chinese) analogues in this period, paleographic evidence from a clay seal, and a small number of radiocarbon dates suggest occupation during this time (Aung Thaw 1968: 6, 61-62). This was the time of the earliest Indic influence in the region, which seems more ideological than commercial or political. Beikthano (like other Pyu sites) bears the distinct imprint of Indian traditions, from Saivaism to Vaishnavaism to, ultimately, Buddhism.

According to Burmese oral tradition, Beikthano was founded by supernatural beings after the birth of a human baby girl to an ogress (Sandamukhi). This girl was adopted by a hermit who raised her in seclusion, and who was ultimately found by Vishnu and named Princess Panhtwar. Vishnu not only helped her in her chores, but also created a beautiful capital and a kingdom for the princess to rule. The city took both the names of Beikthanomyo (Vishnu City) and Panht- war-Myo. Oral tradition has it that King Duttabaung of

Prome waged a war against her, took over the city, took her captive, and married her in the 5th century B.C.

(Aung Thaw 1968: 3-5). The site of Beikthano was first explored in 1905,

when a superintendent of the Archaeological Survey of Burma "laid bare two low mounds south of the city" (Aung Thaw 1968: 4). Beikthano was then systematically excavated from 1958-59 and 1962-63 (Aung-Thaw 1968: vii). The goal of these excavations was to push back the cultural history of the Pyu before c. 1600 B.P.

Excavators tested 25 selected areas (each of which is called a "site"), most of which contained low brick mounds and cremations. ,Mortuary remains included earthenware ceramics (which predominantly date between 2000 to 1500 e . ~ . [Aung Thaw 1968: 611) and other goods. Little direct evidence exists for ceramic, textile, ornament, or metallurgical production, but the recovery of raw materials and of finished products suggests that such manufacturing activities occurred at this large center (also see Aung Thaw 1968: 64).

References

Aung-Thaw, U. (1968). Report on the Excavations at Beikfhano. Rangoon: Ministry of Union Culture.

Aung-Thaw, U. (1972). Historical Sites of Burma. Rangoon: Ministry of Union Culture.

Aung-Thwin, M. (1982-83). "Burma before Pagan: The Status of Archaeology Today." Asian Perspectives 25 (2): 1-22.

Luce, G. H. (1983). "The Ancient Pyu." Journal ofthe Burma Research Society 27: 239-253.

Moore, E., and U. Aung Myint (1993). "Beads of Myanmar (Burma): Line Decorated Beads amongst the Pyu and Chin." Journal of the Siam Society 81 (1): 57-87.

Stargardt, J. (1990). The Ancient Pyu of Burma, vol. I : Early Pyu Cities in a Man-Made Lanukcape. Cambridge: PACSEA, and Singapore: ISEAS.

Dong Son (Vietnam)

LOCATION: Bac Bo region, northern Vietnam. Southern bank of the Ma river, c. 10 km northeast from the provincial capital of Thanh-hoa.

DIAGNOSTIC MATERIAL AITRIBUTES: Ring-based earthenware cooking pots; wooden artifacts (bowls, discs, hafts, boxes, and figurines); bronze drums, jars, thap (large cylinders), and situlae; bronze armaments (spears, javelins, fighting axes, arrows, daggers, shields or breast plates, swords); bronze utilitarian goods (awls, chisels,


:s, fishhooks, scrapers); bangles (rings and lets); and farming tools (socketed spades, axes, ;hares or hoes).

CRIPTIVE SUMMARY

1 Environment

he site of Dong Son is located between two sets of tone and slate mountains, in an alluvial area of ~ctive land. The site's location on the floodplain is ing, except that the fertile land in the region suited opulation well for a combination of commerce and portation. ounded as it is on three sides by mountains, the site ong Son is defensible, and-in times of peace-an resting point along some trade routes. People could upstream from the mouth of the Ma river in vely large boats without much difficulty. Until ,tly, villagers told Janse, there was "a considerable nercial and even sentimental intercourse between rillagers and the Muong tribes living in the hilly ns further upstream" (Janse 1958: 16).

iical Features

long Son is the type site for the Bac Bo archaeo- a1 tradition. The site provides neither the largest the best documented collection of bronzes; it is,

Between 1925 and 1928, Pajot made collections of bronzes on the south bank of the Ma river, and Victor Goloubew published some of the findings subsequently. Pajot found graves with abundant bronze artifacts (drums, weapons, farming tools, vases, situlae, and figurines) and iron artifacts in association with a Han bronze sword, a Han mirror, and coins that dated to c. 1800 B.P. Pajot also recovered jade, shell, and bronze bracelets, bronze belt buckles with bells, and bronze decorated drinking vessels (see Higham 1996: 109-1 11, for review). From 1934-1939, Olav Janse directed systematic excavations in multiple areas of Dong Son and recovered mortuary and habitation features. Recent excavations by Vietnamese archaeologists demonstrate that Dong Son is a multicomponent site that may have been occupied first c. 3000 B.P., during the Go Mun phase (Ha Van Tan 1980).

Excavation of residential areas recovered a range of utilitarian goods, such as locally manufactured earthenware ceramics, net sinkers, slit stone rings, spindle whorls, and iron objects. Animal bones (of water buffalo, among other species) were also found during fieldwork. So, too, were Han-stamped earthenware ceramics and a variety of stone implements. However, it is the sheer abundance of bronze items recovered during excavations at Dong Son (bronze weapons [spears, arrowheads, axes] and drums, bronze bells and spittoons, bronze situlae [often in miniature]) and the occasional iron weapon (sword or dagger) that makes this site so unusual for the early historic period.

:ver, one of the first systematically studied sites that from 2500 to 1500 B.P. Bac Bo is the heartland of

Cultural Aspects

long Son culture, which was characterized not only -illiant, large bronze drums but also, perhaps, by t settlement. Growing populations might have ed increasingly restricted access to production he exercise of elite privilege through display, ritual, easting. By the time of Han Chinese conquest, the Son tradition had begun to fade, and in its place nucleated populations who built fortified settle- , like Co Loa. -ench colonial officials first learned of the Dong ite in 1924, although many antiquities, including es, had been found (and sold privately) during works construction in Thanh-hoa province. The Fransaise d'Extrtme Orient (EFEO) acquired of these items, and others were sold to muse- ~ n d private collectors. In 1924, EFEO director lrousseau ordered Thanh-hoa customs official Pajot to investigate the location and distribution laeological sites through interviews with villagers.

Viewed anthropologically, the Dong Son settlement, at 2500 B.P., has all the trappings of what Janse (1958: 17) called a "prosperous trade and cultural center". Its location along the Ma river is ideal in terms of transportation, accessibility, and defensibility. Exca- vations during Janse's third campaign (in 1939) concentrated on an area that contained remains of Dong Son period wooden houses. In and around this house,- excavators found possible evidence of local manufacture of split disk-shaped rings and bronzes and suggested that these were "local, probably Chinese" industries (1958: 33). Artifacts from the excavations suggest, at the least, a local manufacturing tradition for such utilitarian goods as earthenware, and the possibility that this settlement was also a manufacturing center for nonutilitarian goods, from stone ornaments to bronze objects.

Excavation of cemetery areas at Dong Son provides glimpses of sociopolitical organization during this period, although the lack of a published cemetery plan


hampers study of the site. Janse (1958) divided mortuary features into those that looked indigenous to Southeast Asia (which he called "Indonesian") and those that used tomb construction techniques from the Han, Tang, and Sung dynasties (which he called "Chinese"). The "Indonesian" burials contained abundant bronze material and formed the basis for the Dong Son tradition. The co-occurrence of these two mortuary traditions suggests that Dong Son was occupied during the period of Han expansion, and either that ethnically discrete populations co-resided at this settlement, or that the indigenous burial tradition was ultimately replaced by a northern tradition.

Although no work has focused on community structure or the organization of the settlement, fieldwork in 1938-1939 uncovered remains of wooden stilt houses at Dong Son. Such well-preserved architectural features are still rare from early historic period sites throughout mainland Southeast Asia. Reconstruction work suggested to Janse the nature and structure of the house, from its probably thatched roof that may have been shaped like a saddle and may have reached below the raised floor, as Janse observed in rural areas in South- east Asia then (Janse 1958: 31-32). One might use this information as a baseline for developing analogical models of early historic period sociopolitical organization, drawing also from Chinese documentary sources (as Janse did repeatedly in his work [e.g., Janse 19581). However, more research is needed to evaluate the close- ness of fit between post-Han historical descriptions of the region and the preceding Dong Son period. Future studies that address community and regional levels of organization, particularly in the context of a rapidly changing political world, should vastly expand our knowledge of the Bac Bo region from 2500-1500 B.P.

References

Bernet Kempers, A. J. (1988). "The Kettle Drums of Southeast Asia." Modern Quaternary Studies in Southeast Asia 10: 1-599.

Goloubew, V. (1929). "L'Age du bronze au Tonkin et dans le Nord-Annam." Bulletin de l'&ole Fran~aise d'Extrime Orient 29: 1-46.

Goloubew, V. J1937). L'Archhologie du Tonkin et les Fouilles de Dong- Son. Paris: Ecole Franvise d'Extr6me Orient.

Ha Van Tan (1980). "Nouvelles recherche! prehistoriques et proto- historiques au Vietnam." Bullerin de L'EcoIe Frangahe dd'Extrime Orient 68: 1 13-154.

Higham, C. (1989a). The Archaeology of Mainland Soulheast Asia. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Higham, C. (1989b). "The Later Prehistory of Mainland Southeast Asia." Journal o j World Prehistory 3 (3): 235-282.

Higharn, C. (1996). The Bronze Age of Southeast Asia. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Hoang Xuan Chinh, and Bui Van Tien (1980). "Dongson Culture and Cultural Centers in the Metal Age in Vietnam." Asian Perspectives 23 (I): 55-65.

Janse, 0. R. T. (1947). Archaeological Research in Indo-China, vol. I. MA: Harvard Yenching Institute. Cambridge.

Janse, 0. R. T. (1951). Archaeologicd Research in Indo-China, vol. 11. MA: Haward Yenching Institute. Cambfidge,

Janse, 0. R. T. (1958). Archaeological Research in Indo-China, vol. 111. Bruges: Institut Belges des Hautes Etudes Chinoises.

Janse, 0. R. T. (1963). "On the Origins of Traditional Vietnamese Music." Asian Perspectives 6 (1-2): 145-162.

Malleret, L. (1959). "La Civilisations de Dong-son d'aprts les recherches archblogiques de M. Olov Janse." France-Asie 160-161: 1197-1208.

Pham Huy Thong, Pham Minh Huyen, N. Van Toi, and Lai Van Toi, ed. (1990). Dong Son Drums in Vier Nam. Ha Noi: Viet Nam Social Science Publishing House.

Tessitore, J. (1990). "View from the East Mountain: An Examination of the Relationship between the Dong Son and Lake Tien Civilizations in the First Millennium e.c."Asian Perspectives 28 (I): 3 1 4 .

LOCATION: Upper Mun valley, Khorat plateau (North- east Thailand).

DESCRLPTIVE SUMMARY

Local Environment

Noen U-Loke is located in the upper Mun catch- ment in Northeast Thailand. This region, as part of the Khorat plateau, rarely exceeds 25 m in altitude, and its soils have low natural fertility. In the past, the region was likely covered with deciduous dipterocarp forest and patches of savanna or sparse woodland.

Physical Features

The site of Noen-U-Loke is an oval-shaped site, c. 300 m in diameter, which appears to be ringed by at least four discontinuous ditches that are commonly described as "moats" in Northeast Thai archaeology. Excavations in 1997 and 1998 involved an area of 220 sq m and reached a depth of 5 m; mortuary, industrial, and possibly residential evidence was recovered from this site. In the layers dating to c. 1500- 2000 B.P. were remains of industrial activity for metal and/or glass manufacture, including a series of


clay-lined furnaces equipped with tuyeres, which seem to have been used for smelting iron ore and perhaps bronze. In some cases, the furnaces were covered with sheets of asbestos (presumably used for its thermal properties). Layers of the site that predate 1500 B.P. contain ample mortuary evidence: 126 inhumation graves cover five of the site's phases, and range in depth from 0.65 to 5 m below the present surface of the mound. The lowermost burials appear to date to c. 3000 B.P. (or Late Bronze Age) and include bronze artifacts (socketed bronze spear heads, bronze bracelets and neck rings [torcs], pottery, shell disks). Excavations recovered impressions of fabric on bronze jewelry and iron tools, which suggests that Noen U-Loke inhabitants manufactured cloth.

Work at Noen U-Loke sheds light on previous arguments regarding the use of "moats" for defense and for the level of interregional conflict during the period 2500-1500 B.P. The function of the "moats" that surround Noen U-Loke is still a matter of debate, and recent geomorphological research suggests that these "moats" were actually old river channel remnants rather than human-made constructions. This geomorphological assessment undermines arguments that these "moats" were part of a defensive infrastructure for the early historic period community. The only evidence for conflict, besides iron spears and arrowheads in some of the later graves, consists of one inhumation in which a tanged arrowhead was found, lodged against the spine of the interred individual.

Cultural Aspects References

Excavations revealed evidence of technological ac- Higham, C. F. W. (1998). "The Transition from Prehistory to the tivities during the period 250&1500 B.P. in theform of Historic Period in the Upper Mun Valley." International ~iurnul of

Historical Archaeology 2 (3): 235-260. glass (domestic Higham, (7. F, W., and R nooarat (1998a). .'Nan "-bke .,,d cattle, pigs, water buffalo), and wild animal Procure- Implications for the Origins o f ~ a r ~ y States." Paper presented at the ment, rice fanning, and perhaps textile production. BY 16th IPPA Congress, Melaka, Malaysia. 2000 B.P., burials at Noen U-Loke exhibit a marked Higham, C. F. W., and R. Thosarat (1998b). Prehistoric Thailand:

increase in wealth associated with burials interred in rice From Early Settlement to Sukhothai. Bangkok: River Books.

beds; these burials contain bronze and iron ornaments (bronze finger rings, toe rings, bangles, earrings, ear MIRIAM T. STARK coils, belts, and bells and bimetallic bronze and iron Department of Anthropology rings), glass, gold, and carnelian and agate beads. University of Hawaii Pronounced social differentiation was evident by the Honolulu, Hawaii end of the settleinent's occupation. United States

Encyclopedia of Prehistory Volume 3: East Asia and Oceania

Edited by

Peter N. Peregrine Lawrence Universily Appkton, Wnconsin

and

Melvin Ember Human Relations Area Fileflale University New Haven, Connecticut

Published in conjunction with the Human Relations Area Files at Yale University

Kluwer Academic / Plenum Publishers New York Boston Dordrecht London Moscow

Library of Congress Cataloping-in-Publication Data

Encyclopedia of prehistoryledited by Peter N. Peregrine and Melvin Ember p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index. Contents: v. 3. East Asia and Oceania ISBN 0-306-46257-5 (v. 3)

1. Rehistoric peoples-Encyclopedias. 2. Antiquities, Prehistoric-Encyclopedias. I. Human Relations Area Files, Inc.

ISBN 0-306-46264-8 (set) ISBN 0-306-46257-5 (~01. 3)

82001 Human Relations Area Files, Inc.

http://www.wkap.nl/

All rights reserved

A C.I.P. record for this book is available from the Library of Congress

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, microfilming, recording, or otherwise, without written permission from the Publisher.

Printed in the United States of America

Encyclopedia of Prehistory Volume 3: East Asia and Oceania

Edited by

Peter N. Peregrine Lawrence University Appletoth W~sconsin

and

Melvin Ember Human Relations Area Files/Ynle University New Haven, Connecticut

Published in conjunction with the Human Relations Area Files at Yale University

Kluwer Academic / Plenum Publishers New York Boston Dordrecht London Moscow

Library of Congross Cataloging-ininPobaation Data

Encyclopedia of prehistoryledited by Peter N. Peregrine and Melvin Ember p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index. Contents: v. 3. East Asia and Oceania ISBN 0-306-46257-5 (v. 3)

1. Prehistoric peoples-Encyclopedms. 2. Antiquities, Prehistoric-Encyclopedias. I. Human Relations Area Files, Inc.

ISBN 0-306-46264-8 (set) ISBN 0-306-46257-5 (~01. 3)

92001 Human Relations Area Files, Inc.

All rights reserved

A C.I.P. record for this book is available from the Library of Congress

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, microfilming, recording, or otherwise, without written permission from the Publisher.

Printed in the United States of America

Mainland Southeast Asia: Late Prehistoric

Documents