SESSION B1

B1 Bulmer, Susan

Bulmer and Associates 10 Tansley Avenue, Epsom Auckland 1023, New Zealand

LATE PLEISTOCENE STONE ARTEFACTS FROM KOSIPE, A HUNTING AND FORAGING SITE IN MONTANE PAPUA NEW GUINEA

Kosipe is an open site in the Papuan mountains north of Port Moresby at ca 2000 metres a.s.l. It was occupied as early as >30,600 and revisited until the early to mid Holocene. The site was first excavated by Peter White in 1964 and has recently been further investigated and is the subject of several other papers in this section. White described 37 artefacts from his excavations in 1970, with two main types of artefact, waisted blades and axe-adzes, as well as flakes, probable artefacts, and manuports. These artefacts and 33 others found at the site were stored in the early 1970s at the University of Papua New Guinea, where I had the opportunity to study them, including photographs, actual size line drawings and detailed measurements and descriptions. This data has been recently compared with Pleistocene stone axes and axe-like tools from 5 Central Highlands sites and with the waisted axes from Bobongara, a coastal site on the Huon Peninsula to the north of Kosipe.

B1 Summerhayes, G.R.

Leavesley, M.

Ford, A.

Otago University, New Zealand

Hope, G.

Australian National University

Mandui, H.

National Museum and Art Gallery of Papua New Guinea

Fairbairn, A.

University of Queensland, Australia

Field, Judith

University of Sydney, Australia

CURRENT RESEARCH FROM KOSIPE: A LATE PLEISTOCENE SITE FROM PNG

Since 2005 a multidisciplinary team of scientists has conducted archaeological and palaeo-environmental research in the Kosipe and Ivane Valleys, Central Province, Papua New Guinea. One site in the valley, Kosipe, was originally excavated by Peter White in the 60s. We returned to understand the nature of late Pleistocene settlement throughout the whole valley and surrounding environs. This paper will present a preliminary outline of results to date.

B1 Ford, Anne

Otago University, New Zealand

PLEISTOCENE LIFE AT KOSIPE, PAPUA NEW GUINEA: EVIDENCE FROM THE STONE ARTEFACTS

The site of Kosipe, located within the Owen Stanley Range of Papua New Guinea, shows regular occupation from the late Pleistocene, from as early as 35,000 BP. The significance of Kosipe is that at a height of approximately 1930 metres, this site indicates the ability of early modern humans to adapt to different environmental niches, with some of the earliest evidence for humans moving into high altitudes. With all the inherent problems with moving into a new environment, the question is what motivated the first colonizers of Papua New Guinea to utilize a site such as Kosipe?

This paper will investigate what information the stone artefacts can provide us with regarding the social and economic aspects of Pleistocene occupation at Kosipe, through exploring the different stages of raw material procurement, production and use. By focusing upon the range of information that can be gained from the stone artefacts, a more detailed picture can be gained of how early modern humans utilised their landscape, by providing information on settlement patterns, mobility, diet and technology.

B1 Summerhayes, Glenn

Lisa Matisso-Smith

Otago University, New Zealand

Herman Mandui

National Museum and Art Gallery

Jim Allen

La Trobe University Australia

Jim Specht

Australian Museum

Kelly Amanga

Kenneth Vito

Emira, New Ireland

Nick Hogg

Otago University, New Zealand

AN EARLY LAPITA SITE FROM EMIRA

Excavations undertaken on the Early Lapita site of Tamuarawai on the island of Emira, New Ireland over a three year period between 2007 and 2009, yielded a wealth of archaeological material. This paper will outline the background to excavations, and results to date.

B1 Chiu, Scarlett

Yi-lin Chen
Academia Sinica, Taipei
William R. Dickinson
University of Arizona
Jeffrey R. Ferguson
Bridget Alex
Michael D. Glascock
University of Missouri
Christophe Sand
Institute of Archaeology of New Caledonia and the Pacific

FINDING POSSIBLE NEW CALEDONIAN LAPITA POTTERY SOURCES: EVIDENCES GATHERED FROM PETROGRAPHIC AND INAA CHEMICAL COMPOSITIONAL ANALYSES

The diversity observed from aspects of manufacture techniques, decoration motifs, and morphology of Lapita pottery has long been employed by Pacific archaeologists to identify social group boundaries and classify different cultural periods, as they investigate the spread of the Austronesian-speaking populations into the vast Oceania. This paper aims to discuss possible raw material procurement areas and pottery-making sources of New Caledonia, through identifying tempers originated from specific geological zones and site-specific patterns of paste preparation, in both petrographic and chemical compositions, in order to investigate possible prehistoric ceramic transfers and the inferred social and economic meanings of Lapita pottery. This paper summarizes results of the petrographic studies and Instrumental Neutron Activation Analysis (INAA) chemical analyses, and outlines a preliminary interpretation for the ceramic transfers occurred among these sites, in order to provide valuable information for future studies.

B1 Bedford, Stuart

Spriggs, Matthew

The Australian National University

THE TEOUMA LAPITA CEMETERY: CEREMONY AND RITUAL ASSOCIATED WITH A COLONISING POPULATION IN VANUATU, SOUTHWEST PACIFIC.

The 3000 year old Teouma Lapita site was found by chance in 2004. Following excavations there in the same year it was established that the site was initially used as a cemetery, the oldest thus far discovered in the Pacific. This paper provides a broad summary of the five field seasons (2004-2006; 2008-2009) undertaken at the site and outlines some of the analytical results that have been gleaned from the skeletal and artefactual remains. The site provides new information on a range of substantive issues associated with Lapita, including chronology, settlement pattern, levels of interaction, and social and ritual practice.

B1 Allen, J.

La Trobe University

Summerhayes, G.R.

Leavesley, M.

Otago University

Mandui, H.

PNG National Museum and Art Gallery

OPOSISI REVISITED

The recent excavation of Oposisi, Yule Island, in 2007, has provided a unique opportunity for a re-analysis of the the south coast Papuan sequence. This paper will outline the excavations and will present results of our analyses.

B1 Yo Negishi

Tokyo University

THE DESCENDANT OF LAPITA: PRELIMINARY REPORT OF WARI ISLAND IN THE MASSIM, EASTERN PAPUA NEW GUINEA

This is an excavation report of a shell midden in Wari island located in the Massim, eastern Papua New Guinea. Wari island is famous for its unique modern ceramic production in this region, and there are some prehistoric middens in its southern coastal area. The cultural deposits of the trial trench consists of three layers as follows: Layer I, Kula ring era, Layer II, red-slipped pottery, and Layer III, as non-slipped carinated pottery. Combining the typological analysis of ceramics with radiocarboncarbon determinations, I will compare the Wari ceramic sequence to Mailu Island as excavated by Irwin, especially in relation to Early Papuan Pottery (EPP). This excavation can contribute to the Post-Lapita discussion in southern coastal Papua.

B1 Vincent, Brian

Otago University

AN INITIAL PETROGRAPHIC EXAMINATION OF POTTERY, SAND TEMPER AND POTTING CLAY FROM NORTHERN COASTAL PAPUA NEW GUINEA

Excavated and surface collected sherds from Koil Island, off the eastern coast of Papua New Guinea, have been examined in thin-section. Preliminary results indicate multiple sources are involved. Comparisons with modern pottery, sands used for temper, and potting clay from the mainland village of Kaiep have been undertaken. This pottery, and sherds collected from near the clay quarry are petrographically consistent with some of the Koil Island sherds. A brief outline of petrographic results, and the firing qualities of the modern clay will be presented.

B1 Carter, Melissa

University of Sydney

INVESTIGATIONS ON SANTA ISABEL – NEW INSIGHTS INTO SOLOMON ISLANDS PREHISTORY

Recent archaeological investigations in northwestern Santa Isabel have provided new insights into the timing and nature of human settlement in the central Solomon Islands. Excavations at several hilltop settlement complexes have revealed initial occupation of these elevated sites commenced around 2000 years BP. These midden deposits also reveal changing marine resource gathering strategies over time, as well as the presence of earthenware pottery sherds in an area with no ethnographic tradition of ceramic production or use. As the first archeological excavations conducted in Santa Isabel, these preliminary outcomes offer an important contribution to current models proposed for the human settlement of the Solomon Islands. In particular, the emerging late-Holocene archaeological signature of northwestern Santa Isabel evokes new considerations of changing regional settlement patterns in the Solomon Islands and the mechanisms, processes and causes of such transformations.

B1 Reepmeyer, Christian

Australian National University

CONTRIBUTIONS OF LITHIC RESEARCH ON OBSIDIAN SOURCES IN NORTH VANUATU TO COLONISATION AND CULTURAL CHANGE IN THE SOUTHWEST PACIFIC

This paper summarises results from my PhD research on obsidian sources and distribution systems emanating from two North Vanuatu obsidian sources. It focuses on the evolution of social interaction systems, which is identified by the spatial distribution of lithic artefacts in Vanuatu Archipelago and adjacent areas. It will attempt to explain processes and changes in the scale of interaction between communities through time from the initial colonisation until contact with European explorers. For this purpose two bodies of data, geochemical analysis of obsidian outcrops and artefacts, and the technological analysis of flaked lithic assemblages were incorporated in the research. Interpreting the results, it is hypothesised that correlations with environmental factors and risk minimising strategies in colonising communities have to be considered to understand the evolution of social interaction. This is in contrast to earlier assumptions emphasising internal economic processes, for example through the acquisition of a valued raw material for the augmentation of social status, as essential in shaping social networks of interaction.

B1 Ravn, Mads

Museum of Archaeology, University of Stavanger, Norway

A NEW SKELETON AND AN OPEN AREA SETTLEMENT IN MANUS, PNG

This paper presents results from an archaeological project carried out in the island of Mbuke in the Manus Province of Papua New Guinea (PNG). In 2007, 31 square metres were excavated. Ceramics, obsidian pieces and stone axes were recorded. Also animal bones and a human skeleton from a grave were exposed. The excavation in Mbuke revealed firstly, a settlement consisting of a concentration of fire places in the north-eastern end of the village. These fireplaces are believed to date more than 1,600 years back. Secondly, in the central part of the village, a grave was revealed. The grave consisted of a female mature skeleton, being placed in an extended position, with molested lower tibia, probably dating more than 1,600 years back. A 14C date is being processed and will most likely be available in December 2009. Lastly, a relative pottery chronology will be presented.

B1 Winter, Olaf

Archaeology and Natural History, Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies, Australian National University

BACK TO UNAI BAPOT: A FURTHER INVESTIGATION OF AN EARLY HUMAN OCCUPATION OF THE MARIANA ISLANDS

The Unai Bapot Latte site, situated towards the northern end of Lau Lau Bay, on the east coast of Saipan has been identified as one of the most ancient sites in the Mariana Islands and has been subject for several archaeological investigations, since the 1920s. The Unai Bapot site is a rather undisturbed site, which is very uncommon in the Mariana Islands, due to natural and cultural impact. This and its antiquity give it an important role to the understanding of Western Micronesian prehistory. This paper will focus on the result from an excavation carried out in April 2008 and the analysis of the findings.

B1 Beardsley, Felicia

University of La Verne, California

STONE CARVING ON KOSRAE, MICRONESIA: A FORGOTTEN INDUSTRY

Traditional culture on Kosrae, Micronesia, was described historically as ‘noteworthy for its lack of a figurative tradition’. That changed when an entire figurative industry—complete with finished and unfinished freestanding figures, stone tools, paint pigments, and baked clay embellishments—was identified during the 2005 and 2006 archaeological field seasons. Reassembling a lost industry and its place within the context of the traditional social, political, and economic system, as well as the possible interpretations and symbolic meanings attached to the imagery, has involved deep inquiry into the oral histories and figurative industries of western Pacific cultural traditions. Presented here are a background of the field investigations and a summary of the findings to date.

B1 Golitko, Mark

University of Illinois at Chicago

Terrell, John Edward

The Field Museum of Natural History

RECONSTRUCTING SOCIAL NETWORKS IN THE VOYAGING CORRIDOR: CHEMICAL ANALYSIS OF ARTIFACTS FROM THE SEPIK COAST OF NEW GUINEA

The Sepik coast of northern Papua New Guinea is seen by many as a likely stopping point for prehistoric voyagers moving between SE Asia and island Melanesia. The archaeology of this coast is therefore important in understanding how people, social practices, and material culture may have moved between these two regions. However, linguistically the Sepik coast is tremendously diverse—so much so, that common sense would lead us to think communities there must be incredibly isolated from one another as well as from people living elsewhere in this voyaging corridor between Asia and the Pacific. We report here on chemical analyses by portable X-ray fluorescence (p-XRF) and laser ablation-inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS) of over 300 ceramic sherds and 400 obsidian flakes recovered from archaeological sites on this coast spanning the last two millennia. Our results indicate that there has probably been continuous engagement by people on this coast in exchange networks that brought obsidian from both the Admiralty group and West New Britain to the Sepik area. An explanation other than extreme isolation is needed to explain the linguistic diversity found in this part of the world.

B1 Shaw, Ben

Buckley, Hallie

Summerhayes, Glenn

University of Otago

Anson, Dimitri

Otago Museum

Valentin, Frederique

University of Paris

Mandui, Herman

Papua New Guinea National Museum and Art Gallery

Stirling, Claudine

Reid, Malcolm

Otago Centre for Trace Element Analysis, Dunedin

MIGRATION AND MOBILITY AT THE LATE LAPITA SITE OF REBER-RAKIVAL (SAC), WATOM ISLAND USING ISOTOPE AND TRACE ELEMENT ANALYSIS: A NEW INSIGHT INTO LAPITA INTERACTION IN THE BISMARCK ARCHIPELAGO

This paper presents strontium isotope (87Sr/86Sr), oxygen isotope (δ18O) and Ba/Sr trace element data in archaeological tooth enamel samples to investigate migration and mobility in human and pig populations from the Late Lapita site on Watom Island in the Bismarck Archipelago. A selection of human teeth was also included from the Late-Post Lapita site of Lifafaesing, Tanga Islands as a geographic/ geological comparison. Previous archaeological models have identified Lapita mobility at a community level using obsidian distribution patterns and changes in ceramic design, whereas isotope and trace element data can potentially reconstruct prehistoric mobility on an individual level. It has been argued using material culture analysis that Lapita mobility decreases over time in the Bismarck Archipelago. These models of Lapita interaction will be re-considered in light of isotope and trace element data from Watom Island.

The results indicate that there is a large amount of isotopic variation in the Bismarck Archipelago which is useful for identifying non-local individuals and possibly determining their origins. The data suggest that one human individual and several pigs may have come from elsewhere in the region. Three potentially separate locations were identified for the non-local pigs. Using the data from SAC it is argued that the Late Lapita communities in the Bismarck Archipelago were more mobile than previously assumed. The potential for identifying individual migrants in a Lapita context are discussed in terms of assessing the more subtle aspects of Lapita society by relating migration to differences in the sex of individuals and difference in burial position. The future use of isotope based migration research in Pacific Island archaeology is then considered.

SESSION B2

B2 Wu, Chunming

Xiamen University, China

ETHNICITY AND MATERIAL CULTURE: A PERSPECTIVE FROM PREHISTORIC SOUTH CHINA

Before being annexed into the Qin and Han empires in the second century BC, the aboriginals in south China were referred as ‘Bai Yue’ (hundred yue) and ‘Bai Pu’ (hundred pu) in ancient Chinese texts. Their histories and cultures not only have survived in archaeological records, they are also embedded in the living cultures of the indigenous groups in the region and beyond. Using a comparative ethnoarchaeological approach, this paper presents three case studies of the correlations between material culture and ethnicity in south China. Archaeological materials and ethnographic observations from south China, southeast Asia and the Pacific are used to examine the dress customs, bark-cloth making techniques, and the possible existence of outrigger canoe in prehistoric south China.

B2 Yang, Cong

Fujian Museum, China

THE RISE AND FALL OF MINYUE: NEW ARCHAEOLOGICAL EVIDENCE FROM FUJIAN, CHINA

As a power which controlled a territory including today’s Fujian and southern Zhejiang provinces, southeast China, the Minyue state (ca. 202 BC – 110 BC) had a great impact in the early history of the region. The rise and fall of this power was an important episode in the dynamic political theater during the Qin and Western Han dynasties. Archaeological investigations in Fujian have revealed a significant amount of materials indicating that the Minyue state underwent a complex process to cope with the powerful Qin and Han empires. The imitation of Qin and Han style structures in the capitals and the introduction of iron tools demonstrate that the elite incorporated some rituals and technology from the Central Plain, but in the meantime the persistence of local styles in pottery and bronze artifacts also suggests that they kept their identity throughout the history of the state.

B2 Allard, Francis

Indiana University of Pennsylvania

THE SPATIAL DISTRIBUTION AND DEPOSITIONAL CONTEXTS OF EARLY BRONZES IN SOUTH CHINA

The appearance of Shang and Zhou style bronze vessels and musical instruments in southern China points to the existence of contacts with regions north of it. Importantly, the stylistic and technical study of these bronzes provides essential information on the place of manufacture, the movement of the objects, as well as local metallurgical traditions. Taking these studies as a starting point, this paper reviews and summarizes the data on two features of the bronzes that have to date received less attention, namely their spatial distribution and depositional context. It considers what such information may tell us about the nature of inter-regional communication, the size of cultural units, and the long-term maintenance of remembered local traditions in southern China.

B2 Fan, Xuechun

Fujian Provincial Museum, China

Su Wenjing Fuzhou University, China

NEW INVESTIGATIONS INTO PREHISTORIC MARITIME CULTURES IN SOUTHEAST CHINA: A CASE STUDY OF THE ANSHAN SITE

Maritime cultures in prehistoric southeast China underwent tremendous changes over time. The transformation of the material assemblages from ca. 3000 – 3500 cal BP was particularly striking, represented by the appearance of bronze artifacts, proto-porcelains and new styles of pottery. These changes carry profound implications for understanding population dynamics and exchange networks between the coast and the inland areas. On the basis of the discoveries of the newly excavated Anshan site in Fujian Province, this presentation explores the process and dynamics of cultural changes in late prehistoric southeast China.

B2 Guo, Weimin

Hunan Provincial Institute of Antiquity and Archaeology, China

SOCIAL COMPLEXITY IN THE LATE NEOLITHIC MIDDLE YANGTZE RIVER: NEW EVIDENCE FROM LIYANG PLAIN

Within the relatively circumscribed Liyang Plain in the Middle Yangtze River, the Neolithic settlements underwent three stages from ‘walled-town’, ‘walled-city’ to ‘walled-city settlements groups’. The layout of the settlements became increasing well-planned, and the house structures became more complex over time. During the early phase, the settlements were scattered in the landscape. During the second ‘walled-city’ phase, a belt-shaped regional settlement pattern was developed, and the settlement size was expanded. During the third ‘walled-city settlements group’ phase, differentiation appeared in two ways: first, the agglomerated settlements formed into large settlement groups; second, many small settlements split from larger settlements, indicating that the core community units became smaller. Three tiers of settlements appeared, indicating that societies became increasingly hierarchical

B2 Jiao, Tianlong

Bishop Museum & UHM

POPULATION MOVEMENTS AND SOCIAL CHANGES IN PREHISTORIC SOUTHEAST CHINA

This presentation examines the applicability of the concept of “migration” in the Chinese archaeology, and investigates the impact of population migrations upon the dissolving process of the Liangzhu Culture (c. 5200-4300 BP). Newly excavated materials in the Yangtze River delta demonstrate that the intrusive Guangfulin culture from the north was likely responsible for the final collapse of the Liangzhu societies as well as culture. This new finding challenges the orthodox perspectives which view the collapse of Liangzhu either as a result of an inevitable internal social process or external natural disasters.

B2 Krigbaum, John

University of Florida

Tianlong Jiao

Bishop Museum

ANCIENT HUMAN DIET IN PREHISTORIC SOUTHEAST CHINA: NEW STAPLE ISOTOPE DATA FROM TANSHISHAN

Using stable isotope ratio analysis, we conducted a study of Neolithic human paleodiet using bone collagen and bone apatite recovered from individuals who were buried at the Tanshishan site (4300-5000 cal. BP), Fujian Province, China. Located today on an inland river terrace, Tanshishan has long been perceived as a site where local people were dependent largely upon terrestrial food resources, as evidenced by the discovery of animals such as pigs and deer and carbonized rice grains. However, the result of our study challenges this observation. We analysed 27 samples including 24 human bones and 4 animal bones (2 pigs, 1 deer, 1 dog). Isotopic yields were excellent and our results suggest that marine food resources were a significant component in the Tanshishan diet, in contrast to a diet strictly based on terrestrial animals. Our data also suggest that carbohydrates, such as rice, were an important food resource. These new data offer direct evidence for an improved understanding of human maritime adaptations and the interrelationship of systems of food production both on land and along the coast. These isotopic data will contribute to current understanding of changing coastlines and subsistence strategies during the Neolithic in southeast China.

B2 Li, Kuangti

Institute of History and Philology, Academia Sinica

Hongshen Mii; Yimei Lin

National Taiwan Normal University

Chenghwa Tsang

Academia Sinica

Lin, Gongwu

Fujian Provincial Museum

Tianlong Jiao

Bishop Museum

MID-HOLOCENE MULLUSCAN REMAINS FROM ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITES ON BOTH SIDES OF TAIWAN STRAIT: A COMPARATIVE STUDY

The shellfish remains from three archaeological sites including Nankuanli, Nangang, and Damaoshan provide evidence for studying the shellfish gathering strategies on both sides of the Taiwan Strait ca 5,000 years ago. The Nankuanli site is located at Tainan, southwestern Taiwan. The Nangang site is situated at Chimei Island, Penghu. The Damaoshan site is located at Dongshan Island, Fujian. Through analysing the isotopic profiles in growth increments of the shells, this study tackles the timing of shellfish collecting and the paleoenvironment that these shellfish inhabited. The results offer direct evidence for a better understanding of prehistoric subsistence patterns across the Taiwan Strait.

B2 Zheng, Yunfei

Zhejiang Provincial Institute of Antiquity and Archaeology, China

A NEW STUDY OF HEMUDU CULTURE RICE FARMING: RICE PADDIES AT TIANLUOSHAN

Recent discovery of the oldest rice paddy at the Tianluoshan site has provided data for studying rice cultivation of the Hemudu culture in east China. The Tianluoshan rice paddy can be divided into an early and a later period. The early rice paddies were dated between 5000 and 4500 BC, about 210 to 300 cm below the surface and the later paddies are dated to between 4000 BC and 2500 BC, about 100 to 200 cm below the surface. The area of rice paddies could have covered 6 hectares for the early period and over 7 hectares for the later period. A path that made it convenient for people to go into the field and manage the rice stands is revealed for the later period. In addition, a few pottery sherds, two wooden dibbles, one wooden handle of spades, and one wooden knife were found from both paddies, indicating the practice of soil tilling. Many weeds coexisted with the rice in those tilled fields, suggesting little or even no weeding nor irrigation was adopted, and the cultivation system was likely a low-level. According to the ratio of rice phytoliths to spikelets and the life span of rice fields, the yields are estimated to have been about 8.3 kg per acre for the early period and 9.5 kg per acre for the later period. The vast early rice fields combined with the mixed wild and cultigen phenotypes indicate that rice cultivation and domestication had originated earlier. Recent discoveries of rice remains between 7000 and 9000 BC implied that rice cultivation may have originated in some small basins located in mountainous areas as early as 10000 years ago. The earliest evidence for cultivation of rice in the Yangtze Delta also can be contrasted with the evidence from 2,000 to 4,000 years later in Southeast Asia, indicating that the Yangtze regions are original centers for rice domestication.

B2 Guo, Zhengfu

Chinese Academy of Sciences

Tianlong Jiao

Bishop Museum

SOURCING THE NEOLITHIC STONE ADZES IN SOUTHEAST CHINA: NEW GEOCHEMICAL EVIENCE FROM THE TIANLUOSHAN SITE

Lithic artifacts, including stone tools, ornaments, debitages and other rocks associated with house structures, constitute an important component of the Hemudu culture(5000-7000BP). However, due to various reasons, no studies have been conducted to find out the procurement strategy of these lithic resources. The newly excavated Tianluoshan site offers a good opportunity to tackle this problem. Using geochemical techniques such as XRF and ICP-MS, we recently conducted a sourcing study of the Tianluoshan stone adzes. The result suggests that most of the raw materials are not available adjacent to the site, and the closest source is at least 50 kilometers away. We also compared the data with the chemical components of the stone adzes from the Hemudu site, and the results indicate their raw materials are highly similar. This study in the first time provides tangible evidence for understanding the lithic resource procurement and management strategy of the Hemudu culture. The result also carries implications for studying the social networks among the Hemudu settlements.

B2 Priewe, Sascha

University of Oxford, UK

INTERPRETING ENCLOSURES: FROM THE BRITISH IRON AGE TO LATE NEOLITHIC CHINA

In the past few decades, an increasing number of late Neolithic walled sites have been discovered in China. Having largely been interpreted in functional terms, such as defense, economy and socio-political organisation, they have also figured greatly in studies trying to push back the beginnings of ‘Chinese civilisation’ and the state. In an attempt at illustrating alternative routes of interpretation, this paper will take the study of British Iron Age hillforts as example. As the Neolithic enclosures in China and the hillforts are quite different, my discussion will focus on the interpretation of enclosures and investigate whether and how archaeologists working on early China might benefit from the work on the British Iron Age.

B2 Lauer, Adam

University of Hawaii at Manoa

HEALTH STATUS AND LIFESTYLE AT THE TRANSITION TO RICE AGRICULTURE: A CASE STUDY FROM TIANLUOSHAN, EARLY NEOLITHIC CHINA

The Tianluoshan site represents a culture transitioning from a broad spectrum subsistence base to a reliance on rice agriculture. 10 archaeologically derived human skeletal remains from this site are an abundant data source for examining the influence of this transition on human health. This paper presents data recorded in the subadult and adult human skeletal remains from Tianluoshan. The author uses a general stress perspective to characterize the interactions of individuals with their environment while testing the hypothesis that the transition to rice agriculture leads to an increase in stress and disease.

B2 Liu , Chin-hsin

Department of Anthropology, University of Florida, Gainesville

Tsang, Cheng-hwa

Liu, Yi-chang

Institute of History and Philology, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan

Krigbaum, John

Department of Anthropology, University of Florida, Gainesville

PALEODIETARY RECONSTRUCTION IN IRON AGE NORTHERN TAIWAN: ISOTOPIC EVIDENCE FROM SHIH-SAN-HANG

In this paper we evaluate light stable isotope data to infer marine vs. terrestrial paleodiet for a sample of adult individuals from Shih-san-hang, an Iron Age site in northern Taiwan. Faunal remains and hunting-gathering artifacts suggest the utilization of both terrestrial and marine protein resources, however, the extent to which rice was consumed is not known, although its consumption is inferred from recovered harvesting tools and rice husk remains present in pottery temper. This paleodiet study provides complementary data to infer food consumption of the Shih-san-hang people. Building on results from previous paleopathological studies on nutritional and dietary markers (e.g., enamel hypoplasia, porotic hyperostosis, dental caries, dental calculus), we use the data in concert with a subset of individuals analyzed for stable isotope ratios. Human (N=25) and faunal (N=21) bones were sampled for stable carbon and nitrogen stable isotopes from bone collagen and stable carbon isotopes from bone apatite. Faunal isotope values from bone collagen and bone apatite are consistent with taxon-specific diet. For bone collagen, human d13C values average -13.2‰ and d15N values average 9.9‰, while human bone apatite d13C values average -7.6‰. Gender differences in health are evident in some paleopathological markers (e.g., enamel hypoplasia), but do not seem to correlate with the stable isotope results. Preliminary interpretation of our isotopic data suggests a marine-based dietary regime with some terrestrial-based input for those individuals sampled in this study.

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SESSION B3

B3 Allard, Francis

Indiana University of Pennsylvania

HAN EXPANSION IN YUNNAN

This paper examines the impact of the Han on eastern Yunnan following its defeat of the Dian kingdom in 109 BCE. Although post-conquest graves contained some Han artifacts (e.g. mirrors, coins, bronze vessels, and a jade funerary suit), such artifacts and practices were superimposed on burial practices that remained, especially at first, fundamentally Dian in nature (with graves yielding highly distinctive artifacts such as bronze drums and cowry shell containers). The (later) Eastern Han period did witness the incorporation of Han funerary customs (e.g. brick tombs containing Han style vessels and ceramic models), although the maintenance of regional variants (e.g. cliff and mounded tombs) points to the continued adherence to traditional ways and a process of sinicization that can only be described as halting and incomplete.

B3 Bunker, Emma C

Asian Department, Denver Art Museum

THE DONGSON DILEMMA: CULTURAL CAUTION VS COMMERCIAL CONFUSION AND MORE!

Numerous bronze artifacts looted from early Southeast Asian grave-sites have appeared on the international art market during the last decade, primarily in Bangkok, and were quickly acquired by collectors and major museums in the West. Such artifacts are archaeological orphans without provenance or cultural context, but are often wrongly attributed to the Dongson Culture as an aid to their sale. Misattributing these bronzes to the Dongson Culture robs them of their true heritage, and suggests that the Dongson Culture extended to many Southeast Asian Iron Age groups that had contact with Dongson, but did not belong to the Dongson Culture. The origins of such bronzes must be accurately acknowledged in articles and museum labels, otherwise, we will have a Dongson Dilemma, resulting in commercially initiated confusion leading to damaging misconceptions. We must not allow commercial goals to trump the pursuit of historical accuracy. Further confusion has been created by the ongoing debate concerning the transmission of exotic Indic Hindu and Buddhist beliefs into post–Iron Age Pre-Angkor Cambodia and the sophisticated metallurgy needed to create the necessary sacred imagery. Was this metallurgy a continuation of the Iron Age casting traditions associated with the Dongson culture, or was it something new? Here again, an inappropriate reference to the Dongson culture appears to be another Dongson Dilemma which has obscured the actual transmission process by which Indic images and their casting features appeared in the Khmer world during the post-Iron Age period.

B3 CHIANG Po-Yi

Australian National University

THE GE OF THE SHIZHAISHAN CULTURAL COMPLEX

The ge ‘halberd’ was one of the most widely used weapons during the Bronze and early Iron Age of China. It was common from the later second millennium BC until the end of the pre-Christian era in northern China, and remained in use until the late Western Han Dynasty in southwestern China. This paper discusses the chronological distribution, functions and possible stylistic origin of ge from the Shizhaishan cultural complex. The analysis indicates that the use of this weapon was adopted at the beginning of the Spring and Autumn period in northeastern Yunnan and then peaked during the late Warring States period and Western Han in the Lake Dian region. The ge of the Shizhaishan cultural complex may have had more functions than their northern counterparts, and they may have been changed in size, shape and decoration in order to meet local tastes. The typological evidence suggests that the stylistic origin of the Shizhaishan ge was Sichuan.

B3 CHIOU-PENG, Tzehuey

Spurlock Museum, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

NEW LIGHTS ON TYPOLOGICAL ISSUES OF YUNNAN DRUMS

Recently published archaeological and metallurgical data pertaining to Yunnan kettledrums have shed considerable lights on the main development and regional diversification of these artifacts. An analysis of a variety of scientifically excavated drum specimens indicates that their surface embellishments emerged separately and independently from the evolution of the hourglass-shaped drum structure, which was one of the key elements of the plain or sparsely decorated archaic drum prototype, made available around 700 BCE. Current studies attest that technical ideas for manufacturing archaic drums had a protracted span of life in western Yunnan and areas along the Yuan (upper Red) River. These data point to the possibility that drums with seemingly rudimentary features were produced as regional variations as well as export goods; some of these artifacts had existed in widely separate areas in parallel with the evolved, well-garnished Heger I drums, the signature items of the Dian and Dongson cultures.

B3 Cremin, Aedeen

Australian National University

SEEING BARBARIANS: HISTORICAL FILTERS ON THE ARCHAEOLOGISTS’ PERCEPTION

People outside the borders of established civilisations were of interest to ancient authors: in the Greco-Roman world Xenophon and Herodotus (5^th–4^th centuries BCE), Pliny and Tacitus (1^st–2^nd centuries CE) and others described their ‘barbarian’ neighbours, in surprisingly similar ways to their Chinese contemporaries. Although ancient analysts were more interested in intangible social aspects, they also touched on material culture. This paper discusses the way in which European and Chinese archaeologists have used ancient accounts to analyse ‘barbarian’ cultures.

B3 JI Xueping

Yunnan Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology

MA Juan

Lincang Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology

ROCK ART SITES ALONG LANCANG RIVER (UPPER TRIBUTARY OF THE MEKONG RIVER), SOUTHWEST YUNNAN PROVINCE, CHINA.

The rock art sites were first discovered in 1965 in Cangyuan County. 16 sites have been found, extending 25 km east–west and 10 km south–north, at altitudes of 1000–1700 m. They are mainly distributed in Mengsheng, Menglai and Nuoliang in Cangyuan (Wa People Autonomous County), and in Xiaoheijiang and its branches Mengdonghe and Yong’anhe, as well as in Gengma and Simao. The art is often painted in limestone rock shelters, most often in shelters with underlying platforms, although some Neolithic sites are also found in the rockshelter sediments. The area of the previously known rock art sites is more than 470 sq m, with over 1100 figures. Humans and animals (especially cow, sheep, monkey and dog) are the main figures depicted, along with plants, sun images, abstract signs, mountains and rivers – reflecting stock grazing, witchcraft, wars, dances, and geographic features respectively. The paintings are always wine-coloured, with pigment mixed with hematite and the blood of animals. The human figures are mainly painted in frontal view and gendered. The shape of men appears to be the Chinese character “文”, or del operator; the shape of women is either oval or gives prominence to the breast profile. Neither men’s nor women’s facial features or other details are shown. Animals are shown only in profile

In September 2007, a team led by Professor JI Xueping (Yunnan Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology) discovered the Lixin site, a cave with rock art, while conducting a salvage survey in Lincang. The art is located on the south and north walls of the mouth of Lixin Cave’s south branch, on the south bank of Xiaogan River, a branch of Langcang River. It covers approximately 62 sq m and has 107 figures. On artistic grounds, the art on the south wall can be divided into four parts, while the scattering of images on the north wall falls into three parts, separated by natural gaps in the rock. The biggest figure (a witch) is 65 cm high and 50 cm wide. The average size of figures is larger than in other Cangyuan sites. The rock art sites along Lancang River appear to commence in the Neolithic and to extend into the Bronze Age, and even later.

B3 Lustig, Terry

University of Sydney, Australia

Li Kunsheng,

Chen Shai Nan Hai

Yunnan University

Jiang, Zhilong

Yunnan Research Institute of Archaeology

THE VARYING LEVELS OF THE DIAN LAKES AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE DIAN LAKES CULTURES

The Dian cultures seem to have developed mainly in and around five tectonically-formed lakes (the Dian lakes) near Kunming, in Yunnan. Indicators from palynological and archaeological studies suggest that water levels in the Dian Lakes have been both higher and lower than today. These changes in water level appear to have been brought about by both natural and cultural changes. Studying these changes may help to shed light on the various societies inhabiting these lakes, such as the intriguing but poorly understood Bronze Age Dian Lakes cultures.

B3 Moore, Elizabeth

SOAS, Department of Art & Archaeology, Thornhaugh Street, London

MYANMAR BRONZES AND THE DIAN CULTURES OF YUNNAN

Bronze musical instruments from the Samon valley (circa 19-22º N, 95-97ºE), Upper Myanmar, closely resemble mortuary goods from cemeteries such as Shizhaishan and Lijiashan near Lake Dian. Other goods akin to Yunnan in the Samon distribution include bronze halberds and Heger I drums or cowrie containers of the early centuries CE. The rich finds of bronze and bronze-iron implements of Upper Myanmar are dated to circa 600 BC – 400 CE but the sites began to be documented only in 1998 and absolute dates remain scarce. While the musical instruments, halberds and Heger I drums parallel those of the Dian cultures of circa 300 BC – 100 CE, the majority of the Samon goods have not yet been found outside Myanmar. The most common Samon finds are small bronze packets or kye doke with other bronzes including floral ornaments and 'mother-goddess' relief figures. Polished stone beads range from simple spheres to various zoomorphic forms such as tigers and elephants. Pottery and traces of cloth and the variation between graves indicates specialized production and a well developed social hierarchy. Despite these many signs of economic prosperity, the Samon chiefdoms were replaced by Buddhist kingdoms by the mid-first millennium CE. The small number of links between the Samon and early Buddhist cultures suggest that the religious and social change reflects fluctuating relations between Myanmar, Yunnan and South Asia.

B3 Polosmak, Nataliya

Bogdanov, Evgeniy

Institute of Archaeology & Ethnography, Novosibirsk, Russia

THE NORTHERN AFFINITIES OF THE DIAN CULTURE

The ‘Northern’ components within Dian culture were determined in the works of Zhang Zengqi, D. Deopik, E. Bunker. New perspectives can be obtained due to the recent finds in Central Asia. Desert climate at Xinjiang, permafrost at Altai preserve a lot of organic materials, and mummies as well. Clothes, hairstyle, tattoo belong to the main ethnical characteristics. There is close resemblance between sewed skirts, fastened with waistband, long shirts, peaked caps, puttee as footwear, stocking-boots from the tumuli of the Gushi (Jushi) culture in Xinjiang, Pazaryk culture in the Altai, and the same details in bronze art of Dian culture. Similar clothes are still in use among national minorities of Yunnan and Sichuan. Many elements of the armour of Dian riders originated from Saka-Yuezhi sources. On the ‘vessel with shells’ from Shizhaishan we found the picture of a wooden framework, unique in South China, but popular in South Siberia, for instance in the Pazaryk burials. In the realm of spiritual life one can also find many common features: figures of animals on the Saka tables of oblation and Dian bronze drums; scenes of torment of herbivorous animals by Felidae; images of bulls together with serpents. One more analogy in rituals is presented by tauromachy, restricted in this part of Asia by Dian culture, but well-known to ancient Indo-Europeans. Medieval chronicles record bull-fighting in Kuche, inhabited by the descendants of Yuezhi. On the basis of this evidence we can indicate more distinct influence of the Saka-Yuezhi tribes, connected through the people of Gushi.

B3 Shih, Leon Deng-Teng

University of Sydney

BEYOND MERE DECORATION: THE DRUM-SHAPED COWRY CONTAINER OF THE DIAN BRONZE CULTURE

In Dian society, bronze drums served as symbols of status and authority. However, in the late Dian cultural period (from the last centuries BC to the first centuries AD), the bronze drum is replaced by the drum-shaped cowry container in some graves. The decrease in the drum’s significance may have given rise to a reciprocal replacement of drum with cowry container. Originally the bronze drum and the cowry container had distinct shapes and functions. But the emergence of the reversed bronze drum filled with shells and a drum-shaped shell vessel led to a rethinking of the classification of drum and cowry container into separate categories. This functional transformation from drum to cowry container suggests changes in the significance of both drum and cowry container in Dian burials.

This paper will argue that the drum-shaped cowry container is the finished product of a metamorphosis which organically integrated both the drum and the cowry container. Its function and role extended to merge with those of the drum, as it replaced the bronze drum in the tomb. Each of the drum-shaped shell vessels is distinctive in that its detailed iconographic representation characterises the life and social status of the particular elite member, i.e., facilitates its designated connection with the deceased owner. Expertise in bronze metallurgy was fostered by the close relationship that prevailed between specialist craftsmen and their aristocratic patrons.

B3 Taçon, Paul S.C.

Griffith University, Queensland, Australia

Li, Gang

Diqing Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture Cultural Relics Administration Office

Yang, Decong

Ji, Xueping

Yunnan Inst. Cultural Relics & Archaeology

May, Sally K.

Aubert, Maxime

Australian National University

Hong, Liu

Yunnan Institute of Geography

Curnoe, Darren

Herries, Andy

University of New South Wales, Australia

THE AGE AND CULTURAL SIGNIFICANCE OF JINSHA RIVER NATURALISTIC ROCK ART, NORTHWEST YUNNAN PROVINCE, CHINA

China has many forms of rock art but naturalistic outline rock paintings of the Jinsha River region of northwest Yunnan are very different from other rock art found in China or any other part of East Asia. In 2008 a Chinese-Australian team began the first international study of this unique rock art, recording and analysing imagery at several important sites. In this paper the contemporary and past cultural significance is outlined, possible links to rock art of other places are explored and the first results of Uranium Series dating are reported. It is concluded that this is a hunter form of rock art that was made at the same time as farming developed in other parts of Yunnan.

B3 Trinh Sinh

Institute of Archaeology, Vietnam

BRONZE CASTING IN NORTH VIETNAM AND YUNNAN: A COMPARATIVE STUDY

North Vietnam and Southwest China are 2 adjacent regions with close connections in ancient time. The Red River is acknowledged as a ‘corridor’ for exchanges of cultures, techniques, artifacts. From comparative studies of archaeological documents and artifact dates, I think that the earliest bronze artifacts found in Southeast China and North Vietnam date to the Shang period. In some regions of North Vietnam, bronze artifacts were earlier than those of Yunnan and Guizhou.

Vietnamese and Chinese archaeologists have analyzed thousands of bronze to study alloys. The first artifacts in Vietnam and Yunnan (and South China) are not copper, but bronze. The Shizhaishan site, of the Late Bronze Age in Yunnan, dates to the Western Han dynasty (206 BCE–8 CE). Bronze artifacts were chemically analyzed: in 4 examples one half was tin-copper alloys, while the remainder was tin-lead-copper alloys. 555 samples taken from North Vietnamese Dongson artifacts (from 7^th century BCE) were also chemically analyzed. The results indicated copper and 11 alloys. The Vietnamese and Chinese have clear evidence that in North Vietnam and Yunnan, there are many copper, tin and lead mines, a rich source of raw materials for bronze casting in ancient times.

Chinese and Vietnamese archaeologists have discovered not only sandstone and pottery moulds, but also different evidence of bronze casting: bronze slag, vestiges of foundries, pottery crucibles etc. Through the study of vestiges of bronze casting and of a big quantity of bronze artifacts in North Vietnam and Yunnan, I think that bronze casting techniques were similar in both regions.

Some remarks: 1.The first bronze artifacts of North Vietnam and Yunnan seem to belong to Phung Nguyen-culture sites in North Vietnam. 2. There were two stages of developments for alloys in this region: a) tin-copper alloys, b) alloys containing lead. Lead played an important role in enlarging the source of materials for bronze casting. Lead also played a role in casting bronze drums and for the establishment of drum culture. 3. Bronze casting was the basis of the social and economic developments of the Dongson culture in North Vietnam and the Shizhaishan culture in Yunnan. These cultures were the forerunners of the early states: Van Lang in North Vietnam and Tien in Yunnan.

B3 WANG Xibo

Yunnan University

YUNNAN BLUE AND WHITE CERAMICS AND ITS CONNECTIONS WITH VIETNAMESE CERAMIC PRODUCTION

Regional underglaze blue ceramics of Yunnan province were somehow neglected in the history of Chinese ceramics due to their relatively low quality in terms of decoration and firing technique comparing to ceramics produced in Jiangxi province. Fortunately, subsequent excavations on both burials and kiln sites across the Yunnan province revealed a large quantity of ceramics. These underglaze decorated wares had brought the attention of the productions of regional blue and white ceramics to national and international scholars and ceramic enthusiasts in the early twentieth century. Nevertheless, questions relating to the provenance and the dating continue to be a common interest of researchers. Although these issues have been previously dealt with by mainly Chinese scholars and specialists, the identity of the Yunnan ceramics still remain ambiguous and uncertain due to the lack of historical records and scientific excavations on the kiln sites of Yunnan and its adjacent regions. This paper hopes to provide a clearer image of Yunnan blue and white ceramics on the basis of recent studies on the Yunnan wares and some newly found archaeological materials assembled from burial and kiln sites in both Yunnan and its contiguous areas. Recent archaeological reports of ceramics excavated from Vietnam also produced important data that enables scholars to compare and to take these issues into a further consideration.

B3 Zhao, Mei

Yunnan University

A BRIEF STUDY OF JADE FROM VIETNAM

Vietnam is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula and has unique political, economic and cultural systems. While political reforms and rapid economic growth is benefitting the country in various aspects, cultural and historical research in this part of Southeast Asia is of interest to both domestic and foreign scholars and archaeologists. A large number of archaeological remains were yielded in recent years with the cooperation of leading institutions from inside and outside Vietnam. Although the amount of jade among these finds is small, it still represents a distinctive form of culture in terms of its materials, production and functions, and provides valuable information for historical development of political, economic and cultural system. Jade has always been important for both Vietnamese and Chinese culture. It is hoped a clearer relationship can be observed through a comparative study of jade objects from Vietnam and its adjacent regions.

B3 TAWARA Kanji

Cyber University, Tokyo

HAN TOMBS IN YUNNAN [SIMILARITIES AND DIFFERENCES BETWEEN/AROUND SOUTHERN CHINA AND NORTHERN VIETNAM]

The Heger I type bronze drum is remarked as symbolic bronze artifact in each regional culture around the South China and Southeast Asia. But in Yunnan, such situation is different from other regions following the expansion of Han Empire. This paper discusses the chronology, structures and its functions of Han tombs in Yunnan, from the later Western Han period to the end of Eastern Han period/ the beginning of Three Kingdom period of China [1st century BCE - 3rd century CE], comparing with their features to Han tombs in southern China and northern Vietnam. The analysis indicates that the socio-cultural context in Yunnan after bronze drum disappeared.

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SESSION B4

B4 Mei, Goh Hsiao

Saidin, Mokhtar

Centre for Archaeological Research, Malaysia, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Penang

LATE PLEISTOCENE-EARLY HOLOCENE CULTURAL EVIDENCE IN KAJANG CAVE, LENGGONG VALLEY, PERAK, MALAYSIA

Systematic research was conducted in Kajang Cave, Lenggong Valley, Perak from January to February 2007 in order to resolve some issues and problems identified from the previous research conducted by Evans (1918), Williams-Hunt (1951,1952) and Chia (1997). This research is intended to reconstruct the prehistoric chronology of Kajang Cave using chronometric dating and to save the cultural data which is being destroyed by guano collectors. In the excavations, 2 in-situ human burials (GK 1 and GK 2) were uncovered from two different cultural layers. Radiocarbon dating analysis from shell samples suggested a late Pleistocene date of 10,820 ± 60 BP (Beta 227446) for GK 1 and early Holocene date of 7,890 ± 80 (Beta 227445) for GK 2. Excavation in Gua Kajang uncovered at least 6 cultural layers from a depth of about 150cm. Temporally, the stone artifacts distributed through the site show a continuity in production technology, typology and raw material from the late Pleistocene to the early Holocene. In addition, faunal remains found did not show a drastic change in the types of species over the time span. Analysis of the pottery sherds shows that this pottery shared similar characteristic with pottery found in other prehistoric sites in the Lenggong Valley, dated 3,000 – 4,000 years ago. Overall, archaeological research has placed Kajang Cave as one of the most important late Pleistocene – early Holocene sites in the Lenggong Valley and it has been identified as a “multi-component” site, which was used for human habitation and for burial purposes.

B4 Nguyen Gia Doi

Institute of Archaeology, Hanoi

A REVIEW OF THE LATE PLEISTOCENE OCCUPATIONS IN VIETNAM

Based on paleontological analyses from the excavations at Lang Trang cave, Duoi Uoi cave and other locations indicate that around 60-80ka the north of Vietnam was still covered by subtropical and tropical zones. The Duoi Uoi assemblage is characterised by the abundance of megamammals as rhinocerotids, Elephas, bubalus bubalis, Tapirus indicus which suggests at 66 ka a forested area and some open habitats, under warm and humid conditions. These humid conditions might existed in this area from the Middle Pleistocene to the late Late Pleistocene ( Keo Leng cave 30-20 ka; lowermost of Nguom rockshelter, Dieu rockshelter, and Cho cave dated around 22-30 ka) according to the faunal similarities. The evidences of climatic change to cool and dry condition could be occurred at around 30 ka, but until 23 ka temperature droped to rather low corresponding to disappearance of Pongo and Stegodon. Around between 17 ka and 12 ka, the climate is charactered by a temperate zone and after 12 ka, it changed towards to warm and humid condition.

Late Pleistocene occupations

Early Late Pleistocene sites

So far several sites there have been found in this period such as Tham Om (Nghe An Prov.), Doi Thong (Ha Giang prov.), and Lang Vac (Nghe An prov.). Tham Om is a big cave which yielded a rather large number of animal fossils. The fauna from Tham Om cave sediment is almost similarities with counterpart of Hang Hum, Lang Trang and Ma Uoi cave. However, the appearance of Gingantopithecus blacki and Paleoxodon cf. namadicus is able to indicate the date for the fossils around between teminal Late Middle Pleistocene and primary Late Pleistocene as Hum cave (140-80 ka.) The cave also produced fossil of Homo sapiens (early Homosapiens) together with flake tools made by quartz are the evidences for the occupation of Homo sapiens in this region.

Doi Thong site is located on a hill slope formely to be the terrace of Lo river. The stratigraphy of the site from bottom to upper part can be observed as follows: schist bed rock; reddish schist weathered clay mixed with pebble and gravel layer; alluvial soil layer. Stone artifacts were recovered almost from the reddish schist weathered clay. Generally, stone tools of the site are rather big with 20cm long, 10cm wide and 1kg in average and are manufactured simply with limited percussions. Typologically, these include most of pointed-edged tools (picks), end-choppers, large scrapers and worked pebbles. Probably, The Doi Thong stone assemblage has been assigned around 0.1 MYA. However, by comparative studies between Doi Thong and some stone assemblages in Kwangxi (China), it could be dated back to Middle Pleistocene.

Lang Vac site is located on a gentle hill slope near Hieu river bank. Based on the latest excavation in 1990 conducted by Vietnamese and Japanese joint research team, the stratigraphy has 10 layers nearly 2 metres in thickness. Bronge Age burials are revealed from Layer 4 up, and chipped stone artifacts from layer 5 down (0.9cm in depth down) in a laterite and eroded soil layer. Most of stone artifacts made by quartz pebbles which are availble along Hieu river bank. Clasification on over 300 artifacts of the latest excavation assemblage include types of pointed-edged pieces, end-edged pieces, round-edged pieces, side-edged pieces, double-edged pieces, convergent-edged pieces, corner-edged pieces, truncated-edged pieces, adzed-shaped pieces, flaked pebbles, cores, hammer stones, pebble flakes, retouched flakes. The stone implements from Lang Vac have been attributed as Son Vi culture but its date maybe early Late Pleistocene, somewhat resemble Doi Thong counterparts.

Middle Late Pleistocene

Sonvian stone assemblages has been argued a pre-Hoabinhian industry with over 200 localities distributed along the upper-middle part of Hong, Da, Luc Nam, Ma, Ca, and some other river basins in Central Highland. These sites mostly located on river terraces hence except stone artifacts, no any faunal or other remains have been found. Thought these are some variations in local features but basically include types of pointed-edged tools, end-choppers, side-choppers, round-edged tools, truncated-edged pieces, large scrapers, etc. So far, almost none of absolute date for Son Vi assemblages so that its chronology needs to be discussed. Based on the chronological sequence of Hoabinhian, It is possibly to assume that due to climatic fluctuation the Sonvian mobility hunter-gatherer organizations were broken up at around 30 ka.

Late and teminal Late Pleistocene

The Sonvian inhabitants moved into caves forming Hoabinhian strata occurred at around 30 ka. Recently, rather many Hoabinhian sites Tham Khuong cave, Dieu rockshelter, Xom Trai cave, Cho cave, Muoi cave, Ang Ma cave, Ong Bay rockshelter etc., have been dated around between 18-30 ka for their lower levels. This phase corresponds with the cold and dry condition as mentioned above. Thus, it is proposed that the change in settlemental patern from open locations into caves in order to avoid cold climate. The initial Hoabinhian strata almost maintains tool-making tradition like Sonvian. Probably, Hoabinhian as its real meaning actually appeared around after 18 ka.

With the chronological sequence and cultural systerms as said above, Nguom flake industry existed mostly as same time as innitial Hoabinhian. Nguom is considered as specific industry which may relate to “small tool” tradition in China.

B4 Nguyen Viet

Center for Southeast Asian Prehistory, Vietnam

FURTHER STUDIES ON THE HOABINHIAN

The Hoabinhian is a major archaeological culture in SEA prehistory. It has been studied over a long period with a range of research methodologies, approaches and theories. Studies of the Hoabinhian in Thailand, Laos and Vietnam have proceeded independently for a number of years without sharing of materials and experiments. It should now be the time to establish an Association of Hoabinhian Friends amongst SEA researchers who have interests in the Hoabinhian. The Center for SEA Prehistory (Vietnam) and the Provincial Museum of Hoa Binh will organize a short meeting and a Hoabinhan tour after the IPPA conference to develop this idea.

B4 Nguyen Quang Mien

Archaeological Institute of Vietnam

C14 DATES AND GEOARCHAEOLOGY IN THE CENTRAL COASTAL AREA OF VIETNAM

By accessing the human geoecology through the results of geological and archaeological studies and ¹⁴C dates in the region, the author has outlined the development picture of the coastal geoarchaeology of central Vietnam in the Holocene, as follows: the period of Xom Con, from 3600 to 3000 yrBP; the layers of the sites of Long Thanh, Bau Tram, from 3200 yrBP to 2600yrBP; the layer of sites Binh Chau, Xom Oc (below), from 2800 yrBP to 2200yrBP; The period of Sa Huynh, from 2400yrBP to 1800 yrBP.

B4 Nguyen Dong Truong

Institute of Archaeology, Vietnam

Christopher Clarkson

U of Queensland, Australia

THE ORGANIZATION OF DRILL-POINT PRODUCTION AT A LATE NEOLITHIC WORKSHOP OF BAI BEN, VIETNAM

This paper investigates the issue of how stone drill points were manufactured at the Late Neolithic workshop of Bai Ben, Northeastern Vietnam, from a technological perspective, and with the aim of understanding the organisation of technology at the site. Within this organisational approach, the issue is investigated in a comprehensive behavioural manner from raw material procurement to drill manufacture, use, maintenance, and discard. Attribute based statistical methods are developed to observe the time-ordering of dimensional and morphological changes of classes of cores and drills with the ultimate aim of reconstructing the reduction sequences for cores and drill points. In so doing, the whole processes from raw material transformation or core reduction/flake production to drill-point manufacture and discard are better elucidated. Apart from that, the effects of the availability and varying sizes of raw material on the core reduction patterns and the technological choices, and the effect of reduction intensity on drill morphologies can be more understood.

B4 Forestier, Hubert

IRD-MNHN, France

Sophady, Heng

Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts, Cambodia

THE RE-EXCAVATION OF LAANG SPEAN CAVE, CAMBODIA :SEASON 1, 2009

Laang Spean Cave (Battambang Province, Cambodia) is actually a reference site for Prehistoric Archaeology in Cambodia. Previously discovered by French archaeologist R. Mourer during the 60's, the long archaeological sequence of Laang Spean Cave from Hoabinhian to Neolithic has not been re-studied until today.

Through the new French-Cambodian cooperation 2009, the main purpose of this paper is to present the first results of the re-excavation of this major site.

B4 Krajaejun, Pipad

Independent Archaeologist

SLAB COFFINS IN TAK PROVINCE, WESTERN THAILAND

In 2006, I carried out an archaeological survey in Tak province, western Thailand and found 30 slab coffins. Only seven, from the Ban Wang Pra Chop and Nai Sien sites, were excavated. The slab coffins are made of phyllite, and their average size is 2.1 meter in length and 0.7 meter in width. No human skeletons or ashes were found; only earthenware and stone bracelets were found inside the slab coffins and around the sites. Polished stone axes and beads were also found around the slab coffins. The C-14 date [2 dates] for Ban Wang Pra Chop is approximately 2,520-2,350 BP [two sigma]. This paper will present: 1) an analysis of the data and interpretation of the past society, and 2) a comparison of the slab coffins at Tak province with other slab coffin sites in Asia. Preliminary results indicate that these slab coffins are similar in type to those found in Indonesia, Malaysia, and especially those from Taiwan. Therefore, this culture might relate to a migration route of Austroasiatic people through western Thailand.

B4 Guangmao, Xie

Guangxi Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology

NEW NEOLITHIC DISCOVERIES IN GUANGXI

Since 2002, numerous Neolithic sites have been excavated in cooperation with the capital constructions in Guangxi , South China. These sites are all open-air sites located on the banks of rivers. The representative sites presented in this paper are Baida site, Gexinqiao site, Beidaling site, Datangcheng site, Chongtang site, etc. Among these sites, stone workshops and burials were found, hundreds of thousands of stone artifacts were recovered, but pottery is rare. Tentative dating ranges from early Neolithic age to late Neolithic age.

B4 Trinh Sinh

Institute of Archaeology, Vietnam

EXCHANGES OF DONGSON CULTURE IN SOUTHEAST ASIA AND SOUTH CHINA

Dongson culture of the Metal Age in Vietnam main distributed in the Northern Vietnam. Dongson culture was dated about from 7 th BC to 1-2 nd AD. Dongson culture had strongly cultural exchanges with some different ancient cultures in south China, mainland Southeast Asia and island Southeast Asia. Archaeological artifacts demonstrated Dongson culture presented in the northern region in Zhejiang, Guangxi, Guangtung, Yunnan etc. in China. In the Western, It presented in coastal regions of Malaysia, Thailand and mainland Southeast Asia in Laos, Cambodge. In the Southern region, Dongson culture contacted with indigenous cultures of Indonesia's islands. In the cultural exchanges, Dongson culture influenced different cultures in the same time. It integrated some elements of cultures in different regions. The cultural exchanges of Dongson culture demonstrated that Viet people in the ancient evaluated exactly the situation of Pacific Ocean in production, trade, exchanges etc.

B4 Thuy, Chanthourn

Royal Academy of Cambodia

CIRCULAR EARTHWORKS IN CAMBODIA AND VIETNAM

Circular earthwork sites were first seen in a publication in 1930 by Ecole Francaise d'Extrème Orient (EFEO). Then in 1959, French scholar Luis Malleret documented 17 sites east of the Mekong River in Cambodia and Vietnam. These structures are formed with earthen rounded walls with a ditch inside and an inner platform at the center; where the remains of human activities are found. These archaeological sites are identified by ancient remains, such as sherds and lithic tools. The sites are usually more than 200 meters in diameter. These prehistoric settlements throughout the region east of the Mekong River can provide valuable data on pertinent archaeological and anthropological issues. The excavations at the sites unearthed many artifacts that can provide a lot of information about the sites and their culture. These settlements are now named the Memotian Culture which has turned out to be one of the most important cultures in Southeast Asia. Today 60 circular earthwork sites have been identified between the Cambodian and Vietnam borders.

B4 SONG Sophy

Royal University of Fine Arts, Cambodia

GLASS BEADS IN THE IRON AGE SITE OF PHUM SNAY, CAMBODIA.

Phum Snay Iron age site and settlement were discovered in 2000 by road construction. Since then, the site is in danger because it was looted and sold out its artifacts. There are 349 received from the archaeological data in both years excavation in 2001 and 2003. All the beads were analyzed by macroscopic. Among them, only 100 beads were brought from Cambodia to Paris for the LA-ICP-MS analysis but only 75 beads were done with the compositional analysis by Laser Ablation Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS). Carnelian beads (stone beads) do not work with LA-ICP-MS. All of beads were analyzed by macroscopic. Only 100 beads were brought from Cambodia to Paris for the analysis but only 75 beads were done with the compositional analysis by Laser Ablation Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS). Carnelian beads (stone beads) do not work with LA-ICP-MS.

The target of this study is getting to know how many kinds of beads can be find, the manufacturing method of bead production, and the exchange network where the beads came from. The analysis reveals three groups of glass beads were recognized: 55 high Alumina glass beads (m-Na-Al) which is typical production of Indian Ocean, 16 Potash beads (K) found in Southeast Asia and India from 4^th c. BC to 4^th c. AD and 4 Soda lime glass beads (m-Na-Ca) normally appeared in South and Southeast Asia. The v-Na-Ca type is characteristic of the glass production of the Near East and Middle East.

B4 Mokhtar, Naizatul Akma Mohd

Center for Global Archaeological Research, Universiti Sains Malaysia

THE DISCOVERY OF IRON SMELTING IN SG. BATU, LEMBAH BUJANG, KEDAH

Recent excavations in Lembah Bujang, Kedah revealed an iron smelting site, with iron artefacts, furnaces, tuyeres and slag. This site was dated by radiocarbon to between BP 1730 and 1300. This iron smelting site is located in the famous Lembah Bujang civilization site which was known as a Hindu-Buddhist site. Research in Lembah Bujang since the 1840's has found more than 80 sites, the majority being candi. This is the first time we have found an iron smelting site as part of the Lembah Bujang industry. This raises again the question of whether iron working was brought in to Malaysia as a result of a trade system, or developed independently. A comparison will be made with other contemporaneous sites in Southeast Asia to determine the correlations with this site.

B4 Nishimura Masanari

Kansai University, Japan

MOUND SITES WITH DEEP STRATIGRAPHY IN MAINLAND SOUTHEAST ASIA: CHARACTERISTICS AND FUNCTIONS.

The mound site with deep stratigraphy is one of the characteristic site morphologies in the Mainland Southeast Asia. Archaeological researches have revealed that most of this type sites can be placed from the Late Neolithic to the Iron Age. The unsolved question for this site variation is why such deep stratigraphy was formed and what is it for. The author’s research in the Lower Mekong and Dong Nai River plain indicates that frequent pottery production activity and heaping soil were evidenced at this kind of the sites. Probably in the late prehistoric Age of the Mainland Southeast Asia, the mound sites with deep stratigraphy were formed by the specialized pottery production in the long term.

B4 Tan, Noel Hidalgo

Chia, Stephen

Centre for Archaeological Research, Malaysia, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Penang

CURRENT RESEARCH ON THE ROCK ART AT GUA TAMBUN, PERAK, MALAYSIA

The rock art site of Gua Tambun in Perak, Malaysia was first reported by J. M. Matthews in 1959, following the discovery of the rock paintings by a British military officer. An estimate of more than 50 forms of animals, humans, geometric designs and many other indistinct and vague forms of paintings were found on the walls of the rock shelter. Since then, no further in-depth research of the rock art has been reported, while time and weather have eroded and faded the paintings even more. In early January 2009, the site was revisited by the authors to document and study the rock art in detail. The rock art was documented using a combination of close-range, high-resolution digital photography, and digital image analysis was used to reconstruct and recompose the faded images. Samples of the material used for painting the rock art were also collected for chemical analysis and dating. This paper presents the preliminary findings of the research, which include more than 500 forms of rock art found at the site, the dating of the rock art as well as the methods and techniques used in producing the paintings.

B4 Kanjanajuntorn, Podjanok

Sociology and Anthropology Faculty, Thammasat University, Thailand

THE PRACTICE OF SECONDARY BURIAL IN WEST-CENTRAL THAILAND: IS IT AN INDICATION OF POPULATION MOVEMENT IN MAINLAND SOUTHEAST ASIA?

This paper will present results from the recent excavations in Kanchanaburi and Ratchaburi Provinces in West-Central Thailand. The fieldwork in the areas yielded the contrasting materials cultures and burial practices of the Metal Age. The test excavation at Ban Nam Daeng, Kanchanaburi province unearthed primary burials with various types of grave goods. However at the Nong Kwang site in Ratchaburi secondary burials were found. The practice was to bury human remains elsewhere, or cremate them, before re-burying them with some grave goods. This burial practice was common in prehistoric Ratchaburi but appeared to be in contrast to the rest of Central Thailand. Secondary burials were known in various regions of prehistoric Southeast Asia, however the diffusion of this ancient practice and the relationships among these secondary burial people are still obscure. This paper explores the distribution of secondary burial in mainland Southeast Asia and its implications. The evidence of this cultural practice might indicate population movement during the Metal Age, a period of diverse exchange and new technologies.

B4 Borell, Brigitte

Germany

THE HAN PERIOD GLASS DISH FROM LAO CAI, VIETNAM

Five groups of artefacts, mainly consisting of Dong Son bronze drums and other bronze objects, were discovered in Lao Cai during construction work in 1993. A date from the first century BCE to the first century CE has been assigned to these find groups. The nineteen Dong Son drums found in these five groups date from the first century BCE to the first century CE. Among the artefacts of one of the groups was a fragmentary shallow bowl made of translucent pale greenish glass. In shape and other characteristics of its appearance it is very similar to glass vessels found in Han period tombs in Guangxi. Some of the Guangxi glass vessels have been analysed: they are made of a potash glass and are to be considered as regional products. The shallow glass bowl from Cao Lai clearly belongs to this group of rare and precious glass vessels.

B4 Lankton, James W.

UCL Institute of Archaeology, London, UK

Bunchar Pongpanich

SuthiRatana Foundation, Nakhon Si Thammarat, Thailand

Boonyarit Chaisuwan

Regional Office of Fine Arts Department, Phuket, Thailand

Bernard Gratuze

Institut de Recherche sur les ArchéoMATériaux, CNRS, Centre Ernest-Babelon, Orleans, France

CHINESE HAN-PERIOD GLASS CUP FRAGMENTS IN PENINSULAR THAILAND

While the interaction between population groups on the Indian subcontinent and emerging Southeast Asian polities has long been the focus of study for understanding the role of external influence in the development of complex societies in Southeast Asia, there has been less evidence for and attention to the interaction between Southeast Asian societies, particularly west of Vietnam, and the cultural and political mosaic of groups in southern China. The recent recovery of fragments of Han-period glass cups, known previously only from graves in Guangxi Province, China, from at least two sites in southern Thailand, Ta Chana in Surat Thani and Bang Kluay in Ranong Province, on the east and west coasts, respectively, of the Isthmus of Kra, the narrowest region of the Thai-Malay Peninsula, provides important new evidence for the extensive nature of this interaction. A total of eleven fragments have been identified, ten from Ta Chana and one from Bang Kluay, in colors ranging from dark cobalt blue to pale green. We will compare the fragments found in Thailand with those from Guangxi, and present new chemical compositional evidence that may help us to clarify important questions on both the nature of glass and glassworking in southern China, and the possible implications of finding such glass vessels in Southeast Asia.

B4 Athfield, Nancy Beavan

Rafter Radiocardbon, GNS Science, New Zealand

Miksic, John

National University of Singapore, Singapore

Chhem, Rethy

University of Western Ontario, Canada

Shewan, Louise

O’Reilly, Dougald

University of Sydney, Australia

Latinus, Kyle

Somreth Siphouen

15^TH-17^TH CENTURY JAR BURIALS IN THE CARDAMOM MOUNTAINS, KINGDOM OF CAMBODIA: A MULTIDISCIPLINARY INVESTIGATION OF SECONDARY BURIALS

In March 2003 an initial investigation was made of secondary burials of human bone packed into stoneware jars at four rock ledge sites in the Cardamom Mountains, Kingdom of Cambodia. Radiocarbon dating and stable isotope analysis have been completed on three bone samples (one rib bone and two separate skulls) representing three individuals from one stoneware jar at Site 4.

A Ward & Wilson T' test (Ward and Wilson 1978) indicates that all three dates are not significantly different (df 2, T'=1.7). If the assumption is made that the individuals all died and their remains were placed in the jar at the same time, then the dates can be combined (Combine function, OXCAL v3.10; Bronk Ramsey 2001, 2005) to give a combined calibrated radiocarbon age of 374±18 years BP. Due to the wiggle in the calibration curve at this time, the calendar age ranges diverge into two possible periods of 1440 to 1530 AD plus 1570 to 1630 AD.

The associated 15th century Chinese and Sisatchanalai ceramics in the site support the conclusion that the radiocarbon ages give an accurate range for the deposition of the objects in the overhangs where they were found. Stable isotope evidence also suggests the radiocarbon ages are not affected by marine influences. We also report EDXRF analysis of glass beads found within the jars and CT-scans of skeletal elements and placement of the bones within the jars. There are outstanding questions about the funerary practice, the selection of these remote sites, and the cultural affinity of the remains, as the sites are unique in the Cambodian cultural-historical context.

B4 Chumdee, Nootnapang

Division of History, Faculty of Archaeology, Silpakorn University

LOCAL TRADE IN PAI, MAE HONGSON, NORTHWEST THAILAND DURING 14^TH – 19^TH CENTURIES

This paper focuses on the role of Pai as a town situated on a trade route between the ancient towns of the Lanna Kingdom during 14^th – 19^th centuries and indicates some factors that brought Pai importance as an economic town: location and natural resources. During 14^th – 19^th Centuries, the Lanna kingdom was a salient trading center of the northern part of South-east Asia. It gathered and redistributed goods from other countries both inside and outside the kingdom, for instance, from the northern area such as Shan, the group of southern towns of Yunnan and Lung Phrabang, and the southern countries of the Ayutthaya kingdom and Burma seaport group.

This study shows evidence that, besides Chiang Mai and Chiang Sean in northern Thailand, some small towns also had a significant role in trade for the Lanna Kingdom. For instance, Pai is located northwest of Chiang Mai, the capital city of the Lanna kingdom over that time. The archaeological evidence such as monuments and potsherds found in Pai shows its status as a contemporary community in the Lanna Kingdom. Furthermore, its location, which stands in the land trade route between Chiang Mai and the other towns in the north area, the Shan state (in the Burma area now), Chiang Sean and Fang gave it significance. Besides, Pai has valuable local resources which could be used to purchase goods.

B4 Ngo Thi Lan

Institute of Archaeology, Vietnam

THE PIPPALA LEAF SHAPED DECORATIVE MOTIF ON THE ROOFS OF ARCHITECTURAL SITES IN THE NORTH OF VIETNAM

Pippala leaf shaped decorative motif is a decorative type named “L¸ ®Ò”. This decorative motif has been universally used in the art of Vietnam, with particularly original forms on the roofs of architectural sites in the North of Vietnam. Thus, based on the documentations that are the typical artifacts in archeological discoveries, investigation and excavation, this article is to systematize and research on the types, patterns and technology that present this decorative type. From that point, one defines dates and specific characteristics of the Pippala leaf shaped decorative motif in historical periods. The Pippala leaf shaped decorative motif on roofs is a new creation and contribution that help to form a new architectural decorative tradition in the architectural sites in the North of Vietnam. The Pippala leaf shaped decorative motif also has a part in studying a process of decoration on the roofs of architectural sites in Vietnam.

B4 Roy, Babul

Office of the Registrar General, India, Seba Bhaba, New Delhi

MICROLITHIC SITES FROM MANDLA, MADHYA PRADESH, INDIA

Discovery of as many as 17 open air sites of microlithic assemblage in the district of Mandla (Madhya Pradesh) during 2001-2 already has been reported to be of immense archaeological significance, as for the first time evidences are found suggesting continuation of Stone Age tradition until the recent historical time (see, Roy 2008 and 2009). The present article for the first time presents the details of Mandla archaeological sites, methods of study, and archaeological findings.

B4 Trinh Nang Chung

Institute of Archaeology, Vietnam

STUDY OF ANCIENT INSCRIBED FIGURES ON THE STONES AT XÍN MầN, HÀ GIANG PROVINCE, NORTH VIET NAM.

The stone site with the ancient inscribed figures was located at Nấm Dẩn commune, Xín Mần district. Hà Giang province, North Viet Nam. It was found in 2004. The figures are in the following groups: - The first group includes geometric figures sich as rectangles, squares, cirles and other shapes. They are dominant motifs.- The second group includes palindrome figures in square and circle shapes - The third group include paralell carved/ chiseled lines.- The fourth group includes symbols of female genitals.- The fifth group includes human- footed shapes- The sixth group includes human figures- The seventh group includes all unidentified figures.

These figures were very simply carved or chiseled, with the use of iron chisel and and hammer applied directly on the stone surface. Based on the carving technique, the themes, motifs, along with the comparison with similar sites in the region and in southern China, the author intially supposes that those figure at Xin Man, Ha Giang are ancient ones, which were made. through many periods; the initial date might be some time during the early first millenium AD, when the iron items were popularly used.

Significantly, some Xín Mần figures might have been related to the ritual for worshipping the God Sun, indicated by the dominant circles among them. It is now still difficult to identify the owners of the Xín Mần figures, but the matriarchal system seems to have played an important role in the group of those who created these figures.

B4 Krigbaum, John

Tucker, Bryan

University of Florida

HOLOCENE DIET AND SEASONALITY: ISOTOPIC INSIGHTS FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF FOOD PRODUCTION IN TROPICAL SOUTHEAST ASIA

Previous stable isotope studies analyzing bulk tooth enamel samples from archaeological sites in tropical Southeast Asia focused principally on stable carbon isotope variability as a product of both 'total' diet and the canopy effect, while stable oxygen isotope values contributed to the recognition of broad scale, climate-related trends. In this paper, light stable isotope data derived from serially sampled human tooth enamel from Niah Cave (Sarawak) and Gua Cha (Peninsular Malaysia) are presented that contribute to our understanding of the nature of human adaptation in diverse rainforest habitats during the Holocene epoch. Specifically, discrete stable carbon and oxygen isotope ratios from molar teeth, sampled incrementally, permit subannual patterns of seasonality and human paleodiet to be assessed. This fresh methodological approach to the isotopic study of human tooth enamel allows human behavior to be assessed for individuals recovered from archaeological sites in tropical Southeast Asia. Serially sampling human tooth enamel along growth layers offers new perspectives of human diet concomitant with environmental change and permits key questions to be addressed such as the ecological context associated with new modes of food production.

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SESSION B5

1-Archaeology of the Proto/Early Historic Period

B5 Reinecke, Andreas

Commission for Archaeology of Non-European Cultures of the German Archaeological Institute, Germany, Germany

Seng, Sonetra

Vin Laychour

Memot Center, Cambodia

PROHEAR: A FIRST LOOK AT EXCAVATION, RESTORATION AND CULTURAL NETWORK OF AN IRON AGE BURIAL SITE IN SOUTHEASTERN CAMBODIA

An Iron Age burial site with many bronze drums, gold and silver offerings was discovered in Prohear village, Prey Veng province, in spring 2007, but almost completely looted by the villagers until the end of that year. Only the 4 meters wide main road through the village was spared from looting. Together with the Memot Centre, the Commission for Archaeology of Non-European Cultures of the German Archaeological Institute conducted two rescue excavation field seasons in spring 2008 and 2009, and discovered on an area of 120 m² at whole 47 inhumations and 5 jar burials under the route. Analyses and restoration of metal objects are in progress. This preliminary report briefly reviews some special complexes and finds from the period from 200 BC to AD 100 and presents the first results of analyses and restoration in context with other sites of the same period in this area.

B5 Dang Van Thang

National University of Ho Chi Minh City

PRE OC EO PERIOD IN VIETNAM

This paper reviews various aspects of southern Vietnam’s developmental history, and concentrates first on its geological and geomorphologic sequence. Results of archaeological field investigations across Vietnam’s Mekong delta are then reviewed, and reflect diverse cultural traditions. Some Pre-Oc Eo sites may have developed from the Dong Nai cultural tradition, while others continued the jar burial tradition. Sites distributed along the Cuu Long River reflect yet another cultural tradition. Similarities in material culture across these regions suggest interaction and relationships throughout the Mekong delta’s Pre-Oc Eo population. Analysis of temporal relationships in these assemblages also illustrates continuity from the Pre-Oc Eo culture to the Oc Eo culture.

B5 Lai Van Toi

Tran Anh Dung

Institute of Archaeology, Vietnamese Academy of Social Sciences

GIONG NOI SITE (BEN TRE PROVINCE) IN THE CONTEXT OF PRE-OC EO CULTURAL SITES IN SOUTHERN VIETNAM

B5 Vuong Thu Hong

Long An Museum, Tan An

THE GO O CHUA SITE - THE DEVELOPING ROUTE TO THE VAM CO TYPE OF THE OC EO CULTURE

This paper reports on field investigations from 1997-2008 at the Go O Chua site (Long An Province). The site’s developmental history can be divided into two consecutive phases that span the period from the beginning of the pre-Oc Eo period through the Oc Eo period. The later phase includes both a settlement and a mortuary component. Two types of burials have been found from Go O Chua site: the earthen-pit burials were used for the adults and the jar-burials were for the children, and associated mortuary items parallel those found at neighboring Mekong delta sites (e.g., Go Cao Su, Go Hang, Trap Gao Mieu, Long Buu and Giong Ca Vo). Recent archaeological research in the Mekong delta suggests the development of three separate developmental trajectories in the region, each which is geographically distinct from the others. These are: (1) the southeastern coastal route; (2) the Vam Co river route; and (3) the Mekong river route. Analysis of mortuary materials (e.g., ceramics, bronze, glass and gemstone ornaments) from the Go O Chua site confirms this site’s place in the Oc Eo cultural tradition, with particular affinities to the Vam Co subtradition.

2-  Archaeology of Historical /State Formation

B5 Manguin, Pierre-Yves Manguin

EFEO Paris

THE FRANCO-VIETNAMESE ARCHAEOLOGY PROGRAMME ON OC EO: AN UPDATE

The “Archaeology of the Mekong Delta” Franco-Vietnamese cooperation programme carried out surveys and excavations at the site complex of Oc Eo between 1996 and 2002. Field excavations lasted a total 26 weeks. After 2002, analyses of most the data collected by archaeologists, topographers, geologists and a palynologist were carried out in both Vietnam and France. Some fifty C14 dates were completed. For a variety of unforeseen reasons, work on the ceramic material had to be interrupted after 2002. It has only now been resumed, allowing for a final report to be envisaged in the near future. This paper will present the results achieved so far and the conclusions reached in terms of overall chronology, of settlement patterns and urban features. The dating of the Lung Lon canal and of the city moat, in particular, allows us to push back the construction of the urban site to the 2nd-3rd century CE, therefore before conventional signs of “Indianization” (temples, statuary, and inscriptions) appear in the region. Contemporary data gathered from recent excavations in Java and Sumatra will be briefly presented to illustrate overseas extensions of the Oc Eo assemblage.

B5 Bourdonneau, Eric

EFEO Phnom Penh

CANALS, “LANDSCAPE FORMS” AND “NETWORK OF FORMS”: NEW RESEARCH ON THE ANCIENT HYDRAULIC SYSTEM AROUND THE SITE OF OC EO

New archaeological excavations on the ancient city of Oc Eo have been carried out by a Vietnamese and French team from 1997 to 2002. At the same time and in connection with the work in the field, a research program on the ancient network of canals around Oc Eo and, more broadly, in the western part of the Mekong delta has been started. This paper will present the recent results of this study, focusing on the complementarities between the different approaches required to tackle the complexity of such a canal system. Besides the archeology and the excavations in the field, we think mainly about the sedimentology, the palynology and what is called now in Europe the “archaeo-morphology” or “archeo-geography”. The latter proposes a new way of looking at “landscape forms” and invite us to define our canal system as part of a “network of forms” and to think of it as such.

B5 Hirano, Yuko

Institute of Asian Cultures, Sophia University, Japan

THE STUDY OF THE CULTURAL EXCHANGE OF OC EO CULTURAL SITES IN THE MEKONG DELTA: FROM ROOF TILES AND POTTERIES FOUND FROM GO TU TRAM SITE (2005-2006)

The southern Mekong delta housed the site of Oc Eo, which connected with World Trade network between Rome and China as a sea port of Funan. Scholars believe that the Oc Eo culture developed as early as the 2nd century B.C. and lasted to the 12th century A.D. This paper examines cultural interactions involving Oc Eo by focusing on terracotta roof tiles and pottery recovered during excavations at the Go Tu Tram site from 2005-2006. Flat tiles with grooves and perforations recovered from the lower layers resemble South Asian styles, but differed in having leaf-shapes. Archaeological deposits from the 3rd to 4th century AD include well-fired, fine-paste vessels and also kendi (spouted vessels); this fine-paste ware (and the kendi) is found in sites across the Mekong delta. Shape and forms in the fine paste ware are basically similar from one site to the next, with some variation in technique and decoration. In this paper, I argue that the fine-paste ware reflects the selective acceptance of foreign culture and the development of indigenous culture in this region.

B5 Tokusawa, Keiichi

Okayama University of Science, Japan

Nguyen, Thi Hoai Huong

Center for Archaeological Studies, Southern Institute of Sustainable Development, Vietnam

Hirano, Yuko

Institute of Asian Cultures, Sophia University, Japan

THE MICROSCOPIC ANALYSIS OF ANCIENT GLASS ORNAMENTS IN THE MEKONG DELTA FOUND FROM LONG AN PROVINCE

In this paper we discuss glass manufacturing techniques through the use of microscope examination of glass ornaments from Iron Age to Early Historical Period sites in Long An province, southern Vietnam. Sites from Long An province have yielded abundant glass ornaments (such as bracelets, earrings and beads) that were important in cultural exchanges within and beyond the Mekong delta. Our paper focuses on evidence for glass manufacturing techniques from the archaeological sites of Go O Chua, Go Hang and Go Dung sites. We compare this archaeological evidence with traditional techniques from Northwest India (Purdalpur). Generally, these ornaments were thought to be made using drawn or casting techniques, but we could confirm various traces of drawn, coiling, rotating or using molds for each process of forming – adjusting glass. On the basis of this comparison, we would like to consider glass production in this province actively and variously, and cultural relations with other archaeological sites in Mekong delta region.

3- Archaeological Evidence and Related Issues

B5 Slaczka, Anna A.

Kern Institute of Indology, Leiden University, The Netherlands

THE BRICK STRUCTURES OF GÒ THÁP – TOMBS OR TEMPLES?

The 1980s and 1990s excavations of the archaeological site of Gò Tháp in the Mekong Delta resulted in unearthing a number of brick structures. In association with the structures precious objects were found, including over three hundred gold leaves. More than half of the gold leaves were decorated with images of men, gods, animals, weapons and auspicious objects, and some of them were inscribed. In addition to the precious objects, the structures were also reported to contain human ashes. In the present paper, I would like to have a closer look at the gold leaves discovered at Gò Tháp and compare them with similar objects originating from other archaeological sites of Southeast Asia and with objects described in traditional Indian manuals dealing with temple architecture and temple building rituals. On the basis of this comparison, I would like to propose the hypothesis that the ‘brick structures’ unearthed in Gò Tháp are not tombs but remains of Hindu temples.

B5 Stark, Miriam T.

University of Hawai’i Manoa

TEMPORAL AND SOCIAL CONTEXTS OF THE MEKONG DELTA’S BRICK ARCHITECTURAL TRADITION

Scholars have recognized the Mekong delta’s importance as one of Southeast Asia’s earliest states for several decades. During this time, field-based archaeological studies have uncovered and documented numerous brick architectural remains of various sizes. It is now clear that the delta’s earliest brick architecture does not simply provide a chronological marker, though understanding its chronological sequence is critical. As a particular technological tradition, the construction and use of brick structures was also linked to specific ideological practices and implemented through political economic structures which materialized in brick monuments across much of mainland Southeast Asia. Interdisciplinary cross-border research is necessary to understand the timing, sources of influence, and functional variability in these brick monuments and how the Mekong delta fits into a pan-regional tradition. This paper summarizes published chronometric data from all dated brick monuments in the Mekong delta and pays particular attention to potentially different trajectories in the northern delta (i.e., Cambodia) vs. the southern delta (i.e., Vietnam) regions. The Mekong delta’s chronological sequence for brick architecture is also examined vis-à-vis contemporary developments in two Southeast Asian regions east of the delta, in central Thailand and the Dry Zone of modern-day Myanmar. Populations in these three areas participated in some of the same interactional networks that moved people, goods and ideas between Southeast and South Asia. Relationships between the delta’s earliest brick architecture, statuary, and writing are also discussed within a broader regional framework.

4- Art and sculptures

B5 Luong Ninh

Vietnamese Academy of Social Sciences

MITRED VISHNUS IN THE ANCIENT STATUARY OF FUNAN

In 1955, P.Dupont established the study of pre-Angkorian art through his analysis of the Phnom Da Indic statues from southern Cambodia. Although this art tradition takes its name from southern Cambodia, more than 30 pre-Angkorian Vishnu and Buddha statues have been recovered from southern Vietnam. Collectively these statues comprise a 5-part stylistic sequence of pre-Angkorian art: (1) Funan 1 or Go Thap style (5th century AD); (2) Funan 2 or O Lam style (late 5th century AD); (3) Funan 3 or Tan Phu style (early 6th century AD); (4) Funan 4 or Nhan Nghia style (mid-6th century AD); and (5) Funan 5 or Phnom Da style (late 6th-early 7th century AD). This paper describes each phase of the sequence by focusing on key identifying characteristics in the stone statuary tradition.

B5 Lavy, Paul

University of Hawai’i Manoa

THE TWAIN SHALL MEET: STYLISTIC AND CHRONOLOGICAL RELATIONSHIPS OF EARLY HINDU SCULPTURE FROM THE MEKONG DELTA REGION

Although considerable art historical research has been done on Preangkorian sculpture from Cambodia, this material remains poorly integrated with stylistically related sculpture from the Mekong Delta Region. The wealth of sculpture excavated by Vietnamese archaeologists in southern Vietnam over the past 25 years or so constitutes an important corpus of artistic evidence from secure archaeological contexts that affords a vantage point from which to reassess interwoven stylistic developments in regions now divided by national boundaries and scholarly specializations. Rather than looking to South Asia for stylistic relationships and chronological indicators, it is more fruitful to examine connections between Southeast Asian political and artistic centers. In this paper, I will investigate stylistic relationships between several stone sculptures of Hindu male deities from the Delta, including examples from the site of Gò Tháp, and counterparts from sites in Cambodia, including Sambor Prei Kuk and Angkor Borei, with particular attention to sartorial details and with an eye towards better integrating some Mekong Delta statuary with “Preangkorian” art in general. Among the larger questions framing this discussion are to what extent Mekong Delta sculpture can be understood according to the prevailing stylistic model of Preangkorian sculpture and to what extent it encourages a reassessment of that model – both central questions of my ongoing research.

B5 Le Thi Lien

Institute of Archaeology, Vietnamese Academy of Social Sciences

WOODEN BUDDHA IMAGES IN OC EO CULTURE AND PROBABLE TRACES OF THEIR WORKSHOPS IN SOUTHERN VIETNAM

Wooden Buddha images were first discovered and studied by the French scholars in the 1940’s. Since then, a large number of this type of sculpture has been found in the lower delta of southern Vietnam. This paper provides an overall survey of these finds. Several issues are discussed, including the distribution, characteristics, art styles and time range of wooden Buddha sculptures. The traces and possibility of the identifying of manufacturing workshop of these artifacts are reviewed from available evidences from the important sites of the Oc Eo culture. The paper also highlights the need for further investigation on this field, and discusses conservation problems inherent in these invaluable artifacts.

SESSION B6

B6 Boonlop, Korakot

Department of Research, The Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn Anthropology Centre – SAC, Bangkok, Thailand

Bubpha, Sureeratana

Cultural Management Programme, College of Innovation, Thammasat University, Bangkok, Thailand

MEKONG RIVER:CONNECTING CULTURES AND PEOPLE ON MIDDLE MEKONG ARCHAEOLOGY PROJECT – MMAP

The Mekong River originates on the Tibatan plateau, its flow connecting China and Southeast Asia physically and archaeologically. So, this river is considered as one of the most important and as the twelfth longest river of the world. Each span of the river basin supports a unique part of the Mekong culture. However, even It has also long been considered as an ancient crossroad for peoples and cultures, but very little is known about its prehistoric human, especially, along the middle range of the river. The Middle Mekong Archaeological Project (MMAP), conceived in 2001, aim to investigate human settlement of the Mekong Valley with a research program beginning in high land Luang Prabang, northern Laos. Since 2005, MMAP has conducted a groundbreaking collaborative research program of international researchers from both oriental and occidental parts of the world, including surveys and excavations that have identified 69 archaeological sites and excavations at three cave/rock shelter sites. This archaeological fieldwork has yielded numerous kinds of artifact, e.g. thousands of stone, ceramic, human skeletal remains, faunal remains, as well as other evidence from over 11,000 years of human habitation in this region. Initial descriptions of this paper from the Late Pleistocene archaeological/geological context have emphasized its mosaic cultural aspects, based on a comparison between the artifacts uncovered from both left and right river banks(in particular of the boundaries of Laos and Thailand) along the middle span of the Mekong.

B6 Cowan, Andrew

University of Washington, USA

LUMINESCENCE DATING OF LAO CERAMICS: TOWARDS A CERAMIC CHRONOLOGY

The vast geographic and temporal distribution of earthenware has presented considerable challenges to researchers interested in creating ceramic chronologies in many areas of Southeast Asia. This is especially true of research involving questions of the spread and/or persistence of technological or stylistic innovations from the neolithic through metal age cultures of mainland Southeast Asia. Accurate dates reflecting the manufacture and use of earthenware in specific locals can contribute to the difficult task of successfully addressing both local and regional issues. Recent advances in Optically Stimulated Luminescence (OSL) dating techniques provide one method to directly date ceramics with greater precision and accuracy than previously was the case. The results of OSL testing of three earthenware samples from a recent Middle Mekong Archaeological Project (MMAP) excavation in Luang Prabang province, Lao PDR are used to showcase these advances and discuss the broader implications of direct dating to questions linking local to regional ceramic chronologies.

B6 Marwick, Ben

University of Washington, USA

THAM SUA ROCKSHELTER: IRON AGE ARCHAEOLOGY AND SITE FORMATION PROCESSES IN THE LAO PDR

Recent excavation at Tham Sua Rockshelter (Luang Prabang Province, Lao PDR) by the Middle Mekong Archaeological Project (MMAP) recovered a wide range of iron age archaeology. Radiocarbon dating of organic material in the deposit combined with analysis of physical and chemical attributes of the sediments give good insights into how site formation processes have contributed to archaeological content of the deposit. The results from this analysis are presented in context with other MMAP sites to offer generalizations about prospecting for and interpreting iron age archaeology in Laos.

B6 Sayavongkhamdy,Thongsa

Division of Archaeological Research, Department of Heritage, Vientiane

Chang, Nigel

James Cook University, Townsville, Australia

Souksavatdy Viengkeo

Cawte, Hayden

THE ARCHAEOLOGY OF SEPON, LAO PDR: ARCHAEOMETALLURGY, UNEXPLODED BOMBS AND COLLABORATIONS.

Archaeological research in Laos is very much on the increase and, in common with much of the world, is increasingly being carried out within a cultural heritage management context. In this paper we present some initial observations from an ongoing project in Sepon District, Savannakhet Province, Lao PDR that is being carried out as a collaboration between the Lao Department of National Heritage, James Cook University (Australia) and Lang Xang Minerals Ltd, Lao PDR. We will highlight some of the major finds to date, in particular the discovery of a new Heger 1 Dongson Drum (by LXML unexploded ordinance staff) and important copper ore mining and processing sites that may date to the Bronze Age. The range of evidence and the ‘archaeological landscape’ from the Neolithic to the Vietnam/American war period (including unexploded bombs) is discussed along with plans for future work in the area.

B6 Sayavongkhamdy, Thongsa

Department of Heritage, Vientiane Laos

E. Patole-Edoumba

Fabrice Demeter

P. Duringer

Anne-Marie Bacon

Laura Shakelford

Phonephan Sichanthongtip

Phimmasaeng Khamdalavong

Sengphet Nokhamaomphu

BOUASISENGPASEUTH Bounheuang

Sullipan Bouaraphang

Souliya Bounxaythip

TAM HANG ROCKSHELTER, A HOABINHIAN SITE IN NORTHERN LAOS

In February 1934, Jacques Fromaget discovered the Tam Hang rockshelter in Hua Pan Province, Northern Laos. The geologist’s excavation produced faunal remains from the Middle Pleistocene as well as human biological and cultural remains from the pre-Holocene period. After being relocated, an international team has been carrying out several excavations since 2003. Fragments of pottery and a lithic industry have been recovered. The lithic industry is characteristic of the Hoabinian culture with the presence of the typical sumatraliths. The C14 datings obtained from animal bone and charcoal precise the chronological framework for the lithic industry ranging so far from 7000 to 13200 years. Thanks to a technological approach realized on more than 5000 specimens, we can describe the knapping process that prevailed on that site.

B6 SONETHONGKHAM, Souksamone

National Museum, Vientiane, Laos

VARIATION IN CORE SIZES AND MATERIALS FROM THREE STONE AGE SITES IN THE MIDDLE MEKONG REGION

The Middle Mekong Archaeological Project (MMAP) has conducted test excavations at three rockshelter sites along threeMekong tributaries in Luang Prabang Province. All three sites have flaked lithics broadly attributable to the Hoabinhian industry. These three excavations undertaken with the same team and excavation methodologies provide an opportunity to examine intersite variability in Holocene flaked lithic technology. This paper compares flaked cores from the three sites using several variables, including rock/stone type, size, and flaking strategy to assess variation within the Hoabinhian in this part of northern Laos.

B6 VORASING, Phousavanh

World Heritage Centre, Xieng Khouang Province, Laos

AN ETHNO-ECOLOGICAL COMPARISON OF SHELLS FROM EXCAVATIONS IN THE LUANG PRABANG AREA: IMPLICATIONS FOR STONE AGE OCCUPATION OF THE MIDDLE MEKONG REGION

Mollusks have frequently been recovered in association with Hoabinhian cave and rockshelter sites. Except for Nguyen Viet’s work in Vietnam, little effort has been made by archaeologists to analyze the variability in shell remains from these sites in mainland Southeast Asia. Yet variation in mollusks has potential to shed light on Hoabinhian environment and resource usage over space and time. Using shell data excavated by the Middle Mekong Archaeological Project from three rockshelter sites in northern Laos, this paper begins inter-site comparisons of mollusk assemblages using ethno-archaeological methodologies. This approach provides first level evidence that inhabitants of each rockshelter exploited different mollusk resources.

B6 WHITE, Joyce

University of Pennsylvania Museum, Philadelphia, USA

THE MIDDLE MEKONG ARCHAEOLOGICAL PROJECT: INTERIM SUMMARY OF A REGIONAL RESEARCH PROGRAM

The Middle Mekong Archaeological Project (MMAP) is a crossing-borders regional research and training program designed to investigate the prehistory of the Mekong basin in northern Laos and northern northeast Thailand. So far surveys along several Mekong tributaries in the Luang Prabang region have found nearly 70 archaeological sites. Test excavations at three rockshelters demonstrate human occupation of this area throughout the Holocene. A range of specialists have participated in the research program and conducted trainings in geology, archaeobotany, GIS, and other disciplines. The research program to date promises to illuminate regional interaction in the middle Mekong basin particularly during the Hoabinhian and iron age periods.

B6 Zottoli, Brian

University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, USA

RE-CONSIDERING LINKS BETWEEN CAMBODIA, CHAMPA AND DAI VIET AFTER ANGKOR

Cambodia and the Cham centers of Amaravati and Vijaya maintained political and economic links before, during and after the Cambodian political center shifted to the Mekong delta and Cham states were defeated by Dai Viet in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. The shift from Angkor to the lower Mekong was permanent, but Amaravati and Vijaya witnessed renewed growth and expansion by the sixteenth century as part of a kingdom known as Dang Trong or Cochinchina, whose rulers claimed descent from a Dai Viet clan but asserted political autonomy in this region. This paper investigates how developments in the middle and lower Mekong basin, and the Cham centers, were connected by trade, alliance or military intervention, through examination of the archaeological, epigraphic and archival record. It considers how overland linkages along the Thu Bon, Con and Da Rang rivers, as well as maritime connections, influenced political and economic developments in these regions.

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SESSION B7

B7 Arriola, Donna

University of the Philippines

FROM OPEN FIRING TO KILNS: THE CASE OF MANILA WARE AND OTHER PHILIPPINE CERAMICS OF CHINESE ANCESTRY

Today, the Chinese are firmly established in the Philippines, where they are called ‘Tsinoy’, a politically correct and widely accepted term which is a play on words combining the colloquial words for Chinese, ‘Tsino’, and Filipino, ‘Pinoy’. The Chinese actively traded with the Philippines long before Spanish Colonization. Some chose to settle in the islands, bringing with them a host of new customs and traditions. One of the most remarkable of these is the introduction of kiln technology, believed to have started in the 1500s, producing new kinds of pottery that are more durable and at the same time showi a hybridization of local and foreign forms and decorations.

The research will tackle the role of the Chinese in the formation of material culture in the Philippines in order to introduce the subject of ceramics. The focus is on a certain type of pottery called Manila Ware, produced during the Spanish Period, yet said to trace back its origins to the tradition of Yixing pottery-making. Other kinds of Philippine pottery that were very much influenced by the Chinese in terms of technology and design will also be discussed such as the ‘burnay’ from Northern Luzon. Through this paper, the researcher would like to show how kiln technology was introduced and is still practised, compare it to that of Mainland China, describe the new products, and show how kiln technology became an integral part of the Philippine pottery industry and Philippine culture in general.

B7 Liu Qing

School of Archaeology and Museology, Peking University, China

FROM SOUTHEAST ASIA TO EAST ASIA: A STUDY ON KENDIS

Kendis are traditional drinking vessels in Southeast Asia. After they had been introduced to China, kendis’ names, shapes and functions had been changed a lot. The most common Chinese names of kendis are “Jing Ping” and “Jun Chi”. However, the shapes of the two kinds of kendis are quite different. This paper is a discussion of questions about the archaeological materials of kendis in Southeast Asia and East Asia. And, the two types of kendis in China should be classified into two main categories, each of which had a separate developmental sequence and range of use.

B7 Qin, Dashu

Peking University, China

SRIVIJAYA - THE CENTERPORT OF THE INDIAN OCEAN TRADE CIRCLE

The large scale trade through the maritime route in China was initiated from the second half of the 8^th century, developed rapidly in the 9^th century and reached its first peak in the 10^th century. The exported cargo from China in this period has different characteristics from other periods. There are a number of main central ports working on the trade to Eastern Asia (include Japan and Korea) and the West (from Southeast Asia and West) countries in this period and the goods came from many places in both south and north of China. The main products for output included textiles, porcelains, the raw materials such as tin, lead, the silver and copper coins and so on. The ports for exporting at least included Yangzhou, Mingzhou, Fuzhou, Guangzhou and some other places. However, in all probability goods from these ports were not directly transported to the sale locations and there should be a Centerport in the Indian Ocean trade circle. The important Centerport was supposed to be Palembang which was the capital of the Srivijaya dynasty on the Sumatra Island. This article will search the relevant records in the Chinese literatures, especially in huanghua sida ji written by Jia dan, the prime minister of the Tang dynasty as well as compare with some Arabic literatures, to provide evidences for the view mentioned above. What is more, the materials from shipwrecks found in the recent years, for example, the Batu Hitam wreck, the Intan wreck and the Cirebon wreck, prove additionally that their cargoes came from different places of China and we can presume from their methods of packaging and shipping that the cargoes would be re-packaged and re-shipped in some place outside China which might be Palembang. Therefore, Palembang could be considered as the most important Centerport in the Indian Ocean trade circle.

B7 Li Min

UCLA

Li Jian’an

Fujian Provincial Museum

Wang Changsui

Graduate University, Chinese Academy of Science

FROM LAND TO OCEAN: INTEGRATED RESEARCH ON ASIATIC TRADE NETWORKS AND MARITIME LANDSCAPES

This panel covers a broad range of topics, ranging from ceramics analysis, to studies of ports and islands sites, to underwater explorations conducted in China. Operating in a social archaeology framework, the presenters attempt an integrated approach to the archaeological study of maritime trade, connecting recent works on ceramic production, port cities and shipwrecks with societies of consumption around the East and South China Sea. In an effort to crosscut boundaries of terrestrial and underwater, historic and prehistoric, lab. and field archaeologies, these research projects contribute to a comprehensive understanding of the production and movement of major categories of commodity which helped to shape the traditional Asiatic trade network.

B7 Zhao Jiabin

National Museum of China

CURRENT DEVELOPMENTS IN UNDERWATER ARCHAEOLOGY OF CHINA

Underwater Archaeology of China started in 1980's. After over 20 years of development, Chinese underwater archaeologists have investigated a series of shipwrecks and underwater relics locations in the waters east of China. Since 2004, the discovery of Song dynasty shipwreck Nanhai 1 in Taishan of Guangdong, Huaguangjiao 1 of Paracel Islands, Yuan dynasty shipwreck of Daliandao in Pingtan of Fujian province, Qing dynasty shipwreck Wanjiao 1 of Pingtan, not only unearthed a large number of export ceramics (mainly from Longquan kilns of Zhejiang, Jingdezhen kilns of Jiangxi, Dehua kilns, Zhangzhou kilns and Cizao kilns of Fujian, which include celadon, qingbai wares, white wares and blue and white wares) of different types produced since Song dynasty, but also unveil the relics like ships of this era. It provided important evidences for the study of trading history which focus on ports along the coast of China.

B7 Li Jian’an

Fujian Provincial Museum

SHIPWRECKS, PORTS, AND KILNS: ARCHAEOLOGICAL RESEARCH ON THE PRODUCTION, TRADE, AND CONSUMPTION OF FUJIAN EXPORT CERAMICS

Integrating survey data from kiln sites, shipwreck, and port cities, this paper investigates the archaeological representation of Fujian ceramics in the economic and cultural exchange in the Asiatic trade network, particularly in areas of production, trade, and consumption.

B7 Tai Yew Seng

School of Archaeology and Museology, Peking University

MING GAP AND THE RESTARTING OF COMMERCIAL PRODUCTION OF BLUE AND WHITE IN CHINA

This paper listed the blue and white porcelains excavated from dated tombs in China and shows that there is a ‘Ming Gap’ of blue and white porcelain in China too. Previously, researchers thought that Ming Gap was a phenomenon in Southeast Asia. The author argued that, when the imperial kiln was founded, no blue and white porcelain was allowed to produce in commercial kilns. But, when the needed raw material, cobalt, which relied on importation was produced locally, the commercial production of blue and white porcelain restarted.

B7 Zhu Jian

Chinese Academy of Science

ANALYTICAL TECHNIQUES AND PROVENANCE RESEARCH OF CHINESE EXPORT PORCELAIN

This paper presents the results of recent archaeometric analysis on export ceramics collected from kiln sites and discuss its implication for understanding the ceramic trade.

B7 Yingzhong Ding

Hongying Duan

Baoqiang Kang

Jianmin Miao

The Department of Science and Technology Research Laboratory on ancient ceramics, The Palace Museum, China

A SCIENTIFIC STUDY ON THE PROVENANCE OF RAW MATERIALS OF THE BODY OF THE ARCHITECTURAL GLAZED TILES OF THE NANJING BAO’ENSI PAGODA

The Nanjing Bao’ensi Pagoda is an important imperial glazed building in early Ming dynasty and was involved with Zhenghe’s maritime expeditions. Dangtu in Anhui province was the provenance of raw materials for producing imperial glazed tiles, the white clay at Dangtu was used not only for producing glazed tiles in the local kiln, but also far away for producing glazed tiles of the royal palaces in the Nanjing Jubao Hill kiln in early Ming Dynasty. In the excavation at Nanjing Jubao hill kiln of the Ming Period, some glazed tiles of the Nanjing Bao’ensi Pagoda have been discovered, leading to the conclusion that the white clay was also the raw materials of the body of the glazed tiles of the Nanjing Bao’ensi Pagoda, however this conclusion is lack of support by relatively testing data. In this work, the major, minor elements and trace elements of the body of glazed tiles of the Nanjing Bao’ensi Pagoda and Dangtu glazed kiln in Anhui province were determined using WDXRF and ICP-MS methods respectively. And the experimental data obtained were studied by Multivariable statistical analysis and REE distribution pattern. According to this scientific analysis, the ancient record that the raw materials of the body of the glazed tiles of the Nanjing Bao’ensi Pagoda was originated from Dangtu in Anhui province have been discussed and verified.

B7 Li Min

UCLA

ARCHAEOLOGY OF ASIATIC TRADE NETWORKS AND MARITIME LANDSCAPES: TOWARDS AN INTEGRATED APPROACH

The development of underwater archaeology in East Asian nations brought new questions to its previously terrestrial oriented national archaeology program and region-based social evolutionary model. Previously unrelated social trajectories and production system converge in shipwreck sites and other types of maritime sites. One type of archaeological data could be simultaneously considered prehistoric, protohistoric, early colonial, early modern, pre-Contact, and late imperial depending on the context and, even in the same context, the perspective of the archaeological practitioners. Each label comes with its own theoretical implications, often trapped within the disciplinary assumptions. This presents both challenge to the existing research paradigms delineated along national boundaries or the archaeological methodology (underwater, historical, prehistoric) and opportunities for creative integration of data from diverse lines of archaeological inquiry to tackle new questions emerging from the collapse of conventional boundaries. This review paper presents several case studies of integrative study on maritime networks of global scale in Asian Pacific and also serves to put the diverse papers in this panel in a social history perspective that centered on the main theme of this panel.

B7 Li Min

UCLA

THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL LANDSCAPE AT THE BRONZE AGE CITY OF QUFU

The 1977 excavation at Qufu revealed two distinctive sets of material cultures from burials of the mid first millennium B.C.E., which provides evidence for multiple cultural identities in the city. This paper presents a distribution analysis of similar material assemblages reported from archaeological sites outside of the city and explores implications of such intercultural dynamics in the rural landscape of the Lu state.

B7 Jian zhu,

C.S Wang ,

Lihua Wang,

Chen yue

Chinese Academy of Science

TECHNOLOGY RESEARCH ABOUT EXPORT BLUE-AND-WHITE PORCELAIN OF CHINA IN 15-18 CENTURY

China has a very long history of maritime trade, as early as the Tang dynasty. For build a systematic provenance identification criterion for export blue-and-white porcelain in 15-18 century, samples with definite provenance is the important key. Collect and determine amount shred, we got finger elements and physical character to distinguish Zhangzhou kiln with Jingdezhen kiln by ICP-ms/DIL/XRD. The result will support technology evidence to research provenance of trade porcelain and outline of China trade porcelain in 15-18 century.

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SESSION B8

B8 Kharakwal, J.S.

Institute of Rajasthan Studies, JRN Rajasthan Vidyapeeth, Udaipur, India

Rawat, Y.S.

State Department of Archaeology, Gujarat, India

Osada, Toshiki

Research Institute for Humanity and Nature, Kyoto. Japan

EXCAVATION AT KANMER, GUJARAT, INDIA

Kanmer (Bakarkot), a multicultural site, is located in Rapar tehsil of Kachchh district of Gujarat, India. Our controlled excavations have yielded five-stage cultural sequence at the site. Period I (i.e. Kanmer I) was marked by coarse and fine varieties of Red Ware, the latter often painted in bichrome. The charactristic Anarta material of course appears in the upper levels of this brown sandy clay deposit. Kanmer II (or Period II) is characterised by residential structures and a strong fortification associated with the Harappan material similar to the urban phase of Dholavira. The bichrome and monochrome pottery of Kanmer I, particularly one with a greyish or blackish surface, gradually disappears in these levels whereas Anarta types continue. A large variety of Red Ware (e.g., Red Slipped, Black Slipped, Cream, Buff, Reserve Slipped, Coarse Red Ware and Local Ware) is predominant in this phase. Apart from these, Black-and-Red Ware and Reserve Slipped ware have also been found. This deposit is further divided into Kanmer II A and II B on the basis of appearance of new material, i.e.,Ahar type white painted Black-and-Red and Gritty Red Ware in Kanmer II B.

Besides pottery, a variety of beads of semi precious stones, drill bits, rough outs and raw material, beads of faience, terracotta and paste, gold and shell and weights, seals, seal impressions, terracotta cakes and dices also mark the Harappan deposit. The remains of Kanmer III were identified as Late Harappan, which were found resting directly upon the urban phase settlement without any distinct cultural break. It appears that during this post-urban phase people did not maintain the fort wall, though several pottery types continue with some change in shape and surface treatment.

The site was reoccupied by the Early Historic (Iron Age) people after the desertion of the Harappans. Their deposit has been identified as cultural period Kanmer IV. During this period a variety of Red Ware including Red Polished Ware, Rang Mahal type Red Ware, Roman Amphorae and some West Asian pottery has been found at the site. A number of potter's kilns belonging to this period were discovered in the south central part of the mound. The last cultural level i.e., Kanmer V belonging to the Mediaeval period, was marked by residential structures and large numbers of storage pits.

The site has yielded varied faunal and floral remains. Cereals such as barley (Hordeum vulgare), bread-wheat (Triticum aestivum), dwarf-wheat (Triticum sphaerococcum), rice (Oryza sativa), field-pea (Pisum arvense), and green-gram (Vigna radiata) besides cotton (Gossypium arboretum/herbaceum) are in the collection. Perhaps rice appeared at the site during the Late Harappan phase. The site has yielded evidence of both winter and summer crops. The faunal remains include mammals, birds, fish, reptiles and molluscan species. Among the domestic animals, cattle, buffalo, sheep, goat, pig and horse were identified. More than a dozen wild animals were identified in the collection, including the nilgai, antelopes, deer, carnivores, rodents and elephant.

B8 Mallah, Qasid

Shah Abdul Latif University, Khairpur, Pakistan

THE HAKRA PERIOD: AN EMERGING VERACITY IN THE INDUS VALLEY CIVILIZATION

This paper will focus on the question of emergence of new cultural phase now known as ‘the Hakra” in Greater Indus Valley Civilization of South Asia and is based on fresh documentation made through survey and excavations in various parts of India and Pakistan. After hunting gathering Era of Mesolithic; the food producing Era begins which follows the Regionalization Era dated 5000 to 2600 BCE. Actually, the regionalization Era consists of huge time span and becomes vague to understand changes and developments in numerous cultural aspects which may be divided into sub-phases. The Archaeological research shows that during early part (5000 to 3500 BCE) of this era some social groups settled at one place with ceramics and interaction but pastoralist nomadic economy was still at large only few villages appeared. Nevertheless, during its mid part (3500 to 3300 BCE) a huge change occurred; villages appeared everywhere and in final stage of Regionalization Era (3300 to 2600 BCE), it ended with emergence of towns with complexity in settlement patterns and socioeconomic system.

I have chosen the time period of 3500-3300 BCE known as ‘Hakra period’. This is second part of Regionalization Era and is very essential when people lived in villages with degree of social complexity and learnt the nature of natural resources like clay, semiprecious stones, shell and metal. The plasticity of clay provided them with construction of wall of a house for which lumps of clay were either put together or bricks were made, clay was shaped into pots and firing changed it into durable utilitarian object. The technology of harvesting, cutting, drilling, and polishing of various commodities became essential. The architecture made of mud and mud bricks indicating permanency in habitation and local and exotic cult and utilitarian objects showing degree of interaction, division of work and amalgamation of social groups. The villages appeared and scattered everywhere A cluster of 99 settlements having above characteristics was first time reported in the Cholistan and 15 more sites are recently added to it from Thar Desert of Sindh Pakistan along the ancient bed of Hakra River and in future many more are expected. In overall picture, when these discoveries are added with other previous and fresh archaeological documentation in India and Pakistan; the Hakra period appears as an emerging veracity in history of Indus valley civilization.

B8 Rao, K. P.

Department of History, University of Hyderabad, INDIA

PROCESS OF URBANIZATION IN SOUTH INDIA: MICRO STUDY BASED ON ARCHAEOLOGICAL INVESTIGATIONS IN SOUTHERN ANDHRA PRADESH, INDIA

One of the pertinent questions regarding the history and archaeology of South Asia is the process of urbanization. Very few studies investigating the process of urbanization in South India have been carried out. In the light of this background, the author has conducted field intensive studies to explore the major and minor habitations of the ancient period in Southern Andhra Pradesh, India, to understand the process of urbanization in the region. The study region has three kinds of landscape – coastal, valley and hilly region. The habitations in this region began during the Neolithic period. During the Neolithic period, there were three settlements, but by Early Historic times they had proliferated to fourteen. Out of these, four habitations grew as urban centers by the Early Historic period and had fortifications. Trade and commerce, including overseas trade, played an important role in the growth of these urban centers. X-ray diffraction and thin-section examination was carried out to determine the local and imported varieties of pottery. The investigations proved that the coastal regions were urbanized earlier than the interior regions and the riverine and valley plains were shown more preference than the hilly regions.

B8 Shinde, Vasant

Deccan College, Pune, India

Toshiki Osada

Akinori Uesugi

Manmohan Kumar

HARAPPAN ARCHAEOLOGY IN THE GHAGGAR BASIN, INDIA: A CASE STUDY OF FARMANA

In the recent past the Ghaggar basin has seen a flurry of activities of excavations of Harappan sites. This has not only generated tremendous amount of new sources, but has changed the direction of thinking as some of the earlier hypotheses have to be discarded. Excavations at sites like Rakhigarhi, Bhirana, Baror, Tarkanwala Dhera, Girawad and Farmana have shed light on the regional cultures of this region and their contribution to the development of the Harappan phase in this regions. The ongoing research at the site of Farmana in Rohtak District of Haryana by the present team are aimed at understanding regional variations of the Harappan culture in the Ghaggar basin and the man-land relation during that period. Efforts are also being made to understand the composition of Harappan population, their health and diet, which is possible due to excavation of a large number of skeletal data from the cemetery at Farmana.

The Early Harappan (Period- I) in this region is represented by pit-dwellings and ceramic wares such as Mud Appliqué, Incised, Chocolate slipped, etc. The Mature Harappan phase has been sub-divided into Period- IIA, IIB and IIC based on ceramic assemblages and structural remains. Large, horizontal area excavated at Farmana has unearthed part of the well planned Mature Harappan settlement. A number of different complexes of the Period- IIA and IIB have been excavated and they present separate socio-economic units. All the Structure Complexes are oriented parallel to the main street, which runs northwest-southeast direction. All of them have multiple rooms and on the basis of contents these rooms could be inferred to have been used for a variety of different purposes such as dwelling, storage, cooking and craft manufacture.

The Harappan cemetery was discovered 900 m to the northwest of the main habitation site. In all 70 burials have been excavated so far in a roughly 50 m by 30 m area. Three different levels could be observed- Level- 1 belonging to the Period- IIA, Level- 2 belonging to the Period- IIB and Level- 3 belonging to the Period- IIC. The burials of the Level- 3 have been partially damaged by the plough share. The lower two level burials are in good state. The usual orientation of the burials is in northwest-southeast direction, but there are a few examples in north-south and northeast-southwest directions. There are three types of burial customs noticed at Farmana- primary, secondary and symbolic. They all have perfectly rectangular pits and coffins made of clay lining. Almost all the burials contain grave goods consisting of a number of pots such as beakers, goblets, dishes, dish-on-stand, s-shaped jars, lids and small globular pots, the number of which varies from burials to burials, depending upon socio-economic condition of families. It is proposed to undertake DNA and Element Analysis of the human skeletal remains from Farmana, which may shed light on various problems raised. This paper presents this exciting findings from the recent excavations at Farmana.

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SESSION B9

B9 AKAI, Fumito

Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Japan

LITHIC RAW MATERIAL ECONOMY OF MICROBLADE ASSEMBLAGES IN HOKKAIDO, JAPAN

Microblade assemblages existed from the Last Glacial Maximum to the Terminal Pleistocene in Hokkaido. It is generally accepted that microblade assemblages in Hokkaido can be divided into two periods, early and late. In central Hokkaido, the early microblade assemblages (Sakkotsu microblade core type) and the late assemblages (Oshorokko microblade core type) differ widely from each other with respect to obsidian sources and reduction sequences. In the former microblade assemblages, much of the obsidian is from the Shirataki source and bifacial cores were used for the manufacture of flake blanks and microblade cores. In the latter assemblages, most of the obsidian may have been procured from the Akaigawa source. Most of the tools were made on blades which were detached from prismatic blade cores; bifacial cores were the blanks for micoblade cores. Nevertheless, it is assumed that both of these microblade assemblages belong to the last glacial period. Throughout the existence of microblade assemblages in Hokkaido, behavioral adaptations of hunter-gatherers changed, including obsidian procurement patterns and reduction strategies.

B9 Chang, Yongjoon

National Museum of Korea, Seoul, Republic of Korea

OBSIDIAN LITHIC TECHNOLOGY IN SOUTH KOREA

Obsidian tools have been found at many Upper Paleolithic sites in Korea. In the early Upper Paleolithic, blade assemblages lacking obsidian specimens are known. The use of obsidian as a raw material began in Korea at ca. 25,000 BP, and sites with obsidian artifacts are characterized by the presence of microblades and microcores. Tools made of obsidian include microcores, microblades, endscrapers, and burins. The main features of obsidian tools from South Korea are as follows. First, bifacial microcore blanks are unknown in Korea. It is for this reason that raw material like obsidian is rare. It is necessary to keep in mind that no obsidian sources have so far been found in South Korea. The importance of size of obsidian raw material cannot be overemphasized. The size of stone tools has a direct connection to the size and quantity of raw material such as obsidian. Second, the decline of the wedge-shaped technique is noticeable when obsidian microcore blanks were made. Third, the oldest bifacial points in the Korean Peninsula were found at sites dated to ca. 20,000 BP but obsidian bifacial points are not known in the Upper Palaeolithic. Fourth, tanged points made from obsidian blades are not numerous. Most blades were made of local raw material which can be easily found around the sites.

B9 JIA, Peter Weiming

University of Sydney

PRELIMINARY RESULTS OF USING A PORTABLE X-RAY FLUORESCENCE (PXRF) TRACE ELEMENT DETECTOR FOR ANALYSING OBSIDIAN ARTEFACTS IN NORTHEAST CHINA

The obsidian study in northeast China is using PXRF to trace the original sources and its distribution in prehistory. Nearly 500 artefacts from different sites along the Chanbaishan region have been tested by PXRF. The result has shown the advantage of using PXRF for obsidian study which allows non-destructive examination to test large number of artefacts in a short period. In our practice testing 100 artefacts per day is reasonable. The result of ‘principal component factor analysis’ shows that ancient people have selected different sources of obsidian for their tools. Some sources have been transferred across over 700 km from their original locations implicating early long distance trading and possible migration.

B9 Kim , Jong Chan

Seoul National University, Korea

STUDY OF GEOLOGICAL SAMPLES FOR THE PROVENANCING OF OBSIDIAN FROM THE PAEKTUSAN SOURCE (NORTH KOREA/CHINA)

Although Paiktusan obsidians are excavated in the Paleolithic sites in Korea, there still remain problems associated with source identification. Recently Popov et al. have identified three different chemical groups of Paektusan obsidians by analysing geological specimens collected on field trips to Mt. Paiktusan, combined with archaeological obsidians from southern Primorye in Far East Russia: namely Paektusan volcano-1 (PNK1); Paektusan volcano-2 (PNK2) and Paektusan-volcano-3 (PNK3). In order to consolidate this finding, a Korea-Russia joint expedition has been conducted to Chinese side of Mt. Paektusan in August 2007. In this expedition we collected 31 pyroclastic rocks. As has been done in our previous work, we have carried out PIXE analysis to quantify elements Sr, Ru and Zr. Based on these measurrments, we could not only classify these geological rocks into the three distinguishable groups mentioned by Popov et al , but also we could identify an additional group ( which we assign as PNK4). To further confirm the geochemcal element, we selected a glassy ignimbrite piece from each group of geological rocks and subjected to ICP-MS analysis. The result of multi-element analysis for these rocks were in a good agreement with those of Popov et al. The present result lays one step further progress in Paiktusan obsidian provenance research..

B9 Kuzmin, Yaroslav V.

Institute of Geology & Mineralogy, Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Novosibirsk, Russia

LONG-DISTANCE OBSIDIAN TRANSPORT IN PREHISTORIC NORTHEAST ASIA

During the last two to three decades, significant progress has been achieved in the study of obsidian exchange patterns in Northeast Asia (Japan, Russia, and Korea) for the Palaeolithic and Neolithic time periods. Use of geochemical analytical methods (mostly X-ray fluorescence and Neutron Activation Analysis, and sometimes Proton-Induced X-ray Emission) allows us to determine with high precision (probability of at least 95%) the primary outcrops and secondary accumulations from where obsidian was acquired by ancient populations.

In the Russian Far East, research has confirmed earlier findings of primary sources of archaeological volcanic glass, such as the Basaltic Plateau in Primorye Province and on the Obluchie Plateau in the Amur River basin which can be called “local” sources. The distance between these sources and archaeological sites vary mostly from 20 km to 130 km, and sometimes up to about 700–800 km. The “remote” source is the Paektusan [Changbaishan] Volcano on the border of China and North Korea. The transportation distance for this source in terms of the far eastern Russian sites is 250–800 km.

The Paektusan source also supplied the whole of the Korean Peninsula with high quality volcanic glass. This obsidian was found up to the southern tip of the region, and the distance between the source and utilization sites is up to 800 km. The second source of obsidian for the southern part of the Korean Peninsula is Koshidake on Kyushu Island in Japan. Obsidian from the Koshidake source was brought to the mainland of Northeast Asia across the Tsushima Strait as early as ca. 25,000 BP; the distance between this source and sites in Korea is about 300 km.

In Japan, the sources of obsidian with the largest distribution networks are located on the northernmost (Hokkaido) and southernmost (Kyushu) islands. The Shirataki and Oketo sources of Hokkaido Island were widely used by local inhabitants and populations of neighbouring Sakhalin Island, with a maximum distance of about 1000 km between the sources and archaeological sites. The Koshidake source of Kyushu Island was extensively used by local communities and people of the Korean Peninsula and the Ryukyu Islands, with maximum distances of 800–900 km from source to utilization place. On Honshu Island, long-distance obsidian transport (up to 600 km) also existed in prehistory.

Therefore, several long-distance obsidian exchange networks functioned in Northeast Asia in the Paleolithic and Neolithic (ca. 25,000–3000 BP); the range of obsidian spread from source to place of utilization was up to 1000 km. People were able to cross natural obstacles, such as mountains, rivers, and even sea straits, to acquire valuable raw material. The most intensive use of obsidian and the longest transportation routes are known for the Neolithic (ca. 10,000–3000 BP), although in the Upper Palaeolithic they were also up to several hundred kilometres.

B9 Nakazawa Yuichi

Section of Cultural Resource Management, Zao Board of Education, Zao Town, Japan

DIMENSIONAL ANALYSIS OF OBSIDIAN CONCENTRATIONS AT THE UPPER PALEOLITHIC SITE OF KAWANISHI C, HOKKAIDO, JAPAN

Artifacts’ proveniences provide the most important data to evaluate site space use. In the Japanese Paleolithic research, collecting three dimensional data of artifacts’ proveniences is a routine procedure in excavations of Paleolithic sites. Using the data set of obsidian artifacts’ proveniences that make up the clusters extensively distributed in the Upper Paleolithic open-air site of Kawanishi C (dated to ca. 20,000B.P.), eastern Hokkaido (northern Japan), I address the question as to how site occupants organized their activities in relation to the hearths. Formation processes of artifact clusters both with and without hearths are discussed by an analysis of size-sorting processes of burnt and non-burnt obsidian debitage which I systematically identified during intensive laboratory works. While patterns of vertical distributions of artifacts and refitted relationships among the clusters do not separate sequence of occupations at the study site, results of the present analysis will give implications about how occupants organized site space in the course of occupations and maintained social ties among residential groups. The present study will illuminate aspects of complex relationships between site space use and labor organization among the late Upper Paleolithic foragers.

B9 Naoe, Yasuo

Hokkaido Archaeological Operations Center, Sapporo, Japan

PROCUREMENT AND DISTRIBUTION OF OBSIDIAN IN THE SHIRATAKI REGION (HOKKAIDO ISLAND, JAPAN)

The purpose of this work is to understand the distribution of sites, obsidian procurement, and spatiotemporal changes in obsidian use in the Shirataki region of Hokkaido, northern Japan. There are many Paleolithic sites in this region, and the Akaishi Mountain is well-known as an obsidian source. The Upper Paleolithic industries of the Shirataki region are divided into 22 groups. Analyses of the distribution of sites, type of cortex on obsidian nodules, and the transportation patterns of obsidian within the sites found that the positions of the large sites are related to the junctions of the Yubetsu River and its small tributaries originating from Akaishi Mountain. An angular gravel type of obsidian was used in the oldest stage of the Upper Paleolithic. Obsidian was transported in the form of big angular gravels from the outcrops of Akaishi Mountain to the sites located in the Yubetsu River basin. The chronology of the 22 industries in the Shirataki region allows us to divide them into four stages. In the second stage (the early microblade industry), the distribution range of the Shirataki obsidian expanded up to 350 km in radius. After this period, the range of transportation for obsidian cores used for reduction was gradually decreased; however, the distance between source and utilization sites for other obsidian tools expanded.

B9 Popov, Alexander N.

Far Eastern State University, Vladivostok, Russia

TABAREV, Andrei V.

Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography, Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Novosibirsk, Russia

OBSIDIAN IN CROSS-CULTURAL CONTACTS IN THE NORTHERN PACIFIC DURING THE FINAL PLEISTOCENE – EARLY HOLOCENE

Volcanic glass (obsidian) not only the ideal raw material for tool-making but also a very important marker of social and cultural processes in ancient societies. In this context Northern Pacific performs as an attractive research laboratory for prehistorians. Being a part of Pacific volcanic zone it has a number of open sources of obsidian located in the island and continental parts of the region. These sources are of different quality and their distribution is uneven. This reflected in different types of technologies and in such special form of cultural interactions as quest for exotic materials from one side and control over the sources of this material from another side. Cultural interpretation proposes special technological analysis of the archaeological materials with the recognizing of (1) utilitarian and (2) nonutilitarian (prestige) technologies. Prestige technologies may be traced in the collections as: (1) the utilization of obsidian only for specific types of tools; (2) the production of obsidian tools (points, knives, blades etc.) of unusual size, form and configuration; (3) the presence of obsidian artifacts in burials; (4)the production of decoration objects (beads, pendants, figurines etc.) from obsidian.

B9 Shimada, Kazutaka

Meiji University Museum, Meiji University, Tokyo, Japan

A SHORT RESEARCH HISTORY OF ‘OBSIDIAN ARCHAEOLOGY’ AND CURRENT ISSUES ON THE BEGINNING OF OBSIDIAN USE IN THE JAPANESE PALEOLITHIC

In the central part of the Japanese Islands, there are several volcanic mountains along the tectonic line that extends between the Pacific Ocean and the Sea of Japan. Obsidian sources are interspersed among these mountain ranges and along the Pacific coastline. The obsidian sources are concentrated in several regions such as the Central Highlands, Izu-Hakone, Kozu Island, and Takaharayama. The Central Highland sources are located in Nagano Prefecture and are often sub-divided into two areas, Kirigamine Mountain and Yatugatake Range. In the Kirigamine area, at least 30 to 40 obsidian sources at an elevation of 1200–2000 m above sea level have been identified with geochemical methods (X-ray fluorescence analysis). Several archaeological sites with evidence of obsidian use from these sources have been excavated. Meiji University and the Board of Education of Nagawa town have conducted research at the Takayama obsidian source for more than 20 years. A cluster of large-scale Palaeolithic sites and an obsidian underground mining site of the Jomon period were discovered around the Takayama source. In this paper, I would like to introduce the Takayama site as a case study of ‘obsidian archeology’. Then I examine some issues on the beginning of obsidian use in the Palaeolithic of Japan. The exploitation of obsidian sources in the high mountains and on the sea and the distribution of obsidian artefacts for a distance of over 100 km are already known for the initial phase of the Japanese Upper Paleolithic and date to ca. 30,000–35,000 BP

B9 Yamaoka, Takuya

Tokyo Metropolitan University, Japan

THE USE OF OBSIDIAN IN THE EARLY UPPER PALAEOLITHIC IN THE MUSASHINO UPLAND (SOUTHERN KANTO PLAIN, JAPAN

The Musashino Upland is part of the South Kanto Plain near the Metropolitan Tokyo region in east-central Japan. In the 1970s, large-scale rescue excavations began here earlier than in other regions of Japan, and over 200 Upper Palaeolithic sites have been excavated since then. Among them, more than 60 sites have yielded cultural horizons belonging to the early Upper Paleolithic (EUP). This paper attempts to explain changes in the use of obsidian during the EUP in the Musashino Upland by quantitative comparisons of a selection of lithic raw materials, core reduction (blade technology), and formal tool production. It will also discuss several other topics including: a) the relationships between the selection of obsidian, core reduction, and formal tool production; b) changes of residential mobility and foraging on a territorial scale; c) changes in the technological organization of EUP hunter-gatherers in the Musashino Upland.

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SESSION B10

B10 Tabarev, Andrei V.

Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography, Novosibirsk, Russia

FIRST POTTERY AND PRESTIGE TECHNOLOGIES IN THE EARLY NEOLITHIC IN THE RUSSIAN FAR EAST

Origin of pottery is one of the most important cultural innovations in the prehistory. According to the archaeological information known for some territories of the Far East (Russian Far East, Japanese islands) the initial clay containers (13-12,000 BP) were not connected with the cultures with food production. On the opposite, they first appeared among hunter-gatherers and intensive fishers (salmon fish). Close analysis of pottery style (decoration and form), archaeological contexts (association with other types of artifacts, typography of sites etc.) and ethnographical cases give chances to interpret early pottery as the result of prestige technologies and an item used in some rituals or ceremonies. They might be included into the seasonal cycle of fests and used for some special kinds of food or drinks. This may also mean that pottery had very specific social significance. From the other side the appearance of pottery marks the new stage in the periodisation of the Stone Age in the region – Early (Initial) Neolithic for the Russian Far East and Jomon (Incipient) for the islands.

B10 Nesterov, Sergei P. and Mylnikova, Ludmila N.

Institute of Archaeology & Ethnography, Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Novosibirsk, Russia

Kuzmin, Yaroslav V.

Institute of Geology & Mineralogy, Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Novosibirsk, Russia

MULTIDISCIPLINARY ANALYSIS OF EARLY POTTERY FROM EAST ASIA

The question of the centre(s) of pottery origin remains open to discussion. It is possible to solve it only after the publication of data on the pottery complexes from the Early Neolithic sites. At the Institute of Archaeology & Ethnography (Novosibirsk, Russia), the multidisciplinary study of early pottery from some regions in East Asia (Amur River basin and Primorye (Maritime) Province of the Russian Far East, and Korea) was conducted. It includes the application of natural science methods, besides binocular microscopy, and this has given us objective information for comparison of results. Qualitative and quantitative data on the composition of clay mixture was obtained with the help of X-ray diffraction, X-ray phase, and microprobe analyses. They testify the use of local sources for clay raw material within each region.

The important result of our study of the clay mixtures is that two kinds of plants were used for tempering the earliest pottery. Plants with wide blades (such as sedge grass, Carex sp.) were used in the Amur River basin (Osipovka cultural complex at the Sikachi-Alan site). The use of plants with narrow blades was detected at several sites in the western part of the Amur River basin (Gromatukha, Novopetrovka, and Sergeevka sites), in Primorye (Ustinovka site), and on Jeju Island off the Korean coast (Kosanni site). Data on the quality of pottery firing were obtained using the derivatogravimetric method, and it was found that the temperature of firing for plant-fiber-tempered pottery was quite low.

B10 Thi Thu Phuong

Institute of Archaeology, Hanoi

THE PHUNG NGUYEN POTTERY FROM THE SITE OF XOM REN

Pottery is an important artifact to study on the material and non-material life of the prehistoric peoples of Vietnam and beyond. Vietnamese pottery originated during the Hoa Binh- Bac Son culture. From this beginning, Vietnamese pottery reached a high pinnacle of pottery making decoration was the Phung Nguyen culture. It is outstanding because of its rich decorative pattern based on high artistic knowledge. Knowledge of this culture started in 1959 with the excavation of the Phung Nguyen site by Vietnamese archaeologists. At present, almost 60 archaeological sites of the Phung Nguyen culture have been discovered and excavated. They are distributed in midland and high plains along large and small rivers of the Red River Delta in the North Vietnam. In this paper, I will introduce research on Xom Ren pottery. The Xom Ren site is in Gia Thanh Commune, Phu Ninh District, Phu Tho Province, discovered in 1968 and excavated six times between 1969 and 2005. From the Xom Ren site over 26,000 pottery sherds have been found. Basically, the Xom Ren pottery has been studied on material, in terms of forming technique, firing technique, type, decorative motif and technique for making patterns.

B10 Fife, L. Ray

University of New England, Australia

CULTURAL CONTINUITY IN MID-TWENTIETH CENTURY CENTRAL VIETNAMESE CERAMICS FROM BACH MA

A recent archaeological survey of Bach Ma Hill Station, near Hue, identified a series of ceramic items representative of the colonial and post-colonial period in Central Vietnam. An assemblage of Oriental-style bowls had two distinct components. Most interesting was a series of blue and white rice bowls that incorporated traditional manufacturing characteristics, such as hand-made construction and the presence of unglazed stacking rings. Several of these bowls were associated with rice bowls that were mould-formed with transfer applied decoration, suggesting industrial production. Ceramic items recorded in post-French colonial contexts, probably dating from the late 1950s, suggest that local craftsmen maintained traditional manufacturing techniques until the mid-twentieth century, through the colonial occupation and the arrival of industrial-style wares.

B10 Thammapreechakorn, Pariwat

Bangkok University, Thailand

DEVELOPMENT OF KHMER CERAMICS IN THE ANGKORIAN PERIOD

The purpose of this research was to study the difference of the development of Khmer ceramics in the Angkorian period between the Phnom Kulen kilns in Cambodia and the Phnom Dongrek kilns in northeastern Thailand. Results of the study pinpoint the obvious differences between both types of wares in the technology of making ceramics, firing methods and shapes, mainly because of inspiration from dissimilar sources. Their production phase, however, overlapped between the early and the mid-11th century. The shapes of the Phnom Kulen wares resemble those of the late 10th to the mid-11thcentury; and, based on carbon samples, those of the late Five Dynasties to Northern Song period are quite consistent with the late 10th to the mid-11th century wares. In contrast, the Phnom Dongrek wares, based carbon samples, resemble and are quite consistent to the early 11th to the late 12th century Northern to Southern Song periods. Several covered jars in zoomorphic forms have traces of calcified lime inside, which confirms the presence of a betel chewing culture on the fertile plain at the base of the Dongrek Mountain Range. Wild animals such as pangolins, boars, bears, elephants and rabbits lived on this plain and the nearby Tonle Sap (‘Great Lake’) provided an abundance of fresh water for the animals. Based on ceramic examples, the cat is the only animal that was kept as a pet which is indicated by a bell hanging from a band around its neck. Although the animals did not derive from religious beliefs, a few of the animals have equivalents in Buddhist and Hindu iconography. In addition, the postures of some animals, such as the crane, the tortoise or the snake coiling around the tortoise, have likenesses with Song zoomorphic figurines.

B10 Tep Sokha

Royal University of Fine Arts, Phnom Penh, Cambodia

CERAMICS CONSERVATION OF KOH TA MEAS ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITE

In 2004 and 2005, Ecole France d’Extreme Orient and APSARA Authority team excavated the Koh Ta Meas site at the Western Baray. Koh Ta Meas proved to be a burial site with several graves containing a great number of artifacts dated to early 1000 B.C. The ceramics found at this site are therefore the oldest ceramics unearthed so far in the Angkor area, and they include many types of pots, such as basins, pedestal bowls, water jars, cooking pots, and storage jars. This paper discusses conservation efforts and details techniques utilized with the Kah Ta Meas pottery

B10 Anderson, Douglas

Department of Anthropology, Brown University, USA

PREHISTORIC POTTERY COMPLEXES FROM PENINSULAR SOUTHEAST ASIA

This paper is a discussion of ongoing questions about the age and context of earthenware complexes in Peninsular Southeast Asia. There appears to be at least 3 temporally distinct middle Holocene pottery complexes on the western side of the peninsula, each with regional variants: tripod pottery and the later pedestaled pottery and earthenware cord-marked cup-dish-pot complexes. Tripod pottery occurs in both non-burial and burial contexts, but thus far, pedestal pots are primarily (if not exclusively) from burial contexts, which suggests that they were made especially for mortuary ritual. While the cord-marked cup-bowl-pot complex definitely occurs in burial contexts, the presence of numerous unidentified cord-marked sherds from mixed occupational and burial sites suggests that like the tripod pottery the complex includes pottery used both in everyday and mortuary contexts. The major problem in developing a precise chronology and detailed context for Peninsular Southeast Asia pottery is that nearly all of the sites thus far excavated have long been mined by soil collectors.

B10 Sarjeant, Carmen

Australian National University

THE EMERGENCE OF CERAMIC TRADITIONS IN MAINLAND SOUTHEAST ASIA

This paper presents ceramic findings from two projects in which the author has been involved. The first is from Bronze Age and Iron Age mortuary contexts at Ban Non Wat in Northeast Thailand and the second is from occupational layers at the Neolithic site of An So’n in southern Vietnam. These sites have exposed the importance of both local developments and external contacts to ceramic technologies. The morphological, decorative and technological aspects of ceramic wares are discussed in order to support the presence of local traditions and contemplate the features that may indicate contact with other pottery-making areas. An So’n displays evidence of its involvement in a wider Neolithic ‘package’ that spread throughout mainland Southeast Asia, while some ceramic wares possess locally unique attributes in form and decoration. Some of the external influence may be represented by the method of tempering ceramic wares with rice and chaff. The continuity of this tradition is evident at Ban Non Wat, where there is a sudden appearance of a new method for the manufacture of mortuary ceramics and its use intensifies with time. The impact of this technique is evident throughout the mainland and some pottery-making groups continue to practice this tradition.

B10 Vincent, Brian

University of Otago

POTTERS AND SOCIAL STATUS IN PREHISTORIC THAILAND

Direct archaeological evidence with respect to potters social status in prehistoric Thailand is lacking. But recent research suggests that some potters enjoyed relatively high status. This paper draws inferences from the use of pottery in burial ritual, the disposition of potters' equipment and the prominence of their graves in selected cemeteries. The archaeological evidence is compared and contrasted with historic and ethnographic information from Africa, Asia, Central America, Europe, the Middle East and Papua New Guinea.

B10 Thanik Lertcharnrit

Department of Archaeology, Silpakorn University

MORTUARY EARTHENWARE VESSELS FROM AN IRON AGE SITE IN CENTRAL THAILAND

Mortuary ceramic vessels are a category of grave offerings commonly found in prehistoric burials in Thailand. However, detailed study of their styles and forms in intra and inter-regional perspectives is still lacking. This study partially represents an attempt to remedy such problem. This research presents a preliminary result of recent research on stylistic and morphological variability of prehistoric pottery vessels, most of which are complete vessels, uncovered from systematic excavations of an Iron Age site in central Thailand. Discussion and preliminary interpretation about stylistic variability are also presented.

B10 Judy Voelker

Northern Kentucky University

PREHISTORIC TECHNICAL CERAMICS AND CRAFT SPECIALIZATAION: EXAMINING

CASTING MOLDS FROM THE KHAO WONG PRACHAN VALLEY, CENTRAL THAILAND

The Thailand Archaeometallurgy Project (TAP) has focused on the Khao Wong Prachan Valley, central Thailand in efforts to better understand the origins of mining and metallurgy in Southeast Asia. TAP has excavated three culturally and technologically related copper production and habitation sites in this valley: Non Pa Wai, Nil Kham Haeng, and Non Mak La. Ceramic tools of metal production are common at these sites and include crucibles, furnace chimneys, ingot molds, and bivalve casting molds. This paper examines over five hundred ceramic bivalve casting molds that were recovered from deposits at the three sites. Bivalve casting molds were widely used throughout Southeast Asia in prehistory to cast copper-base artifacts such as socketed axes, blades, spear points, and jewelry.

B10 Lefferts, Leedom and Louise A. Cort

Department of Anthropology, National Museum of Natural History, and Freer+Sackler Galleries, Smithsonian Institution

TRACKING EARTHENWARE TECHNOLOGIES THROUGH MAINLAND SOUTHEAST ASIA

In the 11 years since our previous IPPA paper, published in 2003, we have continued our investigations of indigenous earthenware and stoneware production technologies. Additionally, we have increased our efforts at understanding the range of variation of particular technologies and their dispersal across Southeast Asia. In this paper we discuss our findings regarding a technique we termed Type “C”, involving the use of bamboo or metal hoops to scrape the nearly completed pot. In 1998 we regarded this technique as ephemeral, but subsequently we have discovered several additional locations for its use. These stretch from northern peninsular Malaysia to central coastal Vietnam and into the Vietnamese Central Highlands and southern Laos. This discussion explores this technology and our hypotheses to explain this dispersal.

B10 Chia, Stephen

Universiti Sains Malaysia, Penang, Malaysia

PREHISTORIC EARTHENWARE IN SEMPORNA, SABAH

This paper presents an overview of recent archaeological findings and research on prehistoric earthenware in the Semporna region of Southeastern Sabah, Malaysia. A considerable number of earthenware shards were found during archaeological surveys and excavations in the Semporna region from 2000 to 2007. These include earthenware found in several new sites such as Melanta Tutup and Bukit Kamiri as well as new areas in Bukit Tengkorak. The earthenware were dated about 3,000 to 1,000 bp and were found associated with human burials, microliths, flake tools, stone adzes, animal and fish bones, beads, metal tools, shell and stone ornaments.

B10 Mai Lin Tjoa-Bonatz/Dominik Bonatz

Institute of Near Eastern Archaeology, Free University of Berlin

MORE THAN 3400 YEARS OF POTTERY TRADITIONS IN HIGHLAND JAMBI ON SUMATRA

Highland Jambi forms part of the Barisan Mountains and includes the fertile valleys of Kerinci, Serampas, Pratin Tuo, and Sungai Tenang. From 2002-2008 the early material culture of Highland Jambi was examined through the initiative of the Free University of Berlin, sponsored by the Swiss-Liechtenstein Foundation for Archaeological Research Abroad (SLSA). In order to outline the settlement history of this region this research project has undertaken surveys and five excavations of which two where pursued at megalithic sites.

In Highland Jambi, earthenware started to be manufactured and used locally in multiple production centres at least from 1400 BC. This early evidence for the use of pottery in highland Sumatra is suggested by OSL measurements. The vessels were built by hand using the paddle and anvil technique. The repertoire of earthenware forms mainly consists of bowls, carinated pots, cooking stands and lids. Incising, impressing, paddle-marks, applications was used as decoration. Local earthenware pottery represents a significant material element which is widely shared and reflects social relations that spanned the region. The pottery study is still in its initial stages with the establishment of a typology and a chronological framework within the Sumatran highland taking precedence over studies of function and context.

B10 Sofwan Noerwidi

Balai Arkeologi Yogyakarta

ARCHAEOLOGICAL RESEARCH AT KENDENGLEMBU, EAST JAVA, INDONESIA

The first Neolithic dwelling settlement discovered in Java is Kendenglembu Site, reported by W. van Wijland and J. Bruumun in 1936. H.R. van Heekeren started systematic excavation in 1941. The second research was lead by R.P. Soejono from the Department of Prehistory the National Archaeological Institute of Indonesia in 1969. The last research in Kendenglembu site leads by Goenadi Nitihaminoto from the Archaeological Office of Yogyakarta in 1986. Since then, there has never been any systematic research conducted in Kendenglembu and Kalitajem site, until now. Prehistoric research at Kendenglembu Site in 2008 was priorities to seek chronometric data sampling, to reconstruct the chronology of Kendenglembu and Kalitajem site occupation, from the Neolithic phase until Historic phase; and to identify the character of material culture (lithic tool and pottery) from Kendenglembu and Kalitajem site that were inhabited by Neolithic people, in order to understanding early Neolithic life in Java. This paper describes new excavations at the site of Kendenglembu in East Java, a location previously researched by van Heekeren and Soejono. The new research in several locations has revealed a Neolithic layer with red-slipped pottery, and a separate historical period layer above.

B10 Mahirta

Jujun Kurniawan

Archaeology Department, Universitas Gadjah Mada, Yogyakarta, Indonesia

Tri Marhaeni Susiana Budi Santoso

Balai Arkeologi Palembang, Indonesia

METAL PERIOD POTTERY FROM SOUTH SUMATERA IN SOUTHEAST ASIAN CONTEXT

This paper presents comparisons of the metal period pottery in South Sumatera with other pottery found in Island Southeast Asia. Our recent research at Karang Agung and Muara Payang, South Sumatera results in some new data on pottery style in Indonesia. Combined with a synthetic review of pottery found in some archaeological sites in Southeast Asia, we trace the development of South Sumatera pottery in relation to Late Holocene human migration and regional or supra-regional trade.

B10 Shiung, Chung-Ching

University of Washington

THE EVOLUTION OF CERAMICS ON THE BANDA ISLANDS, CENTRAL MALUKU, INDONESIA

Previous excavations indicate that the Banda islands have the earliest and continuous ceramic data in Central Maluku, Indonesia from about 3,400 to 400 BP. The ceramic evidence suggests that Banda might be a regional potting center for a long time. On the other hand, Banda had been an important center of nutmeg and mace trade at least since the 11th century AD. This paper aims to reveal the evolution of ceramics and provide possible explanations for the changes in ceramic attributes.

B10 Diniasti, Aliza

The National Research Centre of Archaeology

Simanjuntak, Ricky M.B.

University of Indonesia

POTTERY DECORATIONS OF KALUMPANG, WEST SULAWESI

Sulawesi is one of the big islands in Indonesia, which plays an important role in the Neolitihc and Austronesian studies, due to its location at the center of the archipelago where different groups of people and cultures meet. The evidence is the number of archaeological sites found on this island from the Pleistocene to Holocene periods. Radiometric dates from Minanga Sipakko at the district of Kalumpang and other sites reveal that Neolithic had been developed here since 3,500 BP. New data from the Minanga Sipakko shows that the development of Neolithic can be divided into the early occupation phase (c. 3500 BP - 3000 BP) and the late occupation phase (c. 3000 BP – 2000 BP).

The similarities of artifacts from Kalumpang with other sites within and outside Sulawesi show that there was regional interrelationship between Sulawesi and its surrounding areas. The presence and development of Neolithic in Sulawesi was part of the Neolithic dispersal in prehistoric times. Furthermore, various cultural elements of some ethnic groups in Sulawesi - including pottery technology and decorations - are a representation of some Austronesian traditions that still survive until today.

This paper will discuss the various decorations of pottery from Kalumpang in West Sulawesi, which is one of the most important areas to study pottery, as well as the Austronesian culture. In Kalumpang area the villages of Tararan and Lebani still practice weaving, hunting, and sailing with canoes, and still produce pottery, although only based on demand.

B10 De Leon, Alexandra

Archaeology Division, National Museum of the Philippines

POTTERY AND CULTURAL INTERACTION FROM 3000 TO 600 BP BATANES, NORTHERN PHILIPPINES

This paper examines the nature of prehistoric cultural interaction in the Batanes islands of northern Philippines between 3000-600 BP, as evidenced by pottery assemblages excavated from the Savidug Dune Site on Sabtang and Anaro on Itbayat. On the basis of vessel shape, surface finish/decoration and compositional attributes, this paper compares assemblages and establishes that similarity and variation in pottery form and decoration occur from 3000 to 600 BP. Thin-section analysis indicates that pots were not exchanged but rather produced locally on each island. This paper then suggests that similarity in pottery assemblages is explained by cultural interaction between occupants of archaeological sites from 3000-600 BP.

B10 Balbaligo Yvette

Institute of Archaeology, University College London, UK

TECHNOLOGY AND STYLE OF EARTHENWARE POTTERY FROM ILLE CAVE, PALAWAN, THE PHILIPPINES

Ille Cave is a multi-period burial and occupation site and one of several cave complexes in northern Palawan, the Philippines, which dates from c.11,000 calBP. Excavations have been ongoing at the site since 1998 and it is currently being excavated by the Archaeological Studies Program, University of the Philippines, with international collaboration. Earthenware, stoneware and porcelain pottery sherds have been found at the site. The majority of the pottery is undecorated earthenware, while the decorated pottery has a variety of surface treatments, and some of the designs can be traced back to time depths of 4500 to 3000 years ago. Pottery forms show vessels for ritual use such as offerings and human jar burials. This paper will present the earthenware pottery found at the site and focus on technology and style, as well as form, types and variation in the assemblage, and discuss the implications and connections to other pottery in the wider region.

B10 Eusebio, Michelle S.

Archaeological Studies Program, University of the Philippines

INSIGHTS FROM SELECTED EARTHENWARE POTTERY FROM 13TH-14TH CENTURY PORAC, PAMPANGA, PHILIPPINES

Earthenware pottery sherds from the 13th-14th century layer, Dizon-I site, Babo Balukbok, Porac, Pampanga, Philippines were surveyed. Some of them, based on sherd size and obvious evidences of use such as charred areas and carbon deposition, were selected for further analysis. Selected sherds, except for one pottery base, were refitted together to have an idea of the profile of the pots where they came from. These earthenware pots were analyzed morphologically and for use alteration. Carbon depositions (soot and firing clouds) were noted at the interior and exterior surfaces of the samples. Then, surface attritions were analyzed with the naked eye and by using the zoom stereomicroscope. The visual part of the analysis was done primarily to aid in the further selection of samples to be subjected to residue analysis. Also, possible decorations were noted. From these morphological and use alteration analysis data, this paper discusses insights on the function of those pots and the lives of the people who lived during the 13th-14th century in Porac, Pampanga. In addition, other notable pottery from the same cultural layer is included in the discussion.

B10 Melendres, Rhayan G

University of the Philippines

AS RITUAL, STATUS and ESOTERIC OBJECT: THE EVOLVING FUNCTIONS OF ORIENTAL TRADEWARE CERAMICS AMONG THE PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES THROUGH TIME

One of the types of ceramics that particularly interest archaeologists in Southeast Asia is known as “oriental tradeware ceramics”. Oriental tradeware ceramics had long been a valued object and merchandise in the interactions of culture between China and Southeast Asia and also between China and polities further west. They are very popular because of their practical and functional use that is why they succeeded in inducing changes in the daily life of the ancient Filipinos. Later on these wares were considered opulent items because of their intrinsic beauty and highly esteemed because of the status attached to them. They had become a measurement of one’s wealth even before the European arrived. Moreover, as they were imbued with spiritual qualities, they were kept as family heirlooms and used as funerary objects in burial sites of the people in many places in the Philippines. This paper will look at the evolving functions of oriental tradeware ceramics among the Filipinos, then and now. It will discuss the roles of these ceramics as burial goods and funerary furniture, as ritual and magical objects, and as status goods and prized possessions of the living.

B10 Romualdez-Valtos Eliza

University of the Philippines

A STYLISTIC ANALYSIS OF THE DECORATED NON-ANTHROPOMORPHIC VESSELS FOUND IN AYUB CAVE IN MAITUM, SARANGANI PROVINCE IN SOUTHERN PHILIPPINEShe problem of gathering and recording data for design bands found in Philippine Iron Age pottery assemblages with ambiguous stratigraphic profiles has not gone beyond the descriptive word. This has hampered efforts in ceramic studies concerning spatial and temporal relationships of prehistoric people in the Southern Philippines. One main reason for this is the lack of an explicit, replicable, and controlled method that can be applied on banded decorations found in the pottery from the region. This study approached the problem by analysing the decorated non-anthropomorphic earthenware assemblage from Ayub Cave in Maitum, Sarangani Province in Southern Philippines. This paper will focus on the methods and procedures developed for the analysis of form and decoration found in the pottery assemblage of Ayub Cave. The analysis resulted in the detection of a particular style utilizing specific design processes that correlated to specific forms of pottery. As a result, the discovery of this style of potter can now be used to infer the identity of the people who used Ayub Cave during the Metal Age in the Philippines.

B10 Arriola, Donna

University of the Philippines

MANILA ‘WHERE’: A PETROGRAPHIC APPROACH TO THE STUDY OF THE SOURCE OF MANILA WARE

Petrography remains underutilized in Philippine archaeology despite its manifold benefits. To illustrate the utility of this otherwise old fashioned technique, specimens of Manila Ware have been studied for mineralogical characterisation. Manila Ware is a kind of pottery made from the 16^th to 19^th centuries at what has been widely accepted as a sole source which is a production site in Makati , Metro Manila, Philippines that made use of kilns (Beyer 1946). Despite the lack of sediment samples from excavations, the author attempted to examine whether Manila Ware samples from various sites all over the country have the same petrographic profile which is theoretically indicative of a similar source. Based on the results, we may argue for a source belonging to a confined geographic and geologic area for the red Manila Ware while there is evidence of mixing different clays for the darker types. This paper hopes to gain a closer look at this poorly understood ceramic, whose origins are still indefinite seventy years after its first ‘discovery’ in archaeology by Henry Otley Beyer in the 1920s.

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SESSION B11

B11 Boer-Mah, Tessa

Australian Museum

AN ADZE TO GRIND: NEW INSIGHTS FROM BAN NON WAT, NORTHEAST THAILAND

Ground stone adzes have often been cited as trade goods in Neolithic exchange networks. However, evidence from the Ban Non Wat adze assemblage in Thailand suggests that long distance exchange of adzes may not have been as common as previously thought. Borrowing from Torrence’s (1986) systemic model for exchange, a number of new models, and associated predictions, were developed to analyse adze procurement. The results demonstrate that systemic models are suitable for analysing assemblages recovered from single-site contexts; this represents a significant departure from previous approaches which rely on distributional data for investigating adze procurement.

B11 Cawte, Hayden J.

University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand

Bongsasilp, Bhadravarna

Thai Fine Arts Department, Bangkok

AN ETHNOARCHAEOLOGICAL INVESTIGATION OF HOUSEHOLD SALT MAKING IN NORTHEAST THAILAND: A SCALAR HYPOTHESIS FOR PREHISTORIC PRODUCTION.

From prehistory to history, salt making (and/or salt mining) has played a central role in the development of many complex socio-political economies. For Northeast Thailand this production is thought to have begun in the Iron Age with its associated increase in socio-political complexity. However, in taking an ethnoarchaeological approach to contemporary Northeast Thai salt making, we suggest that the archaeological visibility of salt making is scalar in nature, with household production being almost completely invisible archaeologically, village or tambon production somewhat visible, and industrial/export production easily visible. In this paper we propose that Iron Age evidence in the Mun River valley of northeast Thailand represents the very visible industrial/export production stage, with concomitant household and village production occurring contemporarily but away from major sites. Further, we propose that in any area where such industrial visibility exists, there must have been earlier household and village production meaning salt making in the northeast could well be pushed back into the Bronze Age. We suggest that researchers investigating archaeological contexts in northeast Thailand should consider the presence of salt, and the implications of its use, in both domestic and commercial settings during the northeast Thai Bronze Age.

B11 Chang, Nigel

Domett, Kate

James Cook University, Australia

Kijngam, A.

Thai Fine Arts Department

Wiriyaromp, W.

Kasetsart University

Boyd, W.

Southern Cross University, Australia

THE UPPER MUN RIVER CATCHMENT: A RESILIENT – AND CONNECTED – CULTURAL LANDSCAPE?

In December 2007 a new phase of archaeological research was begun at the site of Ban Non Wat, Northeast Thailand. The focus of this project is to build on the detailed excavations already completed in order to develop a broader picture of life at the site and its place in the regional social and environmental contexts. Investigating the utility of a ‘Resilience’ theory approach to understanding change will also be important. We will briefly discuss how the evidence, such as environmental and bioarchaeological results from this site, will be interpreted in the light of ‘Resilience’ theory. Practically, we will briefly report on the two field seasons that have been completed and discuss plans for the upcoming third season.

B11 Duke, Belinda

James Cook University, Australia

THIS IS NOT A MOAT: BOUNDARIES, WATER AND THE DEMARCATION OF SOCIAL SPACE IN IRON AGE BAN NON WAT, NORTHEAST THAILAND.

This paper examines an Iron Age water feature excavated at Ban Non Wat over two field seasons (2007-2009). The feature has been described here as a non-‘moat’ as it does not have the physical characteristics of a traditional Iron Age ‘moat’ (as described by McGrath, Boyd and Bush 2008). This feature is discussed in the light of Boundary Theory; examining the construction, maintenance and abandonment of the feature. As well as a physical feature, I also argue that it may have operated as a socio-cultural device, reflecting the changing social climate of the mid to late Iron Age. The importance of water as a social tool is also emphasised. This water feature goes beyond its form (as a life sustaining mechanism) and takes on the function of a tool for social and cultural demarcation.

B11 Haumann, Cathleen

University of Otago, New Zealand

HIERARCHY OR HETERARCHY? AN ANALYSIS OF MORTUARY CERAMICS AT BAN NON WAT AND BAN LUM KHAO

At present there is debate as to whether there was an entrenched hierarchical or heterarchical system in Thailand’s Bronze Age. Two sites on the Khorat Plateau, Ban Non Wat and Ban Lum Khao, were examined for any evidence of a hierarchy. Ban Non Wat possesses five mortuary phases belonging to the Bronze Age, with Bronze Age 2 and 3 being markedly wealthier than the others. Ban Lum Khao, situated ten kilometres away, possesses only one Bronze Age mortuary phase, which is poor in terms of grave goods but contains a ceramic sequence very similar to that found in Ban Non Wat. One form of ceramic pot, common to both sites, was measured at the maximum points of its lip, neck and body and the data analysed. The wealthier phases of Ban Non Wat appeared to be contemporary with the poor phase found at Ban Lum Khao, as they shared the same pot form with very similar dimensions. The results obtained seem to confirm the hypothesis that there was some form of hierarchical system in operation in Thailand in the early Bronze Age, if not nationwide at least between the two sites studied.

B11 Higham, C.F.W.

University of Otago

CULTURAL IMPLICATIONS OF THE CHRONOLOGY OF BAN NON WAT

Excavations at the moated site of Ban Non Wat have revealed a long cultural sequence comprising at least ten phases, beginning with hunter-gatherers and ending with the late Iron Age. Seventy-five radiocarbon determinations, analysed with Bayesian statistics under OxCal 4.0, have furnished an internally consistent chronology incorporating the span of the principal phases. This indicates that the site might have been occupied as early as the 16th millennium BC by hunter-gatherers. A set of flexed burials associated with an unique set of mortuary offerings, thought to represent late occupation by hunter-gatherers, date to the 2nd millennium BC. The initial Neolithic occupation began in about 1700 BC, while the Bronze Age lasted for six centuries from about 1000-420 BC when the fifth Bronze Age phase merged with the early Iron Age. It will be suggested that this chronological framework requires a reconsideration of the prehistoric sequence in the Mun Valley and beyond, encompassing the timing of the introduction of rice cultivation, the transition to the Bronze Age, the nature of early Bronze Age social organization and cultural changes associated with the adoption of iron metallurgy.

B11 Nitta, Eiji

Kagoshima University

DISASTER AND RECOVERY IN THE ERUPTION OF MT. KAIMONDAKE IN 874

Recent excavations at the Shirkiryo site in Kagoshima Prefecture have provided rich evidence about how villagers in southern Japan reacted to a major volcanic event. During the night of 25 March 874 AD, Mt.Kaimondake erupted and within a few days, a blue-grayish hard ash layer (Aokora), together with surge and mud flows, buried a large region. Archaeological research at the Shikiryo site has unearthed a rice paddy field, farmland and a dwelling house buried by the ash. The excavation of the rice paddy found hollows of rice roots that showed a harvest higher than average for this time period. Excavations revealed how the villagers had attempted to recover from this disaster, but the scale of the ashfall was too large and the site was abandoned.

B11 Yankowski, Andrea

San Francisco State University

SALT PRODUCTION IN THE MUN RIVER VALLEY PAST AND PRESENT

Salt has been an important natural resource in Northeast Thailand from as early as the Iron Age up until the present. The unique geology and climate of the region ensures that salt resources are widely available during the dry season. Recent research and interviews with local salt makers have provided important information about this traditional technology and the economics of this seasonal activity. This data will be used to help us identify and interpret archaeological features and artifacts associated with salt-making, and the salt working mound sites, which are widespread throughout the region.

B11 Tayles, Nancy

Halcrow, Siân

Department of Anatomy and Structural Biology, University of Otago

WAS THERE A NEOLITHIC DEMOGRAPHIC TRANSITION AT BAN NON WAT?

Recent excavations at Ban Non Wat in Northeast Thailand provided a large sample of human skeletal remains and long occupation covering two millennia from c1700BC. This offers a unique opportunity to assess the relationship between agricultural development and demography in Mainland Southeast Asia. Paleodemography has as one of its research foci the effects of the origin and intensification of agriculture. The general model of demographic change is one of dramatic population increase, identified as the ‘Neolithic demographic transition’. This is based on the premise that constraints on fertility were removed by the availability of a reliable food supply. We present paleodemographic data from Ban Non Wat to test the hypothesis that the early agriculturalists in this environment did not experience a ‘demographic transition’. Our data support this hypothesis, and instead we argue, on the basis of an increase in infant mortality during the latest phase of Ban Non Wat and at the nearby contemporary site of Noen U-Loke, for a population increase occurring later in prehistory, during the ‘Iron Age’. This is consistent with archaeological evidence of major socio-political changes and geoarchaeological evidence of agriculture intensification in the region at that time.

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SESSION B12

B12 Allen, Jane

International Archaeological Research Institute, Inc., Honolulu

KHAO SAM KAEO’S SOILS AND SEDIMENTS: SITE-ENVIRONMENT INTERACTION IN A CHALLENGING LANDSCAPE

Eleven soil and sediment sequences were studied at Khao Sam Kaeo in 2008 and 2009, in part to try to understand why so many walls and berms were built in the area – whether they might have been necessary because of environmental conditions. Stable, now-buried soils that may have been cultivable are present at one location protected by walls from damaging sedimentation, and in another outlying area of gently sloping land. Elsewhere in the steeply sloped and river-dominated terrain, sediments up to boulder sizes have rushed down steep slopes during floods, eroding and burying hill and valley areas and cultural deposits. During stream floods, the Tha Tapao has buried cultural deposits under accumulated silts and sands now 1–3 m deep. Overall, the evidence suggests an ever-changing environmental regime in which constant management was critically needed in order to avoid damage by two main forces – gravity, including overland sheetwash, and streams. Either of these could bury site areas quickly under new sediments, or could alternatively – and often in sequence – erode them entirely away.

B12 Bellina, Bérénice

CNRS, France

CULTURAL DIALOGUE BETWEEN THE INDIAN OCEAN AND THE SOUTH CHINA SEA FROM THE FIRST MILLENNIUM BCE AND THE INCEPTION OF SOCIOCULTURAL TRANSNATIONAL PROCESSES

The excavation of the upper peninsular site of Khao Sam Kaeo located in Upper Thai-Malay peninsula (Chumphon province), has revealed an early urban settlement and industrial site encircled by a series of massive earthen walls. Dating from the 4th to the 1st c. BCE, its connections extend to South Asia in the west and Taiwan in the East. Bringing together different lines of evidence from the anthropogenic landscape and the social interpretation of the different types of productions evidenced onsite, I argue that Khao Sam Kaeo is the earliest coastal cosmopolitan urban node so far identified in the South China Sea integrating sea peoples from the eastern part of the Indian Ocean and the South China Sea from the second half of the mid-first millennium BCE. I also argue that Khao Sam Kaeo was the cradle of an early form of “indianisation” and urbanisation bearing Indian traits but also heralding the later Modern form of City-States of the South China Sea such as Malacca.

B12 Kanjanajuntorn, Podjanok

Sociology and Anthropology Faculty, Thammasat University, Thailand

SOCIO-ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT IN METAL AGE WEST-CENTRAL THAILAND: RESULTS FROM RECENT SURVEYS AND EXCAVATIONS

The aim of this research is to understand the Metal Age people in West-Central Thailand and their cultures during their transitions from chiefdoms into statehood. The study region has environmental advantages such as vase arable lands, minerals and an extensive transport network which are believed to have contributed to their socio-economic development. Social complexity, which can be seen from the Metal Age, developed to an urbanised society during the Dvaravati’s time in the seven century AD. However it is not known how complicated their prehistoric socio-economic structures might have been. This paper presents the results of the fieldworks undertaken in 2003-7. The focus of the paper is on the long-distance trade that had a major impact upon the prehistoric societies in the region. Archaeological evidence found in this area indicates diverse contacts with outsiders. The distribution of prestige goods within the prehistoric landscape will be discussed. It is believed that a reconstruction may reflect the pattern of redistribution controls and trade of the region. The social aspects of the Metal Age such as their settlement patterns, material cultures, social relationships and the role of the prestige goods in the cultural landscape will also be examined.

B12 Malakie, Julia and Bérénice Bellina

CNRS, Paris

COMBINING GIS AND TECHNOLOGICAL ANALYSIS TO STUDY THE INTERNAL SOCIAL ORGANISATION OF A PREHISTORIC URBAN TRANS-ASIATIC CENTRE.

The integration of multiple specialists’ technological analyses of the ceramic, stone, glass and metallic industries of the early urban site of Khao Sam Kaeo into a Geographic Information System has led to the delineation of zones within the 54 hectare site. We will discuss the challenges associated with the spatial analysis of such a complex and disturbed site as well as potential interpretive implications of the findings, in  particular in contributing to an understanding of the chronology and perhaps as evidence of spatially distinct ethnic quarters.

B12 Pryce, T. O.

Research Laboratory for Art History and Archaeology, University of Oxford

Murillo-Barroso, M.

Centro de Ciencias Humanas y Sociales, Madrid

Bellina, B.

CNRS UMR 7528 « Mondes iranien et indien », Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique

Martinón-Torres, M.

UCL Institute of Archaeology, University College London

KHAO SAM KAEO...A HIGH TIN BRONZE PRODUCTION CENTRE AND THE EARLIEST EVIDENCE FOR TIN EXPLOITATION IN THE PENINSULA?

Recent archaeological investigations at Khao Sam Kaeo, on the Upper Thai-Malay Peninsula, have furnished evidence for a mid/late 1^st millennium BCE cultural exchange network stretching from the Indian subcontinent to Taiwan. Typological, technological, and compositional analyses constitute a robust, though partially contingent, classificatory triangulation of Khao Sam Kaeo’s copper-alloy consumption evidence, demonstrating the presence of three distinct copper-alloy metallurgical traditions onsite and indicative of the site’s cosmopolitanism. But what of the production evidence? We present tentative technical ceramic evidence suggesting that Khao Sam Kaeo metalworkers were producing high-tin bronze ingots, which would constitute the earliest evidence for the exploitation of Peninsula tin resources. We also offer a speculative but reasoned argument that nudges the balance of probabilities regarding the source of Khao Sam Kaeo’s copper-base production technologies, with potential ramifications for the ethnic and political structure of the settlement.

B12 Chaisuwan, Boonyarit

The 15th Regional Office of Fine Art, Phuket, Thailand

THE ANCIENT PORT OF PHUKHAO THONG

The Phukhao Thong archaeological site is situated in the South of Thailand on the Andaman coast in Ranong province. This site is significant for its role as an ancient port in the early Christian era. An archaeological excavation in 2005-2006 revealed a large amount of glass and stone beads as well as raw materials, such as glass and stone, and unfinished beads in different production stages. These show that the Phukhao Thong site was an important beadmaking site in Southeast Asia. However, archaeological evidences show that there was also an import of mosaic glass vessels. According to scientific analysis, some were Roman mosaic glass. Apart from gold ornaments, which constitute the name Phukhao Thong or “the Golden Mountain”, important finds from surveys and excavations, as well as from collectors and the local people, are imported items such as granulated gold beads, cornelian intaglios, and different kinds of wares such as rouletted ware and potteries inscribed with Tamil- Brahmi scripts. The Tamil scripts found are the oldest one in Southeast Asia. Other finds include lion pendants similar to those found in Taxila, India, as well as auspicious symbols such as conch shell, Srivatsa, Svastika, and most importantly, Triratna, made into gold and stone beads. These auspicious symbols signify an expansion of Buddhism into Suwannaphumi about 2,000 years ago. These archaeological evidences portray various trade and cultural relationships between the Phukhao Thong site and other places, which change the belief that there were no serious trading activities from the India Ocean to the Bay of Bengal at the beginning of the Christian era.

B12 Ramli, Zuliskandar & Nik Hassan Shuhaimi Nik Abd. Rahman

Institute of Malay World and Civilization, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, 43600 UKM Bangi Selangor, Malaysia.

RECENT ARCHAEOLOGY DISCOVERIES IN PULAU KELUMPANG, MATANG, PERAK, MALAYSIA.

Since 1928, archaeological research has been taking place in Pulau Kelumpang and since then a large quantity of archaeological discoveries has been revealed. Pulau Kelumpang known to be occupied by the maritime people and the settlement has been established since the beginning of the first century AD. Several excavations has been conducted by several scholars such as Evans, Sieveking and Nik Hassan Shuhaimi and made a lot of interesting and important discoveries. Latest archaeological excavation has been carried out from May to August 2008, led by Nik Hassan Shuhaimi and successfully unearths five burials and other artifacts such as earthenware’s, beads, stone artifacts, food remains, organic materials and house posts. Several C14 analysis has been carried out from the charcoal and wood samples associated with the burial found during the excavation. The result showed that the lowest burial dated from 1810 ± 40BP and the other burial dated from 1760 ± 40BP, 1650 ± 40BP, 1460 ± 40BP, 1450 ± 40BP and 1380 ± 40BP. The wood sample dated from 1630 ± 50BP. Based on the result of radiocarbon dating showed that the Pulau Kelumpang has been occupied by the maritime people since 120 AD and practice animism as a main belief based on burials practice.

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SESSION B13

B13 Eyre, Chureekamol Onsuwan

Cotsen Institute of Archaeology, UCLA

INTEGRATED REGIONAL CHRONOLOGY OF INLAND CENTRAL THAILAND: A CERAMIC CHRONOLOGICAL INDEX FROM THE KOK SAMRONG-TAKHLI UNDULATING TERRAIN SURVEY

Archaeological research within the Eastern Upper Chao Phraya River Valley has demonstrated its regional significance in terms of cultural distinctiveness and long-term development. The 2001-2002 intensive survey of the Kok Samrong-Takhli Undulating Terrain (KSTUT) supported these findings as evidenced by 25 long-lived, often large and heterarchically-related occupations, dating between 2000 BC and AD 1000. This paper summarizes a regional chronology developed primarily for the purpose of the KSTUT survey. Located within the survey boundary, two main overlapping chronologies from the sites of Ban Mai Chaimongkol and Chansen were incorporated and integrated with ceramic typologies of eight neighboring sites. The KSTUT chronology spans the Metal Ages and includes five phases. Vessel forms, variants and key-time specific diagnostic attributes provide a basis for documenting the long term use and ceramic subregions.

B13 Eyre, Chureekamol Onsuwan

Cotsen Institute of Archaeology, UCLA

Douglas, Janet G.

Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian Institution

PREHISTORIC AND PROTO-HISTORIC CERAMIC SUBREGIONS IN CENTRAL THAILAND: PETROGRAPHIC ANALYSIS OF STYLISTIC PATTERNS AND TECHNOLOGY

While ceramic traditions which are shared among prehistoric Thailand sites have been previously identified, their socio-economic implications have yet to be fully explored. This paper discusses ongoing integrated research to study ceramic correlations between stylistic patterning and technology of production during the Metal Age (ca. 2000 BC – AD 500) in Thailand. The Kok Samrong-Takhli Undulating Terrain research (KSTUT) defined at least seven ceramic subregions during the Metal Age in central Thailand (Eyre 2006). One ceramic subregion, Ban Mai Chaimongkol (BMC), was fully documented during the survey and its distribution extends across diverse environmental zones. Thin-section petrography is being employed to characterize the pottery of the BMC and neighboring subregions with regard to technology of production in an effort to define “a local system”. Sherd analysis entails the characterization of both naturally-occurring and human-derived temper (coarser-grained aplastics); as well as compositional analysis of the clay body (fine-grained plastics). Physical evidence of ceramic production methods such as forming, decoration, paint and slip application, and firing, are also being studied.

B13 Rispoli, Fiorella

Ciarla, Roberto

Italian Institute for Africa and the Orient (IsIAO), Rome

Vincent C. Pigott

Institute of Archaeology, University College London

TOWARDS A WORKING CHRONOLOGY FOR CENTRAL THAILAND: REVISING THE SEQUENCE FOR THE KHAO