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The Origins of the Bronze Age of Southeast Asia
Abstract and Figures
White and Hamilton (J World Prehist 22: 357–97, 2009) have proposed a model for the origin of the Southeast Asian Bronze Age founded on seven AMS radiocarbon determinations from the Northeast Thai site of Ban Chiang, which would date the initial Bronze Age there to about 2000 BC. Since this date is too early for the derivation of a bronze industry from the documented exchange that linked Southeast Asia with Chinese states during the 2nd millennium BC, they have identified the Seima-Turbino 3rd millennium BC forest-steppe technology of the area between the Urals and the Altai as the source of the Southeast Asian Bronze Age. We challenge this model by presenting a new chronological framework for Ban Chiang, which supports our model that the knowledge of bronze metallurgy reached Southeast Asia only in the late 2nd millennium BC, through contact with the states of the Yellow and Yangtze valleys.
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... White and Hamilton favour a rapid movement of founders from the Altai to the site of Ban Chiang that left no impact on the uptake of bronze technology in modern China (White and Hamilton 2014). This contrasts with a model that favours a progressive southerly spread of the necessary metallurgical skills that can be traced archaeologically from the Central Plains of the Yellow River to the Yangtze River region, then further south into Lingnan, reaching Southeast Asia by the end of the 2nd millennium BC (Higham et al. 2011). In this, we follow Roberts (2009, p. 473) when he concluded that 'For the "spread" of metallurgy to occur, a sufficiently skilled individual or a group would have to move to a new ore source. ...
... Until the results of further lead isotope analyses by Pryce's BROGLASEA project are available, we cannot suggest a likely source. However, their forms match those known from many contemporary and slightly earlier sites in Lingnan, southern China, and this must be high on a list (Fig. 2;Ciarla 2007;Pigott and Ciarla 2007;Higham et al. 2011;Pryce et al. 2014a, b, p. 291). Given the establishment of copper mining, smelting and casting in Lingnan in the late 2nd millennium BC, it is almost to be expected that these socketed axes entered long-established exchange routes. ...
The long-awaited definitive chronology for the period from the initial use of bronze metallurgy to the end of the Iron Age on the Khorat Plateau of Northeast Thailand has received near universal acceptance. In this review, we trace how bronze was deployed, and assess its social impact from the late Neolithic communities that first encountered metal to the civilization of Angkor. We identify eight phases that, for the prehistoric period, centred on the anchor site of Ban Non Wat, beginning in the eleventh century BC with imported copper axes and the opening of the first mines and associated smelting sites. This was followed in the second and third phases of the Bronze Age by a dramatic increase in mortuary wealth in the graves of social aggrandizers. After about eight generations, bronzes were locally cast in bivalve moulds. However, no further elite burials were found and bronze mortuary offerings were very rare. From about 400 BC, the opening of seaborne exchange networks, the establishment of dynastic China and climatic change then stimulated marked regionality. On the Khorat Plateau, many more bronzes were interred with the dead, but casting activity in the consumer sites declined. In the early centuries AD, increased aridity stimulated an agricultural revolution as sites were ringed by reservoirs and wet rice was grown in ploughed fields. This was accompanied by a surge in the range and number of bronzes with the new social elite that within a century led to the formation of early states. The new royalty now sponsored bronze statues, leading directly on to the dynastic foundries of Angkor, when massive bronzes reflected royal divinity.
... The Thai-American excavations at Non Nok Tha and Ban Chiang caused a sensation by revealing beautiful red painted pottery and bronze objects possibly the oldest in the world. Several decades later the archaeology of northeastern Thailand is still flourishing and continues to yield significantly valuable information upon the prehistoric period (see Higham 2002;Higham et al. 2011;Higham & Kijngam 2012a;2012b). The major publications of Southeast Asian Prehistory (e.g. ...
... Ban Chiang Potter with stylistic red painted decoration, exhibited at the Ban Chiang National Museum, Udon Thai province. Source: Photos by Podjanok KanjanajuntornAfter five decades of prehistoric research in the northeast of Thailand, the debate on the issues of the date of the early bronze age and its transition into Southeast Asia is still ongoing(Higham et al. 2011;Higham et al. 2015;White 2008;White & Hamilton 2015;White & Hamilton 2018. ...
This article explores the concept of the “Three-Age System” that has to some extent stymied the conceptualization of Southeast Asian prehistory. The direct transfer of this system from its European application to Southeast Asia has substantially influenced the analysis and characterization of Southeast Asian data. In particular, the chronological division of ‘Bronze Age’ and ‘Iron Age’ has overemphasized the linkage between the development of metal technology in relation to socio-economic development. It is agreed that absolute chronology needs to be established, however the terminology of ‘Bronze Age’ and ‘Iron Age’ should be used specifically for the classification of artefact chronology, separately from the explanation of stages of social organisation. Archaeological data from west-central Thailand will be discussed to demonstrate the issue of the incompatible framework of the Three-Age System (Figures 1-2). The apparent absence of clear age subdivisions and the lack of a “real” Bronze Age has made the chronology of this region seem incomplete. Stone tools had been abundantly used throughout the prehistoric period, and bronze and iron materials were often found at the same sites. However, little scientific data prior to 500 BCE has been obtained from any site in the region. This may or may not be the reason for west-central Thailand being considered peripheral in the discussion of the socio-economic development of mainland Southeast Asia. In consideration of these issues, archaeological methodology and the formation of knowledge from Southeast Asia prehistory will be discussed, including the necessity to move from the imported “Three Age System” to concepts that better fit the local data in west-central Thailand. The distorted prehistoric analysis needs to be adjusted so that our understanding of prehistory in Thailand does not become a scientific illusion.
บทความนี้เป็นการสำรวจและสะท้อนให้เห็นว่า “ระบบสามยุค” ที่ใช้ในการกำหนดอายุแหล่งโบราณคดีด้วยวิธีเทียบเคียงนี้ แทบจะกลายเป็นกรอบคิดในการศึกษาโบราณคดีสมัยก่อนประวัติศาสตร์เอเชียตะวันออกเฉียงใต้ ระบบการกำหนดอายุแบบโบราณคดียุโรปที่ถูกนำมาใช้ได้ส่งอิทธิพลต่อแนวทางการศึกษาโบราณคดีภูมิภาคนี้อย่างสำคัญ โดยเฉพาะอย่างยิ่งการกำหนดอายุ ‘ยุคสำริด’ และ ‘ยุคเหล็ก’ ที่มุ่งเน้นการศึกษาพัฒนาการด้านเทคโนโลยีโลหกรรมแล้วนำไปใช้อธิบายเชื่อมโยงกับพัฒนาการทางสังคม การลำดับอายุสมัยมีความสำคัญสำหรับโบราณคดีก่อนประวัติศาสตร์ก็จริง แต่การใช้ 'ยุคสำริด’ และ ‘ยุคเหล็ก’ ควรใช้ในลักษณะที่เป็นการจัดจำแนกประเภทโบราณวัตถุ แต่ไม่ควรนำไปผูกติดกับการอธิบายพัฒนาการทางสังคม ตัวอย่างที่จะนำมาอภิปรายในบทความนี้ก็คือ ข้อมูลโบราณคดีสมัยก่อนประวัติศาสตร์จากภาคตะวันตกของประเทศไทย โดยจะสะท้อนให้เห็นว่าการกำหนดอายุแหล่งด้วยระบบสามยุคทำให้เกิดความลักลั่นอย่างไร จากการเป็นภูมิภาคที่ไม่พบยุคสำริด ‘แท้’ ทำให้กลายเป็นว่าลำดับทางวัฒนธรรมของภูมิภาคไม่มีความต่อเนื่อง หลักฐานประเภทเครื่องมือหินพบมากมายในภาคตะวันตก ในขณะที่วัตถุประเภทสำริดและเหล็กพบเพียงบางแหล่งเท่านั้น แหล่งโบราณคดีในภูมิภาคนี้ที่กำหนดอายุทางวิทยาศาสตร์เก่าแก่กว่า 500 ปีก่อนคริสตกาลมีจำนวนน้อยมาก ซึ่งอาจจะเป็นเหตุผลหรือไม่ก็ตามที่ทำให้ภาคตะวันตกของไทยไม่ค่อยถูกกล่าวถึงในการศึกษาพัฒนาการเศรษฐกิจ-สังคมภาคพื้นทวีปเอเชียตะวันออกเฉียงใต้ ในการอภิปรายประเด็นดังกล่าวนี้ ผู้เขียนได้หยิบยกข้อมูลว่าด้วยพัฒนาการของวิธีวิทยาทางโบราณคดีและประวัติการสร้างองค์ความรู้เกี่ยวกับโบราณคดีก่อนประวัติศาสตร์ในเอเชียตะวันออกเฉียงใต้ รวมทั้งข้อคำนึงในการแสวงหาคำเรียกลำดับอายุที่น่าจะเหมาะสมกว่า ‘ระบบสามยุค’ เพื่อให้การศึกษาโบราณคดีก่อนประวัติศาสตร์สะท้อนความเข้าใจเกี่ยวกับอดีตของประเทศไทยอย่างแท้จริงโดยไม่กลายเป็นมายาคติทางวิทยาศาสตร
... Understanding the growth of these local breeds will better support the development and conservation of them (Kraitsek et al. 2013) as well as allow them to apply genomic information to leverage local productivity (Ibeagha-Awemu et al. 2019). Mia chicken is considered as one of the ancient local chicken breeds (Higham et al.,2011;Vo, 1978); therefore, it has a crucial linking to the early developments of agriculture in Vietnam. In the past, Mia chicken was raised by the peasants to offer to the King. ...
Understanding of animal growth is important for the improvement of management and feeding practices; however, little is known about the growth curve in Vietnamese indigenous chicken. This study was performed to determine the most appropriate models for describing the growth curve of Vietnamese Mia chicken. The study evaluated the performances of the Logistic, Gompertz, Richards, and Bridges models of body weights in 224 Mia chickens. Models were fitted using minpack.lm package in R software and Akaike’s information criterion and Bayesian information criterion were used for model comparison. Based on these criteria, the Gompertz and Bridges were the best models for males and females, respectively. Estimated asymmetric weights (α ) were ranged from 2,241.91 ± 14.74 (g) (Logistic) to 2,623.86 ± 30.23 (g) (Gompertz) for males and from 1,537.36 ± 10.97 (g) (Logistic) and 1,958.36 ± 72.92 (g) (Bridges) for females, respectively. The age at the inflection point was estimated from 9.32 to 10.5 weeks and from 8.51 to 9.86 weeks for males and females, respectively. In conclusion, the Gompertz model is the most suitable model for describing the growth curve of Mia chicken. The parameters obtained from growth models could help define feeding programs to meet nutritional needs from hatching to the age of maximum growth, reproduction programs, and marketing strategies.
... In northeastern Thailand, archeologists found a significant number of agricultural tools dating back to the Late Iron Age (200e600 CE; Fig. 5), which indicate the formation of complex societies (Higham et al., 2011(Higham et al., , 2019Higham and Higham, 2009). Moated settlements surrounded by multiple banks and channels are an important feature of the Late Iron Age in the Mun River Valley, which is approximately 360 km east from the KPC1 study site (Boyd, 2008;O'Reilly, 2008;Scott and O'Reilly, 2015). ...
This study focuses on the mollusc remains recovered from the archaeological sites of Bukit Tengkorak, Melanta Tutup and Bukit Kamiri in Semporna, Sabah. These three sites had been radiocarbon dated from 3,000 to 800 BP where Bukit Tengkorak is a Neolithic site, while Melanta Tutup and Bukit Kamiri have both Neolithic as well as Metal Age cultural contexts. This study is aimed at analysing the mollusc remains in order to strengthen interpretations on prehistoric diet, subsistence activities, past environment and adaptation of the prehistoric societies in Semporna, Sabah. The method uses an archaeomalacological approach involving three processes of analysis: (i) identification that involves anatomic and taxonomic analysis, (ii) taphonomic categorisation and (iii) statistical quantification. Based on identification, 65 species of molluscs originating from various habitats such as freshwater, mangrove, estuary, intertidal, subtidal and lagoon had been identified. Taphonomic categorisation indicated that the mollusc remains functioned as food wastes, grave goods and raw materials for shell artefact production. Quantification analysis revealed the dominance of marine species among the samples in Bukit Tengkorak and Melanta Tutup, while freshwater species dominated Bukit Kamiri. The results of this research also suggested that the prehistoric societies of Semporna gathered molluscs selectively by targeting certain molluscan species from different environments about ten km away from their habitation sites.
Nakhon Sawan Province is located in Upper Central Thailand, where the Chao Phraya River, the vital river of Thailand, begins. According to the distribution of the archaeological sites, the related geological features were divided into two groups by geodiversity scope: (1) hydrological sites - Chao Phraya river, Bueng Boraphet lake, (2) speleological sites - Tham Phet-Tham Thong cave and Khoa Nor mountain. The hydrological sites are the primary water resources of local people since many hundred years, including transportation, agriculture, and fishery, so there are many archaeological sites around there. In addition, the speleological sites are covered with limestones intruded by the granitic rocks, which has caused ore deposition in the form of skarn. The evidence of antiquities in the archaeological site near speleological sites suggests that ancient people discovered and produced their ores, notably iron in the studied area. Based on inventory, characterization, classification, and assessment methods, this preliminary geoarchaeology study can support Nakhon Sawan to promote geotourism for sustainability by their stunning geological features, fantastic nature as well as beautiful culture, both past and present.
A prehistoric copper-production centre in central Thailand: its dating and wider implications - Volume 94 Issue 376 - Thomas F.G. Higham, Andrew D. Weiss, Charles F.W. Higham, Christopher Bronk Ramsey, Jade d'Alpoim Guedes, Sydney Hanson, Steven A. Weber, Fiorella Rispoli, Roberto Ciarla, Thomas O. Pryce, Vincent C. Pigott
Three thousand years of farming strategies in central Thailand - Volume 94 Issue 376 - Jade d'Alpoim Guedes, Sydney Hanson, Thanik Lertcharnrit, Andrew D. Weiss, Vincent C. Pigott, Charles F.W. Higham, Thomas F.G. Higham, Steven A. Weber
Yunnan province is located in Southwest China. A technical study of the metal artifacts unearthed in western Yunnan can not only improve our understanding of the bronze culture but also fill many gaps in the archaeological studies that have been carried out on prehistoric bronzes from Yunnan. In this paper, we summarize the results of our analyses of bronzes dating from the seventeenth century BCE to the second century BCE. Ninety-nine metal artifacts, including weapons, tools, and decorative objects have been analyzed by optical microscopy and scanning electron microscope (SEM) with energy-dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) to examine the microstructure and composition. The results show that a variety of alloys were employed, including unalloyed copper, copper-tin, copper-tin-lead, copper-arsenic, copper-arsenic-lead, copper-lead-antimony, copper-antimony, lead-antimony-arsenic-copper, carburized bloom steel, and hypoeutectoid steel. The copper alloys were fabricated by casting, cold working after casting, and annealing. This study has expanded our knowledge of bronze culture in these areas and reveals some of the technological relationships among the regions of western and central Yunnan, the northern steppe, and Southeast Asia.
One significant advance in the field of Chinese archaeology over past decades has been the identification of numerous prehistoric societies characterized by unequal access to status and wealth (henceforth referred to a 'complex societies') in areas peripheral to the Yellow River valley, a region traditionally regarded as the cradle of Chinese civilization. Lingnan, an area which comprises the two modern provinces of Guangdong and Guanxi in Southeast China, also witnessed the emergence of small-scale complex societies prior to its incorporation into the unified Qin and Han states during the last centuries of the pre-Christian era (Allard 1995). This paper examines the circumstances and features of five instances of complex socio-political development in Lingnan over a period from the late Neolithic to the early Iron Age (ca. 3000-200 B.C.) with each of these trajectories tested against recent models dealing with the issues of societal types, complexity, growth and stability.
The main problem with dating pottery by radiocarbon is that many different carbon sources, of different radiocarbon age, may contribute to the potsherd carbon content. Also, the process of firing is liable to destroy information that might help separate possible sources. We describe several pottery dating projects in which we have dated separate fractions (such as humics, lipids and classes of residual carbon). Although in some cases consistency between results is sufficient to accept that this approach can give a credible date, in other cases, no date has been possible, and general conclusions are difficult to make.
The Liyang plain, located in the northwest of Hunan province, is part of the plain on the north of Dongting Lake. It is situated at longitude 111°22′30″E to 111°51′30″E, and latitude 29°35′31″N to 29°47′30″N. It is made up of the Li River, its tributaries and the alluvial plain, and occupies about 600 sq. km in area (FIGURE 1).
The plain is saucer-shaped and surrounded by small hills on three sides, joined at the eastern part to the plain north of Dongting Lake. The area is a classic ‘plate-basin’ structure. Inside its boundaries, the land is broad and flat, with small streams winding in different directions, and lakes and ponds dotting the landscape. It is 32–45 m above sea level, with an incline of 2° to 3°.
If radiocarbon measurements are to be used at all for chronological purposes, we have to use statistical methods for calibration. The most widely used method of calibration can be seen as a simple application of Bayesian statistics, which uses both the information from the new measurement and information from the 14 C calibration curve. In most dating applications, however, we have larger numbers of 14 C measurements and we wish to relate those to events in the past. Bayesian statistics provides a coherent framework in which such analysis can be performed and is becoming a core element in many 14 C dating projects. This article gives an overview of the main model components used in chronological analysis, their mathematical formulation, and examples of how such analyses can be performed using the latest version of the OxCal software (v4). Many such models can be put together, in a modular fashion, from simple elements, with defined constraints and groupings. In other cases, the commonly used “uniform phase” models might not be appropriate, and ramped, exponential, or normal distributions of events might be more useful. When considering analyses of these kinds, it is useful to be able run simulations on synthetic data. Methods for performing such tests are discussed here along with other methods of diagnosing possible problems with statistical models of this kind.
Southeast Asia is one major region where applications of socio-political frameworks emphasizing progressive development and increasing degrees of social hierarchy have been argued as inadequate for understanding past societies. Settlement systems in Thailand that existed throughout the period of technological change incorporating the bronze and iron ages have not yet been investigated from a heterarchical viewpoint. The dissertation goal is to test heterarchical and hierarchical frameworks for best fit with settlement patterns in the region of Kok Samrong-Takhli Undulating Terrain (KSTUT) in the eastern side of the Upper Chao Phraya River Valley. A two-stage survey, a reconnaissance survey followed by a 58 km2 intensive survey, was conducted in order to locate sites across different landscapes, identify subregional ceramic variation and possibly geographic shifts in ceramic subregions over time, and determine evidence for economic specialization among sites of varying sizes. Twenty-five open-air sites were identified across the alluvial plain, middle terrace, and upland zones. The KSTUT data indicate a long occupational history from the bronze and iron ages into the Proto-historic period. The prehistoric settlement data are compatible with a heterarchical settlement model. The Metal Age agrarian communities with various site sizes exploited diverse environmental zones; they developed sustainable and sufficient subsistence strategies with no marked changes over time. Upland cultivation of a number of crops was likely the dominant subsistence mode. Shared ceramic stylistics within the KSTUT region defines the area as a "ceramic subregion;" such subregions are argued to be products of enduring social networks that, in the case of the KSTUT, encompassed various environments. The iron age settlement data do not support a close relationship among the appearance of iron, wet rice agriculture, and development of chiefdoms. Although the iron age communities experienced some gradual changes (e.g., increasing regional integration and broader trade networks) and the possible movement of people from upland to lowland areas during the Late Iron phase, the KSTUT ceramic subregion was relatively unchanged in extent. No evidence for hierarchical settlement patterns occurred until the Proto-historic (Dvaravati) period.
