Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-pftt2 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-06-10T10:43:24.926Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Site Location and Site Hierarchy in Prehistoric Thailand

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 May 2014

C. F. W. Hicham
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, University of Otago, New Zealand
Amphan Kijngam
Affiliation:
Fine Arts Department, Bangkok, Thailand
B. F. J. Manly
Affiliation:
Biometrics Unit, University of Otago, New Zealand

Extract

During the past decade, archaeological research in north-east Thailand has concentrated on the excavation of individual sites. Of these, the best known are Non Nok Tha (Bayard 1971) and Ban Chiang (Gorman and Charoenwongsa 1976). Both are relatively small occupation and burial sites, covering c. 1 ha and 3.5 ha respectively.

There have been several claims for an unexpectedly early bronze-working tradition in the area, and of the inception of iron technology during the second millennium BC. Biological remains from these sites reveal cultivation of rice and maintenance of domestic herds of cattle, pig and water buffalo (Gorman and Charoenwongsa 1976). While the recent surge of prehistoric research here and in adjacent areas has clearly demonstrated the presence of a south-east Asian bronze working tradition of some antiquity (Ha Van Tan 1980), the establishment of a chronological framework and of the settlement pattern in the area are in their infancy.

As part of the Thai Government's North-east Thailand Archaeological Project, steps were taken in 1980–81 to expand our knowledge of the Ban Chiang culture. During the 1980 dry season, Higham and Kijngam co-directed two intensive field surveys.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © The Prehistoric Society 1982

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Adams, R. E. W. and Jones, R. C., 1981. ‘Spacial patterns and regional growth among classic Maya cities’, American Antiquity 46(2), 301–22.Google Scholar
Bayard, D. T., 1971. ‘Non Nok Tha. The 1968 excavation: Procedure, stratigraphy and a summary of the evidence’, Univ. Otago Studies in Prehistoric Anthropology No. 4, Dunedin, New Zealand.Google Scholar
Berry, B. J. L., 1961. ‘City size distributions and economic development’, Econ. Dev. and Social Change 9, 573–88.Google Scholar
Berry, B. J. L., Conkling, E. C. and Ray, D. M., 1976. The Geography of Economic Systems. Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs.Google Scholar
Boonsong, L. and McNeely, J. A., 1977. Mammals of Thailand. Sahakarnbhat Co., Bangkok.Google Scholar
Charernsupkul, Anuvit, 1979. ‘Dating the two brick monuments at Muang Si Thep: A style analysis, Muang Boran 5(4), 102–04.Google Scholar
Davidson, J. H. C. S., 1975. ‘Recent archaeological activity in Viet-nam, J. Hong Kong Archaeol. Soc. 6, 8099.Google Scholar
Dixon, W. J., Brown, M. B., Engleman, L., Frane, J. W. and Jennrich, R. I., 1977. Biomedical Computer Programs P-series. University of California Press, Berkeley, U.S.A. Google Scholar
Fried, M., 1967. The Evolution of Political Society. Random House, New York.Google Scholar
Goody, J., 1976. Production and Reproduction. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Gorman, C. F. and Charoenwongsa, Pisit, 1976. ‘Ban Chiang: A Mosaic of Impressions from the First Two Years’, Expedition 18(4), 1426.Google Scholar
Green, E. L., 1973. ‘Location Analysis of Prehistoric Maya Sites in Northern British Honduras’, American Antiquity 38(3), 279–93.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Haggett, P., Cliff, A. D. and Frey, A., 1977. Locational Analysis in Human Geography. Edward Arnold, London.Google Scholar
Ha Van Tan, , 1980. ‘Nouvelles Recherches Préhistoriques et Protohistoriques au Vietnam’, Bull. de l'Ecole Française d'Extreme-Orient 68, 113–54.Google Scholar
Higham, C. F. W. and Kijngam, Amphan, 1979. ‘Ban Chiang and North-east Thailand; The Palaeoenvironment and Economy’, J. Archaeol. Sci. 6(3), 211–34.Google Scholar
Higham, C. F. W. and Kijngam, Amphan, 1981. ‘Early metallurgy in Northeast Thailand: new evidence’. Paper submitted to Nature. Google Scholar
Higham, C. F. W., Kijngam, Amphan, Manly, B. F. J. and Moore, S. J. E., 1980. ‘The third bovid phalanx and prehistoric ploughing’, J. Archaeol. Sci., in press.Google Scholar
Hodder, I. and Orton, C., 1976. Spatial Analysis in Archaeology. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Holdridge, L. R., 1967. Life Zone Ecology (revised edition). Tropical Science Centre, San Jose, Costa Rica.Google Scholar
Johnson, G. A., 1975. ‘Locational analysis and Uruk Local exchange systems’, in Sabloff, J. A. and Lamberg-Karlovsky, C. C. (eds), Ancient Civilization and Trade, 285337. University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque.Google Scholar
Moorman, F. R., Sarot Montrakun and Samarn Panichapong, 1964. Soils of Northeastern Thailand: a key to their identification and survey. Soil Survey Division, Land Development Dept, Bangkok.Google Scholar
Nelder, J. A., 1975. Glim Manuel, Release 2. Distributed by the Numerical Algorithms Group, Banbury Road, Oxford, England.Google Scholar
Pearson, E. S. and Hartley, H. C., 1972. Biometrika Tables for Statisticians. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Pielou, E. C., 1977. Mathematical Ecology. Wiley, New York.Google Scholar
Renfrew, A. C., 1972. The Emergence of Civilization. Methuen, London.Google Scholar
Renfrew, A. C., 1975. ‘Trade as action at a distance’, in Sabloff, J. A. and Lamberg-Karlovsky, C. C. (eds), Ancient Civilization and Trade, 360. University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque.Google Scholar
Robinson, G. H. and Steel, P., 1972. Classification and evaluation of soils for Wetland Rice. Soil Survey Division, Land Development Dept, Bangkok.Google Scholar
Saengwan, N., 1979. Ancient Cities in N.E. Thailand (in Thai). North-east Thailand Archaeological Project, Khon Kaen National Museum, Thailand.Google Scholar
Smith, R. B., 1979. ‘Mainland South East Asia in the seventh and eighth centuries’, in Smith, R. B. and Watson, W. (eds), Early South East Asia, 443–56. Oxford University Press, Oxford.Google Scholar
Stephens, M. A., 1970. ‘Kolmogorov-type tests for exponentiality when the scale parameter is unknown’, Tech. Rep. 154. Department of Statistics, University of Stanford.Google Scholar
Subhadradis Diskul, M. C., 1956. ‘Muang Fa Daed, an ancient town in North East Thailand’, Artibus Asiae XIX, 362–67.Google Scholar
Subhadradis Diskul, M. C., 1979. ‘The development of Dvāravatī sculpture and a recent find from N.E. Thailand’, in Smith, R. B. and Watson, W. (eds), Early South East Asia, 360–70. Oxford University Press, Oxford.Google Scholar
Walker, S. H. and Duncan, D. B., 1967. ‘Estimation of the probability of an event as a function of several independent variables’, Biometrika 54, 167–79.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wheatley, P., 1979. ‘Urban genesis in mainland S.E. Asia’, in Smith, R. B. and Watson, W. (eds), Early South East Asia, 288303. Oxford University Press, Oxford.Google Scholar
Williams-Hunt, P. D. R., 1950. ‘Irregular earthworks in Eastern Siam: an air survey’, Antiquity 24, 3037.Google Scholar