The Routledge handbook of bioarchaeology in Southeast Asia and the Pacific Islands 9781138778184, 9781315725444, 1315725444

Table of contents :
pt. 1. Mainland and island Southeast Asia --
pt. 2. The Pacific Islands.

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The Routledge Handbook of Bioarchaeology in Southeast Asia and the Pacific Islands

In recent years the bioarchaeology of Southeast Asia and the Pacific Islands has seen enormous progress. This new and exciting research is synthesised, contextualised and expanded upon in The Routledge Handbook of Bioarchaeology in Southeast Asia and the Pacific Islands. The volume is divided into two broad sections, one dealing with mainland and island Southeast Asia, and a second section dealing with the Pacific Islands. A multi-scale approach is employed to the bio-social dimensions of Southeast Asia and the Pacific Islands with contributions varying between region and/or site-specific scales of operation to the individual or personal scale. The more personal level of osteobiographies enriches the understanding of the lived experience in past communities. By including a number of contributions from sub-disciplinary approaches tangential to bioarchaeology, the book provides a broad theoretical and methodological approach. It provides new information on the globally relevant topics of farming, population mobility, subsistence and health; no other volume provides such a range of coverage on these important themes. Marc Oxenham is Reader of Archaeology and Biological Anthropology at the School of Archaeology and Anthropology, Australian National University. Hallie R. Buckley is Associate Professor at the Department of Anatomy of the Otago School of Medical Sciences, University of Otago, New Zealand.

The Routledge Handbook of Bioarchaeology in Southeast Asia and the Pacific Islands

Edited by Marc Oxenham and Hallie R. Buckley

First published 2016 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN and by Routledge 711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2016 selection and editorial matter Marc Oxenham and Hallie R. Buckley; individual chapters, the contributors The right of the editors to be identified as the authors of the editorial material, and of the authors for their individual chapters, has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data The Routledge handbook of bioarchaeology in Southeast Asia and the Pacific Islands / edited by Marc Oxenham and Hallie Buckley. pages cm Includes index. 1. Human remains (Archaeology)—Southeast Asia. 2. Human remains (Archaeology)—Pacific Ocean. I. Oxenham, Marc, editor, author. II. Buckley, Hallie, editor, author. CC79.5.H85R68 2015 930.1—dc23 2015016135 ISBN: 978-1-138-77818-4 (hbk) ISBN: 978-1-315-72544-4 (ebk) Typeset in Bembo Std by Swales & Willis Ltd, Exeter, Devon, UK

Contents

List of figures List of tables List of contributors Foreword by Clark Spencer Larsen A dedication   1 Bioarchaeology in Southeast Asia and the Pacific Hallie R. Buckley and Marc Oxenham

ix xv xx xxiii xxv 1

PART I

Mainland and island Southeast Asia

7

  2 The population history of mainland and island Southeast Asia Marc Oxenham and Hallie R. Buckley

9

  3 Human cultural, technological and adaptive changes from the end of the Pleistocene to the mid-Holocene in Southeast Asia Philip J. Piper   4 Prehistoric mortuary traditions in Cambodia Dougald O’Reilly and Louise Shewan   5 Frail, foreign or favoured? A contextualized case study from Bronze Age northeast Thailand Kate Domett, Jennifer Newton, Alana Colbert, Nigel Chang and Siân E. Halcrow

24 45

68

v

Contents

  6 Reflections on life and Times in Neolithic Vietnam: one person’s story Lorna Tilley and Marc Oxenham

95

  7 Investigating activity and mobility patterns during the mid-Holocene in northern Vietnam Damien Huffer and Marc Oxenham

110

  8 Reconstructing diet at An So’n and Hòa Diêm: implications for understanding Southeast Asian subsistence patterns Anna Willis and Marc Oxenham

137

  9 Infant and child health and disease with agricultural intensification in mainland Southeast Asia Siân E. Halcrow, Nancy Tayles and Charlotte L. King

158

10 To follow in their footsteps: an examination of the burial identity of the elderly from Non Nok Tha Ken W. Ross and Marc Oxenham

187

11 Age-at-death estimation in a sample of Prehistoric Southeast Asian adolescents and adults Nancy Tayles and Siân E. Halcrow

220

12 Cremation in mainland Southeast Asia: an overview Stacey Ward and Nancy Tayles 13 Social affiliation, settlement pattern histories and subsistence change in Neolithic Borneo Lindsay Lloyd-Smith, John Krigbaum and Benjamin Valentine 14 Field anthropology in Southeast Asia and the Pacific: initial steps toward a regional overview and the Pain Haka case study Nathaniel J. Harris, Hallie R. Buckley, Siân E. Halcrow, Rebecca L. Kinaston, Aimee Foster, Truman Simanjantuk and Jean-Christophe Galipaud 15 Dealing with death in late Neolithic to Metal Period Nagsabaran, the Philippines Marc Oxenham, Anna Willis, Hsiao-chun Hung, Ruth Page and Hirofumi Matsumura 16 Implications of pathological changes in cremated human remains from Palawan, Philippines, for island Southeast Asian archaeology Myra Lara, Helen Lewis, Victor Paz and Wilfredo Ronquillo vi

239

257

289

311

339

Contents

PART II

The Pacific Islands

361

17 Bioarchaeology in the Pacific Islands: a temporal and geographical examination of nutritional and infectious disease Hallie R. Buckley and Marc Oxenham

363

18 Human biology and population histories in the Pacific – is there such thing as a Lapita people? Elizabeth A. Matisoo-Smith

389

19 Socio-environmental adaption to the montane rainforests of New Guinea Tim Denham 20 Is there a ‘Lapita diet’? A comparison of Lapita and post-Lapita skeletal samples from four Pacific Island archaeological sites Rebecca L. Kinaston, Stuart Bedford, Matthew Spriggs, Dimitri Anson and Hallie R. Buckley

409

427

21 Dogs and people in Southeast Asia and the Pacific Karen Greig, Richard Walter and Elizabeth A. Matisoo-Smith

462

22 Scratching out a living: chickens in ancient Pacific economies Alice Storey

483

23 Adapting to Palau Greg C. Nelson, Jessica H. Stone, Scott M. Fitzpatrick

502

24 Under the Latte: osteobiography and social context of a burial assemblage at Tumon Bay, Guam Ann L. W. Stodder, Elisa Melanie Ryan, Rosalind L. Hunter-Anderson, Michele Toomay Douglas and Rona Ikehara-Quebral 25 Diet and subsistence in remote Oceania: an analysis using oral indicators of diet Christina Stantis, Nancy Tayles, Rebecca L. Kinaston, Claire Cameron, Patrick D. Nunn, Michael P. Richards and Hallie R. Buckley 26 Dental calculus and plant diet in Oceania Monica Tromp, John V. Dudgeon, Hallie R. Buckley and Elizabeth A. Matisoo-Smith 27 What archaeologists want human biologists to tell them, about Teouma for example Matthew Spriggs

527

569

599

623

vii

Contents

28 The ancestors speak: Ko‒iwi Tangata, Ma‒tauranga Ma‒ori and the development of biological anthropology in New Zealand Katharina Ruckstuhl, Nancy Tayles, Hallie R. Buckley, Richard Bradley, Roger Fyfe and Matapura Ellison 29 Meta-themes in the bioarchaeology of the Asia–Pacific region Marc Oxenham and Hallie R. Buckley

637

655

Index 663

viii

Figures

  2.1 Mainland Southeast Asia   2.2 Island Southeast Asia   3.1 The geographic distribution of archaeological sites referred to in the text that produced evidence of human subsistence strategies, bone implements and edge-ground stone technologies during the Late Pleistocene to mid-Holocene across Southeast Asia and Melanesia   3.2 A selection of early Holocene bone implement types from Golo Cave, Gebe Island, Moluccas   3.3 Edge-ground stone adzes dating to the early Holocene from Xom Trai Cave, northern Vietnam   3.4 The geographic distribution of archaeological sites referred to in the text that produced shell adzes and human burials from the terminal Pleistocene to mid-Holocene in Southeast Asia and Melanesia   3.5 Edge-ground shell adze directly dated to 5,550–5,250 cal bce (S-ANU-35132) from Bubog I rock shelter on Ilin Island, Mindoro   3.6 Burial No. 27 from the West Mouth of Niah Caves showing a flexed inhumation with a rhinoceros radius, utilized as a ‘pillow’   3.7 An early Holocene flexed inhumation from Song Terus, Java, associated with a complete Javan lutung (Trachypithecus auratus) skull   4.1 Map of Phum Snay showing locations of various excavations   4.2 A selection of artifacts found at prehistoric sites in Cambodia   4.3 Burial 7 from Phum Sophy with associated artifacts found in the burial context

10 11

25 30 31

32 33 34 37 51 55 56 ix

Figures

  5.1 The range of characteristics of an interment that carry information on social identity 69   5.2 Ban Non Wat contour map showing the excavations relative to the current topography 71   5.3 Burial 676 in situ 72   5.4 Burial 676 and B677 and associated mortuary goods 73   5.5 Grave goods associated with B676 74   5.6 Stature (cm) estimates of each individual from the Series 2 excavations at Ban Non Wat 76   5.7 Pathology in B676 79   5.8 B676 left forearm, left radius and ulna 80   5.9 B676 left distal radius 81   5.10 Dentition of B676 82   5.11 Ban Non Wat Series 1 and 2 87Sr/86Sr values per individual with non-local signatures circled 85  5.12 87Sr/86Sr outliers by mortuary phase at Ban Non Wat (Series 1 and 2 data) 86  5.13 δ13C and δ18O values for Series 1 and 2 humans and pigs at Ban Non Wat (includes outliers) 86   5.14 Ban Non Wat Series 1 and 2 δ13C values by mortuary phase (excludes Series 1 outliers) 87   6.1 The Man Bac cemetery excavation site and surrounds, looking southwest 97   6.2 MB07H1M09 (M9) in situ just prior to lifting (preserved grave goods have been removed) 97   6.3 The third and final level of burials at Man Bac cemetery, looking east 102   6.4 MB07H2M08, a subadult of ~18 months, was interred with bivalve shells in both hands and a cluster of six shells (cowrie, clam and gastropod) at the level of the left hand 103  8.1 δ13Ccollagen and δ15Ncollagen values for An So’n and Hoà Diêm 145  8.2 δ13Capatite and δ15Ncollagen values for An So’n and Hoà Diêm 146 13 13  8.3 δ Capatite and δ Ccollagen values for An So’n and Hoà Diêm 146  8.4 ∆13Capatite-collagen and δ15Ncollagen values for An So’n and Hoà Diêm 147  8.5 δ13Ccollagen and δ13Capatite plotted by ∆13Capatite-collagen for An So’n 147  8.6 δ13Ccollagen and δ15Ncollagen values for Southeast Asia and China 148 13 15  8.7 δ Capatite and δ Ncollagen values for Southeast Asia and China 148  8.8 Enamel δ13Capatite values for Southeast Asia 149   8.9 Multivariate model presenting diets of the sites with δ15Ncollagen, δ13Ccollagen and δ13Capatite values 149   9.1 Chronological relationships among the sites 161 11.1 Auricular surface with a pseudo ‘transverse organisation’ in an old adult, female Burial 154 231 11.2 Auricular surface with nodules (examples indicated by arrows) 232 x

Figures

11.3 Thai rice farmers illustrating the full flexion at the hip joints readily adopted while transplanting rice 235 11.4 Thai villager happily adopting a full squatting posture while excavating at Ban Non Wat 235 12.1 (A) Heat fracturing indicative of ‘dry’ cremation on burial 2+700 - 2+702(L)A; (B) Heat fracturing of ‘fresh’ cremation on burial 2+376 - 2+378(R) BS09 - BP2; (C) Heat fracturing indicative of ‘fresh’ cremation on burial 6+776 - 6+774(L); (D) Heat fracturing indicative of ‘fleshed’ cremation on burial 5+918 - 5+920(L) 250 13.1 Niah River and Gunung Subis limestone massif, north Borneo 259 13.2 Examples of Niah Neolithic burial 262 13.3 The West Mouth of the Niah Great Cave Neolithic and post-Neolithic cemetery with proposed burial groups indicated 263 13.4 Burial chronologies in the West Mouth and Lobang Jeragan cemeteries 266 13.5 Lobang Jeragan Neolithic cemetery plan with descriptive Burial Group zones indicated 269 13.6 Isotopic boxplots of site/burial phase for all individuals (M3 and M2) 277 13.7 Strontium isotope values of all sampled individuals from the West Mouth and Lobang Jeragan Neolithic cemeteries 278 13.8 OPTICS clusters for all individuals sampled (M1, M2, and M3) from West Mouth and Loband Jeragan Neolithic cemeteries 278 13.9 Bivariate scatterplots: Pb vs Pb (a), Sr vs Pb (b), and Sr vs d13C (c) 280 13.10 Burial chronologies, cemetery and settlement pattern histories, individual life-histories, and diet: a proposed schematic interpretation 285 14.1 Burial 15a and 15b, secondary adult bundle burials 301 14.2 Burial 28, a secondary mid-aged adult female jar burial 301 14.3 Burial 22, a secondary adolescent male jar burial with evidence of dismemberment before decomposition 302 14.4 Burial 29a, a young adult female inhumation with missing skull 302 14.5 Burial 12, a young adult male inhumation burial in a loose durable wrapping 304 14.6 Burial 21. Remains from four individuals 305 15.1 Burial NAG 2000 B2. Note extreme flexure of all limbs into a form of body bundle 314 15.2 Burial NAG 2009 T14 B4. Note retention of cranium and ankylosis of left hip, causing flexure of the left knee 316 15.3 Neighbour-joining tree generated from Q-mode correlation coefficients, based on 28 dental measurements 330 xi

Figures

15.4 15.5 15.6 16.1 16.2 16.3 16.4 16.5 16.6 16.7 16.8 16.9 17.1 19.1 19.2 19.3 20.1 20.2 20.3 21.1

xii

Neighbour-joining tree generated from Q-mode correlation coefficients, based on 28 dental measurements, including the Aeta Negrito sample for comparison NAG 2009 T14 B4 left ankylosed hip. (a) antero-lateral aspect; (b) medio-posterior aspect NAG 2009 T14 B4 left ankylosed hip. Radiograph of antero-posterior aspect Map showing location of the Ille site in the Dewil Valley, El Nido, northern Palawan Map of Ille showing opened trenches and the locations of the three cremation burials discussed in Chapter 16, Contexts 758, 1324, and 2228 Refitted fragments in Context 758 Abnormal bone modification on the greater tubercle of the right humerus compared to the left humerus of the same individual in Context 758 Abnormal bone modification on the popliteal surface of the left femur in Context 758 Abnormal bone deposition on the antero-lateral surface of the left femur at about the fourth proximal level in Context 758 Abnormal bone deposition on the inferior surface of the sphenoid in Context 1324 Abnormal bone deposition on the external surface of a rib fragment in Context 1324 Lamellar bone deposit on the lateral surface of a metacarpal or metatarsal shaft fragment of a juvenile in Context 1324 The geography of the Pacific Islands, indicating island and site locations referred to in subsequent chapters and key biogeographical landmarks Map of Sahul and Near Oceania showing sites and regions discussed in the text Degrees of human selective pressure associated with different types of practice The archaeology of early agriculture in the highlands of New Guinea Human carbon and nitrogen stable isotope ratios from each site Pig carbon and nitrogen stable isotope ratios from each site Human stable isotope results compared with the Pacific Island dietary baseline Map showing natural distribution of wolves, the proposed centre of dog domestication based on DNA analysis south of the Yangtze River and selected Neolithic sites with dog remains in mainland and island Southeast Asia mentioned in the text

331 332 333 341 342 346 347 348 348 349 349 350 364 410–11 417 420 431 432 448

466

Figures

21.2

Map showing early distribution of dogs in the Pacific, from archaeological contexts and reported by eighteenth and nineteenth century European voyages in the region 22.1 Oldest confirmed ages for Pacific chicken remains, either directly or by contextual association 23.1 Location of Chelechol ra Orrak (“beach of Orrak”) on the western, lagoon side of Orrak Island just off the southeastern tip of Babeldaob, the main island in the Palauan archipelago 23.2 Site plan of the Chelechol ra Orrak cemetery 23.3 Burials 11 and 16 in situ 23.4 Examples of pathology found at Orrak 24.1 Artist’s reconstruction of a small latte house in which three pairs of pillars and capstones hold the foundation for a wood and thatch superstructure 24.2 Location of Guam and the Mariana Islands, the distribution and density of latte sets on Guam, and the location of Tumon Bay 24.3 Mortuary practices recorded in Hyatt Site burials 24.4 Distribution of burial types: all burials, males, females, and subadults 24.5 Tumon Bay Hyatt site map and demographic composition of burial groups 24.6 MMD, burial Groups 4, 6, and 8 24.7 Burial sequence C in burial Group 4 25.1 d13C and d15N bone collagen isotope results for the Bourewa and ‘Atele remains 25.2 δ13C and d15N plotted against individual caries frequency by site with linear regression lines 25.3 δ13C and d15N plotted against individual AMTL frequency by site with linear regression lines 25.4 δ13C and d15N plotted against individual periodontitis frequency by site with linear regression lines 25.5 δ13C and d15N plotted against individual occlusal edge chipping frequency by site with linear regression lines 25.6 δ13C and d15N plotted against individual dentin exposure frequency by site with linear regression lines 26.1 Supragingival and subgingival dental calculus deposits 26.2 Examples of sugarcane stem and banana leaf reference phytoliths 26.3 Examples of archaeological diatoms recovered from Rapa Nui dental calculus 26.4 Sweet potato starch grains shown in cross-polarized and standard light microscopy 26.5 Map of Rapa Nui showing sites that were sampled in this case study

472 490 503 504 505 515 528 530 533 534 535 538 539 582 584 585 586 587 588 602 603 604 605 608

xiii

Figures

26.6 26.7 26.8

xiv

Examples of phytolith morphotypes recovered from Rapa Nui dental calculus Sweet potato-type starch grains recovered from Rapa Nui dental calculus Globular echinate (palm) phytoliths embedded in sweet potato skin

609 610 612

Tables

  4.1   4.2   5.1  5.2   5.3   5.4   5.5  5.6   5.7   5.8   5.9   7.1   7.2   7.3   7.4   7.5   7.6   7.7

Dates for the mortuary contexts of sites mentioned in the text Summary of burial assemblages Female stature estimates for prehistoric Southeast Asia Enamel hypoplasia among the permanent incisors and canines in the Series 2 sample at Ban Non Wat (individual count) Enamel hypoplasia among the permanent incisors and canines in the Series 2 sample at Ban Non Wat (tooth count) Caries among the permanent dentition in the Series 2 sample at Ban Non Wat Caries among the permanent dentition in the Series 2 sample at Ban Non Wat (tooth count) Periapical cavities among the permanent adult dentition in the Series 2 sample at Ban Non Wat Periapical cavities among the permanent adult dentition in the Series 2 sample at Ban Non Wat (tooth count) Antemortem tooth loss among the permanent dentition in the Series 2 sample at Ban Non Wat Antemortem tooth loss among the permanent dentition in the Series 2 sample at Ban Non Wat (tooth count) Entheses requiring rescoring after intra-observer error assessment Sex-based, side-averaged, lower body enthesis variation: Man Bac Sex-based, side-averaged, upper body enthesis variation: Man Bac Sex-based, side-averaged, lower body enthesis variation: Con Co Ngua Sex-based, side-averaged, upper body enthesis variation: Con Co Ngua Pooled population-level enthesial variation Full-body male and female PCA analysis: Man Bac

46 47 77 78 78 83 84 84 84 85 85 115 116 117 117 118 118 120 xv

Tables

  7.8   7.9   7.10   7.11

Full-body male and female PCA analysis: Con Co Ngua 121 Man Bac cross-sectional property means and variation 122 Humeral median % bilateral asymmetry and sexual dimorphism 124 Man Bac cross-sectional properties compared to select global populations 125   8.1 Stable isotope data for An So’n 143   8.2 Stable isotope summary data for An So’n by sex 144   8.3 Stable isotope data for Hòa Diêm 144   8.4 Stable isotope summary data for Hòa Diêm by sex 145   9.1 The region, cemetery dates and percentage of infants and children in the samples 160   9.2 Comparative age-at-death distributions of the infants and children from the sites 163   9.3 Sex distribution of adults at the sites 164   9.4 Comparative prevalences of linear enamel hypoplasia in the permanent teeth 166   9.5 Comparative prevalences of localised hypoplasia of the primary canine 166   9.6 Prevalence of cribra orbitalia in the samples by age group 168   9.7 Prevalence of periostitis in the samples by age group 168   9.8 Prevalence of endocranial new bone growth in the infant and child samples 169   9.9 Caries prevalence in the deciduous and permanent teeth for the infant and child sample 170   9.10 Relative prevalences of indicators of health of the infants and children among the sites 172   9.11 Factors relating to the prevalence of parasites 173   9.1–8A Supplementary tables 182   9.2.1A Infant mortality age distribution at the sites 186 10.1 Demographic structure at Non Nok Tha 193 10.2 Burial variables and variable outcomes used in this study 195 10.3 Summary of material culture burial variables used in this study 197 10.4 Summary of burial characteristics used in this study 199 10.5 Statistical comparisons of material culture by age-at-death and sex 200 10.6 Statistical comparisons of burial characteristics by age-at-death and sex 202 10.7 Statistical comparison of potentially significant variables by age-at-death and sex 205 10.8 Tests of GLM model effects – interaction by age-at-death, sex and mortuary phase 207 11.1 Definition of adolescent age groups 224 11.2 Age composition of the Ban Non Wat sample 228 11.3 Adult mortality for each sex by age groups 229 11.4 Availability of age estimators for each sex 229 11.5 Age estimators used for those with sex estimates 230 xvi

Tables

11.6 11.7 12.1 12.2 13.1 13.2 13.3 13.4 13.5 14.1 14.2 14.3 14.4 15.1 15.2 15.3 16.1 18.1 20.1 20.2 20.3 20.4 20.5 20.6 20.7 20.8 20.9 20.10 20.11 20.12 20.13 20.14 20.15 20.16

Age estimators used by age group 230 Revised adult mortality rates by sex 231 Estimated age and sex, bone counts and bone colour information for each cremation burial in the Lax Xang sample 249 Heat fracturing information for each cremation burial in the Lan Xang sample 251 Classification of burial types in the West Mouth, Niah Cave 261 Burial types, numbers investigated, and their proposed main phases in the West Mouth and Lobang Jeragan, Niah Caves, Sarawak 265 Proposed spatial burial groups in the Neolithic and post-Neolithic cemetery in the West Mouth of Niah Great Cave 273 Isotope data for all samples from the Niah Cave West Mouth and Lobang Jeragan Neolithic cemeteries 274 Descriptive statistics for human d13C and d18O results from Niah Cave West Mouth and Lobang Jeragan Neolithic burials 276 Burial context descriptions and criteria for their identification at Pain Haka 292 Age, sex, and provenance data for individuals buried at Pain Haka 298 Age and sex composition of the complete Pain Haka skeletal assemblage 300 Burial positions and frequencies identified at Pain Haka 303 Burial summary for Nagsabaran: 2000–2009 seasons 313 Skull and dental crown measurements and non-metric dental traits for NAG 2009 T14 B4 328 Comparative archeological dental samples from East/Southeast Asia 329 Preservation of three cremations 344 Distribution of mtDNA haplogroups in Near and Remote Oceania 398 Summary statistics for human stable isotope ratios for each site 431 Summary statistics for pig stable isotope ratios for each site 432 Teouma Lapita dental sample summary 433 Teouma post-Lapita dental sample summary 433 Uripiv Lapita dental sample summary 433 Uripiv post-Lapita dental sample summary 434 Vao Lapita dental sample summary 434 Vao post-Lapita dental sample summary 434 Watom Lapita dental sample summary 435 Teouma Lapita caries profile 437 Teouma post-Lapita caries profile 438 Uripiv Lapita caries profile 438 Uripiv post-Lapita caries profile 439 Vao Lapita caries profile 439 Vao post-Lapita caries profile 440 Watom Lapita caries profile 440 xvii

Tables

20.17 20.18 20.19 20.20 20.21 20.22 20.23 21.1

Teouma Lapita oral conditions 441 Teouma post-Lapita oral conditions 442 Uripiv Lapita oral conditions 443 Uripiv post-Lapita oral conditions 444 Vao Lapita oral conditions 445 Vao post-Lapita oral conditions 446 Watom Lapita oral conditions 447 Archaeological evidence for dogs in East Asia, MSEA and ISEA 469 21.2 Archaeological evidence for dogs in Remote Oceania 473 22.1 Earliest appearance of chickens in locales with securely prehistoric remains 488 22.2 Data for radiocarbon dates and isotope data 491 23.1 Radiocarbon dates from human bone and other sample types in burial deposits at the Chelechol ra Orrak cemetery 506 23.2 Age, sex, and presence/absence data for selected pathologies for the numbered complete or partial burials from Chelechol ra Orrak 511 23.3 Stable isotope data used for the analysis of prehistoric diet at Chelechol ra Orrak 511 23.4 Linear enamel hypoplasia occurrence rates for Chelechol ra Orrak and a comparative sample 512 23.5 Porotic hyperostosis, cribra orbitalia, and dental caries frequencies for Chelechol ra Orrak and a comparative sample 516 24.1 Guam archaeological stages and Tumon Bay Hyatt temporal groups 529 24.2 Life table and subadult/adult ratios, Tumon Bay Hyatt assemblage 532 24.3 Selected skull nonmetric traits with dichotomized variation 536 24.4 Skull nonmetric variation in three burial groups used for MMD analysis 537 24.5 MMD matrix for three burial groups and eight traits 537 24.6 Individuals in burial Sequence C 538 24.1A Explanation of abbreviations and codes in Appendix 24.2 549 24.2A Skull nonmetric data, Tumon Bay Hyatt burials 551 25.1 Site and sample summary for ‘Atele, Bourewa and Rima Rau 570 25.2 Age and sex distribution of ‘Atele and Bourewa with non-commingled remains 577 25.3 Raw pathology prevalences of the ‘Atele population 578 25.4 Raw pathology prevalences of the Bourewa population 579 25.5 Raw pathology prevalences of the Rima Rau population 580 25.6 Raw pathology prevalences of all sites, combined 580 25.7 Model 1 of multi-level logistic regression 581 25.8 Model 2 of multi-level logistic regression 581 xviii

Tables

25.9 25.10 25.11 25.12

Model 3a of multi-level logistic regression Model 3b of multi-level logistic regression Descriptive summary of d13C and d15N results by site and sex Results of Pearson’s correlation coefficients

582 582 583 583

xix

Contributors

Dimitri Anson Department of Anthropology and Archaeology, University of Otago Stuart Bedford School of Culture, History and Language, Australian National University Richard Bradley Te Runanga a Rangitane o Wairau Hallie R. Buckley Department of Anatomy, University of Otago Claire Cameron Dunedin School of Medicine, University of Otago Alana Colbert College of Arts, Society and Education, James Cook University Nigel Chang College of Arts, Society and Education, James Cook University Tim Denham School of Archaeology and Anthropology, The Australian National University Kate Domett College of Medicine and Dentistry, James Cook University Michele Toomay Douglas Department of Anthropology, University of Hawaii John V. Dudgeon Department of Anthropology, Idaho State University

- naka ki Puketeraki Matapura Ellison Ka‒ti Huirapa Ru Scott M. Fitzpatrick Department of Anthropology, University of Oregon Aimee Foster Department of Anatomy, University of Otago Roger Fyfe Canterbury Museum

xx

Contributors

Jean-Christophe Galipaud Institut de Recherche pour le Développement Karen Greig Department of Anatomy, University of Otago Siân E. Halcrow Department of Anatomy, University of Otago Nathaniel J. Harris Department of Anatomy, University of Otago Damien Huffer Smithsonian Museum Conservation Institute Hsiao-chun Hung School of Archaeology and Anthropology, The Australian National University Rosalind L. Hunter-Anderson Anthropology Department, University of New Mexico Rona Ikehara-Quebral International Archaeological Research Institute Rebecca L. Kinaston Department of Anatomy, University of Otago Charlotte L. King Department of Anatomy, University of Otago John Krigbaum Department of Anthropology, University of Florida Myra Lara Archaeology Studies Program, University of the Philippines Helen Lewis School of Archaeology, University College Dublin Lindsay Lloyd-Smith Institute of East Asian Studies, Sogang University Elizabeth A. Matisoo-Smith Department of Anatomy and Allan Wilson Centre for Molecular Ecology and Evolution, University of Otago Hirofumi Matsumura Department of Anatomy, Sapporo Medical University Greg C. Nelson Department of Anthropology, University of Oregon Jennifer Newton College of Medicine and Dentistry, James Cook University Patrick D. Nunn Sustainability Research Centre, University of the Sunshine Coast Dougald O’Reilly School of Archaeology and Anthropology, The Australian National University Marc Oxenham School of Archaeology and Anthropology, The Australian National

University Ruth Page School of Archaeology and Anthropology, The Australian National University Victor Paz Archaeology Studies Program, University of the Philippines

xxi

Contributors

Philip J. Piper School of Archaeology and Anthropology, The Australian National University Michael P. Richards Department of Human Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary

Anthropology Wilfredo Ronquillo National Museum of the Philippines Ken W. Ross School of Archaeology and Anthropology, The Australian National University Katharina Ruckstuhl University of Otago Elisa Melanie Ryan United States Bureau of Reclamation Truman Simanjantuk Indonesian National Center for Archaeology Louise Shewan Monash Warwick Alliance, Monash University Matthew Spriggs School of Archaeology and Anthropology, The Australian National University Christina Stantis Department of Anatomy, University of Otago Ann L. W. Stodder Office of Archaeological Studies, Museum of New Mexico Jessica H. Stone Department of Anthropology, University of Oregon Alice Storey Archer CRM Partnership Nancy Tayles Department of Anatomy, University of Otago Lorna Tilley School of Archaeology and Anthropology, The Australian National University Monica Tromp Department of Anatomy, University of Otago Benjamin Valentine Department of Anthropology, Dartmouth College Richard Walter Department of Anthropology and Archaeology, University of Otago Stacey Ward Department of Anatomy, University of Otago Anna Willis School of Archaeology and Anthropology, The Australian National University

xxii

Foreword Clark Spencer Larsen

It is a great pleasure for me to write the foreword to this remarkable Routledge Handbook, a volume dedicated to the research advances and accomplishments in the bioarchaeology of Southeast Asia and the Pacific Islands, a vast region of the globe occupied by people having complex histories, variable social contexts, and remarkable diversity of circumstances of life and living. The book’s focus is on bioarchaeology, the study of human and faunal remains from archaeological contexts, which is a relatively new science. Two decades ago, I took on the task of presenting a synthesis of the field as it relates to humans (Larsen, 1997). Since then, I have watched with considerable interest the remarkable expansion in bioarchaeological research, its increasingly global coverage and its population and regional perspectives, including for Southeast Asia (Oxenham and Tayles, 2006). So expansive has bioarchaeology become that I prepared a new synthesis (Larsen, 2015), giving me a chance to present theoretical and methodological advances made in regard to a range of issues. But no synthesis can be truly comprehensive. Rather, a comprehensive synthesis of bioarchaeology in Southeast Asia and the Pacific Islands is presented in this Routledge Handbook, providing broad coverage of the region, giving the reader a go-to source written by leading experts in the field, and presenting new meaning and understanding of population history. This Handbook gives us a fundamental source that presents new vision and broad scope, informing our growing understanding of how humans adapt. While the focus of the book is on the study of human remains, new analyses of animal and plant remains and other key contextual data for interpreting transformative adaptive systems are also provided by the contributors to the book. Past dietary transitions and related adaptations are certainly revealed in the book, but the implications relating to climate change, nutritional deprivation, and negative health outcomes in these settings collectively give us new meaning for understanding the world we live in today. Simply, the biological and social changes and transformations put into play hundreds and thousands of years ago set the stage for the world we live in today. The biocultural framework of the book illustrates the diverse array of adaptive systems and the richness of the human record when viewed in its wide context. In this regard, the diversity of adaptive systems applies to the foraging-to-farming transition, arguably the leading economic change having the most profound impact on human societies, population history, health and wellbeing, and lifestyle. The results presented by a number of contributors to the Handbook xxiii

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emphasize the region’s role in the global Neolithic revolution. This work underscores the important point that the manner and scope of the revolution was neither monocausal nor did it result in universal changes in health and wellbeing (Armelagos and Cohen, 2013). The bioarchaeological record from Southeast Asia and the Pacific Islands emphasizes the diversity of life experiences and social change during the Neolithic and after, including for those settings where farming and reliance on plant carbohydrates was not a dominant part of the adaptive transition. The results presented for a range of research programs so nicely documented in the following pages highlight the various approaches to understanding the adaptive frameworks in the ancient past, providing the essential context for understanding the complex biological, social, and cultural world we live in today.

References Armelagos, G. J. and Cohen, M. N. 2013. Preface to the 2013 edition. In G. J. Armelagos and M. N. Cohen, editors. Paleopathology at the Origins of Agriculture. Gainesville: University Press of Florida: xvii–xxxvi. Larsen, C. S. 1997. Bioarchaeology: Interpreting Behavior from the Human Skeleton. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Larsen, C. S. 2015. Bioarchaeology: Interpreting Behavior from the Human Skeleton, Second Edition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Oxenham, M. F. and Tayles, N. 2006. Bioarchaeology of Southeast Asia. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

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A dedication Hallie R. Buckley, Kate Domett, Siân E. Halcrow and Marc Oxenham

This volume is dedicated to the recently retired, but still most active, Associate Professor Nancy Tayles. The legacy of Professor Tayles’ influence on bioarchaeological research in Southeast Asia and the Pacific is abundantly clear from her contributions to many of the chapters in this volume as first and contributing author. For over 30 years, Nancy has engaged in field-based bioarchaeology in Thailand, Myanmar and Laos, Vanuatu, Micronesia, Polynesia and New Zealand. Throughout her career, she has directly trained and mentored a substantial number of the contributing authors in this volume (Buckley, Domett, Halcrow, Harris, King, Ward and Willis), many of whom have gone on to establish their own independent field-based research programmes and extended the influence of research into wider parts of Southeast Asia, the Pacific and beyond. Nancy has also established training programmes in the countries she worked in, encouraging and mentoring her Southeast Asian colleagues in building local knowledge and skills for heritage management. Nancy’s pedagogy has always been firmly embedded in a biocultural or biosocial approach to understanding the past and through her fieldwork she has extensive experience with grassrootslevel community engagement. These are the reasons for the dedication of this current volume. Appended to this Dedication is a bibliography of Associate Professor Tayles’ published works. Because of space restrictions, this does not include the numerous contributions to reports on field work findings for official Thailand institutions or the many reports compiled as a community service to various government bodies and iwi (tribal groups) in New Zealand. Nancy’s work has contributed to the field of bioarchaeology on an international scale and has been instrumental in setting Southeast Asia on the world stage. Among her most important contributions to scholarly work in Southeast Asia are the studies addressing the significance of this region during the socalled Agricultural Revolution. Through Nancy’s work and that in collaboration with colleagues, these publications (e.g., Tayles et al., 2000; Tayles et al., 2009; Domett and Tayles, 2007) have questioned the almost universal assumption that the intensification of agriculture had consequent negative impacts on human health. Her work questioning long-held methodological assumptions (e.g., Dias and Tayles, 1997) has had an impact on interpretive bioarchaeology outside of the region. Recently, the field of research that uses isotopic evidence of childhood residence for assessing mobility has become a standard part of the bioarchaeologist’s repertoire throughout the world. With Alex Bentley, Nancy introduced this method for adding to biocultural investigations of the quality of life of people in Southeast Asia (Bentley et al., 2007). While Nancy has now xxv

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retired from the daily grind of academic life, her career of outstanding achievements has been recognised by an invitation for her to act as a Visiting Professor at Khon Kaen University, Thailand, where she will be mentoring and advising Thai bioarchaeologists on research design and teaching the fundamentals of bioarchaeology in practice. We are sure that she will continue to inspire and nurture generations of Thai and farang bioarchaeologists well into the future.

Publications of Associate Professor Nancy Tayles to date Journal articles Clark, A. L., Tayles, N. and Halcrow, S. E. (2014) Aspects of health in prehistoric mainland southeast Asia: indicators of stress in response to the intensification of rice agriculture. American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 153, 484–495. Foster, A., Buckley, H. and Tayles, N. (2014) Using enthesis robusticity to infer activity in the past: a review. Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory, 21, 511–533. Halcrow, S. E., Rooney, J., Beavan, N., Gordon, K. C., Tayles, N. and Gray, A. (2014) Assessing Raman spectroscopy as a prescreening tool for the selection of archaeological bone for stable isotopic analysis. Plos One, 9 (7), e98462. King, C. L., Bentley, R. A., Higham, C., Tayles, N., Vioarsdottir, U. S., Layton, R., Macpherson, C. G. and Nowell, G. (2014) Economic change after the agricultural revolution in Southeast Asia? Antiquity, 88, 112–125. Domett, K. M., Newton, J., O’Reilly, D. J. W., Tayles, N., Shewan, L. and Beavan, N. (2013) Cultural modification of the dentition in prehistoric Cambodia. International Journal of Osteoarchaeology, 23, 274–286. DOI: 10.1002/oa.1245. Halcrow, S. E., Harris, N. J., Tayles, N., Ikehara-Quebral, R. and Pietrusewsky, M. (2013) From the mouths of babes: dental caries in infants and children and the intensification of agriculture in mainland Southeast Asia. American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 150, 409–420. Kinaston, R. L., Walter, R. K., Jacomb, C., Brooks, E., Tayles, N., Halcrow, S. E., Stirling, C., Reid, M., Gray, A. R., Spinks, J., Shaw, B., Fyfe, R. and Buckley, H. R. (2013) The first New Zealanders: patterns of diet and mobility revealed through isotope analysis. Plos One, 8 (5), e64580. King, C. L., Bentley, R. A., Tayles, N., Viðarsdóttir, U. S., Nowell, G. and Macpherson, C. G. (2013) Moving peoples, changing diets: isotopic differences highlight migration and subsistence changes in the Upper Mum River Valley, Thailand. Journal of Archaeological Science, 40, 1681–1688. McKay, S., Farah, R., Broadbent, J. M., Tayles, N. and Halcrow, S. E. (2013) Is it health or the burial environment: differentiating between hypomineralised and post-mortem stained enamel in an archaeological context. Plos One, 8 (5), e64573. Clark, A., Tayles, N. and Halcrow, S. (2012) Sexual dimorphism in adult skeletal remains at Ban Non Wat, Thailand, during the intensification of agriculture in early prehistoric southeast Asia. Proceedings of the Twelfth Annual Conference of the British Association for Biological Anthropology and Osteoarchaeology, 17–28. Halcrow, S., Tayles, N., Inglis, R. and Higham, C. (2012) Newborn twins from prehistoric mainland Southeast Asia: birth, death and personhood. Antiquity, 86, 838–852. Harris, N. J. and Tayles, N. (2012) Burial containers – a hidden aspect of mortuary practices: archaeothanatology at Ban Non Wat, Thailand. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology, 31, 227–239. Bedford, S., Buckley, H. R., Valentin, F., Tayles, N. and Longga, N. F. (2011) Lapita burials, a new Lapita cemetery and post-Lapita burials from Malakula, Northern Vanuatu, Southwest Pacific. Journal of Pacific Archaeology, 2 (2), 26–48. Cox, K. J., Bentley, R. A., Tayles, N., Buckley, H. R., Macpherson, C. G. and Cooper, M. J. (2011) Intrinsic or extrinsic population growth in Iron Age northeast Thailand? The evidence from isotopic analysis. Journal of Archaeological Science, 38, 665–671. Halcrow, S., Tayles, N., Pureepatpong, N. and Boonlop, K. (2011) Human remains from archaeological sites in Thailand: legislative and ethical issues (in Thai). Muang Boran Journal, 37 (3), 143–148. King, C. L., Tayles, N. and Gordon, K. C. (2011) Re-examining the chemical evaluation of diagenesis in human bone apatite. Journal of Archaeological Science, 38, 2222–2230. Buckley, H. R., Tayles, N., Halcrow, S. E., Robb, K. and Fyfe, R. (2010) The people of Wairau Bar: a re-examination. Journal of Pacific Archaeology, 1 (1), 1–20. xxvi

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Halcrow, S. E. and Tayles, N. (2010) Talon cusp in a deciduous lateral incisor from prehistoric Southeast Asia. International Journal of Osteoarchaeology, 20, 240–247. Halcrow, S. E. and Tayles, N. (2010) The archaeological infant in biological and social context: a response to Mike Lally and Traci Ardren 2008. Little artefacts: rethinking the constitution of the archaeological infant. Childhood in the Past 1, 62–77. Childhood in the Past 3, 123–130. Halcrow, S. E., Tayles, N., Stanton, J-A. L., Robins, J. and Matisoo-Smith, E. (2010) An application of ancient DNA methods for understanding health and social changes with agricultural intensification in prehistoric Southeast Asia. The 9th International Conference on Ancient DNA and Associated Biomolecules, 293–305. Bentley, R. A., Cox, K., Tayles, N., Higham, C., Macpherson, C., Nowell, G., Cooper, M. and Hayes, T. E. F. (2009) Community diversity at Ban Lum Khao, Thailand: isotopic evidence from the skeletons. Asian Perspectives, 48 (1), 79–97. Willis, A. and Tayles, N. (2009) Field anthropology application to burial contexts in prehistoric Southeast Asia. Journal of Archaeological Science, 36, 547–554. Buckley, H. R., Tayles, N. G., Spriggs, M. J. T. and Bedford, S. (2008) A preliminary report on health and disease in early Lapita Skeletons, Vanuatu: possible biological costs of island colonization. Journal of Island and Coastal Archaeology, 3, 87–114. Halcrow, S., Tayles, N. and Livingstone, V. (2008) Infant death in late prehistoric Southeast Asia. Asian Perspectives, 47 (2), 371–404. Halcrow, S. E. and Tayles, N. (2008) Stress near the start of life? Localised enamel hypoplasia of the primary canine in late prehistoric mainland Southeast Asia. Journal of Archaeological Science, 35, 2215–2222. Halcrow, S. E. and Tayles, N. (2008) The bioarchaeological investigation of childhood and social age: problems and prospects. Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory, 15, 190–215. Bentley, R. A., Tayles, N., Higham, C., MacPherson, C. and Atkinson, T. C. (2007) Shifting gender relations at Khok Phanom Di, Thailand. Current Anthropology, 48 (2), 301–314. Halcrow, S. E., Tayles, N. and Buckley, H. R. (2007) Age estimation of children from prehistoric Southeast Asia: are the dental formation methods used appropriate? Journal of Archaeological Science, 34, 1158–1168. Cox, K., Tayles, N. G. and Buckley, H. R. (2006) Forensic identification of ‘race’: the issues in New Zealand. Current Anthropology, 47 (5), 869–874. Domett, K. M. and Tayles, N. (2006) Adult fracture patterns in prehistoric Thailand: a biocultural interpretation. International Journal of Osteoarchaeology, 16, 185–199. McGrath, M. C. and Tayles, N. (2004) Anatomical observations related to radiological findings in spina bifida occulta of the lumbosacral spine. Journal of Osteopathic Medicine, 7 (2), 70–78. Tayles, N. and Buckley, H. R. (2004) Leprosy and tuberculosis in Iron Age Southeast Asia? American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 125 (3), 239–256. Buckley, H. R. and Tayles, N. (2003) Skeletal pathology in a prehistoric Pacific Island sample: issues in lesion recording, quantification, and interpretation. American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 122 (4), 303–324. Buckley, H. R. and Tayles, N. G. (2003) The functional cost of teritary Yaws (Treponema pertenue) in a prehistoric Pacific Island skeletal sample. Journal of Archaeological Science, 30, 1301–1314. Tayles, N. (2003) Murder or mortuary behaviour? An Iron Age enigma from northeast Thailand. International Journal of Osteoarchaelogy, 13, 197–206. Kieser, J. A., Dennison, K. J., Kaidonis, J. A., Huang, D., Herbison, P. G. P. and Tayles, N. G. (2001) Patterns of dental wear in the early Maori dentition. International Journal of Osteoarchaeology, 11 (3), 206–217. Nelsen, K., Tayles, N. G. and Domett, K. (2001) Missing lateral incisors in Iron Age South-East Asians as possible indicators of dental agenesis. Archives of Oral Biology, 46, 963–971. Tayles, N. G., Domett, K. and Pauk, U. (2001) Bronze age Myanmar (Burma): a report on the people from the cemetery of Nyaunggan, Upper Myanmar. Antiquity, 75 (288), 273–278. Tayles, N. G., Domett, K. and Nelsen, K. (2000) Agriculture and dental caries? The case of rice in prehistoric Southeast Asia. World Archaeology, 32 (1), 68–83. Dias, G. and Tayles, N. (1997) Abscess cavity – a misnomer. International Journal of Osteoarchaelogy, 7, 548–554. Tayles, N. (1996) Anemia, genetic diseases, and malaria in prehistoric mainland Southeast Asia. American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 101 (1), 11–27. Tayles, N. (1996) Tooth ablation in prehistoric Southeast Asia. International Journal of Osteoarchaeology, 6, 333–345. Higham, C., Bannanurag, R., Mason, G. and Tayles, N. (1992) Human biology, environment and ritual at Khok Phanom Di. World Archaeology, 24 (1), 35–54. xxvii

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Books Oxenham, M. and Tayles, N. (eds) (2006) Bioarchaeology of Southeast Asia. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Tayles, N. G. (1999) The Excavation of Khok Phanom Di, a Prehistoric Site in Central Thailand. London: Society of Antiquaries.

Book chapters Foster, A., Buckley, H., Tayles, N., Spriggs, M. and Bedford, S. (2013) Gender, labour division and the skeleton: a case study from the Teouma Lapita cemetery. In: G. R. Summerhayes and H. Buckley (eds) Pacific Archaeology: Documenting the Past 50,000 Years. Dunedin, New Zealand: University of Otago Press. pp. 76–90. Tayles, N., Halcrow, S. and Pureepatpong, N. (2012) Regional developments: Southeast Asia. In: J. E. Buikstra and C. A. Roberts (eds) The Global History of Paleopathology. Oxford University Press. pp. 528–540. Halcrow, S., Tayles, N., Pureepatpong, N. and Boonlop, K. (2011) Thailand. In: N. Márquez-Grant and L. Fibiger (eds) The Routledge Handbook of Archaeological Human Remains and Legislation. London, UK: Routledge. pp. 623–631. Halcrow, S. E. and Tayles, N. (2011) The bioarchaeological investigation of children and childhood. In: S. C. Agarwal and B. A. Glencross (eds) Social Bioarchaeology. Wiley-Blackwell. pp. 333–360. Halcrow, S. E. and Tayles, N. (2011) Human diversity in mainland Southeast Asia: the contribution of bioarchaeology. In: N. J. Enfield (ed.) Dynamics of Human Diversity. Canberra, Australia: Pacific Linguistics. pp. 47–61. Tayles, N. and Halcrow, S. (2011) New Zealand/Aotearoa. In: N. Márquez-Grant and L. Fibiger (eds) The Routledge Handbook of Archaeological Human Remains and Legislation. London, UK: Routledge. pp. 647–655. Tayles, N., Domett, K. and Halcrow, S. (2009) Can dental caries be interpreted as evidence of farming? The Asian experience. In: T. Koppe, G. Meyer and K. W. Alt (eds) Comparative Dental Morphology. Basel: Karger, pp. 162–166. Domett, K. and Tayles, N. (2007) Population health from the Bronze to the Iron Age in the Mun river valley, northeast Thailand. In: M. Cohen and G. N. N. Crane-Kramer (eds) Ancient Health Skeletal Indicators of Agricultural and Economic Intensification. University of Florida. pp. 286–299. Tayles, N., Halcrow, S. E. and Domett, K. (2007) The people of Noen U-Loke. In: C. F. W. Higham, A. Kijngam and S. Talbot (eds) The Origins of the Civilization of Angkor Volume II: The Excavation of Noen U-Loke and Non Muang Kao. Bangkok: The Thai Fine Arts Department. pp. 243–304. Domett, K. M. and Tayles, N. (2006) Human biology from the Bronze Age to the Iron Age in the Mun river valley, northeast Thailand. In: M. Oxenham and N. Tayles (eds) Bioarchaeology of Southeast Asia. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 220–240. Oxenham, M. and Tayles, N. (2006) Conclusions: synthesizing Southeast Asian population history and palaeohealth. In: M. Oxenham and N. Tayles (eds) Bioarchaeology of Southeast Asia. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 335–350. Tayles, N. and Oxenham, M. (2006) Introduction: Southeast Asian bioarchaeology past and present. In: M. Oxenham and N. Tayles (eds) Bioarchaeology of Southeast Asia. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 1–30. Tayles, N. G., Domett, K. and Hunt, V. (1998) The people of Nong Nor. In: C. F. W. Higham and R. Thosarat (eds) The Excavation of Nong Nor: A Prehistoric Site in Central Thailand. Dunedin: Oxbow Books. pp. 321–368.

Conference Proceedings Tayles, N. (2009) Repatriation – a view from a receiving end: New Zealand. In: Proceedings of the 9th Annual Conference of the British Association for Biological Anthropology and Osteoarchaeology. pp. 131–135.

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1 Bioarchaeology in Southeast Asia and the Pacific Hallie R. Buckley and Marc Oxenham

A decade ago Cambridge University Press published an edited volume by Oxenham and Tayles (2006) The Bioarchaeology of Southeast Asia. This contribution was instrumental in nurturing and catalysing a whole new generation of bioarchaeological research. Many of the key theoretical and methodological approaches to understanding the human past through the contexts of skeletal and dental remains used in this region today were developed and popularised by that work. Nonetheless, we are ten years on and a lot has changed: different questions are being asked, different methodological approaches have become de rigueur, new exciting sites throughout the region have been discovered and a new bioarchaeological awakening is occurring. This volume intends to take maximum advantage of these developments and changes and fills a growing lacuna in our knowledge of the diverse ways and manners in which humans adapted biologically and socio-culturally to and during major transformative events in antiquity. This Handbook is a culmination of nearly a decade of bioarchaeological research in Southeast Asia and the Pacific Islands and showcases research findings from a wide breadth of inter-related disciplines. Moreover, we have extended the traditional bioarchaeological approach here to include the use of faunal analyses and ancient DNA as novel ways of providing a backdrop to the more traditional skeletal analyses usually reported. In the Oxenham and Tayles (2006) volume there was only one chapter covering health and disease in the Pacific region (Buckley, 2006). In the last ten years, the bioarchaeology of early colonisers in the Pacific Islands has seen enormous progress with the discovery and re-excavation of cemetery sites from this period of initial human discovery and settlement. Of particular note is the unearthing of the Teouma site in Vanuatu that has yielded the largest sample of Lapita-associated skeletons ever discovered (see Sand and Bedford, 2010). Hallie Buckley and colleagues have applied multi-disciplinary methods to assessing diet, health and disease in the Teouma sample and much of this research is synthesised and integrated into a broader context in various chapters of this volume. While specific to the Pacific, the discovery and rigorous analysis of colonising peoples anywhere in the world is extremely rare and is therefore potentially of interest to scholars working outside of the immediate region. Arguably the most significant and far-reaching events in human prehistory have been the development of farming and the colonisation of virgin lands. Southeast Asia and the Pacific are

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unique in hosting both of these world-changing events within a relatively short time of each other: the Southeast Asian Neolithic revolution and the Lapita colonisation of the Pacific. Climate change, rising sea levels, food shortages, environmental destruction and deforestation are terms that all of us are familiar with today. Many of us are perhaps a little more than anxious about the future for ourselves and our children. How will we cope with such enormous changes to our immediate landscapes and world at large? What sort of social changes and disruption do future generations have in store? Will we adapt to these changes and, if so, how will these adaptations occur biosocially? While this volume is certainly not intended to deal directly with such issues, these are exactly the same problems and questions faced by the ancient inhabitants of mainland and island Southeast Asia and the Pacific. In this sense, the way in which people and communities thousands of years ago adapted to and dealt with such fundamental concerns has relevance to us today. We cannot escape our connections to the past, and indeed there may be the germs of useful advice in the stories told by these long gone peoples. As part of the rationale for developing this edited volume, we sought to craft a contribution that meets the rigorous scholarly needs and requirements of the research audience with interest in these regions, but also offered excitement and engagement to those not familiar with the field. To this end, we were very careful who we invited to present chapters and have been very explicit in the sort of approach and content we required of each contribution. While we have clearly selected contributors from a range of scholarly backgrounds and academic levels, we have been careful to tailor their skills and experience to specific contributions. The volume is divided into two broad sections, the first dealing with mainland (MSEA) and island (ISEA) Southeast Asia, and the second section dealing with the Pacific Islands. Both sections are introduced with detailed and substantive contextualising chapters, followed by a series of chapters dealing with regional overviews, methodological advances and specific problems in human biosocial adaptation in the region at large. As a device to better engage the audience, we have specifically asked contributors to deal with differing scales of human adaptation. In other words, this volume employs a multi-scalar approach to explication of the biosocial dimensions of Southeast Asia and the Pacific Islands. Contributions vary between region and/or site-specific scales of operation down to the individual or personal scale. The volume comprises 29 substantive chapters. To orient the reader, there are two regional maps for Southeast Asia: one for mainland (Figure 2.1) and one for island (Figure 2.2) Southeast Asia provided in Chapter 2 The population history of mainland and island Southeast Asia, and a map of the relevant regions and island groups in the Pacific (Figure 17.1) presented in Chapter 17 Bioarchaeology in the Pacific Islands: A temporal and geographical examination of nutritional and infectious disease. Geographically our study areas are defined as follows. MSEA includes southern China, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Thailand and Peninsula Malaysia (Myanmar is not covered in this volume). ISEA includes islands in the Philippine and Indonesian archipelagos in addition to Borneo. Wallacea is a biogeographical region defined as those islands east of the Wallace line (i.e. east of Bali and south of Mindanao but including Sulawesi), extending to, but excluding, Australia and New Guinea. There is overlap, in our definition of these regions, between parts of ISEA and Wallacea. Near Oceania, a region which includes New Guinea, is bounded to the east by the eastern end of the Solomon Islands, denoting the beginning of Remote Oceania. Melanesia includes New Guinea and the south-western islands beyond with the most eastern island being Fiji. Micronesia encompasses the archipelagos of small islands to the north of the Melanesian islands with a roughly similar eastern boundary to each other. Polynesia is the largest region and encompasses all islands east of Fiji, extends to Rapanui (Easter Island) and includes New Zealand in the south. 2

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Part I: Mainland and island Southeast Asia We include 15 chapters from Southeast Asia covering topics as wide ranging as cremation to stable isotope research on diet and migration. The Southeast Asian half of the volume is further divided into MSEA and ISEA sections covering broad but inter-related themes.

MSEA themes Two chapters provide regional overviews of core issues, with Marc Oxenham and Hallie Buckley (Chapter 2) exploring the population history of MSEA and ISEA from the perspective of human skeletal and ancient DNA analyses for the most part. This synthesis is then complemented by a review of the current state of knowledge of human adaptation in the wider region in which Philip Piper (Chapter 3) draws on the archaeological evidence of technological and cultural change from the terminal Pleistocene to the Mid-Holocene. Dougald O’Reilly and Louise Shewan then explore social aspects of mortuary traditions in Cambodia (Chapter 4), placing this evidence within the context of the wider geographical region. At the more personal level, or lowest denominator of scale, the second thematic device of using osteobiographies to enrich our understanding of the lived experience in past communities, so successfully utilised by Stodder and Palkovich’s (2012) The Bioarchaeology of Individuals, is employed. Traditionally, and as was the case with the Oxenham and Tayles (2006) volume, for the most part only regional or site-specific scales of approach have been published to date in Southeast Asia. Kate Domett et al. (Chapter 5) add to this growing corpus of osteobiographical research with a detailed account of the biosocial context of a single female Bronze Age individual from the site of Ban Non Wat in northeast Thailand. Multiple lines of investigation are employed here, integrating macroscopic evidence of health and disease with isotopic data reflecting diet and childhood residence and the cultural context of the burial. Lorna Tilley and Marc Oxenham (Chapter 6) then expand on previously published accounts of a disabled individual from Man Bac in Neolithic Vietnam, shedding further light on the society he lived in and his place (and interactions) within it. Chapters within the third theme interrogate population-based issues of the past in MSEA from a data-driven perspective. First, Damien Huffer and Marc Oxenham (Chapter 7) use body size and enthesis development correlated with isotope data of childhood residence to investigate associations between activity and mobility, and changes in these variables, from preNeolithic foraging communities (Con Co Ngua) to mixed farming and forager communities in the Neolithic (Man Bac) of northern Vietnam. Anna Willis and Marc Oxenham (Chapter 8) also use stable isotope analyses to reconstruct diet in other Vietnamese samples in order to address questions of subsistence change in southern Vietnam from the Neolithic through to Metal Ages. Finally, the health and disease of infants and children from several sites in Thailand, which span the period of the introduction of farming through the periods of agricultural intensification, is investigated by Siân Halcrow et al. (Chapter 9). Here they attempt to gain a deeper understanding of this critical development, the rise and intensification of farming, affecting populations during the Holocene on a global scale. The methodological framework for addressing demographic questions is the focus of two chapters addressing the third theme of this section of the volume (Chapters 10 and 11). While the chapters are region specific in their primary focus, these methodological innovations may be applied to any region of the world. Ken Ross and Marc Oxenham (Chapter 10) explore methods for identifying biosocially constructed age categories, specifically the elderly, and how such an approach can explicate otherwise invisible aspects of social identity in Non Nok Tha, 3

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Thailand. Nancy Tayles and Siân Halcrow (Chapter 11) offer a detailed description, and theoretical foundation, of the basis for estimation of age at death in adolescents and adults from mortuary samples using Ban Non Wat, Thailand, as a case in point. Finally, Stacey Ward and Nancy Tayles (Chapter 12) provide an overview of the sociocultural aspects of cremation in Southeast Asia, focussing on a case study of burnt human remains from a historic site in Laos, and placing this methodological analysis within the wider regional context.

ISEA themes The four remaining Southeast Asian chapters are analyses of topical issues in ISEA, focussing mainly on how mortuary practices may inform us on wider biosocial aspects of past communities. Lindsay Lloyd-Smith et al. (Chapter 13) provide an update on recent isotopic and mortuary practices from Niah cave, Borneo. Here they use the biosocial data from human burials to enquire about social affiliations and change within the community over time. Nathaniel Harris et al. (Chapter 14) then apply archaeothanatological principles to burial treatment in a rare example of Neolithic human burials from the site of Pain Haka in the Nusa Tenggara province of eastern Flores Island, Indonesia. This chapter attempts to place the mortuary practices of the Pain Haka people within the broader geographic and temporal context between MSEA and the Pacific Islands. Following on the mortuary practices theme, Marc Oxenham et al. (Chapter 15) provide the first report on issues of biosocially constructed age and burial treatment in the late Neolithic to Metal Age burials from the Nagsabaran site from Luzon in the Philippines. This account also demonstrates possible ideological connections as reflected in mortuary treatment between ISEA and Lapita and their descendants in the Pacific Islands. Finally, Myra Lara et al. (Chapter 16) explore the issue of debates over pre-Austronesian subsistence economies in ISEA in the context of a detailed analysis of health and disease in c.9,000 bp cremation bundle burials in Ille Cave, Palawan, the Philippines.

Part II: The Pacific Islands There are four complementary themes in this section of the volume encompassing subjects of settlement and subsistence from the terminal Pleistocene in New Guinea to case studies of ethical accounts of collaboration with the living descendants of past populations in New Zealand. These 12 chapters cover recent research in the Pacific Island region, focussing on aspects of health and diet in the Lapita period and more recent prehistoric communities and also engaging with the interactions between humans and domestic animals in the development of subsistence regimes. In Chapter 17, Hallie Buckley and Marc Oxenham provide an overview of bioarchaeological health research in the Pacific, focussing on temporal and geographic variation in nutrition and infection as a foundation for the more regionally and question-driven subsequent chapters. The first theme of this Part has three regional overview chapters from different perspectives, formulating a framework for subsequent chapters. First, Elizabeth Matisoo-Smith (Chapter 18) asks whether the archaeologically defined Lapita cultural complex can also include a biologically defined ‘people’ by interrogating the most up-to-date ancient and contemporary human DNA data. Tim Denham (Chapter 19) then explores the archaeological evidence for preLapita subsistence and horticultural development in New Guinea, addressing questions of the effects of changing landscape use on population health during this time. Rebecca Kinaston et al. (Chapter 20) uses published stable isotope data of humans and animals from Lapita sites in conjunction with new human oral health evidence to address the question of whether a region-wide and temporally consistent ‘Lapita diet’ can be identified. 4

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The second theme of this section consists of two chapters that address temporal and cultural questions of human settlement in the Pacific Islands through the biosocial analysis of faunal remains. Karen Greig et al. (Chapter 21) explore the archaeological and DNA evidence of the relationships between dogs and people from a settlement and subsistence perspective in the prehistory of Southeast Asia and the Pacific Islands, providing the first comprehensive and inclusive regional review of this kind. Similarly, Alice Storey (Chapter 22) investigates the available evidence for the culinary and cultural roles of the most garrulous of the Oceanic commensal animals, the domestic chicken (Gallus gallus). While the inclusion of faunal studies would seem unusual in a volume largely consisting of human-oriented bioarchaeology research, these contributions have significant value and we feel mark the emergence of a much more holistic bioarchaeological approach in the current phase of the development of our discipline. The potential impact of animal and human relationships on human health in the past has long been recognised by researchers of human health and settlement; however, at present this is a seriously untapped reservoir of new knowledge. The third theme offers various regional analyses of human biosocial aspects of health, diet and mortuary practices employing a raft of ‘traditional’ and novel methodological approaches. Greg Nelson et al. (Chapter 23) report on the skeletal evidence for physiological adaptation to a new environment at a 3,000-year-old site Chelechol ra Orrak, on the island of Palau, Micronesia. The inhabitants of this site were among the first colonists of this region and an understanding of the biology of these people will enhance all bioarchaeological research in the wider region. Still within Micronesia but in the more recent past, Ann Stodder et al. (Chapter 24) explore the social context of groups interred in association with monumental Latte stone structures on the island of Guam. This chapter is innovative, using biodistance information, mortuary treatment and osteobiographical information in an attempt to understand relationships between individuals at the site. Christina Stantis et al. (Chapter 25) then provide the first published synthesis of oral health and diet in Fiji, Tonga, in western Polynesia and Atiu in the Cook Islands of eastern Polynesia. They explore questions of ecological and social differences influencing diet between regions. These oral health data are interpreted in the context of stable isotope data of diet from Fiji and Tonga. Monica Tromp et al. (Chapter 26) review and critique the efficacy of using microfossil remains of plants in human dental calculus and soil sediments for examining diet in Lapita populations. They then present new data on microfossil remains embedded in the dental calculus from teeth on Rapanui (Easter Island) and examine broad questions of subsistence change in Remote Oceania. Similar to other chapters in this volume (e.g. Chapters 20, 21 and 22) Tromp and colleagues also explore potential opportunities for developing a model similar to the Canine Surrogacy Model (e.g. see review in Guiry, 2013), employing pigs as a proxy for human diet in a Pacific context. The final theme in the Pacific section of the volume explores issues around collaborative projects with living descendants of past peoples and professional interactions between archaeologists and biological anthropologists. Matthew Spriggs (Chapter 27) presents an archaeologist’s view on the types of questions important to archaeologists, particularly with regards to the interpretation of craniometric evidence used for explaining biological affinities of past peoples. He then presents the history of the discovery of Teouma, the largest Lapita-period cemetery ever found (e.g. see Sand and Bedford, 2010), and recounts some of the issues around excavation of the skeletons and collaborative research conducted on the remains from this site. From a balanced, ethical perspective, Katharina Ruckstuhl et al. (Chapter 28) explore the history of research on koiwi tangata (human skeletal remains) in New Zealand and present two case studies of recent collaborative research projects between iwi (tribal) groups and biological anthropologists. This account is the first of its kind for the region, written by the descendants of the tupuna 5

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(ancestors), in collaboration with researchers who were involved in bringing their stories, told by the koiwi, to light. In the final chapter (Chapter 29), Meta-themes in the bioarchaeology of the Asia–Pacific region, Marc Oxenham and Hallie Buckley explore a series of emergent themes that cut through and across specific sub-regions and provide a further level of scale or integrated structure to the volume. They explore (1) epistemological and ethical concerns, or ‘doing bioarchaeology’; (2) human mobility in the Asia–Pacific region; (3) subsistence and diet; (4) cultural explorations through the lens of funerary behaviours; and (5) patterns of ancient health and disease.

A note on dates For the most part we have standardised the reporting of dates in this volume, using the convention before Common Era (bce) or Common Era (ce). In some cases we have retained the use of bp (before present), particularly for older dates. In some cases, with particularly old dates, we use kya (thousand years ago). Dates are also identified as calibrated (cal) if this information is available. In some rare cases 14C years dates are given if there are issues in calibration, or if the reader wishes to calibrate a date using a different protocol. In terms of periodisation, much of the volume is restricted to dealing with events in the late Pleistocene, or 126 kya–11.7 kya, Terminal Pleistocene (22–11.7 kya, Björck et al., 1998) and Holocene (Early from 11.7 to 7.5 kya and Middle from 7.5 to 4.5 kya, Dickinson, 2003).

References Björck, S., Walker M. J. C., Cwynar, L. C., Johnsen, S., Knudsen, K.-L., Lowe, J. J., Wohlfarth, B. and INTIMATE Members. (1998) An event stratigraphy for the Last Termination in the North Atlantic region based on the Greenland ice-core record: a proposal by the INTIMATE group. Journal of Quaternary Science 13(4), 283–292. Buckley, H. (2006) ‘The predators within’: investigating the relationship between malaria and health in the prehistoric Pacific Islands. In M. F. Oxenham and N. Tayles, (eds). The Bioarchaeology of Southeast Asia. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 309–332. Dickinson, W. R. (2003) Impact of mid-Holocene hydro-isostatic highstand in regional sea level on habitability of islands in Pacific Oceania. Journal of Coastal Research 19(3), 489–502. Guiry, E. J. (2013) A canine surrogacy approach to human paleodietary bone chemistry: past development and future directions. Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences 5, 275–286. Oxenham, M. F. and Tayles, N. (2006) Bioarchaeology of Southeast Asia. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Sand, C. and Bedford, S. (2010) Lapita: Oceanic Ancestors. Paris: Somogy and Musée de Quai Branly. Stodder, A. L. W. and Palkovich, A. M. (2012) The Bioarchaeology of Individuals. Gainesville, FL: University of Florida Press.

6

Part I

Mainland and island Southeast Asia

2 The population history of mainland and island Southeast Asia Marc Oxenham and Hallie R. Buckley

Introduction This chapter describes and discusses the population history of mainland Southeast Asia (MSEA) and island Southeast Asia (ISEA) from c.60,000 years ago until the end of the Neolithic. Of course, in order to understand the history of human movement and interaction in this part of Asia, it is necessary to review the situation in eastern Eurasia in general. In short, we aim to provide a context, in terms of the colonisation of the region by anatomically modern humans (AMH) and subsequent major movements and changes over the past 60,000 years, in which to situate the chapters in this Part of the volume. A knowledge of the past details of human population movement and interaction in Southeast Asia provides a brief, but important, segue into the complexities of human adaptation dealt with in the wealth of subsequent contributions to the volume. The long/deep antiquity of many dates means we report the majority as before present (bp), rather than bce. Where authors have calibrated dates they are reported as cal bp. Where we have calibrated published 14C dates, they are referenced as OxCal v4.2, IntCal 13, Bronk Ramsey (2009). Finally, Figure 2.1 (MSEA) and Figure 2.2 (ISEA) locate the majority of Holocene sites specifically referred to by the contributors to this Part of the volume.

North-eastern Eurasia All of north-eastern Eurasia, including Northeast Asia, and Southeast Asia as a distinct region, has extensive pre-modern hominin skeletal and material culture records. Homo erectus, and perhaps a range of other hominin taxa, appear in the Southeast Asian archaeological record from c.1.6 million years ago and one of them would seem to have made an open-water crossing to Flores Island, Indonesia, by c.1 million years ago (Larick and Ciochon, 2014). Homo pekinensis (Cameron and Groves, 2004), at Zhoukoudian, dated to between 0.68 and 0.78 million years ago in northern China (Shen et al., 2009), is morphologically quite different from the true Homo erectus of Southeast Asia, and does not appear to have ventured any further north. Dating of Lower and Middle Palaeolithic sites in Siberia has been problematic, although Kuzmin (2007) notes the presence of Middle Palaeolithic assemblages at c.125,000 bp at 9

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Figure 2.1 Mainland Southeast Asia Notes: 1 Xom Trai; 2 Mai Da Dieu; 3 Con Co Ngua; 4 Man Bac; 5 Nui Nap; 6 Ban Chiang; 7 Ban Na Di; 8 Non Nok Tha; 9 Muang Sema; 10 Ban Non Wat; 11 Ban Lum Khao; 12 Noen U-Loke; 13 Ban Kao; 14 Khok Phanom Di; 15 Nong Nor; 16 Wat Jas; 17 (three sites) Phum Sophy, Phum Snay, Krosaing Thmei; 18 (two sites) Lovea, Prei Khmeng; 19 (two sites) Koh Ta Meas, Angkor; 20 (two sites) Village 10.8, Krek 52/62; 21 Prohear; 22 Phnom Borei; 23 Angkor Borei; 24 An Son; 25 Hoa Diem. Source: Background map prepared by Treehouse Maps, Arnhem, Netherlands; modified and details added by Brenton Hill, [email protected].

Ust’-Izhul, in the upper reaches of the Yenisei River basin. Apart from Homo erectus and Homo floresiensis, there is limited evidence for pre-modern Middle Palaeolithic counterparts in Southeast Asia. From the perspective of this volume, the story becomes particularly interesting in both north-eastern Eurasia and Southeast Asia with the arrival of AMH. The arrival of AMH and associated evidence for modern human behaviour (e.g. an Upper Palaeolithic tool tradition) in the northern part of eastern Eurasia is believed to be associated with a series of warming phases dated to between 60,000 and 27,000 bp (Van Meerbeeck et al., 2009), 10

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Figure 2.2  Island Southeast Asia Notes: 1 Nagsabaran; 2 Ille Cave; 3 (two sites) Niah Cave, Lobang Jeragan; 4 Pain Haka. Source: Background map prepared by Treehouse Maps, Arnhem, Netherlands; modified and details added by Brenton Hill, [email protected].

referred to as Marine Isotope Stage 3 (MIS3, or OIS3 where O = oxygen). As will be seen below, in north-eastern Eurasia the arrival of AMH seems to be associated with a particular lithic industry termed the Early Upper Palaeolithic (EUP), as well as other evidence for modern human behaviour which includes worked bone artefacts, personal adornment and art. This material cultural complex is, in turn, believed to have originated in the Levant c.47,000 bp (Goebel, 2015). The next major change in human settlement and mobility coincides with the Last Glacial 11

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Maximum (LGM), which is dated to between 30,000 and 19,000 bp (Lambeck et al., 2002) with a later, or earlier, onset varying by geographic region. It is unclear how much of the formerly occupied parts of eastern Eurasia (particularly northerly latitudes) maintained a human presence during the LGM. Whatever the situation, the end of the LGM saw the emergence of a new material cultural tradition in the northeast: the Late Upper Palaeolithic including, for example, the ‘microblade-osseous composite projectile point’ in southern Siberia (Graf, 2015: 514). In Southeast Asia (Sunda) and Australia (Sahul), warming associated with MIS3 was probably not a significant factor in the colonisation of this region by AMH, which perhaps occurred by 50,000–60,000 bp in Sunda and perhaps somewhat later in Sahul (see below). However, the LGM clearly played a significant role in subsequent human settlement and mobility in as much as the Sunda shelf landmass was up to two times larger than its current extent (Woodruff, 2010) during the LGM. Vast expanses of land, presumably inhabited by modern humans, were submerged post-LGM, to the extent that the region is currently classed as biogeographically refugial (Lohman et al., 2011). Goebel (2015) suggests, and we agree, that the initial AMH colonisation of north-eastern Eurasia, on the one hand, and Southeast Asia and Australia/New Guinea, on the other, need to be treated as two quite separate events. Goebel notes that signs of AMH become evident by at least 46,000 bp in Siberia, as signalled archaeologically by the emergence of modern human behaviour and the EUP tool tradition. While hominin skeletal material clearly associated with Middle Palaeolithic and EUP sites is quite rare, on balance the majority, if not all, instances of hominin remains associated with Middle Palaeolithic contexts are pre-modern humans (Neanderthals and/or Denisovans) in north-eastern Eurasia. The earliest undisputed AMH (based on a complete genome sequence) skeletal material in the region is the Ust’-Ishim femur from western Siberia dated to between 46,880 and 43,210 cal bp (95.4 per cent) (Fu et al., 2014), which is consistent with the start of the EUP in the region. The next oldest example is the Pokrovka frontal bone from northeastern Siberia, Krasnoyarsk reservoir, with a date of 27,740 ± 150 14C years (Akimova et al., 2010) or 31,830–31,180 cal bp (95.4 per cent) (OxCal v4.2, IntCal 13, Bronk Ramsey, 2009). The earliest more complete AMH material discovered to date are the Mal’ta juveniles from south-central Siberia near Lake Baikal, one of which (MA-1) has been dated to 24,423–23,891 cal bp (95.4 per cent) (Raghavan et al., 2014). Advances in ancient DNA (aDNA) analysis have provided new insights into the relationships of early north-eastern Eurasian AMH among each other, and to contemporary human populations. The early Ust’-Ishim femur, despite good aDNA recovery, is difficult to interpret. Fu et al. (2014) note that it shares closer genetic affinities with modern East Asians than modern Europeans. However, Fu et al. (2014: 447) go on to suggest that it is no closer to modern East Asians than it is to a c.8,000 bp genome from western Europe (La Bran˜a) or the Mal’ta genome (mentioned below). A recent aDNA study has suggested that the Mal’ta specimen, while not displaying any particular genetic relationship to modern East Asians, shares genetic affinities with both contemporary Western Eurasians and modern-day Native Americans (Raghavan et al., 2014). Further, the observed lack of affinities to modern-day south-central Siberians suggested to them that large levels of gene flow into Siberia had occurred post-LGM (Raghavan et al., 2014: 88). This finding underscores the necessity of aDNA work, as genetic analyses of living human populations will often say more about recent mobility trends than ancient patterns of migration.

Northeast Asia Leaving Siberia and moving into Northeast Asia (including present-day China, Korea and Japan), early evidence for AMH continues. Wang (2015) has reported on a number of Middle 12

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to Upper Palaeolithic open sites in Henan, Central China dating from 43,200 to 44,400 cal bp (Laonainaimiao) to 26,050–26, 570 cal bp (Xishi). While it is unclear where the Middle to Upper Palaeolithic boundary lies, Wang (2015) notes that a blade technology does not emerge until c.26,000 cal bp, which is very late in comparison to the emergence of the EUP in Mongolia at 41,000–43,000 cal bp (Jaubert, 2015) and Siberia at c.46,000 cal bp. The famous Upper Palaeolithic Shuidonggou site in northern China, close to the Yellow River, is similarly dated to between 23,790 ± 180 and 29,520 ± 230 14C years or 28,283–27,572 cal bp (95.4 per cent) and 34,125–33,230 cal bp (95.4 per cent) (OxCal v4.2, IntCal 13, Bronk Ramsey, 2009), making the Upper Palaeolithic transition in China significantly later than Siberia and Mongolia, and a little earlier than in Korea and the Japanese archipelago. Indeed, on the Korean Peninsula, Yi (2015) suggests evidence for the Upper Palaeolithic can be seen c.35,000 bp, while Lee (2015) suggests 40,000 bp for the emergence of blades. Japan, consistent with the Korean peninsula, sees the emergence of EUP lithic technologies (mainly edge-ground axes and trapezoids in Japan, rather than blades, early on) at c.39,000 cal bp (Izuho and Kaifu, 2015). The reason for the delay in the arrival of modern human behaviour and the Upper Palaeolithic tradition in China seems somewhat odd, particularly in light of much earlier dates for the Upper Palaeolithic to the north and somewhat earlier dates to the east of China. One reason is that blades may only have any significance as a signal for AMH in the far north in as much as they are an adaptation to cold conditions. If this is not the case, and a lack of research on appropriate sites is also not proven to be implicated, what is the reason for this delay? The presence of Middle Palaeolithic assemblages as late as c.27,000 bp in Henan, at least, indicates that presumably pre-modern hominins had a presence in China prior to the Upper Palaeolithic. Environmental and climatic barriers would appear unlikely barriers to the arrival of AMH, while the potential presence of existing AMH populations (including the Tianyuan individual, see below) perhaps originating from an early southern and/or coastal migration route into Southeast Asia, in northern China 30,000 to 40,000 bp, is a possibility that will be explored further later in the chapter. Turning to evidence from human remains, the Tianyuan cave specimen, located only 6 km from the famous Zhoukoudian site, dated to 34,430 ± 510 14C years (Shang et al., 2007) or 40,254–37,761 cal bp (95.4 per cent) (OxCal v4.2, IntCal 13, Bronk Ramsey, 2009), is believed on the basis of aDNA work to be ancestral to both modern Asians and Native Americans, while post-dating the split between Europeans and Asians (Fu et al., 2014). Molecular clock estimates of the divergence timing of East Asians and Native Americans at 22,000 bp (16,300–26,900 bp, 95 per cent) is reasonable and fits with evidence for initial human colonisation of the Americas c.16,000 bp (see a useful discussion of this dating issue in Bellwood, 2013), although a range of unwanted pathogens probably also entered the New World at this time, brought unwittingly by their human hosts (Drake and Oxenham, 2012). Perhaps the most famous, and more complete, Northeast Asian cranial remains are the Upper Cave (Shandingdong) individuals from Zhoukoudian, just outside modern-day Beijing. Unfortunately, these seven individuals are not well dated with estimates ranging from 10,000 bp, 18,000 bp and as early as 29–24,000 bp (see review of dating issues in Cunningham and Wescott, 2002). Recent studies have focussed on the better-preserved UC101 and UC103 specimens with most recent analyses concluding that they do not appear particularly close to any current AMH groups (Brown, 1999), with some suggesting they may be ancestral to ancient Americans (Cunningham and Jantz, 2003) or part of a largely variable and undifferentiated population that spread over Eurasia in the late Pleistocene (Harvati, 2009). If the actual dates turn out to be closer to 10,000 bp, this has interesting implications for the appearance of the modern East Asian craniodental morphology in Northeast Asia. It is still the case that the earliest accepted appearance of the East Asia morphology in China dates back to only c.7,000 bp (e.g. see Brown, 1999). 13

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The earliest cranial material in Mongolia attributed to Homo sapiens is the Salkhit skullcap (Coppens et al., 2008) with an apparent date of 20,000 bp (Jaubert, 2015). Morphologically, it is argued to have affinities with a variety of populations from Neanderthals to Chinese Homo erectus and even archaic Homo sapiens (Coppens et al., 2008), thus making its contribution to the discussion of the origins of AMH in the region unclear. The earliest evidence for an East Asian morphology in Mongolia is found in the Neolithic, which dates from somewhere between the six and fourth millennium bce (Dashtseveg, 2013). Indeed, Dashtseveg (2013) notes close phenotypic affinities between Neolithic Lake Baikal and Neolithic Mongolia. The oldest AMH remains in Japan are the Minatogawa series. While a range of dates are available, charcoal found in association with the skeletal remains provides dates of 16,600 ± 300 14C years and 18,250 ± 650 14C years (see Kaifu et al., 2011), or 20,795–19.297 cal bp and 23,701–20,545 cal bp (95.4 per cent) (OxCal v4.2, IntCal 13, Bronk Ramsey, 2009). Interestingly, Kaifu et al. (2011) do not see continuity between the Minatogawa samples and later Jomon period populations. Rather, they argue for similarities with Australo-Melanesian populations, and by inference a shared common ancestry between Minatogawa and ancestral Australo-Melanesian populations. Recent aDNA work on Hokkaido Jomon (c.10,000–2,500 bp) and Epi-Jomon (c.2,000 bp) skeletal material indicates that they are the descendants of Siberian populations that inhabited the lower Amur region (Adachi et al., 2011). The authors go on to suggest that migration into northern Japan by these populations was perhaps due to climatic factors associated with the LGM. In an earlier study, Adachi et al. (2009) suggested that a Funadamari, Hokkaido, Jomon sample shows some affinities with Native Americans. In general, Jomon aDNA studies indicate a great deal of genetic variability, suggestive of multiple separate colonisation events. It would seem that Japan saw at least three major migrations: (1) initial colonisation by northerly migrating descendants of the southerly migrating first AMH in Southeast Asia and Australia; (2) ancestors, fleeing the effects of the LGM, of Jomon populations originating in Siberia; and (3) the Yayoi migrations of cranio-dentally modern Northeast Asians from the Korean Peninsula several centuries bce.

Southeast Asia and Australia Unlike eastern Eurasia and Northeast Asia, the arrival of AMH is Southeast Asia is not signalled by a completely new tool tradition comparable to the Upper Palaeolithic. Notwithstanding, modern human behaviour is clearly evident in the region from very early on. For instance, ground-edge axes have been dated to as early as 35,400 ± 410 cal bp in northern Australia, and by at least c.30,000 bp in Japan (Oda and Keally, 1992), although a recent review by Izuho and Kaifu (2015) indicates it could be as early as c.39,000–34,000 cal bp. They would seem to also be present in the Yenisei valley, just west of Lake Baikal in eastern Eurasia, at c.20,000 bp (Oda and Keally, 1973: 19, cited in Anderson and Summerhayes, 2008: 49). Useful reviews of the distribution, dating and significance of edge-grinding technology can be found in Anderson and Summerhayes (2008) and Geneste et al. (2012). Art, often seen as a key signifier of modern human behaviour, makes its appearance in Sulawesi, ISEA, by at least 40,000 bp (Aubert et al., 2014). Other forms of symbolic human behaviour can be seen at Lake Mungo, Southeast Australia, where the earliest evidence for the use of ochre in mortuary rituals (Lake Mungo III) and cremation (Lake Mungo I) occurs c.40,000 ± 2,000 bp (Bowler et al., 2003). Finally, it has recently been shown that AMH in ISEA had the skills, and hardware, for capturing pelagic fish by at least 42,000 bp (O’Connor et al., 2011). Apart from plentiful evidence for modern human behaviour pre-LGM, there is an astonishing wealth of evidence for 14

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new technologies and adaptive strategies of post-LGM Southeast Asian populations (see Piper, Chapter 3, this volume; Rabett, 2012). With regard to human skeletal remains, rather early dates for the appearance of accelerator mass spectrometry (AMH) in Southeast Asia have been reported. Liu et al. (2010a) argue that a fragment of mandible and two molars, recovered from Zhirendong, Guanxi province, southern China, are consistent with AMH morphology and date it (U-series, indirect) in excess of 100,000 bp. Liu and colleagues (2010b) have also proposed rather discordant (indirect) dates for a set of teeth they argue to be AMH, from Hubei Province in central China. Their electron spin resonance (ESR) date is 44,000–34,000 bp, while a U-series date for the same material is 103,000–79,000 bp. Other fragmentary material includes the Laibing remains, Guangxi Province, southern China, indirectly (sandwiching sediments dated) dated to c.38,500 ± 1,000– 44,000 ± 800 bp (Shen et al., 2007). A better known specimen is the almost complete Liujiang cranium, also from Guangxi province (Woo, 1959; Wu, 1990) most often cited as being dated to 68,000 bp, with Shen et al. (2002) suggesting 111,000–139,000 bp. The dating of this specimen is very problematic, particularly its relationship to the deposits being dated (Rosenberg, 2002). While these are not the only Pleistocene remains recovered from China (see Wu and Poirier, 1995), we currently lack indisputably, and relatively complete, AMH skeletal material prior to c.40,000 bp in southern Northeast Asia. In Laos, a recent AMH discovery at Tam Pa Ling cave has both a direct and indirect date (Demeter et al., 2012). The skeletal material was secondarily deposited within the cave and dating of these deposits indicate an age of c.51,000–46,000 bp. The cranium has also been directly U-series dated to 63,600 ± 6,000 bp (Demeter et al., 2012). We need to move to ISEA for other early examples of AMH in the region. In east Java, Indonesia, a single premolar associated with the Punung rainforest fauna, dated to between 128,000 ± 15,000 and 118,000 ± 3,000 bp using a range of methods (Westaway et al., 2007), is argued by Storm et al. (2005) to be AMH. Apart from this very early date, in the Philippines the earliest clearly AMH remains derive from Tabon cave on Palawan Island. Recent work by Dizon and Détroit (Détroit et al., 2004; Dizon et al., 2002) both describe and U-series date all of the remains from Tabon and indicate that they span a period from c.16,500 ± 2,000 bp to c.47,000 ± 10,000 bp. The so-called ‘Deep Skull’ from Niah Cave, Borneo, has had a somewhat chequered history in terms of dating. However, a re-excavation of the cave by Graeme Barker’s team has both confirmed the original stratigraphy of the find and produced a series of new dates. AMS dating situates the cranium between 31,000 and 34,000 14C years bp or 45,000–39,000 cal bp (Barker et al., 2007). It should be noted that a direct U-series date on the cranium produced a somewhat younger age of 35,200 ± 2,600 bp, although they argue that this date is significantly less reliable than the AMS results (Barker et al., 2007: 253). It has recently been suggested that the ‘Deep Skull’ is securely dated to 37,000 cal bp and that the cave was used from at least 50,000 cal bp (Reynolds and Barker, 2015). The only other clear example of early AMH in ISEA is Wajak 1, discovered in eastern Java close to Tulungagung district and given into the care of Eugene Dubois in the late nineteenth century. Storm reviews dating attempts that range from the Pleistocene to the Holocene, the latter period originally being favoured by Storm (1995). However, recent U-series dating of part of the human and faunal Wajak assemblage (but excluding Wajak 1 itself) suggests an age of 37,400–28,500 bp (95.4 per cent) (Storm et al., 2013), significantly older than previous estimates. While the Tabon, Niah and Wajak specimens are AMH, a recent discovery from Callao Cave, northern Luzon, Philippines is not so clear. Taxonomically undiagnostic material (a third metatarsal) believed to be hominin at least, has been minimally dated to 66,700 ± 1,000 bp (Mijares et al., 2010). While more of this hominin material has recently been found (Mandy Mijares, pers. comm. 2014), the taxonomic status of the Callao material has not yet been resolved. 15

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Finally, we turn to Australia where there is considerable disagreement regarding initial colonisation of the Australian sub-continent. Hiscock (2008) provides a very useful assessment of the dating debates, particularly with respect to the two oldest (and thus most contentious) sites of Madjedbebe (Malakunanja II) in northern Australia and Lake Mungo in southeast Australia which most people, it would seem, would accept as being c.45,000 ± 5,000 years bp (Hiscock, 2008: 44). However, Hiscock (2008: 44) goes on to note that ‘colonization of this landmass [Australia] is more likely to have been between 50,000 and 60,000 years ago’. Notwithstanding, debates over the colonisation of Australia continue with O’Connell and Allen (2015), in a recent review, arguing for settlement no earlier than c.47,000 bp. To summarise, it would appear that archaeological evidence for modern human behaviour, and some albeit sparse evidence for these AMH themselves, begins by at least c.45,000 bp in north-eastern Eurasia. Further, similar evidence, with much better skeletal evidence, is present throughout Mainland and island Southeast Asia by at least 50,000 bp and Australia perhaps a little later. An important question is ‘when, how and where did the descendants of these northern and southern populations meet?’, as they presumably did.

Meeting in the middle Earlier in the chapter, we flagged the idea of dual, and quite separate, AMH colonisation events post-African exodus: one in the north and moving across eastern Eurasia and one in the south moving through south Asia into Southeast Asia and Australia. Indeed, Reyes-Centeno et al. (2014) have recently reviewed a range of AMH out-of-Africa dispersal models using genetic and cranio-morphological data. They argue for a multiple dispersals scenario that includes both a northern dispersal into north-eastern Eurasia and separate southern route expansion from Africa. Australians and Melanesians (due to subsequent relative isolation) are argued to retain ‘the signal of a southern route dispersal that commenced closer to the temporal boundary of the Middle– Late Pleistocene’ (Reyes-Centeno et al., 2014: 7251), while the ‘signal’ in later and modern Southeast Asian descendants of the early colonisers will have been lost through subsequent migration episodes. The use of the term Australo-Melanesian is currently a sort of short hand for describing the contemporary morphology of Australians and Melanesians, as well as an identifier of other ancient populations that have more or less retained the cranial and dental morphology of the original AMH colonisers of Southeast Asia and Australia/Melanesia. It would seem clear that any retention of genetic or cranio-dental signals of early AMH movement into both eastern Eurasia and Southeast Asia and Australia would be a function of subsequent relative isolation. For Australia and New Guinea, their relatively high degree of isolation from subsequent population movements means that a great deal of genetic and morphological continuity can be seen from the time of initial AMH colonisation until recently. For Southeast Asia, both ISEA and MSEA, the same general trend for continuity in cranial and dental morphology can be seen up until around 4,000 bp, after which the majority of skeletal series shows a greater or lesser genetic input from morphologically modern East Asians (see Matsumura and Oxenham, 2014). In the context of the ‘when, how and where’ the descendants of these northern and southern populations met, we would suggest that, skeletally, the evidence is simply too sparse and too incomplete to substantively address this question. Nonetheless, it is intriguing that the lithic edge-grinding technology spans the Northeast and Southeast Asian–Pacific rim from Australia to Japan before c.30,000 bp, although they date to early post-LGM contexts in Borneo and Vietnam (Anderson and Summerhayes, 2008). Evidence for early edge-grinding technology in Japan, in addition to Kaifu et al.’s (2011) arguments for Australo-Melanesian affinities of the 16

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earliest AMH remains in Japan (the Minatogawa series), suggests that descendants of the original southerly colonisation route made it as far north as the Japanese archipelago within at least 10,000 to 20,000 years of arrival in Southeast Asia. By extension, the direct ancestors of the Tianyuan individual from northern China, dated to c.40,000 bp, may well have originated in the south, rather than from north-eastern Eurasia, although this is far from certain. Notwithstanding, if Southeast Asia was rapidly colonised by AMH from at least 50,000 bp, there is no reason why central and northern China (and indeed Japan) were not similarly colonised by the descendants of these populations. The prediction, in terms of both aDNA and cranio-dental morphology, would be that these populations should show the signal of the southern route dispersals. Phenotypically and genetically they should demonstrate affinities with Australo-Melanesians.

Mid-Holocene population history Mainland Southeast Asia The next major demographic, and genetic, shift in the region seems to begin with the rise of plants and animal domestication. The transition to cereal crops (millets and rice) and animal (e.g. pigs) domestication begins by c.7,000 bce and appears complete by 4,500 bce in the basins of the Yangzi and Huang (Yellow) Rivers in central China (see discussions in Bellwood, 2005, 2013). Whether the populations involved in this domestication process were phenotypically, and genetically, essentially modern East Asians is unclear. We know next to nothing regarding the origins and timing, and processes involved, in the emergence of the modern East Asian morphology. However, there may be evolutionary reasons for the East Asian cranio-dental morphology being, at least in part, a function of adaptation to extreme cold (e.g. see Steegmann and Platner, 1968) among early ancestral populations living in Siberia. A recent unpublished find from Donghulin in north-eastern China, which demonstrates clear modern East Asian cranio-facial features (Hirofumi Matsumura, pers. comm.), has been said to date to c.10,000 bp. Donghulin aside, the modern Northeast Asian cranio-facial morphology is observed by at least 7,000 bp (Brown, 1999), which is not inconsistent with the emergence of domestication, or the Neolithic, in central China. At the same time that domestication was developing in central China, we see the emergence of high-density, ostensibly sedentary, or semi-sedentary, pottery-using hunter–gatherer communities in southern China and northern Vietnam (Li et al., 2013; Oxenham and Matsumura, 2011; Rispoli, 2007). Morphologically, these populations are clearly of Australo-Melanesian affinity (Matsumura and Oxenham, 2014; Matsumura et al., 2015). We believe that subsequent to the emergence of the Neolithic in central China, cranio-dentally East Asian populations moved, along with their farming life-ways, southward, interacting, and genetically engaging with, high-density foraging communities with Australo-Melanesian affinities located in southern China and northern Vietnam. In one rare instance, the process of this cultural and genetic interaction has been captured at the early Vietnamese Neolithic site of Mán Ba.c (Oxenham et al., 2011). Mán Bac is unique in providing a snap-shot of a community, the majority of which appear to be cranio-dentally of East Asian descent, with a minority of clear AustraloMelanesian individuals and a number of mixed East Asian and Australo-Melanesian individuals (Oxenham et al., 2011). While more intensive levels of interaction between these two different populations can be hypothesised to have occurred in southern China and northern Vietnam, we believe the process of demic diffusion with respect to the rest of MSEA likely occurred in a landscape with much lower densities of indigenous forager populations. Indeed, the Neolithic in MSEA virtually erupts onto the landscape within a very short period of time from northern 17

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Thailand through to southern coastal Vietnam around or just after 4,000 bp (e.g. see Oxenham et al., 2015). A mosaic of populations exhibiting differential levels of East Asian and AustraloMelanesian genes in their cranio-dental morphologies populate the MSEA landscape from the Neolithic and into the Iron Age (Matsumura and Oxenham, 2014). The reason for this is that the process of demic diffusion and the emergence of the Neolithic was a complex and nonlinear process that is still not complete: the signal of the descendants of the original colonisers has all but disappeared in the region, with the exception of Australia and New Guinea.

Island Southeast Asia A somewhat different scenario characterises events in ISEA at around the same time as the Neolithic was making its mark in MSEA. Apart from demonstrating an early AMH presence in the region, human skeletal material has played a minimal role in reconstructing the population history of ISEA from the mid-Holocene through to the last 1,000 to 2,000 years. Much of the emphasis in recent years has been on seeking to understand the emergence of farming populations in ISEA, as well as explaining the observation that they speak (with the exception of interior New Guinea and some adjacent regions) Austronesian languages. In addressing these issues, the focus has been very much on linguistic, genetic and archaeological evidence, all of which has been of variable value in their respective contributions. The most comprehensive, and testable in the main, model addressing the issue of the origins, distribution and timing of both farming and the early Austronesian languages has been forwarded by Bellwood (e.g. see Bellwood, 2005, 2007, 2011). In brief, this model posits movements of farming migrants, and a suite of associated material culture, from Taiwan into the northern Philippines c.2000 bce. From there, some of the descendants of these Austronesian-speaking farmers (1) tracked through the Philippine archipelago and westwards into the Indonesian archipelago, while (2) others moved directly to the Marianas c.1500 bce, a sea-going voyage of some 2,300 km, while still other groups appear to have tracked south and then east into the Bismarck archipelago arriving c.1500–1350 bce (e.g. see Carson et al., 2013; Hung et al., 2011). Those migrating to the Marianas and the Bismarcks would appear to be the direct cultural, if not biological, ancestors of the Lapita peoples, who subsequently colonised the Pacific (see Matisoo-Smith, Chapter 18, and also Oxenham et al., Chapter 15, this volume). While the model explaining the initial movements of Austronesian-speaking peoples and their distinctively decorated red slipped pottery to the Marianas and the Bismarcks seems sound (but see Fitzpatrick and Callaghan, 2013; Winter et al., 2012), evidence for movement from the northern Philippines westwards into the Indonesian archipelago is sparse. However, and despite claims to the contrary (e.g. Donohue and Denham, 2010), the genetic evidence for a significant contribution of new DNA, originating in southern China and Taiwan, into both archipelagos, starting sometime after 2000 bce, is undeniable when genome-wide data from modern populations (see especially Lipson et al., 2014) and aDNA data (e.g. Ko et al., 2014) are examined. Archaeologically, the evidence is less robust in tracking the arrival of morphologically modern Southeast Asians into Indonesia. However, in eastern Indonesia the Neolithic site of Pain Haka, Flores Island, dated to 650–350 bce (see Harris et al., Chapter 14, this volume) is characterised by Lapita-complex-like mortuary practices (see Oxenham et al., Chapter 15, this volume). Moreover, Gua Harimau, in western Indonesia, south Sumatra, includes both clearly morphologically modern Southeast Asian Neolithic extended burials dated to between 1220 ± 60 bce and 190 ± 195 ce (Bulbeck, 2014), as well as several currently undated, and stratigraphically deeper, flexed burials which have an Australo-Melanesian cranio-dental morphology (Hirofumi Matsumura, pers. comm., 2014). Minimally, these two sites at either 18

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end of the Indonesian archipelago demonstrate the arrival of phenotypically, and presumably genetically, modern Southeast Asians during the Neolithic. At Gua Harimau there is additional evidence that some sort of replacement, assimilation and/or integration with earlier AustraloMelanesian populations took place.

Concluding remarks The chief purpose of this chapter was to contextualise the contributions to the first part of this volume: those that deal with Mainland and island Southeast Asia. The population history of this part of the globe is both highly complex and somewhat controversial. We trust that our take on the issue is a step in the direction of resolving some of the complexities of the problem. It is perhaps not surprising that archaeological resolution regarding the population history of MSEA and ISEA diminishes the further back in time we go. Nonetheless, a series of testable hypotheses have been provided in this chapter that currently provide what we believe is the most parsimonious explanation of the evidence we have to date. We believe that two initial colonisations of the East by anatomically modern humans occurred after the initial African exodus: the earlier colonisation followed a southern coastal route with eventual settlement of Southeast Asia by c.50,000–60,000 bp and Australia/New Guinea by c.50,000 bp. A quite separate migration, presumably originating in the Levant, tracked across Siberia and made it into eastern Eurasia by at least 45,000 bp. There would appear to be a subsequent rapid movement northward, potentially using the East Asian Pacific coast, of the initial southerly colonisers who seem to have reached the Japanese archipelago by c.39,000 bp and perhaps northern China even earlier. The question of the timing, location and nature of the meeting of the originally southern and northern colonising populations is very difficult to address at this time. There are hints that descendants of Siberian populations found refuge in Japan at the close of the LGM, potentially interacting with an earlier southerly descended population (Minatogawa) that eventually became the Jomon people. Further, but much later in time, populations with a (proto?) Northeast Asian morphology, potentially originating in eastern Siberia, would appear to have migrated into northern and central China, eventually becoming associated with the rise of the Neolithic in central China. These cranio-dentally modern East Asian populations expanded and moved southwards, eventually meeting with pottery-using forager communities (that were cranio-dentally Australo-Melanesian), which had relatively high-density settlements, throughout southern China and northern Vietnam. The origins of pottery use among these forager communities may be related to a long period of interaction with more northerly Neolithic communities over several millennia. Continued demic diffusion into the relatively low-population-density forager community expanses of Southeast Asia from c.4000 bp, with differential levels and patterns of genetic exchange, occurred until well into the Iron Age and beyond. In ISEA, a similar picture of demic diffusion, language spread and the introduction of farming life-ways, often in concert with traditional locally developed foraging economies, began c.4000 bp, the immediate origins of this spread being Taiwan. A relatively clear picture of rapid spread to the Marianas and the Bismarck archipelago by c.3500 bp is seen, with somewhat less archaeological and bioarchaeological resolution, in Indonesia. It needs to be stressed that the modern, and highly variable, Southeast Asian cranio-dental morphology is a function of differential levels of Australo-Melanesian and East Asian genetic input. In some contemporary regions of Southeast Asia, clinal variation clearly reflects this ancient differential genetic input: the west to east cline in the Indonesian archipelago for instance, particularly in the Nusa Tenggara chain. Finally, the next major period of human mobility was the colonisation of the Pacific, which is dealt with in Part II of this volume. 19

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3 Human cultural, technological and adaptive changes from the end of the Pleistocene to the mid-Holocene in Southeast Asia Philip J. Piper

Introduction The climatic amelioration at the end of the LGP had profound effects on landscapes and environments. In ISEA, the rising sea levels, as a consequence of polar ice melt, resulted in the drowning of a large proportion of the low-lying plains on the Sunda Shelf and separated Borneo, Sumatra and Java from each other and Peninsular Malaysia. Inundation of the rich and diverse coastal ecology that provided important hunting and foraging grounds for local hunter–gatherer populations was severely disrupted, causing their displacement. Some populations likely died out, others migrated inland or crossed the oceans to find more productive environments and establish new territories. The profound environmental shifts during the terminal Pleistocene and Early Holocene were also coincident with one of the pivotal periods in human history in the region, one that included significant changes in technology, the intensification of plant processing and the emergence of burial traditions. This chapter discusses climatic factors throughout the Late Pleistocene to mid-Holocene that contributed to the dramatic re-shaping of landscapes and environments across ISEA. It examines the likely effects marine transgression and landscape submergence had on resident hunter–gatherer populations and discusses some of the new technologies in stone, bone and shell that appear in Southeast Asia (SEA) during this period, as well as the translocation of plants, and the emergence and spread of a variety of burial traditions. It also investigates how the initial appearance and then geographic spread of these cultural and technological practices inform on contact and interaction between human populations from MSEA across maritime SEA as far as Melanesia.

Landscape transformations and environmental change through the Late Pleistocene and Early Holocene Changing climates at the end of the Pleistocene had profound effects on landscape configurations and the environment across maritime SEA. Throughout this period, climatic shifts resulted in changes in sea level starting from an apparent low-stand of −125 ± 6 m at c.135 kya before the 24

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onset of the Late Pleistocene, to a level higher than at present during the penultimate glaciation (c.123–116 kya; McCulloch & Essat, 2000; Rohling et al., 1998). This change in sea levels culminated in the insularization of much of the Sundaic biogeographic region. This period was also marked by changes in regional climate and environment from the open woodland and grasslands that characterized the Middle Pleistocene to one of closed tropical rainforests. As a consequence, a large proportion of native megafauna went extinct and was replaced by the modern tropical rainforest fauna characteristic of the region today (van den Bergh, de Vos & Sondaar, 2001; de Vos & Long, 2001). This period has also produced controversial evidence for the earliest arrival of AMH to the region (Storm et al., 2005). At the end of the penultimate interglacial (c.110 kya) the climate cooled progressively through a series of pronounced stadials (cold phases at c.116–110 kya and c.100–87 kya) interspersed with major inter-stadials (warm phases at c.110–100 kya and c.87–74 kya) (Lambeck, Esat & Potter, 2002). During stadials, many of the islands within the Sundaic biogeographic region reformed into a single sub-continental landmass known as ‘Sundaland’, which extended from Peninsular Malaysia to the tip of Borneo in the north and Bali in the south (Molengraf & Weber, 1921), and covered c.1.85 million km2 (Figure 3.1). Many of the Wallacean island groups coalesced into

Figure 3.1 The geographic distribution of archaeological sites referred to in the text that produced evidence of human subsistence strategies (squares), bone implements (circles) and edge-ground stone technologies during the Late Pleistocene to mid-Holocene across Southeast Asia and Melanesia Source: Background map prepared by Treehouse Maps, Arnhem, Netherlands; modified and details added by Brenton Hill, [email protected]. Notes: 1 Tham Lod; 2 Lang Longrien; 3 Ille; 4 Tabon and Sa’gung; 5 Niah; 6 Wajak, Song Gupuh, Song Terus, Song Keplek, Gua Braholo, Gua Kidul; 7 Liang Bua; 8 Jerimalai, Lene Hara, Matja Kuru 2; 9 Leang Sarru; 10 Kuk; 11 Mai Da Dieu; 12 Xom Trai; 13 Con Co Ngua; 14 Con Moong, Hang Boi, Hang Trong; 15 Gua Balambangan; 16 Balobok; 17 Ulu Leang I; 18 Golo; 19 Kria; 20 Liang Nabulei Lisa; 21 Liang Lemdubu.

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larger islands (e.g. Philippines) but remained isolated from both Sundaland and Sahul (consisting of Australia, New Guinea and many smaller islands). Tropical rainforest seems to have persisted throughout ISEA until c.82 kya, after which a drier and cooler climate is recorded in Java (van der Kaars & Dam 1995, 1997), and a savannah corridor likely was established through the central region of Sundaland from the Thai/Malay peninsula to Java, and remained until the onset of the Holocene (Bird, Taylor & Hunt, 2005). By c.45 kya, modern human populations were widely distributed across SEA and Australasia. There is skeletal evidence of a human presence at Niah Cave on Borneo from c.45 kya onwards (Reynolds et al., 2013), Tabon Cave on Palawan at c.40 kya (Détroit et al., 2004) and Wajak in East Java at c.35 kya (Storm et al., 2013). Between 30 and 28 kya temperatures started to rapidly fall and sea levels are estimated to have reached a lower limit of c.−123 m during the LGM (Hanebuth, Stattegger, & Bojanowski, 2009). Extreme conditions were reached between 23 and 18 kya, when mean temperatures are estimated to have been 2–3.5°C below present (Gagan, Hendy, Haberle, & Hantoro, 2004; Rosenthal, Oppo, & Linsley, 2003; Visser, Thunell, & Stott, 2003). The archaeological evidence for a human presence in ISEA during this period is scarce with hiatuses in habitation noted at Song Terus (Sémah & Sémah, 2012) and Niah (Reynolds et al., 2013). It is likely that people abandoned these sites that would have been further away from the coasts during this cold phase, and moved out on to the low-lying plains, and closer to coastlines. Between 14.6 and 14.3 kya, the global climate began to improve and sea levels rapidly rose at an average of 5.33 m per 100 years from −80 to −64 m, corresponding to Meltwater Pulse 1A (Hanebuth & Stattegger, 2004). By the onset of the Holocene, Sumatra and Borneo remained connected to Peninsular Malaysia by a land bridge through the Karimata Strait. This was eventually severed at c.10 kya (Cranbrook, 2000; Voris, 2000). The oceans continued to rise from around −20 m at 9 kya to the mid-Holocene high sea stand at 7 kya when sea levels reached 2–5 m higher than at present. The mid-Holocene transgression caused the inundation of many low-lying areas and allowed the expansion of mangrove swamps in coastal areas (Allen, 1987; Berdin, Siringan, & Maeda, 2003; Woodroffe, Thom, & Chappell, 1985). On land, and driven by rising temperatures and changes in precipitation, the tropical rainforests expanded and the savanna corridor established between Peninsula Malaysia and Java contracted (Flenley, 1996).

Changing subsistence patterns, animal translocations and plant management and domestication There is evidence from the Late Pleistocene of the human inhabitants of ISEA using a range of different hunting and foraging strategies to take advantage of the various local and regional resources available to them (Piper & Rabett, 2014). For example, at Song Gupuh (c.70 kya) and Song Terus (c.80 kya) in eastern Java, Tham Lod rock shelter (c.35 kya) in northern Thailand, Lang Rongrien (c.42 kya) in southern Thailand and at Ille Cave (c.13 kya) the focus seems to have been on large game such as suids, cervids and bovines (not Palawan) in open woodland/ savanna (Figure 3.1; Morwood et al., 2008; Mudar & Anderson, 2007; Piper, Ochoa, Robles, Lewis, & Paz, 2011; Schoochondej, 2000; Sémah & Sémah, 2012). In the more forested environments around Niah, hunting strategies focused not only on pigs, but a relatively diverse range of prey including arboreal taxa such as orangutan (Pongo pygmaeus), macaques (Macaca spp.) and leaf monkeys (Presbytis spp.) and a variety of birds and aquatic and terrestrial vertebrates such as turtles (Geoemydidae and Trionychidae) (Rabett, Piper, & Barker, 2006; Rabett & Barker, 2007). On the isolated islands of Wallacea, where large mammals were absent, there is evidence for the exploitation of coastal resources at c.35 kya at Lene Hara and even some possible offshore fishing as early as c.42 kya at Jerimalai in Timor Leste (O’Connor, 2007; O’Connor, 26

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Ono, & Clarkson, 2011). There is also evidence of coastal resource procurement at c.35 kya at Leang Sarru on Talaud Island, an isolated island between the southern Philippines and northern Sulawesi (Ono, Soegondho, & Yoneda, 2009). The procurement of plants is also evident during the Late Pleistocene across the region. At Niah, plant processing includes sago palm (Eugeissona utilis and/or Caryota mitis), yams (Dioscorea spp.), aroids that contain an irritant, and Pangium edule, a mangrove-adapted tree whose fruits are inedible unless detoxified (Barton, 2005; Zuraina, 1982). Several pits potentially used in the detoxification process of aroids and Pangium were also recorded at Niah dating to c.34 kya (Reynolds et al., 2013). However, there is a lack of technological evidence for the intensive plant processing in the Late Pleistocene that would emerge during the early Holocene, and perhaps the potential of these resources had yet to be fully realized. In the early Holocene, and as a result of rising sea levels inundating lowland coastal regions, many cave sites including Ille, Niah, Song Keplek, Gua Braholo and Song Gupuh come within the range of coastal foraging, as evidenced by the accumulation of large shell middens (Rabett et al., 2013; Lewis et al., 2008; Simanjuntak, 2002; Morwood et al., 2008). The archaeological record also indicates more intensive and prolonged occupation of these sites during this period. For example, at Niah from c.14 kya onwards, three cave entrances (West Mouth, Lobang Hangus, and Gan Kira) are frequented regularly and perhaps even contemporaneously (Barton et al., 2013) (see Lloyd-Smith et al., this volume). There is a much greater emphasis on the hunting of arboreal taxa, and in particular monkeys (Cercopithecidae), orangutan and civet cats (Viverridae) than in the Late Pleistocene (Piper & Rabett, 2009, 2014; Rabett, 2012). The environment around Niah had always been suitable for arboreal taxa and it is possible that one reason for the substantially higher numbers of monkeys and other small game during this period was improvements in range technologies, specifically the bow and arrow (Rabett & Piper, 2012, see below). A similar shift in hunting strategy in association with closure of tropical rainforests is observed at Song Gupuh, Song Terus, Song Keplek and Gua Braholo (Simanjuntak, 2002; Morwood et al., 2008; Sémah & Sémah, 2012). Another feature of animal bone assemblages from the terminal Pleistocene onwards at Niah is the paucity of pig mandibles and monkey skulls. There appears to be no taphonomic reason for the selective ‘disappearance’ of these specific elements, and this raises the possibility that the inhabitants of Niah selectively retained these skulls and mandibles as trophies or for some other social/ritual purpose. The bones of predatory birds and hornbills are also a regular feature of bone assemblages at Niah, and it is plausible that these large birds were selectively targeted for their colorful plumage and bills, and perhaps for what they might have represented ritualistically and/or symbolically (Piper & Rabett, 2014). Both the collection of hunting trophies and the use of bird plumage is a common feature of many contemporary indigenous groups across ISEA and Melanesia (Bennett, Nyaoi, & Sompud, 1997). Another example of the selective use of monkey crania and other articulated (and sometimes burnt) skeletal elements in the mid-Holocene is in association with human burials at Song Terus and Song Keplek 5, Java (Détroit, 2006). The intensive use of pounders, pestles and mortars for plant processing and grinding resins and minerals such as haematite also emerges at several sites across ISEA, MSEA and on New Guinea in the early Holocene (Bellwood, 1997: 181; Barker et al., 2013: 354–356; Simanjuntak, 2002), and at Liang Bua on Flores by 11 kya (Morwood et al., 2008). However, none of the highly decorative pestles and mortars reported by Swadling and Hide (2005) potentially dating from 8 kya onwards in New Guinea has been found in ISEA. Several globally significant food plants probably owe their origins to management intensification in ISEA and/or New Guinea during the Early to mid-Holocene (Denham, 2013). For instance, early agriculture based on vegetative propagation in New Guinea includes taro and 27

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some yams at c.7–6.4 kya (Fuller et al., 2014). Archaeological evidence dated between 6.9 and 6.4 kya suggests the cultivation of bananas was already taking place at Kuk Swamp in the New Guinea Highlands (Denham et al. 2003; Denham, Haberle, & Lentfer, 2004). At Niah, the analysis of macro- and microbotanical remains indicates the gathering of nuts of Pangium edule, Elaeocarpus and Canarium, tubers such as taro (Colocasia cf. esculenta) and the seeds of grasses and sedges that would have been used for the production of textiles as well as a food resource. Early Holocene levels at Ille Cave include frequent remains of Canarium, parenchyma of wild yam (Dioscorea hispida), morphologically domesticated yam (Dioscorea alata) and taro (Colocasia cf. esculata) as well as the seeds of Boehmeria cf. platanifolia and B. racemosa, fibrous shrubs useful for making string (Barker et al., 2011). Alongside the intensification of plant use there is a significant increase in forest disturbance, probably associated with the vegetative reproduction of tuberous plants as a system of forest management and resource enhancement across ISEA and Melanesia (Denham et al., 2003; Barker et al., 2013: 355).

Implements manufactured of bone, stone and shell Certain aspects of material culture have their roots within the Late Pleistocene but appear to increase in geographic distribution and abundance during the terminal Pleistocene and into the Early Holocene, and use contexts potentially change. Osseous technologies are a good case in point. Some of the earliest bone artifacts in Southeast Asia have been identified in the West Mouth of Niah Cave dating to c.45 kya (Figure 3.1; Rabett, 2005; Rabett & Piper, 2012). The Niah sample of this period consists of 13 pieces, including pig tusk tools and a pigmented hard-shell turtle (Geoemydidae) plastron. There are also several point forms but no evidence of their use as projectile armatures (Rabett et al., 2006; Rabett & Piper, 2012; Reynolds et al., 2013). At Lang Longrien in Peninsular Thailand a single piece of bone dated to c.42 kya demonstrates the groove and snap technique (Anderson, 1990, 1997). Two potentially early bone artifacts from the ‘Tabuhan’ layers (c.30–80 kya) of Song Terus in East Java are illustrated by Kusno (2009), and a remarkably complex bone artifact, discovered recently at Matja Kuru 2 in East Timor, is interpreted as the base of a projectile point that was hafted, and is dated to c.34 kya (O’Connor, Robertson, & Aplin, 2014). From the terminal Pleistocene onwards, there is a notable increase in the manufacture and use of osseous implements. They appear to have been produced on a variety of raw materials to fulfill a range of technological functions including cutting, shaping, perforating, possibly digging and fabrication, and as hafted projectile points (Rabett, 2005; Rabett & Piper 2012). At Niah between 10,534 ± 131 cal bce (OxA-13936) and 10,423 ± 95 cal bce (OxA-13939), the local foraging populations started manufacturing bone points for piercing, pig tusk tools for scraping and grinding, and hafted composite projectile armatures (Barton et al., 2013). The appearance of this latter technology coincides with the shift to greater hunting emphasis of primates, the limb bones of which were then used to produce more osseous implements (Piper & Rabett, 2009). Several hafted stingray spines, a technology observed nowhere else in ISEA this early, were recovered from deposits dating between 8,936 ± 148 cal bce (OxA-12391) and 6,863 ± 109 cal bce (OxA-18358) (Barton, Piper, Rabett, & Reeds, 2009). Also in Borneo, bone implements appear for the first time at the coastal site of Gua Balambangan, on Pulau off the northeast coast of Sabah between 9,503 ± 319 cal bce (Beta-109141) and 8,057 ± 227 cal bce (Beta-109140), some 8,000 years after the site was first occupied (Rabett & Piper, 2012; Zuraina, Ignatius, Tjia, & Koon, 1998). The implements appear to have been designed for an extractive strategy that focused on coastal margin environments (Rabett, 2005). 28

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On Java, bone implements found at Gua Braholo date from as early as 11,923 ± 181 cal bce (no lab code) (Simanjunak & Asikin, 2004). Excavations at Song Gupuh produced edge and point pieces dating from c.11 kya onwards (Morwood et al., 2008), and a relatively large collection of points, ‘spatulas’, ‘pins’ and a small adze were recorded at Song Terus dating between 8 and 9 kya (Sémah et al., 2004). At both these sites, an increase in bone technologies appears to coincide with a shift to the hunting of a wider diversity of game, with a higher proportion of arboreal taxa. Dates obtained by Simanjunak and Asikin (2004) for Song Keplek and Gunung Kidul suggest the initial appearance of bone technology by 8,002 ± 299 cal bce (no lab code). On the mainland, the earliest bone technologies have been recorded in northern Vietnam at Xom Trai, between 17,309 ± 114 cal bce (Bln-3042) and 20,062 ± 211 cal bce (Bln-3472), and at Con Moong cave in the Hoabinhian unit (Culture Layer II), dating to between 10,186 ± 132 cal bce (Bln-3485) and 9,401 ± 229 cal bce (ZK-340) (Nguyen Viet, 2000). Another c.250 bone artifacts have been recovered from some 150 Hoabinhian sites in northern Vietnam dating broadly to the Pleistocene–Holocene transition (Rabett & Piper, 2012). In Ninh Bình province, a small number of bone implements were identified at Hang Boi dating to c.13 kya and Hang Trong, where they are likely to be of Early Holocene age (Rabett, 2012). In the mid-Holocene, bone artifacts have been recovered from Da But sites in northern Vietnam, a cultural complex that took shape along the coastal lowlands of the Gulf of Tonkin around c.8 kya (Nguyen Viet, 2005). Small numbers of osseous implements have also been recorded at Moh Khiew in the Thai/ Malay peninsula dating from 10,943 ± 128 cal bce (OAEP-1284) and at the neighbouring site of Sakai in Early Holocene deposits (Rabett, 2002; Rabett & Piper, 2012). In southern Sulawesi, bone implements, considered typical of those attributed to the ‘Toalean’ culture, have been recovered from Ulu Leang 1 rock-shelter with an earliest date of 6,069 ± 660 cal bce (ANU-606) (Olsen & Glover, 2004). At other sites across the same peninsula, south of the Cenrana Valley, bone points are added to the Toalean repertoire between 7 and 8 kya. In the Philippines, the earliest record of a bone implement in the form of a fishing gorge comes from the site of Bubog I on Ilin Island dating to before 9,150–8,810 cal bce (WK-32983; Pawlik et al., 2014). Ille on Palawan has produced a total of three bone artifacts with an associated date of c.4,615 ± 57 cal bce (OxA-16095) (Lewis et al., 2008; Ochoa, 2009), and Balobok rock-shelter on Tawi Tawi in the Sulu Sea has also produced bone artifacts, possibly dating to the Early or mid-Holocene (Ronquillo, Santiago, Asato & Tanaka, 1993; Bautista, 2001), but problems exist with the marine dating of shell and stratigraphy for this site (Spriggs, 2003). Bone technologies have also been reported from several islands in Wallacea and from the northern edge of the Sahul Shelf at this time. There is a probable early occurrence of bone technology at Liang Lemdubu on Aru Island dated to 17,770 ± 530 cal bce (OZD-460), and later in the archaeological sequence at 8,674 ± 65 cal bce (OZF-356). At Liang Nabulei Lisa, bone projectile points and perforators were excavated from contexts dated to between 9,314 ± 68 cal bce (OZD-699) and 5,850 ± 151 cal bce (ANU-10905) (Pasveer, 2006). Pasveer and Bellwood (2004) have reported a total of 78 bone artifacts from the upper pre-ceramic phase at Golo Cave, Gebe Island in the North Malaku islands, dating to between 6,015–5,793 cal bce (ANU-9449) and 1,741–1,294 cal bce (ANU-9448) (CALIB 5.0.1) (Figures 3.1 and 3.2; Szabó, Brumm & Bellwood, 2007). At Kria Cave on the Bird’s Head Peninsula, Papua New Guinea, bone artifacts used primarily as perforators were dated to a comparatively brief interval from 5,730–5,560 cal bce (GrA-9103) to 3,260–2,890 cal bce (GrA-9100) (Pasveer, 2004). Hafted edge-ground stone axes/adzes are known from Arnheim Land, the Kimberley and on Cape York in northern Australia, and in Papua New Guinea, where the grinding of stone tools and adzes associated with ‘waisting’ for the attachment of a haft can be traced back to the Late Pleistocene (Anderson & Summerhayes, 2008; Geneste, David, Plisson, Delannoy & Petchey, 2012). In Japan, 29

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Figure 3.2 A selection of early Holocene bone implement types from Golo Cave, Gebe Island, Moluccas Source: Illustration by the author.

edge-ground flaked and pebble tools occur throughout the archaeological record before c.30 kya, and perhaps as early as c.38 kya (Tsutsumi, 2012). In SEA, the earliest records of edge-ground adzes or axes (sometimes known as proto-Neoliths) have been recorded from the Hoabinhian sites of Xom Trai and Mai Da Dieu in northern Vietnam, where this technique of preparation dates to c.16 kya (Figures 3.1 & 3.3; Rabett, 2012: 186) or a little later. But the proliferation of this technological tradition in Vietnam is considered to have occurred after c.11 kya, in association with the Bacsonian Culture (Bellwood, 1997: 161–162). It is then found throughout Thailand and Malaysia as well during the mid-Holocene (Bellwood, 1997; Geneste et al., 2012). Edge and fully ground adzes are also a characteristic of the Da But Culture, where they appear after c.7 kya (Nguyen Viet, 2005). Edge-ground technologies are relatively rare in ISEA, but two flakes produced during the rejuvenation or maintenance of tools with ground edges were recovered in the West Mouth of Niah Cave immediately below a date of 6,695–7,031 cal bce (OxA-18358) and above an horizon dated to 8,751–9,186 cal bce (OxA-12391) (Rabett et al., 2013: 227). Kress (2004) reported the occurrence of edge-ground adzes in association with two tightly flexed burials from Sa’gung Rock Shelter in central Palawan. Though undated, these burials were aceramic, and reminiscent of those from Borneo and northern Vietnam dating to the mid-Holocene. Shell adzes appear in the terminal Pleistocene or early Holocene from the Philippines to Melanesia (Figure 3.4). They were produced using a single fold section of the body (mostly Melanesia) and/or hinge (mostly Philippines) of the giant clam (Hippopus or Tridacna) or the thickened aperture of the horned helmet Cassis cornuta. During the early to mid-Holocene, these implements were mostly unmodified with the exception of light grinding or abrasion to the bevel and/or edges (Szabó, 2004). Notwithstanding problems with dating (see Pawlik et al., 2015), probably some of the earliest edge-ground shell adzes are from the Mollucas or Melanesia. For example, Golo Cave on Gebe Island produced several shell adzes associated with 30

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Figure 3.3 Edge-ground stone adzes dating to the early Holocene from Xom Trai Cave, northern Vietnam Source: Original images Nguyen Viet; illustration by the author.

radiocarbon dates on charcoal and shell of between c.13 kya and 8 kya (Bellwood et al., 1998). Similar Tridacna shell adzes of comparable age and form have been recorded at Pamwak on Manus, in the Admiralty Islands possibly dating to between 10 and 7 kya (Spriggs, 1991). A large Tridacna adze was recovered from the Sepik region, New Guinea, which produced a direct date of 3,030 ± 90 bce (no code; Swadling & Hide, 2005: 291). O’Connor (2006: 81) reported an unstratified Tridacna adze from near the township of Tutuala in East Timor that returned a direct C14 date of 7,894–6,612 cal bce (ANU 12061). This specimen differs from those reported elsewhere in that it is fully ground and shaped similar to the quadrangular stone adzes that become common after 3,550 cal bce in maritime SEA (Bellwood, 1997: 155), and the artifact might have been produced using old shell (see O’Connor, 2006: 81). Of three shell adzes reported by Tanudirjo (2001), the two oldest were edge-ground, manufactured from Tridacna and identified in aceramic layers at Leang Tahuna on Merampit Island, southeast of Halmahera and Leang Manaf on Sanana. They produced direct dates on the shell of 2,534–2,417 cal bp (OZD-771) and 5,483–5,324 cal bce (OZD-772) respectively. A third shell adze/chisel from Waylia on Talaud Island was found on the ground surface. This was constructed from the thickened lip of a Cassis cornuta shell. This type of adze manufacture might have been a later innovation than those produced on giant clam, as reported from Wetef and Golo caves (Bellwood et al., 1998). Shell adzes are also frequently found in early to mid-Holocene contexts in the Philippines, but problems of chronological accuracy and provenance often exist. For example, a single human burial at Duyong Cave produced three Tridacna gigas shell adzes and a ‘gouge’ neatly aligned down either side of the individual (Fox, 1970: 63 Fig.19a and b; Szabó, 2004: 283). A date of 3,965–2,693 cal bce (UCLA-287) produced on charcoal ‘found in the grave fill’ (Fox, 1970: 60) should be treated 31

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Figure 3.4 The geographic distribution of archaeological sites referred to in the text that produced shell adzes and human burials from the terminal Pleistocene to mid-Holocene in Southeast Asia and Melanesia Source: Background map prepared by Treehouse Maps, Arnhem, Netherlands; modified and details added by Brenton Hill, [email protected], after Pawlik et al., in review). Notes: 1 Bubog 1; 2 Ille, Paredes; 3 Tabon, Duyong, Sa’gung, Batu Puti; 4 Niah; 5 Balobok, Sanga Sanga; 6 Leang Tahuna, Leang Manaf; 7 Golo, Buwawansi; 8 Sepik; 9 Pamwak; 10 Hang Cho; 11 Da But, Con Co Ngua; 12 Gua Teluk Ke-lewan; 13 Gua Cha, Gua Peraling; 14 Gua Tenkgorak; 15 Pawon; 16 Punung III, Song Terus, Song Keplek, Gua Braholo; 17 Wajak, Hoekgrot; 18 Liang Lemdubu.

with caution. But the burial context was aceramic, suggesting that it is older than c.4.5 kya, after which pottery first appears in the archaeological record of the Philippines. Two shell adzes identical to those found at Duyong were recovered from shallow disturbed deposits, apparently along with ground stone adzes, in Bato Puti on Lipuun Point, Palawan. Fox (1970: 62) associated these with the ‘Neolithic’ burials identified in the cave, though no definite stratigraphic or chronological correlation was evident. In 1965, Fox (1970: 64) recovered a Tridacna ‘tool’ from a grave in Paredes Rock Shelter on Langen Island, El Nido associated with two fully flexed inhumations and one supine burial. Shell adzes from Balobok on Tawi Tawi Island, southern Philippines have been argued to be as much as 7.5 kya (Spoehr, 1973; Ronquillo et al., 1993), but the validity of the dates and the stratigraphic and chronological integrity of the shell adzes have been questioned (Spriggs, 1989). Solheim, Legaspi and Neri (1979) recorded shell adzes on Sanga Sanga Island in the Sulu Sea in preceramic layers with radiocarbon dates on marine shell of 4,700 ± 180 and 5,995 ± 90 bce. A much more securely dated shell adze has been recovered from Bubog I Rock Shelter on Ilin Island off the southwest coast of Mindoro. A direct AMS date on the adze returned an age of 5,600–5,300 cal bce (S-ANU-35132). The security of this date is enhanced by the known recovery location of the artifact within a well-dated and stratigraphically secure context that brackets its manufacture between c.11 kya and c.6 kya (Figure 3.5; Pawlik et al., 2015). 32

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Figure 3.5 Edge-ground shell adze directly dated to 5,550–5,250 cal bce (S-ANU-35132) from Bubog I rock shelter on Ilin Island, Mindoro (after Pawlik et al., in review)

The emergence of burial traditions across Southeast Asia The fossil remains of AMH prior to c.10 kya are rare in ISEA (see Oxenham and Buckley, this volume) and there is currently no evidence of intentional interment of the dead prior to the terminal Pleistocene across the region. The earliest clear indication of deliberate burial in the region is from Liang Lemdubu on the Aru Islands. The disarticulated nature of the skeletal remains on excavation implied secondary burial of the corpse, perhaps in bundles, following soft-tissue decomposition. Estimated to date between c.18 kya and 16 kya, cut marks on the right humerus and ulna might suggest disarticulation after death. The body then appears to have been left to decay before being wrapped and buried in a seated position (Bulbeck, 2006). This is currently the only burial of this age identified east of Wallace’s Line (except Australia) and geographically disassociated with the proliferation of burial tradition in ISEA. Nevertheless there are ways in which the body was treated after death that have parallels in the West Mouth of Niah, and at Gua Braholo and Ille Cave. Within the West Mouth of Niah (see Lloyd-Smith et al., this volume) the oldest burials date between radiocarbon assays on two different individuals of 9,320–9,748 cal bce (OxA-15157) and 6,404–7,504 cal bce (OxA-16161). Treatment of the dead was highly variable and included flexed and seated inhumations, secondary un-burnt and cremation burial and flexed decapitated burials. One complex burial rite appears to have involved seating the deceased on a lit fire (Rabett et al., 2013). In addition, burials were not randomly distributed but rather spatially segregated, perhaps emphasizing different familial or group allegiances (Lloyd-Smith, 2012). The use of animal body parts in burial practice was also evident, in particular, with the use of a rhinoceros radius as a ‘pillow’ in a flexed burial (Figure 3.6; Cranbrook, 1986; Rabett et al., 2013). Likely early to mid-Holocene flexed burials in Borneo have also been recorded within the occupation deposits at Gua Tenkgorak (Widianto & Handini, 2003) and Kimanis (Arifin, 2004) in Kalimantan. At Gua Braholo a secondary burial was found within a pit, which had charcoal and ash at the base, very similar to the seated burials at Niah. A C14 determination on the charcoal produced a date of 6,810 ± 170 bce (Détroit, 2006: 196). This secondary burial was broadly contemporaneous with a tightly flexed burial found at the same level. Other tightly flexed and extended burials in Java have been recovered from Song Keplek (SK5) dating to 5,070 ± 180 bce and SK4 at 2,560 ± 90 bce, Song Terus 1 at 7,380 ± 90 bce and Pawon 4 at 7,575 ± 200 bce (Détroit, 2006: 33

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Figure 3.6 Burial No. 27 from the West Mouth of Niah Caves, showing a flexed inhumation with a rhinoceros radius utilized as a ‘pillow’ Source: Reproduced with the permission of the Sarawak Museum; after Rabett et al., 2013).

199; Noerwildi, 2011/2012; Simanjuntak, 2002). At Hoekgrot in East Java, Eugene Dubois recovered the remains of at least three adults and one juvenile that had almost certainly been laid on the surface, or buried in the cave. One skeleton had been completely coated red, presumably with ochre (Storm, 1995). Although undated, there is a strong possibility that these human remains are also of early to mid-Holocene date. At Ille on Palawan (see Lara et al., this volume), several cremation burials have been identified dating to the Early Holocene (Lewis et al., 2008). To date, the best studied of these is Burial 758 with direct dates of 7,310–7,056 cal bce (OxA-16020) and 7,475–7,330 cal bce (OxA-15982). Numerous, multiple cut marks concentrated at the joints and scrape marks on the surfaces of long bones and the cranium suggest that the body had been systematically defleshed, dismembered and long bones smashed before being placed in a container and buried (Lara, Paz, Lewis, & Solheim, 2013). The dismemberment and breakage might indicate that ritual cannibalism played a role in the burial rites. Probably the oldest burials in the mainland have been recovered from Tam Hang Cave in northern Laos dating to c.14,000 cal bce (Shackleford & Demeter, 2012). Other early dated flexed and crouched inhumations have been recorded at Pha Phen in Laos (c.5,000 cal bce), Tham Lod (c.10,000–11,000 cal bce), Ban Rai (c.8,000 cal bce), Ban Tha Si in Thailand and Mai Da Nuoc (8,000–6,000 cal bce) in northern Vietnam (Tayles et al., 2015). A flexed burial from Hang Cho Cave in northern Vietnam directly dated to 9,259 ± 260 bce or 9,150–7,750 cal bce (no code) was found in association with a variety of stone artifacts including plantprocessing implements (Matsumura et al., 2006; Yoneda, 2006). Primary flexed and secondary burials have been found in caves on the Malay Peninsula such as Gua Cha, Gua Teluk Ke-lewar and Gua Peraling (Zuraina, 2005). At Gua Cha, two types of single and multiple burials were recorded in the Hoabinhian phase of occupation, flexed and extended (Sieveking, 1954). Two secondary burials (B.15 and B.16) are of particular note: in these the bones had been “artificially broken and in some cases split to remove the marrow,” 34

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reminiscent of Ille Cave. B.16, which was associated with a localized pile of ash and many of the bones had been burnt. Sieveking (1954: 93) interpreted this as possible cannibalism, but lacking ritual significance “since little care was taken in burial of these remains.” In total more than 300 hundred burials have been recorded at Da But and Con Co Ngua in Thanh Hoa Province, Vietnam. At Da But, several burials dating to c.4,000 cal bce were commonly interred in a seated position (Nguyen Viet, 2005), and at Con Co Ngua, dating to 3,500 cal bce, tightly flexed burial was a common practice (Matsumura, Oxenham, Nguyen, Nguyen, & Nguyen, 2011).

Discussion of technological and behavioral change in the Early Holocene of Southeast Asia If the single record of a maxillary premolar from Punung III in Java is accepted as representing an AMH, then there is the possibility that our species has inhabited ISEA throughout the last c.125 kya. There are further equivocal records of a human presence at Song Terus (Sémah & Sémah, 2012) and Song Gupuh (Morwood et al., 2008) from c.70 kya and c.80 kya respectively, but no human remains have been recovered to determine whether the archaeological records were accumulated by AMH or the pre-existing Homo erectus populations that are known to have been present in the region since c.1.7 million years ago (Sémah, Saleki, Falguéres, Féraud, & Djubiantono, 2000). By at least c.45 kya, there is archaeological evidence from across Australasia and SEA for a broad geographic presence of AMH. They had the technological capabilities to construct some sort of water craft that permitted them to traverse open sea and establish populations on various islands throughout Wallacea, and reach the continent of Australia. Intermittent frequentation of archaeological sites on small islands that probably did not possess the resources to maintain a permanent human population, such as small islands within the Talaud group, indicates that they probably had the seafaring means by which to make multiple, short return journeys. These Pleistocene foragers also had a wide distribution across the expanses of the exposed Sunda shelf that conjoined the islands of ISEA with each other, and Peninsular Malaysia to form the sub-continental landmass of Sundaland. These early populations were accomplished foragers with the skills that enabled them to successfully colonize a diversity of habitats that included hunting large terrestrial game in the savanna and open woodlands that extended from the Thai/Malay peninsula south as far as Java and Bali, and capture a range of terrestrial and arboreal taxa in the tropical rainforests of northwest Borneo. They had also acquired the necessary expertise to process toxic plants to make them edible, and there is some environmental evidence indicating the early stages of forest management to enhance the growth of economically important plants and provide resources to attract potential game animals (Reynolds et al., 2013). These forager groups of SEA generally produced flaked stone implements and core tools. There is no evidence for the production and use of technologies specifically designed for the processing of plants. Osseous implements were already in existence at a few locales such as Niah and Lang Longrien, but individual artifacts are scarce, and use contexts were limited. Projectile technologies are absent. During the coldest phases of the LGM, evidence for a human presence across SEA is scarce and most cave and rock shelter sites such as Niah, Song Gupuh, and Song Terus appear to have been seldom occupied, or completely abandoned during this period. The likelihood is that these sites became less than ideal locations for habitation, being long distances from the glacial coastlines. From c.14 kya onwards, the climate began to warm and the polar ice caps melt. The rapidity of the marine advance at the end of the Pleistocene likely disrupted coastal ecology, made 35

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remaining along coastlines less productive and reduced potential foraging ranges, perhaps bringing human populations into ever-closer contact with each other in pursuit of diminishing resources. It has been argued that the considerable changes in the geography of SEA was the catalyst for large-scale population movements, synchronous with the end of the last ice age at c.12 kya. This was followed by a subsequent population expansion, perhaps originating from Borneo and adjacent Wallacean islands (Sulawesi) and spreading across maritime SEA (Soares et al., 2008). Some foragers certainly appear to have migrated inland where we observe renewed and sustained occupation of cave sites such as Song Terus, Song Keplek and Niah during the terminal Pleistocene and early Holocene, and the initial occupation of sites such as Ille Cave on Palawan. The archaeological record suggests these cave and rock shelter sites were more intensively utilized than previously, with the accumulation of large middens consisting of estuarine, mangrove and marine shell, indicating proximity to coastlines. Local mobility appears to have reduced with longer durations of occupation at single sites, perhaps as a result of a significant realignment of subsistence strategies, in part related to the climatic amelioration and expansion of the tropical rainforests, and perhaps in part as a result of technological advances and/or innovations in projectile technologies (Rabett & Piper, 2012). Whereas large terrestrial game adapted to open woodland and savanna environments was the hunting focus during the Late Pleistocene, the capture of arboreal prey such as monkeys and civet cats increased significantly, and prey diversity expanded, in the early Holocene. The retention and/or use of pig mandibles and monkey skulls at Niah imply an increasing emphasis on the social importance of visual signaling within, and conceivably, between communities. Perhaps the display of hunting trophies was to stress an individual’s prowess and/or to demarcate territorial boundaries, as has been recorded historically in Borneo (Medway, 1973). The use of feathers, beaks and other body parts of hornbills and predatory birds suggests the growing use of self-adornment and increasing ritual practices, as does the production of hematite and its use within burial contexts and perhaps as body paint and rock art. The inclusion of animal crania and other body parts in burials in Java and Borneo also implies a significant change in human perceptions of the environment, relationships with animal communities surrounding them, and ritual and ideological behavior (Figure 3.7). There is also an increasing emphasis on social identity evident in the use of animal body parts and hematite for ornamentation and decoration. In the early Holocene, there is also a marked increase in the utilization of economic plants across SEA that coincides with the appearance of a variety of new technologies specifically designed for processing a variety of vegetative foodstuffs. The importance of New Guinea in regional developments emerges during this period. For example, some of the earliest evidence for aboriculture/vegeculture and the translocation of tuberous plants such as yams and taros have been recorded at Kuk Swamp by c.7–8 kya (Denham et al., 2003). It is possible that these plants and the knowledge of how to manage them was transferred between populations across the region, perhaps as far as Palawan where morphologically domestic yam (Dioscorea alata) and taro (Colocasia cf. esculata) have been recorded at Ille during the early to mid-Holocene (Barker et al., 2011). Another example is edible diploid bananas derived from Musa acuminata banksii, a native of New Guinea that was hybridized with other wild species of ISEA bananas, including Musa acuminata errans, a native of the Philippines (Kennedy, 2008). Shell adze technology also likely originated in Melanesia or northeastern Indonesia with the earliest records so far at Pamwak in the Admiralty Islands and Golo Cave on Gebe Island in the Moluccas (Szabó, 2004; Pawlik et al., 2015). By the early to mid-Holocene, shell adzes were in use from the islands north of New Guinea across the southern regions of the Philippine 36

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Figure 3.7 An early Holocene flexed inhumation from Song Terus, Java, associated with a complete Javan lutung (Trachypithecus auratus) skull (circled) Source: Reproduced with the kind permission of Francois Sémah, Florent Détroit and Truman Simanjuntak.

archipelago. Although there is some difference in the way the majority of shell adzes were produced in the Philippines, compared to those in Melanesia, Szabó (2004: 343) considered the manufacture of Tridacna and Hippopus adzes spanning northern maritime SEA to Near Oceania as a single tradition, linking these regions. Unlike stone adzes that were predominantly used for ‘agricultural’ purposes, Golson (2005) has argued that the shell adze was specifically designed for use in the construction of maritime technologies, and this would fit neatly with evidence for expanding maritime networks. Another region of technological and cultural innovation might have been the northwestern fringes of the Sunda shelf and Wallacea, as proposed by Soares et al. (2008) and Bulbeck (2008). For example, by the terminal Pleistocene at Niah there is a considerable increase in the use of bone as a manufacturing medium. A variety of tools were produced for piercing, scraping and grinding and there is the first definitive evidence for the manufacture of hafted projectile technologies. In contrast, at Gua Balambangan the bone implements produced by the end of the Pleistocene were potentially utilized for the exploitation of mangroves. Further to the east at Golo in the Moluccas and Kria in the Bird’s Head, projectile points are absent and awls and ‘spatula-types’ are common. So, although the knowledge of osseous implement manufacture was transferred between forager communities across the region, each utilized it differently, produ­cing a range of tool types contingent on local functional requirements (Rabett & Piper, 2012). By the early to mid-Holocene, implements in animal bone and tooth had become an integral part of hunter–gatherer repertoires, recorded at numerous sites from Vietnam and Thailand in the north to Java in the south and the Bird’s Head Peninsula of New Guinea in the east. The earliest known burial in maritime SEA is recorded at Liang Lemdubu, on the fringes of the Sahul shelf, where a young woman was interred at c.18 kya. With reference to the geographic distribution of burials across SEA (Figure 3.4) this individual appears isolated, and 37

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perhaps distinctive from the complex burial traditions emerging in MSEA and ISEA. In ISEA itself, the appearance of burials at Niah Cave from c.10 kya onwards signifies a change in the perception of the living, the dead and perhaps perceptions of an after-life (Lloyd-Smith, 2012). The most common and widely distributed burial tradition appears to be tightly flexed interments, perhaps emerging first in northern Borneo and then spreading across maritime SEA as far as Java in the early Holocene, and northwest to Peninsular Malaysia by the mid-Holocene. Fire was also widely used in the early Holocene and has been identified in cremation burials at Niah, Ille Cave on Palawan and at Gua Braholo in Java. Other types of burial are more geographically restricted and might indicate closer community relationships across the region. For example, full cremation appears to be restricted to coastal sites along the eastern seaboard of the Sunda Shelf (Ille Cave, Palawan and Niah Cave, Borneo). The varying geographic distributions in how people treated the dead through complex burial rites suggests that different inter-connected forager groups fairly rapidly developed their own unique identities and ways of perceiving the world. It has been proposed that the geographic distribution of seated burials in northern Borneo and Vietnam might indicate contact between the mainland and ISEA across the South China Sea during the mid-Holocene (Lloyd-Smith, 2012). However, Da But has much closer affiliations to the north, with the shell midden and burial sites containing mutilated flexed and seated burials associated with the late foragers/early farmers of the Ding Si Shan in Guangxi dating to c.8–7 kya (Li et al., 2013). Both the Ding Si Shan and Da But sites have produced cord-marked pottery and fully ground stone adzes not found in Borneo or anywhere else in ISEA at this time. Based on the distribution of edge-ground stone adzes identified at Niah, and also Sa’gung Cave in southern Palawan as well as the Dabutian sites in Vietnam, there might have been some contact across the South China Sea during the earlier stages of the mid-Holocene (see Bulbeck, 2008). Détroit (2006: 198–199) has argued that the early to mid-Holocene inhumations recorded in Java demonstrate a high degree of variability in methods of burial, and that the individuals interred exhibit considerable biological variability. This implies perhaps more than one population is represented, and it is likely that communities possessed individuals with their origins from different geographic locations. Closer scrutiny of the biological affinity of skeletons from other large burial grounds in the region might produce similar evidence, reinforcing Southeast Asia’s status as a developing crossroads in routes of human migration, connectivity and mobility during the early and mid-Holocene. Thus, the terminal Plesitocene to mid-Holocene archaeological record of SEA is starting to chronicle the significant technological and cultural changes that occurred across the region following the last glacial period, probably initially influenced by the insularization of islands on the Sunda shelf, drowning landscapes and resulting in human migrations. The records presented here illustrate how some of the spheres of contact and exchange developed (see also Bulbeck, 2008, for discussion on other potential geographic connections), and strengthened during the early and mid-Holocene on the mainland, across the Sunda region, and possibly from the southern Philippines to the Moluccas and into Melanesia. The widening geographic distribution of archaeological sites that possess inter-related cultural and technological traditions possibly indicate improving maritime technologies and inter-island movements of forager populations from the terminal Pleistocene to mid-Holocene across Southeast Asia.

Acknowledgments The author would like to thank Marc Oxenham and Hallie Buckley for the opportunity to contribute to this volume. My gratitude also to Multimedia Services, ANU and Peter Bellwood who produced the background maps illustrated and modified by the author in this chapter. 38

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Thanks also to Nguyen Viet who provided the images of ground stone tools from Xom Trai; Graeme Barker, Lindsay Lloyd-Smith and the Sarawak Museum for permission to reproduce the image of the flexed burial from Niah Cave; and Francois Sémah, Florent Détroit and Truman Simanjuntak for the image of a burial from Song Terus, courtesy of the National Centre for Archaeology (Jakarta) and Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle (Paris), Mission Quaternaire et Préhistoire en Indonésie (Ministère Français des Affaires Etrangères), copyright Semenanjung. Peter Bellwood provided access to the Golo Cave osseous artifact assemblage and Alfred Pawlik permitted use of the images of the shell adze from Bubog I rock shelter, Ilin Island, Mindoro.

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4 Prehistoric mortuary traditions in Cambodia Dougald O’Reilly and Louise Shewan

Introduction Although Cambodia has long attracted the interest of archaeologists, it is only recently that research has begun in earnest on sites that predate Angkor. Prior to the late twentieth century, the majority of scholarly endeavor had been focused on the temples of Southeast Asia’s greatest empire. Since the cessation of hostilities in Cambodia in the 1990s, research has recommenced, both on the Angkorian period but also in the periods prior to the foundation of the empire in c.802 ce. This period is of considerable interest for understanding the rise of the state in Southeast Asia and the discovery of cemeteries at many sites presents tantalizing insights into the social and political development of early Cambodia. The majority of excavated prehistoric sites in Cambodia belong to the Iron Age (c.500 bce–500 ce). This is a period in which Southeast Asia was engaged in a wide sphere of trans-regional interaction and exchange evidenced by the presence of exotic items of material culture including agate, carnelian and glass beads, many of which may have been sourced from South Asia. These items, along with the appearance of iron technology, largely differentiate the period from the preceding Bronze Age. The discovery of cemeteries has, unfortunately, presented a number of problems as well. As many of the burial sites contain semi-precious stones, glass beads and bronze jewelry there has been a concerted effort to extract these from the sites, for sale on the international antiquities market. This trend has seen the wholesale destruction of many important archaeological sites in Cambodia. Several of the excavations presented below have been driven by the need to document sites prior to their complete destruction by looters. The mortuary assemblages recorded from all excavations and salvage missions described in this chapter provide insight into the social and political transformation that characterizes early Cambodia and will certainly bolster the case for the need for further research into life during pre-Angkorian Cambodia. The following discussion will be divided into geographic areas to facilitate regional comparison between sites and through time. These regions will encompass Angkor (including the sites of Koh Ta Meas, Prei Khmeng, and Lovea), Northwest Cambodia (Phum Snay, Kok Treas, and Phum Sophy) and Southern Cambodia (Krek 52/62, village 10.8, Wat Komnou at Angkor Borei, Phnom Borei and Prohear). Each of these geographic-based sections will comprise a description of the prehistoric mortuary assemblage, burial orientation and, where available, 45

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bioarchaeological and palaeodemographic data for each site. A regional comparison will be presented in the discussion section to highlight the similarities and differences between the prehistoric sites in different geographic areas. Figure 2.1 (Chapter 2) provides the location of each site while Table 4.1 provides the dates for known mortuary contexts and Table 4.2 summaries the burial assemblages discussed below.

Angkor region Since 2000, the École Français d’Extrême Orient (EFEO) has discovered six pre-Angkorian sites in the area of the Western Baray including Vat Khnat, Kok Your His, Prei Khmeng, Kok Phnu, Ak Yum and Koh Ta Meas, some of which contained prehistoric burials.

Koh Ta Meas Koh Ta Meas, a circular site approximately 180 m in diameter (and usually 2 m under the water of the western baray at Angkor), was first noted by Georges Trouvé when the baray was drained in 1935 (Pottier, et al. 2004a, Pottier 2006). The site was excavated in 2004–2005 by a joint Cambodian–French team during which 6 stratigraphic phases were identified and a total of 27 recognizable burials, or traces of burials, were discovered containing the remains of 59 individuals (minimum number of individuals - MNI). The remains that could be identified comprised nineteen adults (five women, seven men and seven unsexable skeletons), seven children and one prenatal individual. Two of the mortuary contexts were ‘double burials’ containing the skeletons of two immature individuals. The skeletons were in a very fragile state, due mostly to the acidity of the soil and both secondary and primary burials were uncovered during the excavation (Pottier, et al. 2004a). The excavators divided the site into four chronological phases based on material and grave orientation. In phase two, comprising two burials, the dead were buried with the head to the northeast. In the third phase, which contained 15 burials, the bodies were laid with the head to the south. In the fourth phase, which comprises eight burials, the dead were laid with their heads to the northeast (Pottier 2006). The bodies were placed in a supine position and accompanied by ceramics, faunal remains including pigs’ heads and ornaments, and some appear to have been interred in what may have been a woven mat. Table 4.1  Dates for the mortuary contexts of sites mentioned in the text Site

Province

Dates of Mortuary Contexts

Koh Ta Meas Prei Khmeng Phum Lovea Phum Snay Krosaing Thmei Kok Treas Phum Sophy Krek 52/62 Village 10.8 Wat Komnou Phnom Borei Phum Prohear

Siem Reap Siem Reap Siem Reap Banteay Meanchey Banteay Meanchey Banteay Meanchey Banteay Meanchey Kompong Cham Kompong Cham Takeo Takeo Prey Veng

c.1219–897 bce c.5–216 ce (EFEO excavations) c.130–350 ce c.348 bce–239 ce c.51 bce–341 ce NA c.25–562 ce NA c.4th to 1st century bce c.200 bce–200 ce c.350–100 bce c.340–40 bce

46

Site

Koh Ta Meas

Prei Khmeng

Lovea

Phum Snay

Krosaing Thmei

Region

Angkor

Angkor

Angkor

NW

NW

Orientation

 9?

2003 (14) greater quantity of burial goods

2001 (9)

14

 9

Included primary and secondary burials

E or W

√

√

√

E or W

√

√

√

S and SE

√

Phase 4 (head NE) √ E and W

Phase 3 (head S)

×

√

√

√

√

√

Glass Beads Stone Beads Bronze Jewelry

Phase 2 (head × 59 MNI 19 identified NE)

Burials

Table 4.2  Summary of burial assemblages

√

√

√

√

×

√

√

√

Swords

√

(continued)

Phimai Black ware Pig skull Wood and basketry? Chinese coin Marble bangle Phimai Black ware Glass earring Ivory bangle Resin/rice in grave Iron torques Ceramic epaulette Bronze bells Bone (bovid) Ceramic epaulette Bronze bells Iron torque

Bronze mirror

Ceramic Misc. Finds

√ Iron knives Projectile √ points

Iron knives

×

Iron Tools Weapons

Kok Treas

Phum Sophy

Krek 52/62 Village 10.8 Wat Komnou (Angkor Borei) Phnom Borei

Prohear

NW

NW

Southern Southern Southern

Southern

Southern

Site

Region

Table 4.2  (continued)

2 phases (with sub-phases)

Unit 1 – S or SE Unit 2 – NNW, WNW, W or NW ? ? Majority to SW

E or W

Orientation

 0 50? 111 primary and secondary  9 SW in layers 3, 4 47 + 5 E and W 5 jar burials

 6

Burials

× √ √

√ √

× √ √

× √ Also iron bangles

√

× × ×

√

?

×

× √ ×

√

√

√

?

×

× × ×

√

√

√

√

√

√

Iron Tools Weapons

Glass Beads Stone Beads Bronze Jewelry

√

√

√ √ √

√

√

Bronze stylized buffalo horn

Bronze bowls/discs Bronze bells

Bronze drum Gold jewellery Silver jewellery

Bronze bowl/mirror? Pig skulls Gold beads Garnet beads

Gold ring Clay-lined grave Bronze head band Bronze bells Gilt earrings Agate pendant

Ceramic Misc. Finds

Prehistoric mortuary traditions in Cambodia

Bronze was also discovered during the excavation of the site but no iron was encountered nor were beads of glass or stone found. Fragments of bronze mirror were discovered and one of the bronze bangles found was noted as being similar to twisted wire bangles found in the Mlu Prei area of Cambodia (Lévy 1943). This site was dated to 14C 2870 bp ± 60 years (1219–897 cal bce, 95.4 percent) (Pottier 2006). The AMS dates and the unusual pot forms suggest that Koh Ta Meas represents a very early occupation of the Angkor plain.

Prei Khmeng Excavations by the EFEO and Authorité pour la Protection du Site et l’Aménagement de la Région d’Angkor in 2001, 2002 and 2003 led to the discovery of nine human skeletons at Prei Khmeng, the site of one of the oldest (mid-seventh century ce) Khmer temples in the Angkor region. Radiocarbon samples indicate the burials date between the first and second century ce (1910 ± 40 14C years or 5–216 cal ce, 95.4 percent) (Pottier et al. 2004b). Most of the burials discovered were buried in a supine position with assorted grave furniture including bronze jewelry, iron tools, ceramics and glass and semi-precious stone beads as well as faunal material. Often burials were accompanied by the skull of a young pig. The heads of the burials, where it was possible to discern, were orientated either to the east or to the west. Burials in some areas appear to have been placed in shallow graves (c.20 cm in depth) while in other areas graves were 60 to 70 cm deep and in one case it appears that a tumulus or mound was built up over the burial (Pottier et al. 2001a, 2001b, 2003). The burials varied in the quantity and type of grave goods and included ceramics similar to ‘Phimai Black’ pottery from Northeast Thailand, metal objects such as iron knives and agricultural tools, spindle whorls, bronze rings and bangles and glass beads (with one burial containing over 1700 beads, some of which may have been acid etched). The spacing of objects in some graves led the excavators to hypothesize other objects, probably of perishable materials such as of wood or basketry, may have also been placed in the graves (Pottier et al. 2003). Communication with other regions is evidenced by the presence of ceramics which resembled types found in Northeast Thailand (as mentioned above) and the inclusion of pigs in burials as similarly found in Iron Age cemeteries in Thailand such as Noen U-Loke where (complete) skeletons of young pigs accompanied graves dating to the early second century ce (Pottier et al. 2003). Pottier also notes that young pig skulls were found in burials at Angkor Borei in Southern Cambodia (Kyle Latinis, pers. comm. cited in Pottier 2001b). More recent excavations have been conducted by the authors as part of the ‘Paddy to Pura: Origins of Angkor’ project.1 Findings will be reported in a future publication.

Phum Lovea Phum Lovea is an Iron Age settlement located in the Angkor area near the town of Puok. This site appears to share a similar morphology to the moated sites of Northeast Thailand, being surrounded by wide moats and banks. The site was investigated by Malleret (1959b), whose preliminary excavations revealed little of substance, although there were reports of undated iron and bronze objects being unearthed from the site. The site was excavated by the authors over two years from 2011 to 2013. The first excavation of Lovea in 2011–2012 was undertaken near the center of the occupied mound where an 8 m × 8 m unit was opened for excavation. Evidence of occupation and human burials were uncovered (O’Reilly and Shewan 2015). The 2011–2012 season uncovered 11 mortuary contexts but the remains of at least 14 individuals were found. One cranium was uncovered in the 2012–2013 season. Based on the associated 49

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material culture and radiocarbon dates, the occupation dates to the late Iron Age and after (c.100 ce–to present). As the interments are situated just above the natural soil, it appears that the human remains represent the first occupants of the site. Regrettably the nature of the matrix resulted in the deterioration of the human and faunal bone. There were no subadults or females conclusively identified. A few individuals demonstrated dental pathology, as is commonly found in prehistoric samples, but no significant skeletal pathology was identified (Domett pers. comm.) The burials discovered in the 2011–2012 excavation season at Lovea indicate some variability in the treatment of the dead, both in the type of material interred with the individuals and, to a degree, the amount of material. For those burials in which direction could be determined, the dead were placed with the head to the south or southeast. Grave goods included ceramic vessels, bronze jewelry, iron tools (probably agricultural), iron knives, glass beads, carnelian and agate beads, clay pellets, burnishing stones, gilt earrings, a marble bangle that had been broken in antiquity and repaired, a grindstone, a tiny piece of turquoise stone, a Chinese coin and iron rings, these last rarely found in mortuary contexts west of Vietnam. One of the burials also had an iron object placed above the head, a tradition observed at Prei Khmeng (Pottier pers comm.) The analysis of the glass and stone beads indicates that those found are fairly typical of mid to late Iron Age sites in Cambodia and are similar to those found at Phum Snay, Phum Sophy, Prei Khmeng and Angkor Borei. It does appear, according to Carter (2013a, 2013b), that Lovea was part of an inland trading network. However, while there exist similarities in the bead assemblage with other Cambodian Iron Age sites, it does not appear that people of prehistoric Lovea had access to the large numbers of stone beads, as seen at other sites such as Phum Sophy (see below), although this may reflect the size of the excavated sample. Aside from site morphology, there does not appear to be a strong connection to Northeast Thailand, although the presence of long agate barrel beads may hint at a broader regional trading network involving these sites. This observation seems to be supported by the lack of ‘Phimai Black wares’ at Lovea, though this ceramic type is commonly found at Iron Age sites in Banteay Meanchey including Phum Snay and Phum Sophy and was reported at the nearby site of Prei Khmeng (above). In summary, the site of Lovea appears to have been occupied initially in the first or second centuries ce. The people lived on the mound and radiocarbon dates suggest a use of the area as a cemetery c.first to late fourth century ce. At some stage the embankments and moats were constructed, ostensibly as a strategy to hold water. The site continued to be occupied through the Angkorian period and seems to have been occupied continuously, until the present.

Northwest Cambodia Phum Snay Phum Snay is a village located in Preah Neat Prey District, Banteay Meanchey Province. The village is located on the edge of a large natural mound, 3 km in diameter. Excavations were undertaken at the site by O’Reilly and colleagues from the Royal University of Fine Arts in Phnom Penh in 2001 and 2003. The site underwent further excavation by a Japanese team between 2007 and 2010 (see Figure 4.1). The 2001 excavations uncovered nine inhumation burials and some other possible burial features that lacked human remains (O’Reilly and Sytha 2001). There was a range of offerings in the graves and the amounts differed between burials although two graves appear to have been disturbed in antiquity (O’Reilly et al. 2008). Two other burials were found undisturbed but the adults contained within had not been interred with any grave goods at all and a third burial, only half uncovered, was also devoid of grave goods. An intact child’s burial was found 50

Prehistoric mortuary traditions in Cambodia

Figure 4.1  Map of Phum Snay showing locations of various excavations

with ivory bangles and bronze anklets with four pots at the feet and Indo-Pacific glass beads in the thoracic area. Two individuals from this excavation demonstrated evidence of antemortem tooth removal, probably the result of ritual activity or custom (Domett, Newton et al. 2011). This practice has also been reported from the Bronze Age burials at Koh Ta Meas (Frelat and Souday 2015). It is interesting to note that one of these individuals was buried with a wealth of grave goods including a green glass earring, a sun bear (Helarctos malayanus) canine, glass beads, ivory bangles, finger rings, iron implements and a cache of iron projectile points recovered at the feet with four ceramic vessels. The other was found with a ceramic vessel, spindle whorl and bronze finger rings as well as glass beads on the chest along with two buffalo hooves and a buffalo horn. One individual was buried with three ceramic vessels and ten clay spindle whorls but no other surviving objects. The 2003 excavations were undertaken c.250 m north–northeast of the first excavation (O’Reilly et al. 2004). A 12 m x 4 m unit revealed 14 confirmed inhumations and several other possible burial features. The burials were found to date to the late first millennium bce or the early first millennium ce. The area excavated in 2001 returned dates that were older (348 bce–307 bce, 95.4 percent) than those returned for the area excavated in 2003 (75 ce–239 ce, 95.4 percent). The interments also demonstrated some differences with the 2003 burials containing more material goods, weaponry and faunal material interred with the dead. 51

D. O’Reilly and L. Shewan

The burials in this part of the cemetery were varied in their layout and appointment; some were placed in the grave in a supine position and some had the knees flexed. The orientation of the head also varied with some individuals being buried with the head facing west, some to the east. A mix of adult males and females were recovered and the accompanying artifacts comprised large ceramic vessels, lithic flakes, iron bangles and rings, glass beads and semi-precious beads of agate and carnelian and spindle whorls. One male burial included a sun bear canine along with iron weapons, another was interred with an iron object above the head. As mentioned above, the placement of iron artifacts above the head is a burial custom noted at Prei Khmeng and at Phum Lovea in Siem Reap. Some of the individuals in the excavated area were not buried with any grave goods at all, while one young adult male was interred with ten ceramic vessels, bronze bells, bone bangles, an iron bangle, bronze finger rings, an unidentified iron artifact, an iron sickle and an epaulette made from a ceramic pot sherd. There was also the remains of wooden arrow shafts and associated iron points in the grave and a large iron sword that was over a meter in length. The burial also contained bovid bones. One grave seemed to be lined with an organic resin and rice had been sprinkled over the body, a mortuary tradition also identified in Northeast Thailand (O’Reilly 1998, 2007b). Another interment seemed to have a grave lined with an organic material, tentatively identified as bamboo and coated with what appeared to have been resin. Other individuals, including women, were buried with iron torques around the neck and women were also interred with spindle whorls and projectile points. One infant was richly appointed, including seven ceramic vessels, an iron axe, caches of iron projectile points, an iron torque and a finger ring fragment. Also identified were ceramics that resembling Northeast Thailand ‘Phimai Black’ pottery. This same burial surrendered over 30 carnelian beads from the waist and a bronze bowl that was attached to the right side of the skull. Other items included ceramic vessels, spindle whorls, finger rings of bronze, glass beads, iron tools and bronze bangles. Animal bone, mostly bovid, was found accompanying several of the graves. In another burial context, a young adult female was interred with several ceramic vessels, spindle whorls and red ochre. Other burial goods included unidentified iron artifacts, a ceramic epaulette with miniature replicas of buffalo horns fashioned from iron, an iron torque around the neck and three bronze bangles. A bone bangle and three groups of finger rings on both hands were also found. The individual was buried on her back with the knees originally flexed upward but the bones had collapsed so that the tibia and femur lay beside/on top of one another. From 2007 to 2010 a Japanese research team excavated at Phum Snay uncovering further burials and features, dubiously identified as a ‘water altar’ (Yasuda and Miyatsuka 2013). The excavators also believe the entire natural mound, of which Snay comprises a tiny portion, to be ringed by a moat. Phum Snay has been curiously identified in these reports as the capital of Funan (Yasuda 2011, 2013), widely believed by most scholars and reported in historic records to have existed in southern Cambodia (Jacques 1979; Hall 1982; Mitchiner 1982; van Liere 1988; Gaudes 1992; Ishizawa 1995; Dega and Latinis 1996; Mabbett 1997; Wolters 1999; Khai 2003; Stark 2006b; O’Reilly 2007a). The Japanese and Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts excavations at Snay were located close to those already described above, focusing first on an area adjacent to the 2001 excavations and later on an area near the 2003 excavations (Yasuda 2013; Yasuda and Miyatsuka 2013). Mortuary remains were encountered in Location A. One burial was cut through a pit and an iron sword and lapis lazuli ornaments were found from the bottom of the pit. The skeleton was supine and had a ceramic vessel placed on the abdomen (Lapteff 2013). Another burial was identically laid out. The pot contained animal bone and carnelian and glass beads (Lapteff 2013) and a substantial number of glass beads, bronze bangles and iron objects including a spearhead, sickle and digging implement were found in the grave (Yasuda and Miyatsuka 2013). 52

Prehistoric mortuary traditions in Cambodia

In Locations B and C, three burials and two pits were found. In Location B, one extended burial (in Pit 02) and one flexed burial (in Pit 03) were discovered. The former was similar to those found in Unit A, supine with a ceramic vessel placed on the abdomen. The burial also contained several iron artefacts including two swords, a sickle, two other tools and a bronze bell. The skeletal remains in Pit 03 were, according to Miyastuska and Yasuda (2013), mesocephalic, which differentiated it from the other burials found by the team. The burial was interred with a ceramic shoulder adornment, often termed an epaulette, with stylized iron buffalo horns. The grave contained at least eight ceramic vessels, mostly placed around the flexed legs and feet. The skull shape and presence of an ‘epaulette’ led the excavators to suggest perhaps the individual in Pit 03 was from a “different race/hierarchy from the common people” (Miyastuska and Yasuda 2013: 107). In Pit 02, the excavators found pottery they related to the red-slipped pottery of Thailand although this type of pottery is usually found in Bronze Age contexts in Thailand (Higham and Thosarat 2004; O’Reilly 2005). Excavations through an anthropogenic mound at Phum Snay (Location D) revealed a number of interesting features including stone walls, a supposed water temple and burials. The mound was 40 x 34 m and the excavators believe there was a pre-Angkorian temple atop the mound with pounded earth walls. It is worth noting that most pre-Angkorian temples were built of brick and the remains of such a temple with substantial amounts of brick are located elsewhere in the village, but no brick is associated with the mound here. Beneath the pounded earth walls the excavators found eight burial pits. Burials 04, 05 and 07 were large, deep graves with “thick bones” (Miyastuska and Yasuda 2013: 111). Several burials containing children were also discovered. All the burials were supine with the skull orientated to the east with the face either southward or upwards. The burial practice in the area of the mound was similar to that in Unit A with the exception of the burial orientation. The grave goods comprised plain ceramics or kendi. The presence of kendi differentiated the burials in Location D from those in Locations A and B. Also found with some of the burials in Location D were glass beads of various colors, iron projectile points, knives and sickles. Bronze bells, rings and bangles also adorned some of the skeletons (Lapteff 2013).

Krosaing Thmei In close proximity to Phum Snay is the site of Krosaing Thmei, located on the other side of the Anlong Thma River. This site was excavated in 2004 by Sovannara Sok and students from the Royal University of Phnom Penh. The excavations revealed interments similar to those found at Phum Snay, although less rich in terms of accompanying grave goods. As a consequence of the relative paucity of grave goods compared to other sites, Krosaing Thmei was not as badly looted as Phum Snay. Sok (2005) reports that there were both single skeletons and groups of burials, and there was some differentiation in grave goods but common objects in the nine burials uncovered included pottery, bronze objects, iron tools and weapons, burned clay objects, animal bones and some beads. Sok (2005) notes that the skeletons in the group were less well-endowed than the single burials, the former having only pottery interred with them at the head or feet. Bronze fashioned into jewelry was encountered in only two burials. Most of the dead were interred on their backs in a supine position with the head to the northwest and the limbs extended or with either the left or right hand over the abdomen (Sok 2005). Others were found with the head orientated to the southeast or south. One burial was found to be buried in the flexed position and was the richest in terms of material interred with 53

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the body. This individual was buried with ceramic vessels, bronze finger rings, bangles and bells, iron tools and weapons, an animal canine and bones, and a clay epaulette with iron horns adhering to it. One burial, curiously, is represented only by the upper half of the body. The bones from the hips down were missing. This is of interest as a similar situation was encountered during the excavations at Prei Khmeng (Pottier et al. 2003) and neither example can be attributed to taphonomic factors, suggesting the individuals may have been purposefully interred in this way. This half burial at Krosaing Thmei was well appointed however, being found with ceramic vessels at the head, to the right of the body and on the stomach. An iron bangle was found on one arm and an iron torque around the neck as well as an epaulette with an iron fixture at the shoulder. Iron weapons were also found in the grave (Sok 2005). It was noted by the excavator that there was a difference in the number of grave goods between skeletons buried with heads to the southeast, which were richer compared to those buried with heads to the northwest which only had pottery. The human bone has been radiocarbon dated and returned results of 51 bce–128 ce and 137 ce–341 ce (NZA22063).

Kok Treas Kok Treas is an inhabited mound located c.5 km northeast of the Angkor-period temple of Banteay Chhmar, Banteay Meanchey Province. Regrettably the site was heavily looted, which prompted the Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts to undertake rescue excavations at the site in 2013. A total area of 70  m2 was excavated during which six burials were uncovered at varying depths in four of the seven trenches excavated (Heng et al. 2013). These individuals were buried with a range of grave goods including ceramics, iron tools and weapons, grindstones, hundreds of glass beads, beads of agate and carnelian, a gold ring in one, bronze bangles and a bronze bowl (placed adjacent to the head as at Phum Snay) and evidence of organic containers having been placed in the grave. The burial population comprised adults of both sexes and children and varied in their orientation. Similarities with Phum Snay exist in that the burials were flexed, there is evidence for the use of clay lining in one of the graves and an iron object, possibly stylized buffalo horns, was placed on the upper chest of one of the burials, resembling the ‘horns’ discovered in burials at Phum Snay. The agate beads from Kok Treas are similar to those found at sites such as Ban Non Wat, Thailand, Village 10.8 in Kampong Cham province, and Prohear in Prey Veng province (Heng et al. 2013). Kok Treas’ burials contained more agate beads in the limited burials found than at other contemporaneous sites in northwest Cambodia, such as Phum Snay and Phum Sophy (Heng et al. 2013).

Phum Sophy Excavation at Phum Sophy located in O’Chrov District, Banteay Meanchey Province was undertaken by the authors as part of the study titled “History in Their Bones: A Diachronic, Bio-archaeological Study of Diet, Mobility and Social Organization in Cambodia” funded by the Australian Research Council. Two field seasons of excavation were conducted in 2009 and 2010. As is the case with many sites in Northwest Cambodia, Sophy has undergone extensive looting. Over 130 human skulls and a vast quantity of skeletal material from looted prehistoric graves had been collected by the local monks and placed in a purpose-built stupa in the village. During the first season of excavation four burials and a ‘mortuary context’ containing mixed and disturbed human bones belonging to an adult and a child were found. Another 54

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burial contained partial remains of two adults and a child with a bone pendant, a small bronze ring, bronze wire and finger rings, glass beads, carnelian beads, worked shell, a spindle whorl and two unidentified iron objects and a broken ceramic vessel. Burial 1 also contained faunal material including pig, cow, hog deer, sambar deer and common palm civet (Vouern pers. comm.) Other finds include fish bones, three species of freshwater snails, and land snails. Another burial also contained an adult and child buried with similar faunal remains along with unidentifiable iron artefacts and glass beads (Figure 4.2). A third disturbed burial contained the remains of hog deer, a pig and the carapace of a terrapin turtle but no artifacts. In one burial, it appeared as though pots were broken at the time of burial and the sherds mixed into the fill along with crushed gastropod shells. This burial contained a half bivalve shell offering, a ceramic vessel, iron projectile points and a knife, a clay pellet and some bronze fragments. The fauna in this grave included similar species to the other burials. One burial was orientated to the southeast, another to the south and two individuals were buried with the head to the west.

Figure 4.2  A selection of artifacts found at prehistoric sites in Cambodia 55

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A second excavation unit at Phum Sophy was located closer to the center of the village in an area unaffected by looting. A 5 x 3 m excavation unit revealed a series of burials (numbered 5–14) that varied in the quantity and type of grave goods. Five of the burials were orientated with the head to the north–northwest, two were orientated west–northwest and one to the west and one to the northwest. Of those burials with accompanying grave goods, artifacts included carnelian and agate beads, glass beads, iron tools and bronze implements, bronze jewelry, gilt earrings and various forms of ceramic.

Figure 4.3  Burial 7 from Phum Sophy with associated artifacts found in the burial context 56

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In Burial 5, the remains of at least two adults and a juvenile were recovered but no grave goods were found. Another juvenile was interred with ceramic vessels under which were found infant remains (Domett pers comm.). No grave goods were found with these. Some of the burials were well endowed. Burial 7 contained a ceramic vessel near the skull and two iron digging tools, a large iron weapon or tool near the legs, ceramic fragments and on the right arm and a great many bronze bangles from the wrist to the elbow. At least two pots were found lying over the feet. On the left side of the body, two more iron tools were laid by the skull and nearby yet another pot. Further down, beside the legs, was found a large unidentified iron tool and another ceramic vessel and, at the feet, spherical, bronze bells. A bronze bowl was found near the skull and a fine, flat, agate pendant at the neck, with carnelian and glass beads, a spindle whorl and the remains of a freshwater fish (Figure 4.3). A young individual was buried with bronze bangles on both wrists, two large pots and a smaller ceramic vessel placed over the body. The legs were flexed. Some burials were interred with a ceramic vessel on the chest but no other grave goods. One burial contained a large bivalve near the right hand, a lithic core, two pots, a digging tool and animal bones. Another well-appointed burial, an adult female (Burial 14), contained 7 ceramic vessels, 269 spherical carnelian beads and at least 25 bangles on each lower leg as well as bronze bells, similar to those accompanying Burial 7. On the right of the skeleton near the right arm were found two iron tools or weapons and on the upper right humerus an iron agricultural tool. The right wrist bore a bronze bangle and a large ceramic vessel was placed on the left shoulder.

Southern Cambodia Archaeological research on the prehistoric period in Cambodia begins with the discovery of the site of Samrong Sen in Kompong Chhnang province in the nineteenth century by a French colonial official. Other brushes with prehistory occurred much later but did not elicit much attention. In the early 1960s chipped pebble artefacts were discovered on the banks of the Mekong River between Stung Treng and Snoul. The artefacts have not been dated but seem to indicate a very long occupation of the area based on their depth (Saurin 1968). These early sites did not reveal evidence of human interment although a skull was recovered later from Samrong Sen (Demeter et al. 1999). Sites that do include human remains include those discovered by Malleret (1959) who noted the presence of several circular earthwork (Banteay Kou) sites along the Vietnamese–Cambodian border in Kompong Cham province. These sites are all circular, boasting a raised wall or berm around the outside, a ditch on the inside and a flattened occupation area in the center. The purpose of the berm and ditch are unknown but the interiors of the sites are accessible through a breach in the berm. In 1962, B. P. Groslier led the excavation of a circular site surrounded by a ditch and rampart. Malleret had classified the sites as Neolithic based on surface survey and Groslier (1966a, 1966b), after his excavations, concurred. Groslier felt that the sites were likely Neolithic fortifications and coined the term ‘Memotien’, after the nearby settlement of Memot, to describe the cultural context. Groslier (1966a) reported that the pottery from these sites was characteristic of the late Neolithic and found a great deal of worked stone. The polished stone adzes recovered during Groslier’s excavations underwent a morphological change during the site’s occupation. Adzes recovered in the deepest strata were found to have a poll, while those in the middle layers did not and adzes in the uppermost strata were shouldered. The sites investigated by Malleret and Groslier have been the subject of more recent research by Albrecht et al. (2001), Thuy (2002) and Dega (Dega et al. 1997, Dega 1999, 2001). 57

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Albrecht et al. (2001) have argued that the circular earthwork sites of Eastern Cambodia may date to the Iron Age. They base their conclusions on the presence of lithophones, glass bangle fragments and possible lumps of iron ore from one site. They also cite Do (1999) who has done a comparative analysis with dated sites in Nambo, Vietnam. Do believes that the artifacts from the circular earthworks probably date to c.1550–550 bce. The dating of these sites has been difficult, given the soil chemistry and its effect on organic material and possibly on iron and bronze. As we have seen, the material assemblages at these sites had led many to suspect that they may date to the Neolithic period (Malleret 1959a; Groslier 1966b; Carbonnel 1979; Pham Duc Manh 1996; Kojo and Peng 1997; Dega 1999). But others have argued for a later, Bronze or early Iron Age date for the sites. Luong Ninh (1985, cited in Do 1999) and Ngyuen Trung Do (cited in Do 1999) feel the sites are probably of the Bronze Age. Recent dates have been published which show the deepest layers at one site (Trameng near Memot) to date to 2290–2030 bce (95.4 percent) (Dega 2001). Another sample from the upper layers at Chi Peang provided a date of 400–350 bce or 320–200 bce (Dega 2001: 154–156) while other samples place the dates from 180 bce– 800 ce (Carbonnel 1979) and 1920–1690 bce and 2620–2350 bce (Albrecht et al. 2001). Recent discoveries of glass at one site seem to indicate a later date is more likely (Haidle 2002). This evidence coupled with the discovery of lumps of iron ore at Krek 52/62 (see below) and the elaborate and delicate pottery led Albrecht et al. (2001) to suggest that this site and others of its type date to the Iron Age. Radiocarbon dates from the organic temper of Banteay Kou ceramics also returned dates that fall within the early Iron Age (Dega et al. 2000). Clearly these sites cannot yet be confidently ascribed to the Iron Age based on the present evidence. Further research may resolve the dating issue of the circular earthwork sites of eastern Cambodia.

Krek 52/62 Krek 52/62 is located within the Krek rubber plantation in Kompong Cham, Southern Cambodia. The site is another Banteay Kou and was investigated by a German–Cambodian team between 1997 and 2000. Excavations revealed a considerable amount of stone tools, debitage and polishing stones as well as a stone bangle. A good deal of ceramic was uncovered indicating the area inside the berm had likely been used for occupation. However, no features could confirm this as the soil was found to be homogeneous without evidence for post moulds or other settlement structures. A collection of nested ceramics and concentrations of artifacts hinted at the presence of burials within the settlement, but no human or animal bone was found in association due to the high acidity of the matrix. Based on the stratigraphic position in which the artifacts were found, including polishers, adzes and a spindle whorl, it is speculated that the burial may post-date the occupation phase of the site (Albrecht et al. 2001).

Village 10.8 Village 10.8, in Veal Mlu Commune, Ponhea Krek District, Southern Cambodia, is located in close proximity to other Banteay Kou sites including Malleret site numbers 13 and 14 and Krek 52/62 (discussed above). The site is situated in a small valley on a very slight slope and edges in between two small streams. Most of Village 10.8 has been destroyed through laterite mining although a significant portion of the site remains intact beneath village households. Surveys and archaeological test pits were excavated over 63 m2 in five different locations in 58

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2001, 2002, 2004 and 2005 in order to determine concentrations of finds and the extent of the artifacts (Heng 2005). According to Reineke et al. (2009) there were about 50 burials at Village 10.8. These seem to have varied orientations, some with the heads to the southeast and some to the northeast while two are orientated east and west. These last could be contemporaneous with the burials from mortuary period I at Prohear (discussed below and dating to about 500–150/100 bce) which, although poorer at Prohear, shared a similar burial orientation. The exact orientation of most of the burials was determined based on the position of artifacts as bone preservation was poor (Reinecke et al. 2009). Radiocarbon determinations suggest that the burials found at Village 10.8 date between the fourth and first century bce (Soubert and Albrecht 2006, cited in Reineke et al. 2009). Reineke et al. (2009) suggested that those burials with offerings were intermediate in terms of wealth between two nearby sites, being wealthier than Go O Chua in Vietnam and poorer than the burials at Prohear in Cambodia. The mortuary deposits lacked the gold and silver found at the latter site and even bronze bangles were rare in the graves as were semi-precious stones and glass. One unique bronze was discovered at Village 10.8, a disc with a central cone that was thought to be a mirror or shallow bowl. Reineke et al. (2009) suggested it might be an omphalos bowl, which appear across South and Southeast Asia, during the fourth century bce. Similar bowls (although with a higher rim) were discovered at the site Ban Don Ta Phet in central Thailand (Glover 1990) and a similar disc or bowl was found at Prohear. There were few iron artifacts in the form of jewelry and tools recovered at the site.

Wat Komnou (Angkor Borei) Research by the University of Hawai’i and the Department of Fine Arts and Culture of Cambodia at the site of Angkor Borei revealed the existence of a prehistoric cemetery beneath Wat Komnou which is located in the center of Angkor Borei, a possible important urban site during the Funan period, in Takeo Province, Southern Cambodia. Funan was visited during the third century ce by Chinese officials who described a welldeveloped polity containing multiple urban centers. The polity is thought to have been at its height between the first and sixth centuries ce (Coedès 1968; Jacques 1979; Vickery 1986, 1998). Angkor Borei is often linked to the site of Oc Éo in Vietnam which was excavated in the 1940s (Malleret 1959a) and Vietnamese archaeologists continue to research this topic (Ha Van Tan 1986; Dao Linh Con 1993; Pham Duc Manh 1996; Bui Phat Diem et al. 1997; Dang Van Thang and Vu Quoc Hien 1997; Lien 2002; Khai 2003). Stark et al. (1999) have suggested that the area around Angkor Borei may have an occupation sequence that extends back to at least c.2000 bce. The Lower Mekong Archaeological Project is focused on the development of political complexity during the early historic period, c.500 bce–500 ce. The investigators have, to date, undertaken excavations and surveys to begin to understand the settlement pattern and chronology. Excavations have determined that the site has been occupied at least since the fourth century bce (Bishop et al. 2003; Stark 2006b). A 5 x 7 m unit was excavated at the most elevated part of the site, revealing deep stratigraphic deposits extending to nearly 7 m (Stark 2001). Based on radiocarbon dating, it is apparent that the cemetery was in use from c.200 bce–200 ce (Stark 2001). At Wat Komnou 111 primary inhumations and secondary burials were uncovered (Ikehara-Quebral 2010). A majority of the dead were interred with pig skulls and earthenware globular jars (Stark 2001). Semi-precious 59

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stone beads were rare; only two burials could be confirmed to be buried with carnelian beads, while nine other agate, quartz and carnelian beads were found in the matrix. Some gold beads were encountered, however, such as those found with Burial 44 which also contained a garnet bead and glass beads (Ikehara-Quebral 2010: 38). The burials at Wat Komnou are too numerous to be detailed individually here but generally speaking the amount and quality of grave goods found is poor when compared with other contemporaneous sites (Carter 2013b). Thirty-three primary burials were identified and the majority of these are orientated with the head to the southwest, but two notable burials differ with the head placed to the northeast and northwest: the burial mentioned above (Burial 44) containing beads of the highest quality in terms of craftsmanship; and a middle-aged male (Ikehara-Quebral 2010). Of further interest regarding these two interments is that isotopic analysis indicates that these individuals, as well as two others found in close proximity, were ‘non-local’ (Krigbaum et al. 2007). It appears likely that these individuals moved to the site later in life. A complete analysis of the cemetery is pending (Stark pers. comm.) and further isotopic analysis is near completion but some interesting trends have been identified in the analysis so far undertaken. The dead were interred with ceramic vessels, pig heads, glass and stone beads and three individuals, identified as ‘local’ based on isotopic analysis, exhibited filing of the anterior dentition (Ikehara-Quebral 2010). Another individual who was an outlier in terms of the isotopic analysis also had the teeth filed to points. Ikehara-Quebral’s (2010) analysis of the paleodemographic indicators suggests high fertility and childhood mortality rates. She reports dental pathologies consistent with a horticultural/ mixed economy which was not reliant on agricultural foods. The analyzed indicators also suggest that males and females had differing labor roles and access to food. Overall, however, the people buried in the cemetery were healthy. There were many more males found in the excavated area, perhaps a sampling error or indicative of prehistoric mortuary practices or other reasons.

Phnom Borei Phnom Borei is located in Angkor Borei district, Takeo province, 7 km south of Angkor Borei. The site was excavated in 2003 by a team led by Phon Kaseka of the Royal Academy of Cambodia. Two pits, a 1 x 1 m unit and a 2 x 4 m unit, were excavated and evidence of nine burials was uncovered. These burials were found in the deepest layers c.135 cm below ground surface. One burial, with the head orientated to the southeast, had a pedestalled ceramic vessel over the head and a carnelian bead below the chin. The other burials were found in close proximity to one another and all included pedestalled vessels over the head as part of the mortuary assemblage. The heads of these burials were orientated to the southwest. There were vessels of other shapes in the burials as well, laid beside the body. Some burials had orange-colored beads in them but it is unclear what they were made of from the excavation report. This was presumably carnelian, as no small glass beads were reported. The only metal encountered in the burials at Phnom Borei was in the form of bronze bangles on the arms of one individual. The mortuary assemblage included adult males and females and children, and two adults were buried with children on their chests. The ceramic in the burial was reported as being buffcolored fine-ware. The excavators concluded that there were two phases of occupation at Phnom Borei, the first represented by Layer 5, and the burials and the second belonging to Layers 3 and 4 (Phon

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2004). Dates from material located above the layer containing the burials are reported to range from 340–320 cal bce and 210 bce–40 cal ce for Layer 3 and 160 bce–50 cal ce, 350 bce–310 cal ce and 210 bce–40 cal ce for Layer 4. Radiocarbon dating from organic materials found in the two layers above the burials are contemporary with Angkor Borei, c.first century bce (Phon 2004) and relate to Prohear period II, described below. All of the burials were orientated in the same direction, to the southeast.

Prohear Phum Prohear is located in Prey Veng province and was excavated in 2007 and 2008 by a joint Cambodian–German team. The first season of excavation uncovered 47 inhumation burials and 5 jar burials. It was determined that there were two distinct phases of use within the cemetery. Five further burials were uncovered in the second season of excavation. The deeper, earlier phase, labeled Phase I, comprised four inhumations and a jar burial of a child. This phase dates to c.500–100 bce. Two of the inhumation burials had the head aligned to the east and the others to the west. Both burials contained ceramics which, according to the excavators, bear similarities to those found in Southern Vietnam at Go O Chua in Long An province. Garnet beads were also found in these burials (Reinecke et al. 2009). The later phase of the cemetery comprised the remainder of the inhumation burials and was divided by the excavators into two sub-phases, IIa and IIb. All of the burials in Phase II were buried with the head to the south. Phase IIa is thought to be earlier as the ceramics were similar to those of Phase I and may date to c.150/100–100/50 bce (Reinecke et al. 2009). Phase IIb, to which eight burials were assigned, is thought to date to c.100/50 bce–100 ce. These burials contained a fine orange-ware ceramic which is similar to that found in the excavations at Angkor Borei. Also uncovered in one of the mortuary contexts was a large bronze drum and iron bangles with a stylized buffalo design. These burials also contained gold and silver jewelry and agate, carnelian and glass beads, making Prohear the richest site yet discovered in terms of burial wealth in Cambodia. Seventy-nine gold or silver objects were recovered from the burials at Prohear – a third of all of the precious metal items are small spirals of at least one and a half coils (Reinecke et al. 2009). Another aspect of the cemetery was the inclusion of bronze bowls or discs in the graves of several individuals. One burial had the skull covered by a bronze bowl, and a nine-year-old boy had a bronze disc/bowl over his face. The boy also had a bronze bell placed between his thighs, and many of the male burials had a stone pestle in a similar position, suggestive, Reinecke et al. (2009) feel, of some possible phallic meaning. Bronze was also found in one burial in the form of a stylized buffalo horn and a large bronze drum (Heger Type I) and in two further burials fragments of bronze drums were noted. The faunal remains in the burials consisted mostly of pigs although some tooth fragments of bovines were found. Carnelian and agate beads were not numerous at Prohear; only five of the burials contained this material and four of these were among the wealthiest in portion of the cemetery that was excavated (Reinecke et al. 2009).

Discussion From the burial assemblages described above there exist a number of broad similarities between the sites, but also a number of aspects that allow us to discern some regional differentiation in mortuary tradition.

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Semi-precious stone Nearly all the burial sites include semi-precious stones such as agate and carnelian in the mortuary assemblage. The only exception is Koh Ta Meas, which dates to the Bronze Age, prior to the introduction of this material into the Southeast Asian repertoire. While varying sample sizes and incomplete excavations make an assessment of the distribution of these semi-precious stones within and between sites difficult, its presence and geographic distribution indicate that these objects were an important aspect of life and death in prehistoric Cambodia.

Glass beads Another item that is found frequently in association with semi-precious stones is glass. It usually appears in the form of small beads which are present at all the Iron Age sites discussed. In some instances, glass was found in other forms, such as the presence of glass earrings at Phum Snay. It is possible that glass was manufactured at the site based on a small piece of melted silica found during excavations (Lapteff 2013). An analysis of glass and stone beads by Carter (2013a, b) from the mid to late Iron Age sites of Lovea, Phum Snay, Phum Sophy, Prei Khmeng and Angkor Borei reveal similarities and indicate a South Asian source of manufacture.

Agricultural tools All the burials described included agricultural or utilitarian objects in the graves such as digging implements and sickles, reflective perhaps of the reliance upon and importance of agriculture to the people at the time of burial. It is possible that the people of Koh Ta Meas also were buried with these sorts of artefacts although of perishable material as nothing of the sort was found as the site predates the introduction of iron.

Ceramic Further evidence for interregional trade or exchange is indicated in the form of ceramics such as ‘Phimai Black’ ware, which has been found in Cambodian mortuary contexts. This pottery tradition is commonly found in Iron Age archaeological sites in Thailand, including Non Ban Kham and Ban Tamyae (Welch 1985), Non Tung Pie Pone (Nitta 1995), Ban Prasat (Fine Arts Department Thailand 1992), Ban Suai (Parker 1966), Nakon Ratchasima (Welch 1985), Muang Phet (McNeill 1997), Noen U-Loke (Higham and Thosarat 2000) and Non Muang Kao (O’Reilly 1998). The presence of this type of pottery at Cambodian sites including Phum Sophy, Phum Snay and also to a limited degree at Prei Khmeng provides evidence that these sites participated in an interaction network which stretched over the Daeng Raek mountains.

Faunal skulls The inclusion of pig skulls is another commonality at many sites, especially those in the Angkor region, and they were found at Prei Khmeng and during the Bronze Age at Koh Ta Meas but also in the south at Wat Komnou and at Prohear. Curiously, the inclusion of pig skulls is not common in the mortuary repertoire so far discovered at burial sites in the northwest (only Krosaing Thmei has them) but it is encountered in Northeast Thailand (Sargeant 2006). The tradition is also known in Vietnam during the Iron Age. At the site of Go O Chua, nearly half 62

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the graves contained the jaws of pigs (Reinecke et al. 2009). At Phum Snay there was a strong indication that buffalo and cow bones played an important role in the mortuary ritual, at least in one part of the cemetery.

Burial treatment: grave preparation and unusual items The burial position of the dead was another factor that saw some variability across Cambodia and may be indicative of chronological changes in mortuary practices. At Phum Snay, the burials from the earlier period at the site are supine with the limbs outstretched, or extended along the side of the body. Later, individuals seem to be interred in a flexed position with the knees drawn up and this is also a tradition found at Kok Treas and at Prei Khmeng in the Angkor region. Both at Phum Snay and Prei Khmeng, there is a mix of positions found in the cemetery. With regard to the orientation of the burials there is wide variation. Even within a single site there are variations in the orientation of the body. At four of the cemeteries, namely Phum Snay, Phum Sophy, Kok Treas and Prohear, some of the dead were found with bronze bowls placed on or near the face or skull. This is a tradition known from Vietnam at the Dong Son culture site of Lach Truong where there were “two bronze bowls . . . one placed where the head of the dead was supposed to have [been] . . . ” (Janse 1947). Iron was also found near the skull at three sites, Phum Snay, Prei Khmeng and Lovea. The symbolism or meaning of these traditions is unknown. The preparation of the grave also varied. While it was difficult to ascertain the nature of the graves cut at most sites, we find evidence for tumuli over shallow, narrow burials at Prei Khmeng, while at Phum Sophy, in several cases evidence for a grave lining made of resin and the grave filled with rice was detected. This is a feature of burials in the Mun River Valley of Northeast Thailand during the Iron Age as well and hints at shared cultural traditions (O’Reilly 1999). Many of the sites reviewed here boasted unusual artifacts as part of the mortuary tradition. At Phum Snay, we find iron torques around the necks of some of the dead in the flexed burials as well as the inclusion of epaulettes of ceramic with buffalo horn motifs affixed to them in some cases. Other unusual items from Snay include ivory bangles and Sun Bear canines included in the burials. The former were also found at Go O Chua in Vietnam. At Prohear, the richest site in terms of exotic material including gold and silver jewelry, the excavators also found bronze discs and bronze ‘Dong Son’ drums buried with the dead. The inclusion of large bronze drums is also paralleled in Vietnam, where the dead, in some instances, had a situla placed over the cranium and the grave contained a large bronze drum (Janse 1958). Also at Prohear, there is evidence of jar burial, a tradition known from coastal Vietnam in Sa Huyhn sites (Nitta 1996) and in Bronze Age Northeast Thailand (Indrawooth 1997) and later in the Cardamom Mountains in Southwest Cambodia (Beavan et al. 2012) although these last examples were not burials but exposed jars and coffins on cliff ledges.

Weaponry Many of the burials at Phum Snay were noted to contain projectile points and swords, seemingly more than the burials found at other sites in Cambodia and Northeast Thailand. Though the sample size is small, the presence of multiple knives, swords, and projectile points combined with evidence indicative of large-scale bone trauma (Domett, O’Reilly et al. 2011) suggest a society engaged in considerable conflict. 63

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Concluding remarks We have presented here a summary of the current state of research on prehistoric sites in Cambodia with the aim of illuminating the patterns and differences which exist between Cambodian sites and sites elsewhere in Thailand and Vietnam.The paucity of research on prehistoric Cambodia is apparent from the brief corpus of excavation undertaken to date.The research that has been done has brought to light hints of regional differentiation in mortuary practice within Cambodia. It has provided indications that, from the Iron Age, elements of material culture from India and China begin to appear in the archaeological record at a time when, in other parts of Southeast Asia at least, we have strong evidence of increasing socio-political complexity. These data probably exist in Cambodia and we have hints of such processes at work, but the number of sites and the mortuary assemblages within those is insufficient to draw solid conclusions at this point. It is hoped that future archaeological investigation will identify significantly more sites with mortuary material to analyze. Looting, however, remains an issue threatening the cultural wealth of the country. Such is its scale that it is feared that there will be scarcely any archaeological sites left undisturbed and thus sadly a comprehensive understanding of the transformational sociopolitical trends in the period preceding the rise of the state in Cambodia will be lost.

Note 1 Excavations at Phum Lovea, Phum Sophy and those led by O’Reilly and Shewan at Prei Khmeng were funded by the Australian Research Council.

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Krigbaum, J., A. Bentley, M. Stark, M. Pietrusewsky and W. Belcher (2007). New Perspectives on Diet, Ecology, and Residence During the Transition to History in the Mekong Delta. Society for American Archaeology. Lapteff, S. V. (2013). “Early Iron Age Burial Practices of the Ancient Khmer People: The Phum Snay Necropolis, Northwestern Cambodia.” Archaeology, Ethnology and Anthropology of Eurasia 41(2): 137–145 Lévy, P. (1943). Recherches Préhistoriques dans la Region de Mlu Prei. Publications de l’École Française d’Extrême Orient (30). Hanoi: Imprimerie d’Extrême-Orient. Lien, L. T. (2002). Gold Plates and Their Archaeological Context in Oc Eo Culture. Unpublished paper presented at the 17th Indo-Pacific Prehistory Association conference, Taipei, Taiwan. Mabbett, I. W. (1997). “The ‘Indianization’ of Southeast Asia: A reappraisal.” In Living a Life in Accord with Dhamma: Papers in Honor of Professor Jean Boisselier on his Eightieth Birthday. N. Eilenberg, S. M. C. Diskul and R. Brown (eds). Bankok: Silpakorn University, 342–355. Malleret, L. (1959a). L’archeolgie du Delta du Mekong. Paris: École Française d’Extrême-Orient. Malleret, L. (1959b). “Ouvrages Circulaires du Cambodge (Circular Earthworks in Cambodia).” Bulletin de l’École Française d’Extrême-Orient LIX(2): 409–449. McNeill, J. R. (1997). “Muang Phet: Quaritch Wales’ moated site excavations re-appraised.” Bulletin of the Indo-Pacific Prehistory Association 10: 167–176. Mitchiner, M. (1982). “The Date of the Early Funanese, Mon, Pyu and Arakanese Coinages (‘Symbolic Coins’).” Journal of the Siam Society 70: 5–12. Nitta, E. (1995). “Prehistoric Industries and the Mekong Civilisation.” Historical Science Reports, Kagoshima University 42: 1–17. Nitta, E. (1996). “Comparative Study on the Jar Burial Traditions in Vietnam, Thailand and Laos.” Historical Science Reports, Kagoshima University 43: 1–19. O’Reilly, D. (2005). “Ceramic Classification and Description.” In The Origins of the Civilisation of Angkor, Volume One, The Excavation of Ban Lum Khao. C. F. W. Higham and R. Thosarat (eds). Bangkok: Fine Arts Department, 231–237. O’Reilly, D. (2007a). Early Civilizations of Southeast Asia. Chicago: Alta Mira Press. O’Reilly, D. (2007b). “Non Muang Kao in a Regional Perspective.” In The Origins of the Civilisation of Angkor, Volume II, The Excavation of Noen U-Loke and Non Muang Kao. C. F. W. Higham, A. Kijngam and S. Talbot (eds). Bangkok: Thai Fine Arts Department, 575–587. O’Reilly, D. J. W. (1998). “The Discovery of Clay-Lined Floors at an Iron Age Site in Thailand; Preliminary observations from Non Muang Kao, Nakon Ratchasima Province.” Journal of the Siam Society 85(1): 1–14. O’Reilly, D. J. W. (1999). A Diachronic Analysis of Social Organisation in the Mun River Valley. PhD Thesis, University of Otago. O’Reilly, D. J. W. and P. Sytha (2001). “Recent Excavations in Northwest Cambodia.” Antiquity 75: 265–266. O’Reilly, D., K. Domett and P. Sytha (2008). “The Excavation of a Late Prehistoric Cemetery in Northwest Cambodia.” Udaya 7: 1–16. O’Reilly, D. and L. Shewan (2015). “A Report on the 2011–2012 Excavation of Lovea: An Iron Age, Moated Settlement in Cambodia.” Archaeological Research in Asia 1–2 (0): 33–47. O’Reilly, D. J. W., C. Thuy and K. Domett (2004). “Report on the 2003 Excavation of the Iron Age site of Phum Snay, Cambodia.” Udaya 5: 219–225. Parker, H. (1966). “Excavation at Pimai Preliminary Report.” Preliminary Reports on Excavations at Ban Na Di. Ban Sao Lao, Pimai, No. 1, W. Solheim II (ed.). Honolulu: University of Hawai’i. Pham Duc Manh (1996). “Proto-history and Pre-history of the Eastern Part of Nam Bo: Past and modern perceptions.” Vietnamese Studies 1996/2, Special: Archaeological Data II New Series 50(120): 63–119. Phon, K. (2004). Phnom Borei Project: Phnom Borei and its Relationship to Angkor Borei. Phnom Penh: Unpublished manuscript. Pottier, C. (2006). Under the Western Baray Waters. Proceedings of the 10th EurASEAA Conference, National University of Singapore Press. Pottier, C., P. Baty, F. Demeter and A. Guerin (2003). Mission Archéologique Franco-Khmère sur l’Aménagement du Territoire Angkorien (MAFKATA). Campagne 2003 Rapport APSARA–MAE–EFEO. Pottier, C., A. Guerin, T. Heng, S. Im, C. Khieu and E. Llopis (2001a). “Mission Archéologique FrancoKhmère sur l’Aménagement du Territoire Angkorien (MAFKATA).” Rapport Preliminaire sur la Campagne de Fouilles 2001 APSARA–MAE–EFEO. 66

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5 Frail, foreign or favoured? A contextualized case study from Bronze Age northeast Thailand Kate Domett, Jennifer Newton, Alana Colbert, Nigel Chang and Siân E. Halcrow1

Introduction The field of bioarchaeology is becoming increasingly aware of the important insights that can come from focusing on the individual (Knudson and Stojanowski, 2008; Mayes and Barber, 2008). Individual-based case studies using a bioarchaeological approach are no longer a simple osteobiography: ‘. . . the skeleton is more than a series of biological facts; it is the remains of an individual who interacted within a social as well as physical environment in a dynamic way’ (Gowland and Knüsel, 2006: x). This approach allows specific insights into how a person lived and what challenges they may have faced. If appropriately contextualized, the life of an individual based on their skeletal remains, grave goods and other information, such as the location of their grave within the site or cemetery, can tease out the minutiae of life in earlier societies that may be lost within population-based statistical studies. An osteobiography can provide the opportunity to fully integrate the biological and archaeological evidence from a single grave to provide a multidimensional character description or social personality (Binford, 1971) for an individual that can help build a more realistic picture of biological and social variability in a community. They also may allow a reflection on the individual experience within larger social phenomena and remind us of how the living individual contributed to society (Mayes and Barber, 2008: 13; Hegmon, 2003). Chang (2002) has identified the range of characteristics of an interment that carry information on social identity in general mortuary contexts (Figure 5.1). In this chapter, we attempt to draw on as much of this variety of evidence as possible for a single individual, while noting that some is lost forever, for example, aspects of the mortuary ritual that may have been carried out away from the grave site or have perished. To illustrate the usefulness of this approach a single burial, Burial 676, excavated from the Bronze Age cemetery in northeast Thailand of Ban Non Wat (see Figure 2.1, Chapter 2), is presented in detail and contextualized within the early Bronze Age period as evidenced by comparison with Ban Non Wat population statistics and the broader archaeological data set. While this is just one story from a collection of nearly 700 individuals from Ban Non Wat, this case study raises many identity and socio-cultural issues for discussion.  68

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Characteristics of an Interment

Geophysical Biology Mortuary Ritual

Stratigraphic unit

Age

Grave goods

Invisibles

Sex

Structures

May include: • • • •

Feasting Mourning/confinement Scarification/mutilation Perishables, etc.

Life history

Grave size/depth

Absolute date

Location in site

Pathology/ trauma

Disposition of the body May include: • Primary vs. secondary • Cremated • Prone vs. supine vs. crouched • In a pot or coffin • Multiple/mass burial, etc.

Figure 5.1 The range of characteristics of an interment that carry information on social identity Source: Modified from Chang (2002).

In 1961, F. P. Saul coined the term osteobiography (Saul and Saul, 1989). An osteobiography aims to uncover the life histories of a particular individual as recorded in their skeleton. Osteobiographies consider a range of biological factors such as age-at-death, sex, stature, dental disease, trauma and other pathologies and their relationship to the nutrition, behaviour and the environment occupied by the individual. Osteobiographical analyses can also enable the consideration of larger social phenomena as they were experienced at the individual level (Mayes and Barber, 2008). A decade later, Brown (1971) edited an influential volume on archaeological approaches to the analysis of mortuary practices. Binford’s (1971) contribution emphasized that variability of mortuary rituals within a prehistoric community was central to understanding the wider issues of social organization. In essence, the individual is key to understanding the whole. Somewhat more recently, in a discussion of post-processualist agency-based approaches in archaeology, Dornan (2002: 325–6) concluded that a ‘delicate and reflexive movement’ between the particular and general is required if a more ‘inclusive and complex picture of the practices of past individuals and the structures that they effected and were affected by’ is to be constructed. Of course, this individual approach is not entirely new in Southeast Asia with the Princess of Khok Phanom Di being an important example (Higham and Thosarat, 1994). Higham and Thosarat (1994) and Tayles (1999) provide a picture of this individual, drawing on osteobiographical and archaeological data to construct her social identity as an influential and wealthy potter in the community, leading to broader conclusions about the nature of social 69

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complexity in Neolithic society. Other examples include Domett and Buckley (2012) who present the case of a skull of a woman from Iron Age Cambodia with severe lytic lesions reminiscent of Langerhans cell histiocytosis or metastatic carcinoma. While this individual lacks certain archaeological evidence (she was not found in her original burial context) the authors discuss the quality of life for this woman living with this illness in the context of the Iron Age. Tayles and Buckley (2004) consider the impact of the possible presence of leprosy and tuberculosis in three individual case studies from Iron Age Noen U-Loke. Also from Noen U-Loke, Tayles (2003) presents the case of possible perimortem trauma in an older woman from Noen U-Loke. Here a holistic interpretation is based on the archaeological and biological information combined. Between Oxenham et al. (2009) and Tilley and Oxenham (2011), the social and biological implications of paralysis in a young man in the context of Neolithic Vietnam (Man Bac) have been extensively discussed. Individual-based case studies, like these and the one presented here, collectively help to build a picture of biological variability in earlier societies (Larsen, 1997). By examining the ‘individual narratives of lived lives’ (Hodder, 2000: 22) such as that of B676, we not only seek to remind ourselves that these skeletons represent thinking, feeling and acting subjects (Lesure, 2005) who populated the past that we are examining (Hegmon, 2003), but also to develop a more nuanced understanding of the social and environmental systems within which they lived.

The location of Ban Non Wat and some background to the site Ban Non Wat (Figure 2.1, Chapter 2) is one of the most intensively investigated archaeological sites in Thailand, with 11 seasons of excavations conducted between 2002 and 2011. Just under 1100 square metres of the site have been excavated to the natural substrate (approximately 1.5 per cent of the total area of the main mound). It is a moated mound of the type first brought to international attention by Williams-Hunt (1950). The mound today measures approximately 300 m in diameter and rises to approximately 5 m above the surrounding rice fields, with two subtle peaks separated by a lower valley (Figure 5.2). The remains of at least three moats surround the mound (Boyd and Chang, 2010). A detailed radiocarbon dating program based on the Series 1 excavations (2002–2007) directed by Professor Charles Higham, Professor Amphan Kijngam and Dr Rachanie Thosarat and their team (Higham and Kijngam, 2009; Higham and Kijngam, 2012b; Higham and Kijngam, 2010; Higham and Kijngam, 2012a) identified 13 cultural/ mortuary phases, subdivisions encompassing Neolithic, Bronze Age and Iron Age eras, during the prehistoric occupation of the site, indicating a total span of occupation between 1750 bce and 500 ce (Higham and Higham, 2009). However, it should be noted that historical pottery from the Angkorian period and later Thai history suggests the site was used in some way well into the historic period and the mound is occupied today. It is also important to note that this site has grown significantly both vertically and horizontally over the last 4000 years. It would have presented a very different profile during the various eras of human occupation (Figure 5.2). For example, the moats, at least as they are seen now, were likely first constructed during the Iron Age (after about 420 bce). Aspects of the changing profile have been revealed by the Series 2 excavations (2007–2011) carried out by Dr Nigel Chang and his team. On a larger geographical canvas, Ban Non Wat is located in the upper catchment of the Mun River on the Khorat Plateau of northeast Thailand. Communication and exchange

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Figure 5.2 Ban Non Wat contour map showing the excavations relative to the current topography. The circled squares are the Series 2 excavation units (4 seasons, 2007–2011). The other units constitute the Series 1 excavations (7 seasons, 2002–2007). The solid line indicates the possible extent of the dry land during the Neolithic and beginning of the Bronze Age 1 period. However, it is likely that a second high area existed near the eastern edge of the modern mound (marked as Unit T,U,V,W 200 on this map). The arrow indicates where the isthmus may have merged with the edge of the floodplain Source: Map: Nigel Chang.

with Mekong River communities to the east is facilitated via the Mun River (Higham and Higham, 2009). To the west, following the upper reaches of the Mun River, leads to the overland passes through the Petchabun Range of the Pak Chong area and onto the communities of the fertile alluvial plains of central Thailand. B676 was encountered late in December 2008 during the second season of the Series 2 excavations at the site (2007–2011). The standard excavation units throughout the Series 2 excavations at Ban Non Wat have been 4x4 m squares. B676 was found in the unit identified as G104 that lies in the lower valley area that runs north to south through the mound (Figure 5.2). The grave was found 2 m below the surface of the 4x4 m excavation unit and was cut through an underlying Neolithic shell midden with the skeleton lying on base sterile deposits (Figure 5.3 and Figure 5.4). Based on the associated artefacts, in particular a number of small diagnostic goblet-shaped earthenware ceramic vessels (Figure 5.5), B676 has been assigned to Higham and Higham’s (2009) Bronze Age 1 (BA1) mortuary phase (1050–1000 bce). Thus, she lived, died and was interred at a time when the community had only just begun employing metallurgical (copper and bronze) technology.

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The Bronze Age is an important and sometimes controversial era in Southeast Asian prehistory (for example Higham et al., 2011; Higham, 2011; White and Hamilton, 2009). Putting aside debates about nomenclature, and thus using the term simply to refer to the availability of copper and/or bronze and avoiding assumptions of any equivalence with the Bronze Age elsewhere in the world, discussions here centre on what relationship there might be between this new technology and changing social structures in prehistory. In a small, but very direct way this investigation of the life of B676 can contribute to our understanding of this period.

Figure 5.3 Burial 676 in situ. Freshwater bivalve shells are visible at the right ankle and the pelvis. The marble bangle is partly under the left pelvis between the pelvis and the left hand. Part of the Neolithic shell midden through which the grave was cut remains in the lower right of the picture. The head is oriented to the west and north is at the bottom of the picture Source: Image: Nigel Chang.

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Figure 5.4 Burial 676 and B677 and associated mortuary goods Source: Drawn by Pimpicha Bannanurak based on field drawings by Warrachai Wiriyaromp.

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A

B

C

D

Figure 5.5 Grave goods associated with B676. A: a goblet-shaped earthenware vessel (66.1 mm in height); B: one of six globular bowls (89.5 mm in height); C: a pedestalled bowl (139 mm in height); D: marble bracelet with T-shaped cross section (Cat. no. 31613) Source: A–C images: Nigel Chang; D image: Christoph Niessen.

Approaches to studying this material A full analysis of the skeletal and dental material was undertaken following standard methodologies modified for Southeast Asia (Buikstra and Ubelaker, 1994; Domett, 2001). Adult age estimation was carried out, prioritizing late-fusing epiphyses, pubic symphysis morphology and population seriation of dental wear. Sex determination was based on pelvic and cranial morphology. Observations of any osteolytic and/or osteoblastic pathological lesions were described in detail with reference to Lovell (1997, 2008) for traumatic injuries and Weiss and Jurmain (2007), Buikstra and Ubelaker (1994) and Rogers and Waldron (1995) for joint disease. Dental pathology observations included caries, periapical cavities and antemortem tooth loss following Hillson (1996) and Buikstra and Ubelaker (1994). All forms of enamel hypoplasia (linear and pitting) were also recorded in the incisors and canines. Measurements followed Buikstra and Ubelaker (1994) using digital callipers and an osteometric board. Stature was estimated from long bone lengths using regression equations based on modern Thai and Chinese cadavers (Sangvichien et al., n.d.; Sangvichien et al., 1985). These equations have been shown to provide the least variation in prehistoric Thai remains compared 74

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with other regression equations such as those in Trotter and Gleser (1952, 1958), Feldesman and Fountain (1996) and Kate and Mujumdar (1976). Alongside the biological analysis, the assemblage of associated grave goods was analysed, along with variables such as the orientation of the body and the location of the grave relative to the site boundaries and to the graves of other members of the prehistoric community. It is to this archaeological context that we next turn.

The archaeological context of B676 The structure of the interment B676 was laid to rest in an extended, supine position with her hands at the side of the body rather than crossed over the mid-section (Figure 5.3 and Figure 5.4). The body is oriented with the head to the west, and the left side of the body appears to be immediately adjacent to the long edge of the grave, giving the appearance of the whole body being a little tilted to the right, as well as the head. The grave extends approximately 40 cm beyond the head and the feet, with 20–30 cm of width beyond the skeleton to its right. Pottery vessels are arranged beyond the feet and head, as well as along the right-hand side of the body. Some of these grave goods are higher in the grave than the skeleton, suggesting they were placed on a shelf or that they were interred after the initial backfilling of the grave had begun. Other grave goods (more ceramic vessels, freshwater bivalve shells and part of a stone bangle) are located over, or immediately adjacent to, various parts of the body. Following Harris and Tayles’ (2012) typology, the arrangement of the skeleton suggests B676 was interred in a wrapping. However, the placement of a goblet-shaped ceramic vessel over the left hand suggests it was outside of the wrapping and visible to the mourners during the mortuary ritual.

Grave goods Of the 19 ceramic vessels associated with the grave, 11 are goblet-shaped cups that are roughly made and peculiarly diagnostic of the BA1 mortuary phase. Other ceramic vessels include six globular bowls, also consistent with BA1, as well as two pedestalled dishes (Figure 5.5). The finish on some of the bowls and on one of the pedestalled dishes is well executed, with a red/ brown slip or paint similar to later BA2 vessels. Two pig’s feet were located beyond the head, while one freshwater bivalve shell was placed by the right ankle and a second over the pelvis. Both pig’s feet and bivalve shells are relatively common grave goods throughout all prehistoric periods at Ban Non Wat. Finally, two sections of an incomplete, but finely crafted, marble bangle (Figure 5.5) were located against the left hip, adjacent to the left hand. Marble bangles with a T-shaped crosssection are not unusual at Ban Non Wat, or indeed, in prehistoric Southeast Asia (Chang, 2002). At this site they were usually found in the later BA2–BA4 contexts making this early find unusual for its time. Additionally, this example is particularly well made. It has been finely ground to a thickness of less than 5 mm, such that, when wet it is partially translucent, with a hard and frosted-glass patina.

Location of the grave B676 is located in excavation unit G104, some 80 m northwest of the large excavation area that was the focus of the Series 1 excavations. Currently, this lies in a low valley that runs 75

K. Domett et al.

roughly north–south through the mound. However, the distribution of excavation units has revealed that at the time of interment this was one of the highest (and presumably driest) areas of the site. The fact that the mound of Ban Non Wat is now roughly circular in shape appears to be due to rapid build-up of sediment (likely intentional) during the later Bronze Age followed by further lateral expansion of the site in the Iron Age (Belinda Duke, pers. comm.). The adjacent B677 and B672 are the only other BA1 period graves currently identified outside of the main Series 1 excavation area. Only the lower body including the pelvis and legs of B677 were recovered, with the remainder lying outside of the excavation unit, and B672 appeared to have been disturbed by the interment of B676. However, both graves included diagnostic BA1 goblet-shaped ceramic vessels, while B677 included a copper alloy axe over the knees (Figure 5.4). The five BA1 graves previously excavated in the eastern portion of the main Series 1 area are oriented NNW–SSE, essentially perpendicular to B676 and her neighbours. While no excavation units lie between the main Series 1 excavations and B676, the different orientations of graves and the limited distribution of BA1 graves across the larger excavation area suggest two different burial areas and traditions during the BA1 period at Ban Non Wat.

The biology of B676 Age at death and sex Burial 676 was estimated to be a young adult female based on dental wear and pelvic and cranial morphology. A baseline for molar wear was established using other individuals aged from the pubic symphysis. This placed B676 at the upper limit of the young adult range.

Stature Burial 676 was abnormally short (143.5 cm) compared to other members of her immediate community. She was 7.7 cm shorter than the next shortest woman at Ban Non Wat (151.2 cm, Series 2) (Figure 5.6) and is the second shortest woman to be identified in this region to date (Table 5.1).

Figure 5.6 Stature (cm) estimates of each individual from the Series 2 excavations at Ban Non Wat. Dark diamonds: females; light diamonds: males 76

Contextualized case study from Thailand Table 5.1 Female stature estimates for prehistoric Southeast Asia (modified from Domett and O’Reilly, 2009; Newton, 2014) Stature (cm) Site

Era

N

Mean

SD

Range

Khok Phanom Di1 Man Bac8 Ban Kao9 Ban Chiang (early)2 Nong Nor3 Ban Lum Khao5 Ban Chiang (late)2 Ban Non Wat4 Ban Na Di3 Noen U-Loke5 Angkor Borei7 Phum Snay4 Phum Snay6 Phum Sophy4

Neolithic Neolithic Neolithic Neolithic–Bronze Age Bronze Age Bronze Age Bronze Age–Iron Age Bronze Age–Iron Age Iron Age Iron Age Iron Age Iron Age Iron Age Iron Age

36 8 7 21 14 25 12 10 13 4 8 15 2 15

154.3 154.0 159.1 154.0 156.1 154.7 153.0 153.5 155.9 154.6 154.8 154.9 152.5 150.7

4.5 3.7 6.1 3.1 3.6 3.8 3.2 4.2 4.0 4.7 3.0 2.6 0.5 3.5

141.1–163.2 146.6–157.7 148.9–166.7 149.2–161.0 150.7–162.1 147.9–162.2 148.3–158.0 143.5–158.5 150.0–164.4 151.5–161.6 151.1–159.9 150.3–158.7 152.2–152.7 144.9–155.5

Stature derived from the Sangvichien (1985, n.d.) stature regression formulae. Tayles, 1999; 2raw data from Pietrusewsky and Douglas, 2001 Early = EP I to EP V, Late = MP VI to LP X; 3Domett, 2001; Series 2 individuals only (Newton, 2014); 5Domett and Tayles, 2006; 6Phum Snay Japanese excavation (Matsushita and Matsushita, 2013); 7Ikehara-Quebral, 2010; 8Matsumura et al., 2010; 9Sangvichien et al., 1969.

1 4

Enamel hypoplasia Enamel hypoplasia (EH; linear and pitting) was evident in three quarters (9/12, 75.0 per cent) of the incisors and canines found with B676. These crowns develop between approximately 0.25–7 years (Hillson, 1996) and the distance from the cementoenamel junction (CEJ) suggests the lesion occurred between 2.5 and 3 years (Goodman and Rose, 1990) though these regression equations were not developed on Southeast Asian populations. Five of the nine females were affected with EH (Table 5.2), with an average of 27.74 per cent of incisors and canines affected (ranging from 0 to 100 per cent) (Table 5.3). Only one other female had a higher percentage of teeth affected compared with B676: B653 had all observable (n = 6) incisors and canines affected. Eighty per cent (4/5) of affected females had two or more teeth affected (Table 5.2). The majority of lesions in female teeth were single linear lines (12/20, 60 per cent affected anterior teeth), the remaining eight teeth showing multiple indicators on single teeth (40 per cent). B676 showed seven teeth with single linear EH and two teeth with multiple defects.

Skeletal pathology Evidence of vertebral osteophytosis in the intervertebral joints was evident in the cervical, lower thoracic and lumbar spine of B676. The fourth and fifth lumbar bodies had extensive spicule formation on the articulating inferior and superior rims. The facet joints were affected with more minor to moderate osteoarthritic changes in the upper and lower thoracic and lumbar regions. The appendicular skeleton of B676 has very little sign of osteoarthritis except for some moderate changes in the right and left halluces (big toes). Osteoarthritis in other females at the site (both Series 1 and 2 data were available) show that the joints of the foot are commonly affected appendicular joints for Bronze Age females with the left foot affected in 35 per cent of Bronze 77

K. Domett et al. Table 5.2 Enamel hypoplasia (EH) (any type) among the permanent incisors and canines in the Series 2 sample at Ban Non Wat (individual count) Incisors and canines

Female Male ?sex1 Total

No of individuals with:

Average no. of EH teeth per individual (range)

N individuals

EH %

One EH %

Two EH %

Three + EH %

%

9 9 6 24

5 4 4 13

1 2 0 3

2 1 3 6

2 1 1 4

28.7 (0.0–100) 17.1 (0.0–83.3) 38.9 (0.0–100) 26.9 (0.0–100)

55.6 44.4 66.7 54.2

11.1 22.2  0.0 12.5

22.2 11.1 50.0 25.0

22.2 11.1 16.7 16.7

1 Those of unknown sex include subadults with permanent dentition.

Table 5.3 Enamel hypoplasia (any type) among the permanent incisors and canines in the Series 2 sample at Ban Non Wat (tooth count) Maxilla

Female Male ?sex1 Total

Mandible

Total

Total

Incisors

Canines

Incisors

Canines

Incisors

Canines

N Obs %

N Obs %

N Obs %

N Obs %

N Obs %

N Obs %

6 6 4 16

26 19 12 57

23.1 5 17 31.6 3 9 33.3 2 5 28.1 10 31

29.4 6 33.3 3 40.0 4 32.3 13

26 23 16 65

23.1 3 14 13.0 3 13 25.0 6 6 20.0 12 33

 21.4 12  52 23.1 8  23.1 9  42 21.4 6 100.0 8  28 28.6 8  36.4 29 122 23.8 22

31 22 11 64

25.8 27.3 72.7 34.4

N Obs % 20 15 16 51

 83  64  39 186

24.1 23.4 41.0 27.4

1 Those of unknown sex include subadults with permanent dentition. N = number of teeth affected; Obs = number of teeth observable

Age females (the second most common joint affected) and 13.3% per cent right foot affected (Domett, unpublished data; Evans, 2012). Minor trauma was observed in the form of two fractures: one was a well-healed fracture in a right finger phalanx and another in the left radius. The right proximal phalanx, possibly of the second or third digit, shows the lateral half of the distal articular surface in a more proximal plane than the medial side, suggesting the lateral half has collapsed resulting in a marked contour change to the joint (Figure 5.7). A grooving has developed between the lateral and medial aspects. Other phalanges from this hand and the left appear normal, though not all hand bones were present. This is possibly a well-remodelled fracture. The left distal radius shows changes indicative of a healed transverse fracture across the metaphysis and consequential significant joint contour change to the distal radius (Figures 5.8 and 5.9). There is slight angulation of the proximal shaft that results in the distal articular surface situated on more of an oblique posterior plane; that is, it is not in the horizontal plane. The styloid process sits, abnormally, more level with the anterior/medial articular edge; it would normally sit much more distally. Despite these significant joint changes, there are no osteoarthritic changes nor any abnormality to the ulna, though the distal end of this bone is incomplete. The left lunate was present and unaffected; the scaphoid was not preserved. B676 did not display evidence for cribra orbitalia (CO). Three individuals had CO (3/14, 21.4 per cent): two females and one of unidentifiable sex. Interestingly, the two females with CO had no EH. The other individual (B661) with CO had 10 of their 12 incisors and canines affected by EH (83.3 per cent). 78

Figure 5.7 Pathology in B676. Right proximal finger phalanx (top: palmar view, bottom: dorsal view) indicating malalignment of and grooving in between the lateral and medal aspects of the distal articular surface

K. Domett et al.

Figure 5.8 B676 left forearm. Left radius and ulna (top: anterior view, bottom: posterior view)

Dental pathology The dentition of this woman was in moderately poor health compared with the rest of this sample (Figure 5.10). She had suffered from two occlusal carious lesions (upper right third molar, lower left first premolar) and seven discrete periapical cavities in the mandibular bone (all of the type that extends from the alveolar crest and were therefore initiated by periodontal infection/inflammation). The mandibular and maxillary bone showed signs of moderate to severe generalized periodontal resorption. Two mandibular teeth had been lost antemortem, probably as a result of infection, and further posterior teeth were close to being lost antemortem. Two other females showed evidence of antemortem tooth loss (AMTL) in the sample (Table 5.8); overall the prevalence of AMTL was only 2.7 per cent of teeth in the female sample (Table 5.9). In the Series 2 sample, 55.0 per cent (11/20) of individuals (with permanent teeth) had one or more carious lesion; a quarter of all individuals affected had three or more caries (Table 5.4). All carious lesions were present in posterior (premolars and molars) teeth (Table 5.5). The most common type of caries was those in the occlusal fissures of posterior teeth (Type 7) (29.7 per cent), though smooth surface caries (Type 3) were also quite common (26.5 per cent) (Table 5.4). In this regard, B676 was not so unusual with two posterior carious lesions of the most common type, Type 7. Periapical cavities were quite common in females at Ban Non Wat (6/8, 75 per cent) (Table 5.6), but B676 had the largest number of periapical cavities in females (7/26 tooth positions, 26.9 per cent) though not the highest proportion; however, two other females with higher proportions had only three tooth positions each to be recorded. Type 2 cavities (infrabony pockets) were the most common type overall, though in females Type 2 and Type 3 were 80

Figure 5.9  B676 left distal radius (top: lateral view, bottom: medial view)

K. Domett et al.

Figure 5.10 Dentition of B676. This view of the mandible shows the antemortem tooth loss of the left second premolar and first molar. There is also widespread periodontal resorption

common (Table 5.6). The periapical cavities in B676 were all Type 3, only in the mandible and affected both anterior and posterior teeth. Type 3 lesions are those that extend apically from the alveolar crest, exposing much of the tooth root. Periapical lesions of the anterior teeth were not seen in any other female and only one male (Table 5.7), indicating the severity and extensive pathology present in B676 compared with others.

Strontium, oxygen and carbon isotopes Testing of the enamel of B676’s third molar indicated her strontium isotope (87Sr/86Sr) value (0.708912) lay more than seven standard deviations below the mean strontium isotope ratio for the whole of the Series 1 and 2 group (average = 0.709696; 2sd range = 0.710351–0.709041) indicating that she has a non-local strontium signature or a very different diet to others in the community (Figure 5.11) (Newton, 2014). This may suggest B676 was an immigrant to the community. B676 was the only possible migrant from within BA1 (Figure 5.12) though there were other possible outliers in the Neolithic and BA2 and 4. The third molar is highly variable in its development but the crown generally starts forming between 7 and 13 years and is completed by the mid-teens (Hillson, 1996). The δ13C value of tooth enamel carbonate for B676 was −13.57‰; this is not an outlier for this dataset, suggesting her childhood diet was similar to those identified as locals from Series 1 and 2 at Ban Non Wat (average = −12.70‰; range −15.13 to −10.27) (Figure 5.13) (Newton, 2014). This value indicates her diet was predominantly towards C3 plants such as 82

9 9 2 20

44.4 66.7 50.0 55.5

1 1 0 2

11.1 11.1 0.0 8.3

2 1 0 3

2 caries 22.2 11.1 0.0 12.5

% 1 4 1 6

11.1 44.4 16.7 25.0

3+ caries % 1 4 2 7 20.6

1 Pit/fissure – located in the molar buccal and lingual pits and grooves 2 Interproximal – located at the point of contact between two adjacent teeth 3 Smooth surface – located on the smooth buccal or lingual surfaces 4 Cervical (CEJ) – located at the cementum–enamel junction 5 Root – located on the root below the CEJ 6 Massive – involving the crown of the tooth to an extent that obscures the site of the original caries 7 Occlusal – located on the occlusal fissures of premolars and molars

*  Types of caries:

1 Those of unknown sex include subadults with permanent dentition.

Female 4 Male 6 1 ?sex1 Total 11 %

% 2 0 0 2 5.9

2 0 5 4 9 26.5

3

1

1 cary

Caries Obs.

%

Type of caries*

Individuals with caries

Table 5.4  Caries among the permanent dentition in the Series 2 sample at Ban Non Wat

0 1 0 1 2.9

4 0 0 0 0 0.0

5 0 3 2 5 14.7

6 6 4 0 10 29.4

7

9 17 8 34

4.1 (0.0–16.0) 6.5 (0.0–14.3) 4.9 (0.0–29.6) 5.2 (0.0–29.6)

Total %

Average no. of carious teeth per individual (range)

K. Domett et al. Table 5.5 Caries among the permanent dentition in the Series 2 sample at Ban Non Wat (tooth count) Maxilla

Mandible

Anterior

Female Male ?sex1 Total

Posterior

Anterior

N Obs. % N

Obs. %

0 0 0 0

 71 7.0 0  75 9.3 0  23 17.4 0 169 9.5 0

43 34 16 93

0 5 0 7 0 4 0 16

Total Posterior

N Obs. % N  44  42  19 105

0 0 0 0

 4 10  4 18

Total

Anterior

Posterior

Obs. %

N Obs. % N

Obs. %

N

Obs. %

 70  75  24 169

0 0 0 0

141 150  47 338

 9 17  8 34

228 226  82 536

 5.7 13.3 16.7 10.7

 87  76  35 198

0 0 0 0

 9 17  8 34

 6.4 11.3 17.0 10.1

3.9 7.5 9.8 6.3

1 Those of unknown sex include subadults with permanent dentition. N = number of teeth affected; Obs = number of teeth observable

Table 5.6 Periapical (PA) cavities among the permanent adult dentition in the Series 2 sample at Ban Non Wat

Female Male ?sex** Total %

Individuals with PA cavities

Type of PA cavities*

Average no. of PA cavitous teeth per individual (range)

Affected

Observed

%

1

2

3

Total

%

6 5 1 12

8 8 1 17

 75.0  62.5 100.0  70.6

2 2 0 4 8.7

 7 16  4 27 58.7

 7  7  1 15 32.6

16 25  5 46

16.2 (0.0–33.3) 19.5 (0.0–85.7) 25.0 18.3 (0.0–85.7)

*  Type of PA cavities: 1 PA cavities: those around the root apex, not extending to the alveolar crest, with a clear origin in dental infection 2 ‘Infrabony pockets’ – with a depression in the alveolar crest adjacent to the tooth which may indicate periodontal inflammation but not necessarily infection (a minor version of the periodontal cavity) 3 Periodontal cavities: those extending from the alveolar crest and therefore initiated by periodontal infection/ inflammation. They may or may not extend over the root apex. **  Those of unknown sex include subadults with permanent dentition.

Table 5.7 Periapical (PA) cavities among the permanent adult dentition in the Series 2 sample at Ban Non Wat (tooth count) Maxilla

Female Male ?sex1 Total

Mandible

Total

Total

Anterior

Posterior

Anterior

Posterior

Anterior

Posterior

N Obs. %

N Obs. %

N Obs. %

N Obs. %

N Obs. %

N Obs. %

N Obs. %

0 1 0 1

 2 12  4 18

2 0 0 2

12 12  1 25

2 1 0 3

14 24  5 43

16 25  5 46

17 27  5 49

0.0 3.7 0.0 2.0

 41  54   8 103

 4.9 22.2 50.0 17.5

15 18  3 36

13.3  0.0  0.0  5.6

 57  58   4 119

21.1 20.7 25.0 21.0

32 45  8 85

6.3 2.2 0.0 3.5

 98 112  12 222

14.3 21.4 41.7 19.4

130 157  20 307

12.3 15.9 25.0 15.0

1 Those of unknown sex include subadults with permanent dentition. N = number of teeth affected; Obs = number of teeth observable

rice (an exclusive C3 diet would be closer to −16‰). Interestingly, B676 had the most negative δ13C value for BA1 and the few samples from Series 2 cluster lower than those from Series 1 within BA1 (Figure 5.14). 84

Table 5.8 Antemortem tooth loss (AMTL) among the permanent dentition in the Series 2 sample at Ban Non Wat Individuals with AMTL

Female Male ?sex1 Total

Average no. of AMTL teeth per individual (range)

Affected

Observed

%

%

3 3 1 7

 9 12 10 31

33.3 25.0 10.0 22.6

2.8 (0.0–6.3) 3.4 (0.0–25.0) 0.3 (0.0–0.3) 2.2 (0.0–25.0)

1 Those of unknown sex include subadults with permanent dentition.

Table 5.9 Antemortem tooth loss among the permanent dentition in the Series 2 sample at Ban Non Wat (tooth count) Maxilla

Female Male ?sex1 Total

Mandible

Total

Total

Anterior

Posterior

Anterior

Posterior

Anterior

Posterior

N Obs. %

N Obs. %

N Obs. %

N

Obs. %

N Obs. %

N

Obs. %

N

Obs. %

1 1 0 2

0 4 0 4

 6  5  1 12

 86 120  36 242

0 7 0 7

 7  6  1 14

167 238  66 471

 7 13  1 21

263 374 105 742

0 3 0 3

 48  69  17 134

0.0 4.3 0.0 2.2

 81 118  30 229

1.2 0.8 0.0 0.9

 48  67  22 137

0.0 6.0 0.0 2.9

7.0 4.2 2.8 5.0

 96 136  39 271

0.0 5.1 0.0 2.6

4.2 2.5 1.5 3.0

2.7 3.5 1.0 2.8

1 Those of unknown sex include subadults with permanent dentition. N = number of tooth positions affected; Obs = number of tooth positions observable

Figure 5.11 Ban Non Wat Series 1 and 2 87Sr/86Sr values per individual. The dashed circle indicates a group of Series 1 outliers; SMOW: Standard mean ocean water Source: Modified from Newton, 2014; King et al., 2013.

87 Figure 5.12  Sr/86Sr outliers by mortuary phase at Ban Non Wat (Series 1 and 2 data). NF = Neolithic Flexed, N1 Neolithic 1, N2 = Neolithic 2, BA1 = Bronze Age 1, BA12 = Bronze Age 2; BA3 = Bronze Age 3, BA4 = Bronze Age 4, BA5 = Bronze Age 5, IA1 = Iron Age 1, IA2 = Iron Age 2

Source: Modified from King et al., 2013; Newton, 2014.

Figure 5.13  δ13C and δ18O values for Series 1 and 2 humans and pigs at Ban Non Wat (includes outliers). Analytical error ±2 S.E. for measured values is ±0.2 for δ13C and δ18O values Series 1 = King et al., 2013 values. SMOW: Standard mean ocean water; PDB: Pee Dee Belemnite. Source: Modified from Newton, 2014.

Contextualized case study from Thailand

Figure 5.14 Ban Non Wat Series 1 and 2 δ13C values by mortuary phase (excludes Series 1 outliers). Dark data symbols = Series 1 (King et al., 2013); light data symbols = Series 2 (Newton, 2014); dark points connecting lines = averages. Source: Figure from Newton (2014)

Discussion The biological life history of the young woman identified as B676 is very insightful, particularly when it is considered holistically and combined with the associated archaeological evidence. This woman was very short, had poor dental health, suffered ill health during childhood, had at least one, possibly two, traumatic incidences and had some moderate joint degeneration spinally and in her feet. Chemical analysis of her bone suggested she might have been an immigrant to Ban Non Wat, moving sometime between adolescence and adulthood, though she came from a community that had a similar dietary component of C3 plants to Ban Non Wat. B676 is the second shortest woman to be identified from prehistoric mainland Southeast Asia cemeteries excavated to date (Domett and O’Reilly, 2009; Newton, 2014) (Table 5.1). Excavations at Khok Phanom Di (Figure 2.1, Chapter 2), a Neolithic site near the northern aspect of the Gulf of Thailand, uncovered B56 who is the shortest prehistoric female identified in the region at 141.0 cm (Tayles, 1999). Tayles (1999) concluded, based on skeletal evidence for possible anaemia, that this individual suffered ill health during childhood and this subsequently negatively impacted on her growth and final stature. Isotopic studies of the Khok Phanom Di skeletons did not indicate that this woman was an immigrant (Bentley et al., 2007). A comparatively short-statured person in a community raises a number of questions: did she have a genetic potential for short stature or a severe period of growth disruption as a child, perhaps the result of malnutrition or chronic disease? Differentiating between these two causes can be difficult based on skeletal evidence alone. Enamel hypoplastic defects were present in 75 per cent of B676 incisors and canines, two teeth with multiple episodes, which indicates that at least two periods of growth disturbance occurred during early childhood. If the stressful events, such as poor health or malnutrition, continued for some time she may not have been able to undergo adequate catch-up growth post illness, with the result being a shorter adult stature 87

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(Stini, 1985). Disease is one possible explanation for this growth disturbance. Infections leading to diarrhoea, respiratory infections and other illnesses can have a significant impact on childhood growth, particularly in underdeveloped countries with a low-quality nutritional diet; the synergistic relationship between nutrition and infection is well known (Larsen, 1997; Scrimshaw, 2007; Guerrant et al., 1992). A young child is particularly at risk once they have been weaned; they can become more susceptible to disease as the supply of immunity from their mother is withdrawn. According to carbon isotope data, there are significant changes in diet between BA1, 2 and 3 (Figure 5.11) (King et al., 2013; Newton, 2014). Thus B676, from BA1, was living during a time of changing diet that may have influenced her childhood health if she was raised in the community of Ban Non Wat. Each individual has their own inherent susceptibility to disease, which may be related to such factors as genetics, age, diet or socioeconomic status (Wood et al., 1992). It is possible that B676 was inherently frail. Following a model proposed by Domett (2001: 64), B676 would be classed as a medium frail individual (after Lukacs’ comment on Wood et al., 1992). B676 was frail to the extent she suffered a childhood illness, growth disturbance and reduced growth, but she did survive childhood. However, adulthood saw an early death, perhaps from a compromised immune system. This inherent frailty may also have arisen from stress in the intra-uterine environment as a result of poor maternal health and nutrition (Cameron, 1998). Interestingly, on a population level, in Clark et al.’s (2014) study of linear enamel hypoplasia (LEH) and stature in a large sample from the Ban Non Wat Series 1 and 2 skeletons, the Early Bronze Age, the period of B676, saw LEH rates in females peak, affecting 91.3 per cent of females, though average female stature (155.1 cm) was not at its shortest, suggesting growth disturbances did not affect ultimate adult stature. In the preceding Neolithic period, LEH was also very high (85.7 per cent of females), but average stature was at its lowest (150.9 cm) (Clark et al., 2014), perhaps suggesting growth distrubances were more significant in this time period. Thus the Early Bronze Age period may, in general, have been a time when, though childhood stress was high, conditions for catch-up growth, such as good nutrition, were improved compared with the Neolithic. B676 was obviously atypical for the Early Bronze Age in not undergoing catch-up growth; this reminds us of the heterogeneity in frailty amongst individuals. It may also support the suggestion from her strontium signature that her childhood occurred elsewhere, a place where nutrition was not as good as at Ban Non Wat. B676’s short stature may have led to other complications. There is evidence that short stature in pregnant women is an obstetrical risk factor associated with difficult labour (Prasad and Al-Taher, 2002). A strikingly similar example of a young, short-statured woman (approximately 144.2–146.4 cm) from the southern Vietnam Neolithic site of An Son was believed to have died during childbirth with the remains of a foetus found in the abdominopelvic region (Willis and Oxenham, 2013). Her general health was also compromised with evidence of cribra orbitalia, poor dental health and enamel hypoplasia, in addition to a brachypellic pelvis that may well have resulted from nutritional stress (Willis and Oxenham, 2013). Deaths of young women in prehistory have frequently been purported to be the result of difficult births or post-partum complications. While we have no direct evidence of this at Ban Non Wat, this could be investigated in the future once the final palaeodemography for the combined Series 1 and 2 skeletal collections from Ban Non Wat is available (see Pfeiffer et al., 2014). For example, at the nearby Bronze Age site of Ban Lum Khao (Figure 2.1, Chapter 2), a high proportion of young women were dying (Domett and Tayles, 2007). This could be explained by childbirth stress, but it could also be explained by reduced food supplies as there was also an unusually high proportion of children (not infants) dying (Groube, 1996; Domett and Tayles, 2007). There is no evidence of food shortages at Ban Lum Khao nor Ban Non Wat, though there is evidence of food changes in the Neolithic to early Bronze Age at Ban Non Wat (King et al., 2013; Newton, 2014) which may have placed undue stress on the community. 88

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It cannot be ruled out that B676 simply had a genetic potential for only a short stature, though given the evidence for childhood stress, this is the more unlikely explanation. Given her strontium isotope ratio value, it is possible she was raised in a different geological location than Ban Non Wat; without details of regional geological isotope signatures for Southeast Asia, however, we cannot suggest where. The variability in strontium signatures varies even within the Mun River Valley (Bentley et al., 2009; Cox et al., 2011; King et al., 2013; Newton, 2014). The rare and well-crafted marble bangle buried with B676 might indicate trade or at least secondary trade into Ban Non Wat, which also implies population mobility. B676 may have moved into the Ban Non Wat community as an adult. At the nearby Bronze Age site of Ban Lum Khao, Bentley et al. (2009) suggest the strontium data indicate women were more commonly the immigrants (a patrilocal marriage system), probably from within the Mun River Valley, and were often buried with distinctive pottery types. They state ‘the movement of women of different social groupings into new communities facilitated the expansion of inter-community exchange during the development of socially ranked and politically complex communities’ (Bentley et al., 2009: 93). Similarly, data from Iron Age Noen U-Loke suggest short-range mobility (Cox et al., 2011). Interestingly the Noen U-Loke strontium signatures are, on average, similar to those of Ban Lum Khao (Cox et al., 2011): however, Ban Nan Wat Series 1 and 2 strontium data show significant differences to adjacent Noen U-Loke but not Ban Lum Khao (Newton, 2014). The variability within the Mun River Valley needs further investigation. B676 was well equipped with grave goods relative to other BA1 interments, lacking only shell jewellery (although a fragment of a Trochus sp. shell bangle was found in the grave fill) and any metal objects. However, the presence of a finely crafted marble bangle (Figure 5.5) at this early stage, a generation or two before these become common at Ban Non Wat, marks her out as unusual and its presence could add significance to her non-local strontium isotope signature. Her possession of this marble bangle could be interpreted in a range of ways. If the artefact belonged to her in life it could suggest that she and her community were in contact with other groups through exchange and that she or her family were able to take advantage of this relationship in order to obtain this bangle. Alternatively, it could have been an item that she brought into the village from her community of origin. It is also possible that the artefact was not hers but was used by her family in her burial as a sign of status or respect during the mortuary ritual. One further alternative is that we are witnessing the emergence of a double burial tradition that appears in BA2 among what Higham has called superburials at the site (Series 1) (Higham, 2009). B672 was a heavily disturbed grave of a middle-aged male found above B676, and this interment also included diagnostic BA1 ceramics. It is possible that mourners were seeking to place B676 in the same grave as B672 who may have been a relative (B672 had a local strontium signature) and that the bangle was one of the artefacts encountered when reopening the grave. The relationship between the two individuals may have been recognised by placing the remains of the bangle, originally interred with B672, in the grave of B676. The ceramics interred along with B676 are a mix of a few finely made items along with a majority of crudely made bowls and goblet-shaped vessels. Many of the vessels are significantly asymmetrical, suggesting that these vessels were made quickly and specifically to be used in the mortuary ritual. This could suggest the death of B676 was unexpected. Importantly, it is these cruder vessels, especially the goblet-shaped vessels, which are particularly diagnostic of the BA1 period, also implying a deliberate role in the mortuary ritual. The same goblet-shaped vessels were associated with the BA1 B569 recovered from the main Series 1 excavation area, arguing against an alternative conclusion that these relatively poorly finished items indicate that B676 was a poorer individual or of significantly lower status than those individuals interred in other areas of the site. Rather, the production and interment of these simple ceramics may have been the accepted funerary practice 89

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for this brief period at Ban Non Wat. The finer vessels in her grave may be a more accurate indication of what was used and owned by B676 during life. While limited in number, they are not dissimilar to those found in other graves of the period across the site. Again, it may be that this is the beginning of a BA2 tradition with many vessels placed around the body. These could be interpreted as representing food or drink offerings from individual mourners that are eventually seen in greater numbers, and in more finely crafted and larger vessels, in the later BA2 burials. Higham (for example, 2009, 2011) argues that these large and ostentatious graves represent a starburst of social competition emphasizing the expression of status and hierarchy. Bringing together and recording the number of mourners at a graveside, represented by the number of ceramic vessels contributed to the mortuary ritual, would be one way of expressing status, whether that of the deceased or of those sponsoring the ritual (Hodder, 1984). Speculation aside, it is clear that, if B676 was an immigrant into Ban Non Wat, she appears to have been fully integrated into the community and was remembered in death with no less ceremony than others at the time. What we can reconstruct of her mortuary ritual may anticipate the more dramatic developments in the next generation or two (BA2). B676 was buried immediately adjacent to two other BA1 individuals in the same orientation; however, some 80 m to the southeast, other BA1 graves were buried on a different orientation. Was she a member of one of two separate social groups within the community interred in separate cemeteries? Clearly, excavations between the two areas are required to answer this definitively; however, as already noted, the different orientations of the two groups of graves are highly suggestive. Following the Series 2 excavations, we have a better understanding of the underlying topography of the site and how this has changed over time. It is likely that the two groups were interred at different points along a ridge of higher ground extending southeast from the slightly higher edge of the floodplain and into what was likely a surrounding wetland at the time (Boyd and Chang, 2010). What is important here is that this consideration of the location of B676 reminds us that Ban Non Wat did not always look as it does today. Looking out from B676 helps us to place ourselves, phenomenalogically, in the landscape as she and her community must have seen it. Rather than a circular mound constrained by moats, she lived on a more linearly oriented isthmus of dry land surrounded by rich wetlands and physically linked to a neighbouring environment that was drier, more elevated and, presumably, offered a different range of resources. Such a location would have provided access to many different seasonal resources, implying a generally healthy and well-fed population. This might explain how B676, despite her frail biological signature, was able to survive into adulthood. Socially, it is possible that this isthmus was divided along its length into different residences and cemetery areas representing separate corporate groups within the community. Perhaps B676 lived during a time of population growth with subgroups becoming more clearly defined within an expanding village area. It is clear from excavations at other parts of the site that by BA2 there was a rapid and likely deliberate deposition of sediment that extended the mound both east and west from the original isthmus (Belinda Duke, pers. comm.) presumably due to continued expansion of the village. 

Concluding remarks The aim of this study was, on one level, to highlight the insights possible when taking the individual approach. While we cannot gain a full account of this young woman’s life, we have brought together many possible lines of evidence (Hodder, 2000). This evidence has provided an in-depth investigation into the life of a distinctive young woman from Ban Non Wat, emphasizing her uniqueness and the rich variety of life ways that make up a community (Sofaer, 2006). Concentrating on this sole 90

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individual has offered an opportunity to investigate and discuss some key factors that had an impact on her and those around her. It brings into sharp focus issues of immigration, exchange, health and wellbeing, changing environments and the transformation of the landscape both as an individual experience and in relationship to whole communities. While this young woman was somewhat physically frail, she lived her short life fully engaged and acknowledged within her community and was remembered at death. She had some knowledge of wider exchange networks and indeed was an immigrant herself, perhaps coming from some distance, as at least suggested by her possession of an exotic, at the time, marble bangle. She was buried among, presumably, family in a northern part of the village and may have identified herself differently from those burying their ancestors to the south. She witnessed the expanding possibilities of living in a growing community that was beginning to transform the landscape, creating new land to live on and, ultimately, to be buried in. While much must remain speculation, this individualized approach helps to transform a human skeleton into a living individual and provides some understanding of what it would have been like to live at Ban Non Wat at the beginning of the Bronze Age. Following Dornan’s (2002) argument that it is the interplay between the individual and the corporate that will truly reveal past cultures and social structures, it was our second aim to place B676 in her community and the social structure of BA1 at Ban Non Wat. B676 may have been part of a community that was beginning to emphasize corporate membership over individuality in the context of a growing community. This may have been associated with a ‘starburst’ event of increasing social competition (Higham and Higham, 2009: 138). If so, B676 and her family may have been involved in the first stages of this ignition. Ultimately, archaeology will continue to emphasize the larger picture. However, such an overview can only be constructed by first developing detailed and accurate case studies of the lives of individuals in the past. Acknowledging those individual lives, such as that of B676, and then integrating them with other contextual data (including the lives of others in their community) will enhance our knowledge of the resilience of individuals and the transformation of communities in the region.

Acknowledgements We would like to thank the National Research Council of Thailand and the Fine Arts Department of Thailand for their assistance with the success of our fieldwork. We are also indebted to the Earthwatch Institute and their many volunteers for their generosity. The people of Ban Non Wat have also been particularly generous in opening up their village to us for so many years. James Cook University has also been supportive financially through a ‘Collaboration Across Boundaries’ grant.

Note 1 This project arose from an initial idea by KD and NC and was undertaken as part of an Honours project by AC, supervised by KD and NC. Additional work, particularly on the isotopes and general health of the Series 2 Ban Non Wat skeletons, was completed as part of JN’s PhD thesis. Data on the subadults was collected by SH. The final production of this paper has been completed by KD and NC.

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6 Reflections on life and times in Neolithic Vietnam One person’s story Lorna Tilley and Marc Oxenham

Introduction It is often said that the best way to know a country is through its people, and the same may hold true about the past. This chapter draws out aspects of the lifeways, identity and agency of the small, North Vietnamese, Neolithic community of Man Bac by examining the experience of one individual in some detail. To do this, it positions inferences from a single set of human remains – albeit a very special set of remains – against the backdrop of broader archaeological discoveries. Indeed, our aim is to use this case study as a mechanism for situating the osteobiographical analysis of one individual within site-specific, population-level analyses, and to investigate how one can use such combined data sets to shed new light on the human condition at this one site at a particular point in time. Man Bac Burial 9 (M9) was a young man who lived to around 25 years of age, but for approximately the last 10 years of his existence suffered a quadriplegia which rendered him completely immobile from the waist down, and left him with, at best, only limited upper body mobility. This extreme level of disability required dedicated, skilled and resource-intensive care to enable his survival from early adolescence through to adulthood. Unpacking what was likely involved in the provision of this support – from the decision to care for M9 in the first place, through the elements of the care provided, to the direct and indirect demands of the caregiving process itself – allows new insights into certain of the cultural, social and economic practices that existed within a subsistence society dating back almost 4000 years. These insights serve to confirm, expand – and sometimes modify or challenge – conclusions reached through more traditional archaeological analyses and, in the course of doing this, provide a more rounded and distinctively human picture of life and times in early Man Bac. The case of M9 has already been well documented. In 2009, Oxenham et al. described his remains and provided a differential diagnosis of the signs of pathology evidenced in almost every skeletal element recovered. At this time, the authors briefly noted that the obvious severity of disease impact would have necessitated community support. In 2011, Tilley and Oxenham addressed the question of M9’s need for and receipt of care directly, using a ‘bioarchaeology of care’ approach (Tilley 2012, 2015) in assessing the likely range and extent of clinical and functional impacts of M9’s condition, and identifying the basic components of the health-related care required for him to survive in the face of these. This second paper (Tilley and Oxenham 95

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2011) also discussed some implications of this caregiving for understanding socioeconomic practice and social relationships in Man Bac. The current chapter builds on these latter observations. The first section introduces M9, recapitulating earlier work and focussing on the physical evidence of M9’s remains and the inferences drawn from this. The following section summarises the archaeological and osteological evidence to present a synopsis of what is known, and what is surmised, about M9’s contemporary environment. The final section attempts to illustrate how the understanding of M9’s needs and his experience of care that has been derived from bioarchaeology of care analysis may be used, in conjunction with more conventionally derived archaeological and bioarchaeological data from the Man Bac site and its cemetery population, to address questions ranging from the mundane to the metaphysical. Because the bioarchaeology of care provides the conceptual and methodological framework for the proposals contained in this chapter, a brief outline of what this consists of is necessary. The bioarchaeology of care is a contextualised, case study-based approach for identifying, inferring and interpreting the experience of disability and the receipt of health-related care within their corresponding lifeways setting. The applied methodology comprises four sequential stages of analysis, each building on the last: (i) description and diagnosis; (ii) establishing disability impact and determining the case for care; (iii) deriving a ‘model of care’; and (iv) interpreting the broader implications of the care given (Tilley 2012, 2015). The Index of Care (www. indexofcare.org), a freely available online instrument developed as a non-prescriptive guide to bioarchaeology of care analysis (Tilley and Cameron 2014), was used in preparing this chapter.

Introducing M9: his disease, his disability and his care In 2007, the remains of M9 were recovered from Man Bac, a cemetery site located in the Ninh Binh province of northern Vietnam, 100 km south of Hanoi. At the time of M9, the site was located on an estuary of the Red River Delta in North Vietnam; although the coastline has since receded, today’s landscape of flat loess interspersed with sharply rising, rugged, limestone karsts approximates that of 4000 years ago, as does today’s climate of cool, humid winters and hot, wet summers (Sterling et al. 2006). A detailed overview of Man Bac, including both human biology and zooarchaeological findings can be found in Oxenham et al. (2011). Figure 2.1 (Chapter 2) locates the Man Bac site in its geographic context, and Figure 6.1 presents the modern-day site surrounds and the excavation site itself. M9, a male who died between 20 and 30 years of age, was buried in a loosely flexed position and lying on his right side, with his head to the north. He was one of a small number of interments deviating from the normative burial position of extended, supine, east–west orientation. Skeletal abnormalities were immediately apparent – as may be seen in Figure 6.2, which shows burial M9 in situ immediately prior to the lifting of his remains. Examination of M9 revealed extreme disuse atrophy of the lower and upper limbs, ankylosis of all cervical and the first three thoracic vertebrae, an atlantoaxial rotary fixation combined with occipitalisation and bilateral temporomandibular joint degeneration. Differential diagnosis concluded that the congenital condition Klippel–Feil syndrome (Type III), a segmentation disorder characterised by fusion of two or more cervical vertebrae (Samartzis et al. 2006), provides the best explanation for most of the above pathology indicators (Oxenham et al. 2009). Quadriplegia onset during M9’s early adolescence was most likely the result of a trauma (possibly quite minor) propelling the ankylosed block of vertebrae C1-T3 across the ‘free’ vertebra below, damaging the spinal cord, a phenomenon well documented in modern medical literature (Elster 1984; O’Donnel and Seupaul 2008; Oxenham et al. 2009). 96

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Figure 6.1 The Man Bac cemetery excavation site (centre middle ground of the image) and surrounds, looking southwest. The cemetery is on slightly elevated ground at the base of a limestone karst; in the Neolithic it would have been located on the bank of an estuary Source: Man Bac 2007. Photograph: Lorna Tilley.

Figure 6.2 MB07H1M09 (M9) in situ just prior to lifting (preserved grave goods have been removed). M9 was interred with his head to the north Source: Man Bac 2007. Photograph: Lorna Tilley.

The full extent of clinical complications arising from M9’s condition and the impact on his health-related quality of life cannot be known with precision, but the probable range of such impacts may be identified by reference to the modern clinical literature. Because response to disease varies significantly between individuals (Bowling 2002; Martin Ginis et al. 2005 97

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in relation to spinal cord injury specifically), conservatism in discussing possible outcomes is essential. However, setting aside possible non-paralysis-related complications of M9’s condition and focussing solely on the well-established health impacts of immobility reveals a long list of potential challenges to survival. Prolonged immobilisation is associated with osteoporosis; respiratory, cardiovascular and gastrointestinal system dysfunction; general metabolic system disruption, including failure of homeostatic mechanisms; depressed immune system; kidney failure and urinary tract infection; pressure sores; and psychological depression. While almost any one of these challenges can be life-threatening without remedial action, body systems do not operate in isolation – interaction between clinical complications frequently exacerbates disease impacts on immobilised individuals (for further discussion of points made above see, for example, Bergman et al. 1997; Campagnolo 2006; Dittmer and Teasell 1993; McKinley et al. 2002; Olsen 1967; Olsen and Edmonds 1967; Olsen and Johnson 1967; Olsen and McCarthy 1967; Olsen and Schroeder 1967; Olsen and Thompson 1967; Olsen and Wade 1967; Teasell and Dittmer 1993). Further, almost all individuals with spinal cord injury suffer acute and/or chronic general and/or localised pain, which is both physically and mentally debilitating (McKinley et al. 2002). The impacts of disease on M9’s ability to function were severe. Following paralysis, he was incapable of independent mobility; the degree of atrophy evident in his lower limbs indicates he would have been incapable of standing, even with assistance. The condition of M9’s upper limbs indicates severely restricted usage, and the level of atrophy suggests that even basic upper body manipulation (for example, the act of raising himself from a recumbent into a sitting position) may have been beyond his capability, at least towards the end of his life. The rotary fixation of the first two vertebrae, together with C1 occipitalisation, left M9 with his head angled slightly upwards, permanently twisted to the right, and effectively without neck flexion or extension. This, combined with the remaining and extensive upper body vertebral ankylosis, would have further restricted upper body mobility and coordination. Bilateral temporomandibular degeneration may have impeded efficient mastication (Tilley and Oxenham 2011). There can be no question that, from the onset of paralysis, M9 was reliant on others in relation to all essential activities of daily living (Katz 1983; Katz et al. 1970; Tilley and Cameron 2014; Wallace et al. 2007). He was incapable of either obtaining or preparing his own food and of obtaining water; even if capable of lifting solid foods to his mouth for consumption, it is quite possible that the manipulation of vessels containing liquid was beyond his powers. M9 would not have been capable of adequately meeting his personal hygiene needs, and most probably incapable, or only partially capable, of dressing himself. He would have been unable to provide himself with protection from the elements, and unable to remove himself from sources of discomfort or potential danger. That M9 survived exposure to the clinical and functional disease impacts listed above allows inference of the type and level of care that he received. Obviously M9 was provided with sustenance, and in view of the constraints imposed by immobility on gastrointestinal function (McKinley et al. 2002; Olsen and McCarthy 1967; Schnelle and Leung 2004) it can be assumed that a specialised diet was developed – probably through trial and error – to best meet his needs. It is also likely that he received assistance to enable him to drink. Dehydration is a constant risk for immobilised individuals (Bergman et al. 1997; Massagli and Reyes 2008; Olsen and McCarthy 1967), so if assistance with drinking were necessary, it argues for the ready availability of someone to provide it – particularly during the hotter times of year, when there is increased loss of body fluid through sweating. Minimally, it would be necessary to ensure that water was always within reach. Logically, following from this, provision of a secure resting place, with shade or shelter according to weather dictates, would be a priority. 98

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Hygiene maintenance would be as essential as food provision to M9’s survival. Body wastes would require prompt removal, and M9’s body surface would need to be regularly monitored, cleaned and kept dry. Failure to establish an effective and responsive system of bathing and toileting would leave M9 open to breaches of skin integrity, providing entry points for infection; in particular, the potential for pressure sores is exacerbated by moist skin (pressure sores are further discussed below) (Lyder and Ayello 2008; Stillman 2008). Toileting would involve not only removal of faecal and urinary matter, but likely also, as appropriate, some form of physical manipulation to stimulate bowel and bladder function (McKinley et al. 2002; Olsen and McCarthy 1967; Olsen and Schroeder 1967). Taking this further, massage, percussion, mobilisation, turning, repositioning and elevation were most probably the primary strategies employed in caring for M9 more generally. To give only one example, prolonged immobility threatens cardiovascular and respiratory health (e.g. McKinley et al. 2002; Olsen and Johnson 1967; Olsen and Thomson 1967). Physical therapies are effective in mitigating risk of systemic dysfunction in these areas, and were probably the only therapies available. Certainly, M9’s lengthy survival following immobilisation suggests that such therapies were effective, for a considerable period, against ever-present dangers such as embolism and respiratory tract infection (McKinley et al. 2002; Olsen and Johnson 1967; Olsen and Thompson 1967). The most powerful evidence supporting inference of applied physical therapy is undoubtedly the absence of evidence for pressure sores in the preserved skeletal elements of M9. Pressure sores are ubiquitous amongst those suffering immobility even today, and to avoid their development the immobile individual must be provided with a soft, supportive surface and, most importantly, regularly repositioned to relieve pressure points, with at-risk areas massaged to promote blood flow (Lyder and Ayello 2008; Margolis et al. 2003; Olsen and Edmonds 1967; Stillman 2008). No doubt M9 suffered pressure sores from time to time, but it appears none progressed to the stage of suppurative infection (Bowler et al. 2001) likely to have registered in bone and very likely to have proven fatal. Along the same lines of argument, the absence of evidence for antemortem fracture in any of M9’s severely demineralised bones indicates that M9’s fragile body must have been handled very gently and with great caution. Alongside particular responses to specific needs is a type of care that is difficult to quantify, but as critical as any described above. M9’s state of health and his physical safety would have required frequent monitoring and assessment. For example, many symptoms of the list of systemic complications confronting quadriplegic individuals can occur with little warning and require a rapid response; these may include, for example, symptoms associated with cardiovascular stress (e.g. rapid heart rate, sweating, headaches, dizziness (Claydon et al. 2006; Olsen and Thompson 1967; Winslow 1985); respiratory infection (e.g. difficulties in breathing, raised temperature – McKinley et al. 2002; Olsen and Johnson 1967); and renal and/or urinary tract infection (e.g. raised temperature, blood in the urine, nausea, pain – Bergman et al. 1997; Olsen and Schroeder 1967). Even though the source of symptoms may have been unknown, those ‘looking out’ for M9 must have applied considerable nursing skills in caregiving when symptoms manifested. Similarly, those around M9 must have been constantly on the alert for environmental hazards likely to threaten his well being – ranging from proximity to the hearth, through objects on the ground beneath him capable of penetrating skin or breaking bones, to the boisterous play or inadvertent clumsiness of other group members in his vicinity. The workload involved in caring for M9 would vary in response to his health status at any given time, but consideration of the totality of what was involved – the magnitude of the task undertaken by members of the Man Bac community – may offer a key to some of the characteristics of the group itself. For example, the achievement of M9’s long-term survival following 99

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his acquired paralysis argues that the group most probably had a history of caregiving experience resulting in the acquisition of practical skills in, and knowledge of, preventive and curative treatment procedures (although it is extremely unlikely that members had previously encountered the complexity and intensity of care needs presented by M9). For a community dependent on a mixed hunter-gatherer/early farming economy (see the following section), managing the range of caregiving responsibilities outlined above would require balancing the constant and specialised needs of M9 with those of other members within the group, and those of the group as a whole. Man Bac was a society in which it is likely that all participants played an active work role from childhood onwards (Kamp 2001; Oxenham 2012; Oxenham et al. 2008a, b), so this would have required considerable behavioural flexibility (who takes what role – and when – in monitoring, nursing, feeding?) and organisational skills (how is the labour diverted from normal tasks to caregiving minimised and/or compensated for?). Meeting the demands of M9’s care, and where necessary underwriting the lost labour of his carers, would have required cooperation at a collective level; the evident willingness to support M9 suggests that Man Bac was a cohesive community, and one able to bear the economic and social costs of care provision. We know that the group must have cared for M9 from the time of his paralysis through to his death, long after it was obvious that he would never recover and that his health could only deteriorate. This active inclusion of a fragile individual under challenging circumstances suggests a high value placed on M9’s continued existence. Whether this ‘value’ was the product of M9’s personality, or whether his identity as a member of a very close-knit Man Bac community was the only criterion necessary to guarantee M9 such committed care, is impossible to say; most likely the factors driving caregiving (and perhaps particularly quality of care) included a mixture of both. The original article on M9’s care discussed what the fact of M9’s survival might suggest about M9 as a person – someone with traits that made him unique (Tilley and Oxenham 2011). Based on (i) modern clinical literature documenting very high rates of psychological depression experienced by individuals experiencing severe spinal cord injury (Boekamp et al. 1996; Kennedy and Rogers 2000), (ii) M9’s evident capacity to resist and/or overcome the many potential systemic complications to which immobilised individuals fall prey, and (iii) the fact that he was clearly treated not only with great skill, but great gentleness and compassion, it is hypothesised that – in very general terms – he possessed a strong will to live; that he adapted well to his constraints, while maintaining an engagement with his community that reinforced a positive attitude; and that he likely had a high level of self-esteem, assisting him to make it through inevitable periods of frustration, if not despair.

Establishing context: the archaeology and osteology of Man Bac In the bioarchaeology of care approach, the details of the subject’s lifeways shape the inference and interpretation of both their disability and their care, but having done this it is sometimes possible to attempt the converse – to explore facets of the contemporary social, economic and physical environments in which the subject operated through a focus on the understanding gained about the subject’s life experience. In a sense, the subject and their care become the lens through which we interrogate aspects of their world. This is undeniably a recursive exercise, and can be critiqued as a form of reverse-engineering that merely reinforces conclusions already reached. Suspending disbelief, however, perhaps it can more profitably be seen in terms of refinement of analysis and argument. Evidence, inference and interpretation are positioned and repositioned against each other and against the wider background context. There is no expectation that the results from such an activity will constitute ‘facts’ in their own right, but undertaking this process may identify new questions for future consideration. 100

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What, then, is known of the people represented in the Man Bac cemetery? Features of the geography, topography and climate of the region have already been noted, but we have not yet explored the position of Man Bac within the greater framework of the momentous events shaping the region, nor have we surveyed the evidence for the cemetery itself and overlying cultural layers. The Neolithic in mainland Southeast Asia emerges rather suddenly somewhere between 4200 and 4000 years ago (Oxenham et al. 2015), with Man Bac being one of the bestdocumented Neolithic sites in northern Vietnam, dating to between 1745–1538 and 2016–1775 cal. bce (95.4 per cent) (Oxenham et al. 2011).The origins of Neolithic communities in Southeast Asia, by which is meant clear evidence for the employment of domesticated crops (essentially rice and millet in mainland Southeast Asia) and animals (especially pigs and dogs) can most plausibly be traced to the movement of both people, material culture and ideas from what is now politically referred to as central and southern China (Oxenham and Matsumura 2011; Matsumura and Oxenham 2014). Man Bac was a community experiencing first hand some of the most transformative processes to have ever occurred in human prehistory; it was on the cusp of major changes to the way people had subsisted, lived and functioned for millennia. A unique aspect of Man Bac is that the human biological transition, which was an outcome of demic diffusion associated with the arrival of farming peoples from the north, has been captured in the genotype and phenotype of the community. The Man Bac community is somewhat heterogeneous in that it includes both Northeast Asian and indigenous (AustraloMelanesian) morphologies, as well as a significant number of individuals displaying a mixture of these phenotypes/genotypes (Shinoda 2011; Matsumura 2011; Matsumura and Oxenham 2014). Interestingly, M9 was one of those individuals of mixed migrant and indigenous descent.

The cemetery and middens of Man Bac Generally speaking, the site is composed of three phases of use with the first, or upper layer, comprising a heterogeneous mixture of ancient midden material and modern (including historic) artefacts that is a product of recent intensive use of the upper portion of the site for agricultural purposes. The second (middle) layer comprises multiple contexts and features relating to everyday activities, including combustion features, earthen floors, multiple post holes and general refuse. Deliberately or incidentally discarded material includes a wealth of pottery sherds; complete and near-complete pottery anvils used in the manufacture of ceramic vessels; stone and bone artefacts, including fragments of jade jewellery; net-sinkers and fish-hooks; fish and mammal bones; and scattered shell deposits. The third, or lowest, layer contains all but three of the human interments; these interments appear to be encapsulated in a matrix almost completely devoid of midden material. Indeed, the grave-fill of the burials in layer 3 contained very little pottery (other than pottery vessel grave goods) or animal bone, in stark contrast to the cultural richness of the midden layer above. A question still not adequately dealt with to date is the relationship between the second (essentially midden) and lower third (essentially burial) layers. Some degree of contemporaneity, or at least cultural connection, between the layers is attested by the equivalence in material culture used as grave furnishings in layer 3 and that seen in the midden layer above. The same types of ceramic vessels, including decoration, are found in both layers. Moreover, there is also continuity in terms of lithic raw materials and form found both in the midden and as deliberately placed grave goods in layer 3. Indeed, the only commonly occurring manufactured object recovered from layer 2, and never seen as a grave inclusion in layer 3, is the otherwise ubiquitous pottery anvil. A particularly interesting aspect of layer 2 was the evidence for extensive 101

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areas of compacted living/working floors as well as very high density of post holes. The size (from which load-bearing capacity may be inferred) and distribution of the post holes suggest that numerous structures were constructed during the period associated with layer 2. Man Bac mortuary practices were structured and consistent. As briefly mentioned earlier, and illustrated in Figure 6.3, standard burial orientation was a variant of east (head)–west (feet), and standard burial disposition was supine and extended. Cemetery remains represent individuals of all ages, from neonates through to adults estimated at 50 years or older (Domett and Oxenham 2011). Grave goods were found in association with all adults and most subadults; type and quantity of these vary, with the most common inclusions being one or more pottery vessels, followed by single or multiple shells (bivalve, cowrie, clam and/or gastropod) (Huffer and Trinh 2011). As seen in Figure 6.4, shells were sometimes placed in direct association with specific elements (frequently positioned within the hand or alongside the forearm) of the individual, and were possibly of symbolic significance (e.g. Oxenham et al. 2008a and b; see also Ross and Oxenham in press). Less common, although not infrequent, grave goods included nephrite beads and nephrite adzes and, in three burials, nephrite bracelets were found in situ around the forearms of older adults. Oxenham et al. (2008a) identify a general positive correlation between the number and type of grave goods and age at death, although there are exceptions to this. Moreover, there may be a suggestion of a degree of socio-political hierarchy in the form of a putative ‘elite’ kingroup that manifested biological (and probably also affinal) membership by way of differential grave wealth and a particular form of tooth ablation (Oxenham et al. 2012).

Figure 6.3 The third and final level of burials at Man Bac cemetery, looking east Source: Man Bac 2007. Photograph: Lorna Tilley.

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Figure 6.4 MB07H2M08, a subadult of ~18 months, was interred with bivalve shells in both hands and a cluster of six shells (cowrie, clam and gastropod) at the level of the left hand Source: Man Bac 2007. Photograph: Lorna Tilley.

Notwithstanding this observation, normative mortuary treatment of the majority of the community (including most of the children, females and males) supports the existence of a generally egalitarian social order in which all lives were assigned value. Turning to the subsistence economy, it has been argued that Man Bac is representative of what appears to have been becoming the norm in the Southeast Asian Neolithic around this time: a complex system that included significant domestic and hunting and foraging components. Layers 1 and 2 of the site are characterised by a high density of rice phytoliths, evidence for the presence of dogs, and evidence for a diverse range of wild terrestrial and marine taxa alongside evidence for domestic (or at least managed) pig populations. Anna Willis (pers. comm.) reports that very preliminary stable isotope results for δ15Ncollagen and δ13Ccollagen from Man Bac likely indicate both terrestrial and aquatic protein sources. The δ15Ncollagen values suggest protein from a similar level of the trophic food web as An So’n but lower than Hoà Diêm (see Willis 103

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and Oxenham, this volume). The δ13Ccollagen values are more enriched than An So’n, but not as much as Hoà Diêm. This could indicate some source of C4 i is potentially the consumption of terrestrial animals consuming sedges and grasses. Man Bac M9’s δ15Ncollagen values are similar to the rest of Man Bac and An So’n, and his δ13Ccollagen values are similar to An So’n, perhaps suggesting more terrestrial C3/riverine protein. Until this study is finalised and apatite values investigated, little more can be said other than, at this stage, that the isotopic data are consistent with the recovered floral and faunal evidence for diet at Man Bac.

Osteological analyses of the human remains Osteological analyses of Man Bac cemetery occupants, detailed in Oxenham et al. (2011), provide a snapshot of community health status. The mortuary demographic profile reflects a very high ratio of subadult (59 per cent) to adult (41 per cent) mortality (Domett and Oxenham 2011: 12), something often viewed as a signature of the elevated fertility levels associated with the transition to agriculture (Bellwood and Oxenham 2008). Congruent with high infant and early childhood mortality rates, evidence suggests that members of the Man Bac community experienced considerable morbidity during childhood, at least, with frequencies of cribra orbitalia and linear enamel hypoplasia among the highest found in Neolithic Southeast Asian remains and far higher than those from preceding and succeeding periods (Oxenham and Domett 2011). Oral health was also severely compromised, with the Man Bac population displaying the highest rates of caries recorded in ancient Southeast Asia to this time (Oxenham and Domett 2011; Willis and Oxenham 2013). Although not yet fully analysed, preliminary observations by one of us (MO) identified a high frequency of non-specific periostitis manifesting on the upper and lower limbs of Man Bac subadults, often indicative of a generalised immune response to one or more health stressors – such as non-specific infection, metabolic system disruption and/or poor nutrition (e.g. Goodman et al. 1984; Ribot and Roberts 1996). Man Bac remains display very little evidence for trauma; only one case, involving a (healed) forearm fracture, has been identified by one of us (MO), and there is no evidence for interpersonal violence. It is well established that subsistence transition periods leave populations – especially women and subadults – exposed to dietary stress (see Buckley et al. 2014 for discussion of the impact of this in the Pacific region). Possible explanations for compromised health status in Man Bac include the suggestion that the farming skills of the new arrivals prompted changes in socioeconomic practices, transforming modes of subsistence, reproductive habits and general lifeways to the detriment of health (Oxenham and Matsumura 2011). Finally, an analysis of enthesial and cross-sectional data from the upper and lower limbs of a large sample of adult Man Bac individuals indicates that both males and females were undertaking activities involving strenuous upper limb use, perhaps performing tasks associated with use of watercraft (Huffer and Oxenham, this volume). Comparison of enthesial and cross-sectional data from Man Bac with those from the earlier site of Con Co Ngua, a hunting, fishing and foraging community approximately 80 km south of Man Bac dating to c.4000 bce, indicates that Man Bac inhabitants may have engaged in a less mobile lifestyle than the people of Con Co Ngua (see Huffer and Oxenham, this volume).

Reflecting on Man Bac life and times through the lens of M9 The following discussion involves speculation, although it is speculation based on the very solid evidence all too briefly summarised above. The purpose of this section is to identify broader matters for consideration and possible directions for future enquiry. 104

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Lifestyle In taking M9 as the starting point for reflecting on contemporary lifeways, some unresolved issues stand out – and perhaps the most prominent of these revolves around the question of mobile versus sedentary lifestyle. The long-term survival of M9, together with the absence of evidence for trauma in his remains, argues strongly for a sedentary or predominantly sedentary existence. Although it is possible that, in a mobile society, M9 could have been transported so carefully between occupation camps that his fragile frame incurred no injury, the odds are stacked against such transportation being carried out successfully on a frequent basis and/or over significant distances. This proposal of a sedentary lifestyle does not, of course, rely only on inference from the evidence of one individual’s remains; explanations for the increased levels of fertility suggested by the cemetery demographic profile (Domett and Oxenham 2011) fit far better with life in a settled community than life in a nomadic one. However, adding M9’s experience of care to the equation contributes to the strength of this hypothesis.

Dwelling/habitation A second issue that arises from reflection on the demands of M9’s condition relates to the type of dwelling used in his community. As noted previously, there is extensive evidence in the second layer (in the form of post holes and earthen floors) for the presence of structures, although whether these were dwellings, store houses or mortuary structures (or indeed a combination of all such functions) is unclear. While it is beyond the scope of this chapter to detail the evidence for ancient Southeast Asian architecture, post holes in this midden layer may well be indicative of piled (raised) structures, and Oxenham et al. (2015) provide a useful discussion of this in the context of Neolithic dwellings in southern Vietnam. Leaving the archaeological evidence aside, and turning to M9 himself – and in particular his health requirements – it is more than reasonable to hypothesise construction of at least one shelter sufficiently enclosed to provide him with protection from wind, rain and sun (although we do not know where this structure stood). This shelter may have been elevated, for example in the form of a ‘pile-house’ – a design which would make sense, given the potential for flooding as a result of seasonal heavy rainfall combined with the estuarine location. If M9’s dwelling was not elevated, then he was most likely placed on some kind of raised platform (in other words, a ‘bed’) protecting him from cold and/or damp ground during winter and the wet season at least; extended exposure to such cold and damp, inevitable without elevation above the ground, would in all likelihood severely compromise the integumentary, respiratory and metabolic health of an individual already particularly susceptible to health insult.

Mortuary practice It is notoriously difficult to extract reliable meaning from the mortuary treatment of individuals (e.g. Pearson 1982, 1999), but reflection on the characteristics of M9’s interment encourage (cautious) conjecture. The remains of a minimum number of 100 Man Bac individuals have been recovered and assigned identifiers; of these, 24 are so poorly preserved that it is impossible to identify orientation or disposition (Huffer and Trinh 2011). Of the remaining 76 individuals, 70 are buried in accordance with standard Man Bac burial practice of east–west orientation and extended and supine placement. Of the six burials which deviate from this pattern, two individuals are buried west–east; two, including M9, are buried north–south; and one is buried south–north. Two individuals, one being M9, are buried on their right side with legs flexed; however, while M9 is oriented 105

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north–south, the other individual (MB995b) is positioned in typical east–west orientation (see image in Huffer and Trinh 2011: 137). All these burials are associated with at least one pottery vessel as a grave good. Other than M9, none of the individuals (comprising a young adult female, MB99M3; an adult male of 30–50 years, MB995b; a child of 2–5 years, MB05M14; an infant of around 18 months, MB05M18; and an adult of indeterminate sex of 30+ years, MB07H1M13a [Huffer and Trinh 2011: 136, 138, 145, 146, 154–157] ) displays any obvious indicator of disabling disease or any other physical difference that might potentially explain ‘deviant’ burial, although clearly such signs may have been present during life. Tilley and Oxenham (2011) have previously suggested that the flexed position of M9 may reflect reluctance to break the flexure sometimes associated with lower body paralysis, and is conceivably to be interpreted as a mark of respect; no examination of the only other individual (MB995b) recovered in a flexed position has been undertaken by the authors (it is encased in soil and displayed under glass in a provincial museum), and such an analysis might shed light on this point. It is difficult to imagine why these six individuals received burial treatments marking them as in some way exceptional unless physical and/or sociocultural ‘exceptionalism’ (e.g. membership of another cultural group) formed part of their identity when alive. The question to be considered, then, is what different mortuary treatment might indicate. In a comprehensive review of archaeological and ethnographic research on the social, philosophical–religious, circumstantial and physical determinants of mortuary practice, Carr (1995) suggests that burial orientation, and to a lesser extent the positioning of remains within the grave, may be read as an expression of spiritual and cosmological beliefs about the afterlife and how passage to this afterlife may be attained. In societies in which alternative afterlives exist, orientation and disposition may indicate the afterlife appropriate to the burial subject (see Ross and Oxenham, this volume, for a discussion of burial orientation in another Southeast Asian cemetery). Carr (1995: 118) describes distinct, obviously deliberate, departures from standard mortuary practice as ‘structured variations’, and argues that such variations, in particular those relating to burial orientation, reflect the ways in which ‘different’ individuals were conceived of by their community, both in relation to their role within the social order (Binford 1971; Carr 1995) and in relation to their position within the society’s philosophical and religious schema (Carr 1995). All individuals receiving ‘deviant’ burial at Man Bac appear to have been interred with the same level of conscientious attention to placement as that afforded those interred in conformity with the typical arrangement (Huffer and Trinh 2011; authors’ observations). This suggests that differences in treatment were intentional, and conveyed a particular meaning to the audience of the living. Although we can never know the detail of Man Bac beliefs, the existence of this small number of deliberate deviations from normative burial practice suggests a well-established, well-elaborated and well-respected belief system. The presence of at least one individual (M9) who was markedly physically different, dependent on others and well cared for during life, may signify that different mortuary treatment was not punitive or exclusionary, but intended to indicate that concern for this individual’s well-being during his lifetime extended into the afterlife. The integration of ‘deviant’ burials within the main Man Bac burial ground – as opposed to interment positioned on the periphery of the cemetery, for example – could perhaps be viewed as an extension of the community’s ability and willingness to accommodate individuals’ differences within the group during life. It is emphasised that no attempt has been made above to consider anomalies in burial practice in relation to factors other than orientation and disposition, and more comprehensive analyses of the cemetery population in relation to additional variables such as tooth ablation, grave goods, isotopic signatures, genetics and morphology is underway. Furthermore, it must be noted that the actual area covered by the Man Bac cemetery is unknown, and it may extend well beyond current excavation boundaries and may contain a significantly larger population than that currently documented. However, the substantial number of remains recovered, the consistency 106

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in their mortuary treatment, and their birth-to-death demographic profile support a working assumption that these individuals offer a representative sample of Man Bac cemetery occupants and, quite likely, a representative sample of the Man Bac community itself.

Concluding remarks This chapter has examined certain central aspects of social and economic organisation at Neolithic Man Bac through the medium of a very special, and very physically vulnerable, member of this community. Specifically, it has used the reconstructed life of M9 to argue for a sedentary rather than mobile group lifestyle; to deduce construction of at least one dwelling and/or furniture capable of elevating the occupant and/or user above the ground; and to reflect on cultural beliefs and practices represented in mortuary tradition. This chapter has also presented conclusions reached previously regarding aspects of likely knowledge, skills, social relations and identity in the contemporary Man Bac community that are based on analysis and interpretation of the care required for M9’s survival. It would be absurd to suggest that simply reflecting on M9’s experience would allow us to ‘know’ Man Bac in the same way that each of us ‘knows’ our own particular world. However, although all archaeological endeavour is ultimately directed towards discovering the stories of past peoples and events, some evidence and some approaches yield richer narratives than others. The account of M9’s life, retrieved from his bones through bioarchaeology of care analysis, provides an opportunity to explore aspects of one particular prehistoric community with an immediacy that is rarely achieved.

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Oxenham, M. F. and Matsumura, H., 2011. Man Bac: regional, cultural and temporal context. In Oxenham, M., Matsumura, H., and Dung, N. K. (Eds) Man Bac: The Excavation of a Neolithic Site in Northern Vietnam (No. 33). ANU E Press, 127–134. Oxenham, M. F., Matsumura, H., Domett, K., Nguyen, K. T., Nguyen, K. D., Nguyen, L. C., Huffer, D. and Muller, S., 2008a. Childhood in late Neolithic Vietnam: bio-mortuary insights into an ambiguous life stage. In Bacvarov, K., (Ed.) Babies Reborn: Infant/child Burials in Pre- and Protohistory. B.A.R. International Series. Oxford: Archaeopress. Oxenham, M., Matsumura, H., Domett, K., Thuy, N. K., Dung, N. K., Cuong, N. L., Huffer, D. and Muller, S., 2008b. Health and the experience of childhood in Late Neolithic Viet Nam. Asian Perspectives 47(2), 190–209. Oxenham, M. F., Tilley, L., Matsumura, H., Nguyen, L. C., Nguyen, K. T., Nguyen, K. D., Domett, K. and Huffer, D., 2009. Paralysis and severe disability requiring intensive care in Neolithic Asia. Anthropological Science 117(2), 107–112. Oxenham, M., Matsumura, H., and Dung, N. K., (Eds) 2011. Man Bac: The Excavation of a Neolithic Site in Northern Vietnam (No. 33). ANU E Press. Oxenham, M. F., Matsumura, H., Huffer, D., and Willis, A., 2012. Dental modification at Neolithic Man Bac: a signifier of social identity, group membership? 26th Annual Conference of the Australasian Society for Human Biology, 2nd to 6th December 2012, Port Vila, Vanuatu. Oxenham, M. F., Piper, P. J., Bellwood, P., Bui, C. H., Nguyen, K. T. K., Nguyen, Q. M., Campos, F., Castillo, C., Wood, R., Sarjeant, C., Amano, N., Willis, A., and Ceron, J., 2015. Emergence and diversification of the Neolithic in Southern Vietnam: insights from coastal Rach Nui. Journal of Island and Coastal Archaeology. DOI: 10.1080/15564894.2014.980473: 1–30. Pearson, M. P., 1982. Mortuary practices, society and ideology: an ethnoarchaeological study. In Hodder, I., (Ed.) Symbolic and Structural Archaeology. Cambridge University Press, 99–113. Pearson, M. P., 1999. The Archaeology of Death and Burial. Phoenix Mill, UK: Sutton. Ribot, I. and Roberts, C., 1996. A study of non-specific stress indicators and skeletal growth in two mediaeval subadult populations. Journal of Archaeological Science 23(1), 67–79. Samartzis, D., Herman, J., Lubicky, J. P., and Shen, F. H., 2006. Classification of congenitally fused cervical patterns in Klippel–Feil patients: epidemiology and role in the development of cervical spine-related symptoms. Spine 31(21), E798–E804. Schnelle, J. F. and Leung, F. W., 2004. Urinary and fecal incontinence in nursing homes. Gastroenterology 126, S41–S47. Shinoda, K., 2011. Mitochondrial DNA of human remains at Man Bac. In Oxenham M. F., Matsumura, H., and Nguyen, K. D. D., (Eds) Man Bac: The Excavation of a Neolithic Site in Northern Vietnam. The Biology. Terra Australis 33. Australian National University E Press, 1–8. Sterling E. J., Hurley, M. M., and Minh, L. D., 2006. Vietnam: A Natural History. New Haven and London: Yale University Press. Stillman, R. M., 2008. Wound care. eMedicine. http://www.emedicine.com/med/topic2754.htm#PressureUlcers. Accessed 27 June 2008. Teasell, R. and Dittmer, D. K., 1993. Complications of immobilization and bed rest. Part 2: other complications. Canadian Family Physician 39, 1440–1446. Tilley, L., 2012. The bioarchaeology of care. Invited article for ‘Special forum: new directions in bioarchaeology’. The Archaeological Record (Society of American Archaeologists) 12, 39–41. Tilley, L., 2015. Theory and Practice in the Bioarchaeology of Care. New York: Springer. Tilley, L. and Cameron, T., 2014. Introducing the Index of Care: a web-based application supporting archaeological research into health-related care. International Journal of Paleopathology 6, 5–9. Tilley, L. and Oxenham, M. F., 2011. Survival against the odds: modeling the social implications of care provision to seriously disabled individuals. International Journal of Paleopathology 1, 35–42. Wallace, M. and Shelkey, M., 2007. Katz Index of Independence in Activities of Daily Living (ADL). Annals of Long-Term Care 11 (available online). http://www.annalsoflongtermcare.com/article/6412?page=0,1. Accessed June 2010. Willis, A. and Oxenham M. F., 2013. The Neolithic demographic transition and oral health: the Southeast Asian experience. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 152(2), 197–208. Winslow, E. H., 1985. Cardiovascular consequences of bed rest. Heart Lung 14, 236–246.

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7 Investigating activity and mobility patterns during the mid-Holocene in northern Vietnam Damien Huffer and Marc Oxenham

Introduction It is a generally agreed upon axiom in osteology that bone is a ‘dynamic material that interacts with stresses placed on it by mechanical loading’ (Hamill and Knutzen 1995: 2). This dynamism causes both periosteal and endosteal surfaces of bones to remodel in response to environmental and mechanical stress (Ruff et al. 2006). In general, an understanding of activity and mobility patterns in past populations requires assessing not only the variation in rugosity observed at the location of muscle and tendon insertion or origin in the periosteum (entheses), but also cross-sectional size and shape at specific locations on the diaphysis. Using such data, questions of diachronic change between populations or sexes in response to shifts in activity patterns and work regimes that likely accompanied changes in subsistence or socio-economic activities (inferred from archaeological data) can be addressed (Chapman 1997; Molnar 2006, 2008). Furthermore, inferences about the nature of the terrain traversed and the overall levels of force and weight resisted during daily labour can also be made. Comparing enthesial or cross-sectional geometric variation between sub-populations, or even individuals possessing atypical burial treatment (Scattarella et al. 2002; Torres-Rouff and Knudson 2007) or mobility-altering pathological conditions (Oxenham et al. 2009) can also meaningfully contribute to osteobiological profiles. For the Southeast Asian mid-Holocene, biomechanical research remains minimal. In northern Vietnam, the sites of Man Bac (c.1,850 – 1,650 bce) and Con Co Ngua (c.3,650 – 3,050 bce) represent the largest and most complete skeletal assemblages spanning the Neolithic Demographic Transition and the adoption of agriculture. The aim of this chapter is to understand whether or not activity and mobility patterns changed as agriculture began to be incorporated into hunter–gatherer–fisher economies. We hypothesize that a reduction in overall mobility and activity pattern diversity will have begun to occur with the adoption of agriculture (Oxenham et al. 2011), but be markedly less prominent than during Neolithic Demographic Transitions elsewhere.

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Excavation history of Man Bac and Con Co Ngua Man Bac The site of Man Bac (see Figure 2.1, Chapter 2) is located within Ninh Binh Province, approximately two hours south of Hanoi (see Tilley and Oxenham, this volume). It is situated within a small semi-circle of uplifted karst, one of several such features dotting the flat landscape (Hiep 2004; Huffer 2005). It is also situated slightly northeast of the Con Co Ngua cemetery, discussed below. During occupation, the site was less than 1 km from the coast, but today is 25 km distant (Hiep 2004). Although a thick stratum of dark black soil with a very high density of material culture and midden remains covers the cemetery itself and a wide area around it, no clear evidence of a contemporaneous village site has been recovered (Huffer 2005). The cemetery itself likely represents a single occupation spanning c.1,850–1,650 bce (Oxenham et al. 2008). Test excavations in 1998 revealed that the material culture-bearing stratum was densest towards the northwest of the karst outcropping, so a location was chosen towards the rear of the feature. Excavation and in situ recording methodology for each field season (1999, 2001, 2004, 2007) have been discussed in detail elsewhere (Huffer 2005, 2012; Oxenham et al. 2011), and thus will not be repeated here. Man Bac now represents the largest (n = 95) and best-preserved archaeological and skeletal assemblage corresponding to the northern Vietnamese Neolithic Phung Nguyen culture (c.1,850–1,450 bce) (Oxenham et al. 2011). The Phung Nguyen period within Vietnamese prehistoric chronologies is often, erroneously, considered the beginning of the Bronze Age and the first fully agricultural time period (Higham 1989). Before the discovery of Man Bac, the largest contemporaneous assemblage known was from the site of Lung Hoa, containing 12 poorly preserved burials, with other known sites producing no more than one or two skeletons (Oxenham et al. 2008).

Con Co Ngua Con Co Ngua lies within Thanh Hoa Province, 30 km inland from the present coastline, 20 km north of Thanh Hoa City, and 3.6 km north of the present-day Ma River (see Figure 2.1, Chapter 2). It is situated within a small valley surrounded by 50–350 m high limestone hills, in a transitional plains-upland region (Bower et al. 2006; Oxenham 2001; Vinh 1980). The discovery and excavation of Con Co Ngua in 1979–1980 made it the first large-scale open-air settlement and cemetery site known from the ceramic-using preNeolithic Da But period (Nguyen 2005; Vinh 1991). In broader terms, Da But represents the Southeast Asian early Neolithic in northern Vietnam, distinguished by the production of the earliest ceramics (primarily coarse, cord-marked bowls), distinct shouldered adzes, the construction of large shell-mounds along the coast and estuary channels, and similarities in burial ritual with contemporaneous early open-air settlement sites throughout southern China and Southeast Asia (Higham 2013). From a bioarchaeological perspective, this period has previously been known from only a handful of sites, and no more than 12 partial skeletons from the eponymous Da But itself (Patte 1932). During excavation over two seasons (1979 and 1980), two trenches were opened, the first containing 28 skeletons, the second containing 78 skeletons, with most being single burials within earthen pits in flexed or semi-flexed positions, but with at least five individual burials

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argued to be capped with marking stones, and several double or multiple interments. The original excavation report suggested temporal discontinuity between the two excavation pits, supported by the 600 year spread of the human dentine C14 dates (Huffer 2012), but a cranial nonmetric biodistance analysis (Parker 1998) only suggested population differences between Con Co Ngua and later Metal Age aggregate populations. A 2013 re-excavation of the site by one of the authors (MO) indicates that numerous river channels criss-cross the site, explaining horizontal hiatuses between burials. Until 2010, no radiocarbon dates derived from human remains existed for any Da But period site, making the calibrated human dental enamel dates of 3,788–3,648 cal bce to 3,308–2,905 cal bce obtained from two burials (1980 season) at Con Co Ngua, one from each interment pit, the first firm dates for any Late Paleolithic site in northern Vietnam (Huffer 2012). Although the MNI of individuals recovered with at least some assessable skeletal or dental material is 81 (Oxenham 2001; Huffer 2012) the demographic breakdown of the assemblage analysed here is as follows: 31 adult females, 25 adult males, eight unsexed adults, five subadults and 11 individuals too fragmentary to be given age or sex estimates, and thus were excluded from all subsequent analyses. Age and sex estimates are taken from Oxenham (2001). Thus, more than two-thirds of the Con Co Ngua sample is represented by adults 40+, with a nearly even sex distribution. The marked underrepresentation of subadults has been suggested to be due to sub-optimal recovery techniques employed over three decades ago (Oxenham 2001).

Biomechanical bioarchaeology Significant attempts to systematically collect enthesial data only began in the late 1980s (Angel et al. 1987; Benjamin et al. 2002; Shaw and Benjamin 2007). Previously termed musculo-skeletal stress markers (MSM), now referred to by some as ‘enthesial changes’ (Villotte and Knüsel 2013), they are increasingly finding novel application in the study of life history from the skeleton (Godde and Taylor 2011, 2013). Current methods of assessing and interpreting variation in enthesial development are not without controversy (Henderson 2013; Jurmain and Roberts 2008; Molleson 2008; Stirland 1998). Overlap in how key concepts are defined and lingering disagreement about which category of enthesis (fibrous or fibrocartilagenous) is most informative (Lieverse et al. 2013; Niinimäki and Baiges Sotos 2013; Weiss 2012) have created some degree of confusion in how best to score and interpret enthesial data (Foster et al. 2012). Regardless, several new studies suggest that enthesial data can still meaningfully contribute to reconstructions of past activity patterns when standardized by age, sex and body mass. With regard to cross-sectional geometry, key variables represent periosteal bone deformation under stress (Ix/y, Imax/min), strength under torsion (J and Zp), angle of maximum bending resistance (θ), and overall robusticity (TA and CA) at a given bone cross-section. Bone remodelling from early childhood through puberty is also proving an important period of growth (Cowgill et al. 2010; Pearson and Lieberman 2004), suggesting adolescents should not be excluded from biomechanical research. Despite lingering questions regarding the exact nature of bone loading in vivo (Shaw and Stock 2009; Yang et al. 2014) as well as continued debate over data collection methods and the necessity of including the medullary cavity (Davies et al. 2012; Macintosh et al. 2013; Stock and Shaw 2007), the general premise that diaphysis remodelling reflects in vivo activity patterns is well established (e.g. Shaw and Stock 2009a, b; Sparacello et al. 2014). 112

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Approaches to analysis and some study limitations Enthesial changes (MSM) For the purposes of this research, 11 upper-body and 21 lower-body entheses were assessed for both the Man Bac and Con Co Ngua assemblages; however, Pronator teres, patellar Quadraceps femoris insertion, the fibular Soleus and the Biceps femoris insertion on the proximal fibula were all removed at the outset due to very poor preservation of these features in these assemblages. To accurately differentiate between categories 0–3 on a combined scale derived from Hawkey and Merbs (1995) and Nagy (2000), visual and textual reference guides were consulted, including that from Khok Phanom Di, the most relevant published sample available (Chiles 2002). Both right and left sides were scored separately, resulting in 21 upper body entheses for 33 individuals from Man Bac and 50 individuals from Con Co Ngua. The final data matrix for the lower body included 44 and 38 individual entheses assessable for 37 and 50 individuals from Man Bac and Con Co Ngua respectively. All missing data was recorded using an ‘*’ to remain compatible with GenStat 13. Standardization and intraobserver error follow procedures in Weiss (2003, 2004, 2007). Mann–Whitney U and Principal Components Analysis (hereafter PCA) results by sex for the complete enthesial dataset were selected to best summarize the results presented in Huffer (2012). Matrices of standardized z-scores were also calculated according to Weiss (2003, 2004, 2007), Porcˇic´ and Stefanovic´ (2009) and Stefanovic´ and Porcˇic´ (2013). Calculating z-scores involves combining right and left side scores for each enthesis (males and females assessed separately), calculating the mean and standard deviation of each column, and then subtracting this from each categorical 0–6 score, dividing by the standard deviation, and replacing each score of the given categorical value with the new z-score value. Calculating z-scores is the initial step in attempting a PCA analysis with Varimax rotation as described in Stefanovic´ and Porcˇic´ (2013). Varimax rotation has the general effect of differentiating the original variables by extracted factor. Each factor will tend to have either large or small loadings of any particular variable, thus identifying the clearest patterns of co-variation in muscle use as is possible, given the missing data and relatively small sample sizes inherent in bioarchaeological research. First, Spearman’s correlation coefficients were calculated between every pair of z-scores, with males and females sorted separately and the average value of these differences calculated. PCA was then used to extract sex-correlated enthesial co-variation within each matrix (i.e. finding a set of latent variables, equated with activity patterns, that underlie the observable and measured original variables). The significance of the average difference of males vs. females for each population was assessed by running 10,000 permutations of the sex variable in the statistical program R (Ihaka and Gentleman 1995), assigning individuals randomly to new groups no larger than the original male and female matrices. The goal was to determine ‘how extreme is the empirical (observed) value of average difference between real sex groups in comparison with the distribution of average difference values which resulted from the random grouping of individuals’ (Stefanovic´ and Porcˇic´ 2013: 32; see also Tabachnick and Fidell 2007). Each rotated component was interpreted as a separate activity pattern, with muscle groups that load highly on the same rotation being activated together. The sign of the coefficients grouped them together, with those entheses with positive coefficients representing a group of co-varying muscles that act in contrast to those with negative values. The higher the positive or negative value, the greater the contribution of the original variable to the new component constructed by PCA analysis. 113

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Cross-sectional geometry Once pathological, trauma-affected, or juvenile individuals were removed, 28 individuals remained from Man Bac: fourteen males, eight females and six older adolescents. Cross-sections were taken from 26 femora, 20 tibiae, and 23 sets of paired humeri. Two individuals had only one humerus complete enough to accurately position and X-ray. Three of the four lower limb cross-sections for which external measurements were taken for each individual (the femoral 50 per cent, tibial 50 per cent, and tibial nutrient foramen sections) also had periosteal moulds cast, using right-side elements, with the left side substituted where needed. All humeri were cast at the 35 per cent distal level. Periosteal casting of each section was completed utilizing the latex cast method (LCM), the methodology for which was first proposed in Stock (2002), then further refined in O’Neill and Ruff (2004), Stock and Shaw (2007), and Sparacello and Pearson (2010). This method avoids direct sectioning and the expense of CT scans, but can still provide results more or less equivalent to those derived from digital methods (Stock and Shaw 2007). Coltene Whaledent brand casting putty was used to make each periosteal mould. Medial and lateral orientation lines were marked on the sides, and the hardened moulds were cut in half and scanned in groups according to individual burial number, as a 300 px colour image. Each individual mould was then cropped to scale using the editing program GIMP (Kylander and Kylander 1999), then rendered into a black and white tiff file readable by Scion Image (Scion Corporation, www.scioncorp.com, or NIH Image, http://rsb.info.nih.gov/nih-image). The periosteal contour is rendered in white and surrounding space in black. To ensure the most accurate data collection possible, the cortical thicknesses measured from the radiographs of each bone from which casts were made allowed for quantitative estimations of medullary area, in addition to total area and cortical area. Cortical thickness measurements were taken at each cross-section location in each of the four planar directions, and then standardized by first dividing total A–P or M–L length as measured from the X-rays at section by the equivalent raw external dimension, then multiplying each cortical property by the corresponding value. The resultant adjusted cortical thickness measurements were input into a specially created Excel spreadsheet with formulae to calculate the exact centroid and dimensions of the medullary cavity and the percentage amount by which each quadrant of the solid periosteal contour image should be reduced in order to create a medullary cavity whose contours exactly mirrored those of the periosteal contour. All reconstructions of the medullary cavity were produced in Adobe Photoshop CS3, orienting each image with medial to the left (Perri and Huffer in prep). Once the cross-sections were reconstructed, they were individually run through Scion Image (with Moment Macro 2x), automatically generating data for each variable, including Ix, Iy, θ, Imax, Imin, CA, and TA. The addition of as complete a cross-sectional dataset as possible for the Man Bac assemblage will complement external breadth ratio data obtained from both assemblages. Due to the preservation conditions of both assemblages, body mass was derived from the average of three femoral head diameter-based formulae (two sex-pooled, one unisex), which are generally equivalent to the equations incorporating bi-iliac breadth, a measurement that can be more difficult to obtain in poorly preserved remains. Periosteal cross-sectional properties obtained using the latex casting technique, such as Imax/min and Ix/y, were calculated from the raw data generated, while variables pertaining to bending and torsional rigidity for a given crosssection (second polar moment of area J, also referred to as Zp) were standardized by first raising each raw value of J (calculated as Ix + Iy) by 0.73, then dividing by bone length X body mass (Ruff et al. 2006; Sparacello et al. 2011). 114

Activity and mobility patterns, Vietnam

Study limitations As with all bioarchaeological research, it is important to acknowledge any inherent limitations. The suitable adult (18+ years) sample size from both sites is relatively small. The primary complication to arise from this was the even smaller subsample sizes when divided by age class or sex, although statistical methods such as the Mann–Whitney U test can ameliorate this issue by mitigating for small sample sizes. Due to differences in preservation and excavation methods between Man Bac and Con Co Ngua, a more complete dataset was obtained from Man Bac, although the possibility is acknowledged that not every individual is recovered. With regard to Con Co Ngua, the poorer preservation of the assemblage resulted in a more incomplete and variable dataset as compared to Man Bac.

Our findings Enthesial changes (MSM) Presentation of the results of this research begins with assessment of intra-observer error for all entheses for both populations. Overall, the results produced by both methods of intra-observer error testing were consistent; very few of the major entheses were shown to be inaccurately scored when following the methods described above. The only exceptions was the origin site of the Supinator muscle for the Man Bac population. As it was found to be below alpha, it was rescored. Biceps femoris and fibular Soleus, as well as the Supinator origin enthesis were removed from the Con Co Ngua sample at the outset due to insufficient data, and Pectoralis major, Biceps brachii, the Supinator insertion, Adductor magnus, lateral Gastrocnemus, Obdurator internus, and Tibialis posterior were found to significantly vary when a rescored subsample was compared to first round scores. Table 7.1 shows the t-test results and p values for only those entheses that were rescored due to first-round intra-observer error. Due to the variability of element preservation of the Con Co Ngua assemblage, it was hypothesized that the above entheses would be more variable in their expression, and thus these entheses were rescored for the entire assemblage and the new scores incorporated into the data matrix (Porcˇic´ and Stefanovic´ 2009; Stefanovic´ and Porcˇic´ 2013). With intra-observer error requirements satisfied, the next step in a quantitative analysis of enthesial variation is to calculate z-scores for each specific enthesis, performed separately for males and females. Missing values were replaced with variable (enthesis score) means to calculate z-scores. For the purposes of this chapter, only a summary of key results will be presented. Further analyses are found in Huffer (2012). Table 7.1  Entheses requiring rescoring after intra-observer error assessment

MB Supinator (origin) CCN Pectoralis major CCN Biceps brachii CCN Supinator (insertion) CCN Lateral Gastrocnemus CCN Adductor magnus CCN Obdurator internus CCN Tibialis posterior

t

d.f.

p*

-2.20 -2.35 -2.89 -2.69 -2.80 -2.19 -2.80 -2.65

17 11 10 13 11 18 11  7

0.042 0.039 0.016 0.019 0.017 0.042 0.017 0.033

* p 0.9999

-

1.607 0.2049 0.3948

Preterm   1 (neonate)  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9 10 11 ? Total

Month of death

0 47 0 0 1 4 0 8 0 0 2 0 0 62

n

(0.0) (75.8) (0.0) (0.0) (1.6) (6.5) (0.0) (12.9) (0.0) (0.0) (3.2) (0.0) (0.0) (100.0)

(%)

Khok Phanom Di

1 2 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 1 0 6

n (16.7) (33.2) (0.0) (0.0) (0.0) (0.0) (0.0) (16.7) (0.0) (0.0) (16.7) (16.7) (0.0) (100.0)

(%)

Non Nok Tha

2 2 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 1 4 1 0 13

n (15.4) (15.4) (0.0) (0.0) (0.0) (0.0) (0.0) (23.1) (0.0) (7.7) (30.7) (7.7) (0.0) (100.0)

(%)

Ban Chiang

Supplementary Table 9.2.1  Infant mortality age distribution at the sites

3 5 0 0 2 0 0 4 0 0 1 0 0 15

n (20.0) (33.3) (0.0) (0.0) (13.3) (0.0) (0.0) (26.7) (0.0) (0.0) (6.7) (0.0) (0.0) (100.0)

(%)

Ban Na Di

2 12 0 0 1 1 0 1 0 1 3 0 0 21

n (9.5) (57.1) (0.0) (0.0) (4.8) (4.8) (0.0) (4.8) (0.0) (4.8) (14.2) (0.0) (0.0) (100.0)

(%)

Ban Lum Khao

0 26 1 1 3 1 0 2 1 0 0 0 2 37

n

(0.0) (70.3) (2.7) (2.7) (8.1) (2.7) (0.0) (5.4) (2.7) (0.0) (0.0) (0.0) (5.4) (100.0)

(%)

Noen U-Loke

0 7 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 8

n

(0.0) (87.5) (0.0) (0.0) (0.0) (0.0) (0.0) (12.5) (0.0) (0.0) (0.0) (0.0) (0.0) (100.0)

(%)

Muang Sema

10 To follow in their footsteps An examination of the burial identity of the elderly from Non Nok Tha Ken W. Ross and Marc Oxenham

Introduction The study of the age-at-death continues to be a principal criterion of analysis when assessing and exploring the health and socio-cultural practices of prehistoric populations. Unfortunately, a greater understanding and knowledge of the experience of being ‘old’ or ‘elderly’ in prehistory remains broadly elusive in archaeological discourse. It has been suggested that this reluctance to deal with the issue of old age may be a function of methodological barriers, limited sample sizes or intrinsic bias towards particular subject groups, i.e. the elderly (Welinder, 2001; Lucy, 2005; Sofaer, 2006; Gowland, 2009; Appleby, 2010, 2011; Cave and Oxenham, 2014). The lack of research in archaeology with regards to the study of the elderly and the aging process is in contrast to that of other disciplines such as history (Johnson, 2005), sociology (Ginn and Arber, 1995; Fry, 1996; Carr and Moorman, 2011), psychology (Cohen, 1994; Hess, 2006; Hummert, 2011), social gerontology (Marshall and Bengston, 2011) and anthropology (Arber and Ginn, 2005; Yee, 2009), which have sought to understand and explain the experience and expectation of the aging subject in the latter phase of the life-course through time and across multiple cultural settings (Lucy, 2005; Sofaer, 2006; Gowland, 2009; Appleby, 2010). In recent decades, archaeologists, building on theoretical and methodological advances across the social sciences, have continued to develop theoretical approaches related to aspects of culturally constructed identity (e.g. gender-identity, age-identity), providing an insight and greater understanding of prehistoric inter-personal behaviour (Lillehammer, 1989; Conkey and Gero, 1991; Sofaer Derevenski, 1997; Gilchrist, 1999; Sørensen, 2000; Baxter, 2005; Díaz-Andreu, 2005; Lucy, 2005; Wileman, 2005; Gowland, 2009). However, the analysis of age-based identities, especially for those individuals who may have been regarded in prehistory as elderly, based on an assessment of their skeletal (or biological) age, continues to remain under-researched (Lucy, 2005; Gowland, 2009; Appleby, 2010, 2011). This chapter aims, through the examination of mortuary data from the Early (terminal Neolithic–early Bronze) and Middle Periods (Bronze Age) at Non Nok Tha on the Southeast Asian mainland (see Figure 2.1, Chapter 2), to begin to redress the void of research related to the elderly in this region and identify, explore and discuss the following issues: 187

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• • • •

How was ‘old age’ conceptualised, signified and communicated through burial treatment? At what age did individuals at Non Nok Tha transition into the status of elderly, if such a transition occurred? How does the interaction between gender and old age manifest? Was the burial treatment of the old, horizontally and vertically, normative or atypical across the cemetery?

Non Nok Tha was selected due to the presence of higher than normal proportions (n = 43/180, 23.9 per cent) of bioarchaeologically assessed older adults (40 years or older) in comparison to other Southeast Asian sites such as Khok Phanom Di (n = 13/154, 8.4 per cent) and Ban Lum Khao (n = 10/110, 9.1 per cent) for instance. The type of questions asked and methodological approach employed here could be as readily applied to any cemetery site. Apart from addressing questions regarding the treatment of the elderly in the past, a further objective of this chapter is to present a methodological approach to addressing such questions. Undoubtedly there is a range of challenges and limitations which currently affects bioarchaeological considerations of the elderly in prehistory. These challenges are well documented in the literature and encompass issues related to age-at-death assessments (Lampl and Johnston, 1996; Bello et al., 2006; Cunha et al., 2009; Nawrocki, 2010), sampling (Bocquet-Appel and Masset, 1982; Loth and Is¸can, 1994; Ackroyd et al., 1999; Chamberlain, 2000; Bello et al., 2006; Bello and Andrews, 2009; Gowland, 2009; Cave and Oxenham, 2014) and variable aspects of genetics, environment and behaviour affecting degeneration and remodelling (Schmitt et al., 2002; Cunha et al., 2009; Nawrocki, 2010). This results in individuals assessed at 40+ or 50+ years of age being classified as biologically ‘old’ and therefore potentially socially old (i.e. biological age reflecting social age) by default. Such an approach may not be applicable in the historical– cultural context of a site under review and risks biasing, or misrepresenting, the age-identity of elderly subjects, if such a classification existed in its cultural context, in prehistory. We recognise that these issues are serious barriers, currently, towards obtaining an accurate categorisation and a deeper understanding of older cohorts. However, just as other methodological obstacles in bioarchaeology have been overcome or managed through diligence, creativity and patience, we would argue that with sufficient focus and energy similar results could be achieved where the elderly are considered for future research programs. What we do understand is that burials are idealised forms of transformation (e.g. liminality, succession etc.), negotiation and communication, expressed through culturally informed burial treatment and related either directly to the buried subject or, more broadly, to internal or external groups, and provide a representation of how that individual, or participating mourners, were perceived socially (McHugh, 1999; Parker Pearson, 1999; Chesson, 2001; Kaufman and Morgan, 2005; Sofaer, 2006; Charlier, 2008; Tsaliki, 2008; Appleby, 2010). When we consider this in relation to the elderly we may, potentially, observe that the subject’s longevity may contribute, for example, to affording them differential (i.e. elevated or decreased) social status within their community and subsequent burial treatment.

Gender archaeology and theoretical approaches to age Theoretical approaches in archaeology towards the elderly and the aging process originated with the rise of feminist critiques which challenged an established androcentric view of prehistory where female agents, if discussed, were considered as peripheral, or oppositional, figures to males in prehistoric social, economic or philosophical–religious interactive spheres (Conkey and Gero, 1991; Baker, 1997; Gilchrist, 1999; Sørensen, 2000; Díaz-Andreu, 2005). This revised 188

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approach demonstrated the significance of gender identities in understanding the significance and influence, as both objects and subjects, of females in prehistory (Conkey and Gero, 1991). Gender identities, fluid and undergoing constant renegotiation across the life-course, are constructed and sanctioned by a social group within a specific historical–cultural context. These identities, in turn, influence, or define, an individual’s self-identity and how others identify with that individual based on intrinsic beliefs, both subjective and objective, with respect to socially acceptable behaviour of individual agents within that environment (Conkey and Gero, 1991; Sofaer Derevenski, 1997; Welinder, 2001; Baxter, 2005; Díaz-Andreu, 2005; Sofaer, 2006). A gender identity, often manifested through a relationship with material culture, transcends the female/male binary dichotomy as it interacts with, and is influenced by, other social constructs such as age or status, for instance (Sofaer Derevenski, 1994; Ginn and Arber, 1995; McHugh, 1999; Donald and Hurcombe, 2000; Sinnott and Shifren, 2001; Welinder, 2001; Arber and Ginn, 2005; Díaz-Andreu, 2005; Lucy, 2005; Sofaer, 2006; Gowland, 2009; Hales and Hodos, 2010; Bussey, 2011). An approach to engendering the past resulted in researchers expanding their spheres of enquiry to consider age-identities across the entire life-course, with juvenile agents being subject to the greatest scrutiny in the recent past (Lillehammer, 1989; Sofaer Derevenski, 1994, 1997; McHugh, 1999; Scott, 1999; Kamp, 2001; Baxter, 2005; Lucy, 2005; Wileman, 2005; Halcrow and Tayles, 2008). Bioarchaeological investigations have been at the forefront of promoting studies related to childhood in Southeast Asia (Halcrow et al., 2008; Oxenham et al., 2008a, 2008b; Halcrow et al., 2012). Unfortunately, the lack of research focussed on the elderly in prehistory, rendering them virtually invisible, is reminiscent of the bias demonstrated towards other archaeologies of identity prior to the advent of a gendered study of the past and may reflect negative and culturally loaded attitudes towards the old (Welinder, 2001; Lucy, 2005; Gowland, 2009; Appleby, 2010). This bias is highly complex and reflects a multitude of factors, directly and indirectly, affecting the elderly and rendering this subject group, for many, of marginal interest. Age-identities, like gender-identities, are social constructs and intrinsic elements in a group’s social organisation that may reflect the perceptions and behavioural expectations, both objective and subjective, towards an individual as they adapt to, and transition through, differential age barriers as socially constituted by a particular subject group (Fry, 1996; Welinder, 2001; Lucy, 2005; Sofaer, 2006; Appleby, 2010, 2011). A failure to consider the significance of the elderly in prehistory, if such an age-identity can be confirmed and the appropriate skeletal remains are present and assessable, represents a lost opportunity for archaeologists to obtain a holistic understanding of the social structure, and the unique role specific cohorts played, in the development and functioning of prehistoric communities.

Perceptions of aging The experience of, and engagement with, the aging process is dynamic, fluid and subject to a number of variable factors (Lucy, 2005; Sofaer, 2006; Gowland, 2009; Appleby, 2010). The processes influencing the aging process will include biological factors such as physiology (Plato et al., 1994; Taffett, 2003; Kuchel, 2009; Loeser Jr. and Delbono, 2009; Miller, 2009), nutrition (Lesourd et al., 1998; Meyyazhagan and Palmer, 2002; Sullivan and Johnson, 2009), genetics (Holliday, 2007), psychology (Hess, 2006; Schulz and Albert, 2009) and meaningfully constituted socio-cultural behaviours in specific historical–cultural contexts (Ginn and Arber, 1995; Fry, 1996; Lucy, 2005; Sofaer, 2006; Carr and Moorman, 2011). The identification of specific age phases, or barriers, in different cultural contexts is frequently associated with biological developments (e.g. puberty, menopause, wrinkled skin) or socially constituted events 189

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(e.g. marriage, legitimisation of adulthood, rites of passage) (van Gennep, 2004; Lucy, 2005; Sofaer, 2006; Gowland, 2009; Appleby, 2010, 2011; Burkitt, 2011; Bussey, 2011; Smith, 2011). Maturation and degeneration are not homogenous processes (Lampl and Johnston, 1996; Ackroyd et al., 1999; Schmitt et al., 2002; Cunha et al., 2009; Nawrocki, 2010). Further, cultural practices may promote, or inhibit, physiological development (Gowland, 2009) and as such it is difficult to suggest that age-identities are determined by shared biological and social factors (e.g. all cultures recognise transition from juvenile to adult at same age etc.) in all contexts. Therefore, while it is recognised that aging is inevitable across the human life-course, the way the subject responds and interacts to this process is not homogenous within, or across, populations (Ginn and Arber, 1995; Fry, 1996; Sinnott and Shifren, 2001; Arber and Ginn, 2005; Lucy, 2005; Sofaer, 2006; Gowland, 2009). Given the heterogeneity of human aging, it is accepted that the age, or age-identity, of any individual is both culturally (Fry, 1996; Welinder, 2001; Lucy, 2005; Sofaer, 2006; Gowland, 2009; Appleby, 2010) and biologically (Lucy, 2005; Sofaer, 2006; Gowland, 2009) constructed. Theoretical approaches to age in archaeology are dominated by the research by Ginn and Arber (1995), who developed the model identifying three categories of age: chronological age (calendric basis); biological age (clinical basis relating to growth, development and degeneration of subject); and social age (socio-culturally defined, interacting with other constructs, e.g. gender, providing sanctioned framework for behaviour based on subject age) (Welinder, 2001; Lucy, 2005; Sofaer, 2006; Gowland, 2009; Appleby, 2010). Of less influence is the work of Harré who referred to biological, social and personal ages (Harré, 1991). The concept of a social lifespan, used beyond a subject’s death, may reflect how the social persona of the individual was communicated at the time of their death (Harré, 1991: 35).

Contemporary attitudes towards aging The predominant principles that are key to perceptions of the elderly and the aging process in the West revolve around the subject’s ability, or inability, to maintain the core culturally significant attributes of individuality and independence (Jensen and Oakley, 1982–83; Hess, 2006; Gowland, 2009; Hummert, 2011). Traditional attitudes to the elderly in the West, observed in other cultures, promoted perceptions of wisdom, respect, obligation and reciprocity (Johnson, 2005). However, increasing mortality rates, whereby elderly subjects are proportionately occupying an increased percentage of the population, has impacted on traditional views of the elderly with stereotypical beliefs centred on the elderly observed as being positive (e.g. independent, cognisant, engaged, social) or, more likely, negative (e.g. dependent, prejudiced, inarticulate, selfish, burdensome etc.) (Jensen and Oakley, 1982–83; Johnson, 2005; Hess, 2006; Hummert, 2011; Marshall and Bengston, 2011). In addition, the evolving family unit dynamic (e.g. reduction and displacement of traditional family units) brought about by urbanisation and modernisation, an increase in chronic health issues associated with aging and loss of independence (e.g. financial) has seen greater government involvement in the development of social policies that affect, and frequently isolate, commodify or marginalise the elderly (Fry, 1996; Fox, 2005; Lucy, 2005; Appleby, 2010; Marshall and Bengston, 2011). Conversely, the elderly we discuss, so adversely, in this context are significantly older and likely subject to different degenerative and functional limitations to those identified as old (from 40 or 50 years onwards) in archaeological contexts. As a result, any potential bias transposed on this cohort by modern researchers is misguided and limited in its scope. We recognise that ethnographic approaches to archaeological interpretations and inferences remain problematic. However, given the current lack of research focussing on the elderly 190

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in Southeast Asia and the tendency of researchers discussing archaeogerontology to focus on elderly subjects from Western countries, we feel it is worthwhile to include a consideration of Thai elderly in this instance. In contemporary Thailand, an individual is categorised as ‘old’ at 60 years of age, reflecting the retirement age of government, and some private organisation, employees (Knodel et al., 1995; Fox, 2005; Debavalya, 2008; Soonthorndhada, 2009). This status as ‘elderly’ or ‘old’ reflects mortality rates in Thailand at the establishment of this age-based identity (Debavalya, 2008). More recent mortality trends demonstrate that Thai individuals are living longer and that the old, those individuals aged 60 and over, constitute an increasing, and growing, proportion of Thailand’s demographic profile (Debavalya, 2008; Soonthorndhada, 2009). Research shows that elderly Thai subjects were concerned with declining health status, loss of independence, financial insecurity and the effects of urbanisation and migration on the family unit (Knodel et al., 1995; Fox, 2005; Debavalya, 2008). Societal expectations towards the aged and the aging experience in Thailand are, initially, contrasted with the experience of aging often observed from Western subjects as traditional views, influenced by Buddhist belief systems and scripture, indicate that the elderly are to be treated with respect and care (Knodel et al., 1995; Fox, 2005; Soonthorndhada, 2009; Yee, 2009). This traditional Thai approach to the treatment of the elderly, based on respect and care, has been observed in other cultural and historical contexts (Johnson, 2005). It has been found that the cultural background of the individual continues to have a significant influence on the elderly Thai’s experience of aging, whether residing internally or externally to Thailand, and was related to continued expectations of filial obligations towards care and residency patterns (Knodel et al., 1995; Fox, 2005; Debavalya, 2008; Soonthorndhada, 2009; Yee, 2009; Hummert, 2011). It should be noted that governmental policy in Thailand, due to the significant increase in the proportion of elderly in its population in addition to shifts in the traditional family unit dynamic brought about by migration, modernisation and urbanisation, has led to the drafting of its second social policy on aging (i.e. The Second National Plan for Older Persons in Thailand (2002–2021) ) in order to establish parameters for ‘successful’ aging by its citizens (Debavalya, 2008; Soonthorndhada, 2009). While retaining the central tenets of respect and care with regard to engagement with elderly Thais, this policy also stresses, to some degree in alignment with Western models, ‘successful’ aging, individual responsibility and independence (e.g. financial, health etc.) across the life course (Debavalya, 2008: 145–49).

Site description Non Nok Tha, primarily a cemetery site with limited residential and industrial (e.g. bronze casting, pottery manufacture) evidence, is located in the Phu Wiang district of the upper Chi River Valley, Khon Kaen Province, Northeastern Thailand (see Figure 2.1, Chapter 2) (Solheim II, 1968; Bayard, 1971, 1981, 1984; Vincent, 2002; Bayard and Solheim II, 2009). The chronology of Non Nok Tha has been subject to intense debate (Bayard, 1971; Higham, 1996; Bayard, 1996–97; Higham, 1996–97; Higham, 2002; Bayard and Solheim II, 2009). This chapter accepts revised AMS dates which position the cemetery across two periods, the terminal Neolithic and middle to late Bronze Age (Higham et al., 2014). Excavations occurred in 1965–66 (150 m2), slightly southwest of the mound’s centre, and 1968 (189.5 m2) situated northwest of the mound’s centre. Each grid was separated by an approximate distance of 20 m and yielded, originally, 217 burials (Bayard and Solheim II, 2009). The number of burials was reduced to 180 post-excavation due to the absence of human bone in some graves (Douglas, 1996). Burials were recovered from 17 discrete mortuary phases (Early Period 1–3; Middle Period 1–8; Late Period 1–6) within 22 distinct cultural layers across 5 broad soil types (Bayard, 1971; 191

K. W. Ross and M. Oxenham

Douglas, 1996; Higham, 1996; Douglas, 2006; Bayard and Solheim II, 2009). Individuals were predominantly buried in an extended position in graves of various depth that were furnished with variable types and quantities of grave goods (Bayard, 1971, 1984; Higham, 1989, 1996, 2002; Douglas, 2006). Juvenile burials are more frequently encountered in the Early Periods of cemetery use (Bayard and Solheim II, 2009). Mortuary phases are separated by differential burial treatment (i.e. appearance/disappearance of secondary burials, mounded burials, pottery clusters etc.) and the emergence or absence of specific material culture (Bayard, 1971; Bayard and Solheim II, 2009). The Late Period burials, which were cremated, from cultural layers 12–1 have been excluded from this analysis (Bayard, 1971; Douglas, 2006; Bayard and Solheim II, 2009). Palaeodemographic analysis records a mean age-at-death of 30.85 years with most adult deaths occurring between 35 and 40 years (Douglas, 1996: 303). Bayard and Solheim II (2009: 438), looking at burials from the Middle Period and the presence/absence of specific material culture (i.e. Type 2C and 2L vessels) and grave wealth, founded their premise regarding social organisation at this site on two affiliated groups. Based on the distribution of wealth, with no clear differentiation by age-at-death and sex, they argued that the site did not demonstrate evidence of either egalitarianism or definitive hierarchy (Bayard and Solheim II, 2009: 439, 446). Further research may support inferences of heterarchical social organisation as seen at other mainland Southeast Asian sites (White, 1995; O’Reilly, 2000, 2003). Identity studies at Non Nok Tha have found genderbased variation over time in burial treatment (i.e. body orientation, positioning, selection, placement of specific material culture) and evidence of the presence of socially sanctioned identities expressed through the mortuary record (Bacus, 2006, 2007). Bioarchaeological analysis supports inferences of constructed gender-identities based on differential patterns of dental decay, suggestive of different oral behaviour, dietary intake or economic activity, between adult males and females at this site (Douglas, 2006), although there are alternative explanations of poor levels of female oral health (Willis and Oxenham, 2013). To date, while individual elderly subjects from Non Nok Tha have been elevated for limited discussion as examples in relation to specific evidence, such as individual grave wealth or disarticulated burials, no specific study has examined the elderly as a meaningful social cohort (Bayard, 1984; Bayard and Solheim II, 2009).

Materials and methods Burial data was sourced from the eleven mortuary phases in the Early and Middle Periods (i.e. EP 1–3; MP 1–8) at Non Nok Tha. Late Period burials, subject to cremation, were not included in the analysis. The age-at-death and sex distribution of individuals from Nok Nok Tha at the Early and Middle Periods are detailed in Table 10.1. Individuals not assigned an age-at-death (49/180, 27.2 per cent) were excluded from the study sample. Burials assigned an age-at-death totalled 131/180 (72.8 per cent) with 43/131 (32.8 per cent) being aged at forty years or higher. Older males (22/43, 51.2 per cent) constitute, marginally, a greater proportion (1.04:1) of this figure than females (21/43, 48.8 per cent). Bioarchaeological age assessments for Non Nok Tha were taken from Douglas (1996). These age classes are broadly consistent with those used in other Southeast Asian assemblages (Tayles, 1999; Domett, 2004; Tayles et al., 2007) (see Tayles and Halcrow, this volume, for a discussion of age-at-death estimates). Douglas (1996: 301) initially constructed age profiles with five-year intervals (e.g. 40–44.9 years of age etc.), whereas we have adopted a more conservative approach for the purposes of this study. Categories used in this study comprise subadults (SA) aged foetal to 14.9 years; young adults (YA) aged 15 to 29.9 years; mature adults (MA) aged 30–39.9 years; 192

102.5

0.607

p 0.436

3 (5.5)  0

17 (31.4)   3 (50.0)

4

OA 37

YA:OA ratio

4 (3.0)

1 (2.8)

  9 (25.7)

50 (38.1)

 0

10.8

χ2

11 (8.3)

 0

 6 (17.1)   4 (7.4)

  1 (2.7)

0.139*

p

15 (11.4)

0.709

YA

Female

8 (6.1)

1 (16.6)

4 (7.4)

  8 (14.8)  0

1 (2.8)

2 (5.5)

F

  5 (14.2)

  2 (5.5)

M

M

F

23 30s

MA

15 15–29

YA

21 (58.3)

50 SA A VOA > YA–OA OA–VOA > YA–MA

1 1

26.890* 7.273* 3.950* 2.001*

BV

P

χ2

1

Comparison

0.055 0.193 0.200 0.489

BV

BV

3.693 1.694 1.640 0.479

P

A > SA VOA > OA All > VOA MA > OA

Comparison

A > SA MA–VOA > SA–YA YA–MA > OA–VOA MA > OA

Comparison

Ceramic position

Bone

A > SA SA–MA > OA–VOA MA–VOA > SA–YA OA > MA

6

χ

2

Shell

Comparison

BV

Ceramic style

1.682* 0.772* 0.561* 0.372*

χ2

5.990 2.679 1.267 0.689

χ 2

0.195 0.380 0.454 0.542

P

4

0.014 0.102 0.260 0.406 MA–VOA > SA–YA All > VOA SA > A VOA > OA

Comparison

n/a

BV

OA–VOA > YA–MA MA–VOA > SA–YA OA > MA OA > VOA

Comparison

Red pigment

Agea

BV

Bronze

Agea

P

Table 10.5  Statistical comparisons of material culture by age-at-death and sex

0.612* 0.414* 0.190* 0.034*

χ2

0.414* 0.180* 0.173* 0.088*

χ

2

0.434 0.520 0.663 0.853

P

0.520 0.671 0.678 0.767

P

YA–MA > OA–VOA SA > A MA–VOA > SA–YA MA > OA

Comparison

1,2

BV

SA > A SA–MA > OA–VOA MA > OA SA–YA > MA–VOA

Comparison

Non–ceramic position

2

BV

Stone

0.877 0.512 0.267* 0.232

χ2

1.225 1.009 0.743 0.714*

χ2

0.349 0.474 0.605 0.630

P

0.268 0.315 0.389 0.398

P

1

A > SA MA–VOA > SA–YA YA–MA > OA–VOA All > VOA

0.773* 0.309* 0.300* 0.059*

χ2

BV

0.379 1 0.579 0.584 0.808

P YA–MA > OA–VOA SA–MA > OA–VOA YA–OA > VOA MA > OA

Comparison

Artefact quantity

1.517 0.558 0.353 0.321

χ2 0.218 0.455 0.553 0.571

P Ceramic style Ceramic position Bronze Stone Shell Bone Red pigment Non–ceramic position Fauna Faunal position Artefact quantity

Sexb

F>M M>F M>F M>F F>M F>M M>F F>M M>F M>F M>F

Comparison

0.606 0.020 0.154* 4.519* 0.000* 1.113* 0.801* 0.003 0.113* 0.088* 0.998

χ2

0.436 0.888 0.694 0.034 1.000 0.291 0.371 0.959 0.737 0.767 0.318

P

Source: http://statpages.org/ctab2x2.html

a

Comparisons: SA > A (subadult greater than adult): A > SA (adult greater than subadult); SA–MA > OA–VOA (subadult to mature adult greater than old adult to very old adult); OA–VOA > SA–MA (old adult to very old adult greater than subadult to mature adult); YA–MA > OA–VOA (young adult to mature adult greater than old adult to very old adult): OA–VOA > YA–MA (old adult to very old adult greater than young adult to mature adult); MA > OA (mature adult greater than old adult); OA > MA (old adult greater than mature adult); OA > VOA (old adult greater than very old adult): VOA > OA (very old adult greater than old adult); VOA > YA–OA (very old adult greater than young adult to old adult); YA–OA > VOA (young adult to old adult greater than very old adult); All > VOA (all of sample greater than very old adult); VOA > All (very old adult greater than all of sample). b Comparisons: F > M (female greater than male); M > F (male greater than female). * χ2 Pearson’s uncorrected (Yate’s corrected designated with *). Bold signifies statistically significant differences a p < 0.05.

BV = Burial variable. Excluding red pigment analysis, all comparisons are based on most dominant behaviour from total sample (refer to Table 10.4).

0.551 0.702 0.954 1.000

0.355 0.146 0.003* 0.000*

3

SA–YA > MA–VOA SA > A SA–MA > OA–VOA YA–MA > OA–VOA

BV Comparison

χ2

BV Comparison

P

Faunal position

Fauna

Age

2.539* 1.418* 0.818* 0.613*

1

2.032 1.357 0.843 0.550

3

MA > OA MA–VOA > SA–YA VOA > OA All > VOA

χ2

BV comparison

Orientation

OA > VOA YA–OA > VOA All > VOA OA > MA

χ2

BV comparison

Burial deposition

BV comparison

Hands chest/pelvis

0.154 n/a A > SA 0.244 YA–MA > OA–VOA 0.359 OA–VOA > SA–YA 0.458 YA–OA > VOA

P

χ2 P

4.899* 1.873 1.328 0.930*

χ2

BV comparison

0.027 n/a VOA > All 0.171 A > SA 0.249 OA–VOA > SA–MA 0.335 VOA > YA–OA

P

Skull chest/pelvis

Agea

MA > OA A > SA SA–MA > OA–VOA OA–VOA > YA–MA

BV comparison

Grave type

Agea

A > SA 12.819 0.000 3 MA–VOA > SA–YA 7.520 0.006 OA > VOA 4.195* 0.041 SA–MA > OA–VOA 2.778 0.096

BV comparison

0.111 1 0.234 0.366 0.434

P

Burial style

Table 10.6  Statistical comparisons of burial characteristics by age-at-death and sex

4.137* 2.372* 1.856* 1.418

χ2

0.203 0.201 0.125 0.016

χ2

BV comparison

BV comparison 0.042 4 OA–VOA > YA–MA 0.124 SA > A 0.173 OA > MA 0.234 YA–OA > VOA

P

Location**

0.653 2 OA > MA 0.654 OA > VOA 0.724 SA–MA > OA–VOA 0.899 OA–VOA > YA–MA

P

Grave depth

1.214 0.576 0.548 0.152

χ2

0.321 0.151 0.141 0.098

χ2

0.271 0.448 0.459 0.696

P

0.571 0.697 0.708 0.754

P

1 1 3 2 3 n/a n/a 4

F>M M>F M>F M>F M>F F>M F>M M>F

Comparison 0.208* 0.655 1.093 0.012 6.678 0.004 0.000* 1.927

χ2

0.649 0.418 0.296 0.913 0.010 0.953 1.000 0.165

P

Source: http://statpages.org/ctab2x2.html

* χ2 Pearson’s uncorrected (Yate’s corrected designated with *). Bold signifies statistically significant differences a p < 0.05. ** 1966 and 1968 excavation areas.

a Comparisons: SA > A (subadult greater than adult): A > SA (adult greater than subadult); SA–MA > OA–VOA (subadult to mature adult greater than old adult to very old adult); OA–VOA > SA–MA (old adult to very old adult greater than subadult to mature adult); YA–MA > OA–VOA (young adult to mature adult greater than old adult to very old adult): OA–VOA > YA–MA (old adult to very old adult greater than young adult to mature adult); MA > OA (mature adult greater than old adult); OA > MA (old adult greater than mature adult); OA > VOA (old adult greater than very old adult): VOA > OA (very old adult greater than old adult); VOA > YA–OA (very old adult greater than young adult to old adult); YA–OA > VOA (young adult to old adult greater than very old adult); All > VOA (all of sample greater than very old adult); VOA > All (very old adult greater than all of sample). b Comparisons: F > M (female greater than male); M > F (male greater than female).

BV = Burial variable. Excluding hands at pelvis and skull at pelvis analysis, all comparisons are based on most dominant behaviour from total sample (refer to Table 10.4).

Burial deposition Burial style Grave type Grave depth Orientation Hands chest/pelvis Skull chest/pelvis Location**

BV

Sexb

K. W. Ross and M. Oxenham

1) and orientation in a west-to-north direction in MP 1–3 (variable outcome 2 – refer to Table 10.2), reflect normative trends occurring at the site. MP 4–6 (variable outcome 3) represents the highest proportion of the sample (54/131, 41.2 per cent) and indicates that in broad terms normative behaviour in relation to material culture and burial characteristics is employed for individuals across this period. The comprehensive results of our χ2 analysis provided limited evidence of the potential significance of maturing age as a key variable in the provision of burial treatment at our subject site. While there are some instances where χ2 demonstrates statistically significant behaviour in relation to maturing and elderly cohorts (i.e. shell jewellery, skull placement, inclusion and placement of ceramic vessels) the evidence indicates the greatest division, most frequently, between subadults and adults. Where sex was considered, χ2 tests indicated limited significant behaviour for males (i.e. stone artefacts, primary normative orientation (180–269°) ) and females (secondary orientation (270–359°) ). χ2 results by age-at-death and sex in relation to material culture and dominant burial behaviours are in Tables 10.5, 10.6 and 10.7. GLM modelling of the interaction between age-at-death, sex and mortuary phase for mature to very old adults (see Table 10.8) provides robust evidence that the aging process, or stages, may have been a significant factor in determining the burial treatment of individuals. In many instances, our GLM analysis shows statistically significant results at varying levels across all, or several, age categories (e.g. young adult–very old adult) devised for this analysis. This suggests that no single age group, where significance is observed across all/several categories, was subjected to singular treatment but that some age groups were more likely to be exposed to specific behaviours. We note, in relation to the grave furnishings of old to very old adults, a significant interaction between worked stone artefacts (p = 0.017) as well as the positioning of vessels at or above the skull (p = 0.006), with p = 0.005 when including mature adults. Further, there was a significant interaction between age, sex and mortuary phase and a low number of artefacts (p = 0.003). This last variable, low numbers of artefacts or grave furnishings, is consistent across all age classes assessed. When expanded to include adults of a mature age, we observe significant interactions between the age and sex for (1) positioning of faunal remains at or beyond the skull (p = 0.044); and (2) ceramic vessels positioned at or beyond the skull (p = 0.015). There is also a significant interaction between age and mortuary phase and the inclusion of worked stone (p = 0.044) or bone tools (p = 0.027). Further, there is a significant interaction between sex and mortuary phase and ceramic vessels positioned at or beyond the skull (p = 0.005). Where burial characteristics were analysed through GLM modelling, it can be seen that mature to old subjects continue to be subjected to specific burial treatment, sometimes uniquely. Old to very old adults demonstrate a significant interaction between age and sex and being deposited within a north western area within each excavation grid (p = 0.014). We observed that only those adults classified as mature (MA–VOA, p = 0.011), old and very old (OA–VOA, p = 0.011) show a significant interaction between sex, mortuary phase and having their skulls positioned at the chest or pelvis.There is a significant interaction between age, sex, mortuary phase and the elderly being inhumed as well as having ceramic vessels placed near the skull (p = 0.006). In addition to the results outlined above, those adults in the mature to very old age groups also show a significant interaction between age, sex and the positioning of faunal remains at or beyond the skull (p = 0.044). Further, there is a significant interaction between age, mortuary phase and the presence of bone tool artefacts (p = 0.027), the positioning of ceramic vessels at or above the skull (p = 0.015) and being inhumed (p = 0.003). As with variables identified as normative, when we applied further testing through GLM, we continued to observe a range of significant results particularly in relation to adults within the mature to very old age range. General observations of behaviour associated with this age 204

1.508 1.102* 1.826 1.297* 1.176

A > SA YA–MA > OA–VOA MA–VOA > SA–YA A > SA MA–VOA > SA–YA SA–MA > OA–VOA A > SA MA–VOA > SA–YA OA–VOA > YA–MA MA–VOA > SA–YA A > SA OA–VOA > YA–MA OA > MA A > SA SA–MA > OA–VOA OA > MA

SA–YA > MA–VOA OA > VOA YA–MA > OA–VOA MA > OA SA–MA > OA–VOA

Grave goods** 96/131 (73.2)

Location (180–269°) 32/131 (24.4)

Orientation (270–359°) 36/131 (27.5)

Mounded burial 37/131 (28.2)

Vessel position – feet 22/131 (16.8)

Any vessels 107/131 (81.6)

Any bronze 16/131 (12.2)

2.190 1.714 0.416 1.580* 0.627 0.396 10.112 3.416 0.874* 3.351 1.330 1.116 0.203 0.201 0.125 2.254*

Comparison

Variable Ob (%)

χ2

0.219 0.294 0.177 0.255 0.278

0.139 0.190 0.519 0.209 0.428 0.529 0.001 0.065 0.350 0.067 0.249 0.280 0.653 0.654 0.724 0.133

p

19/131 (14.5)

Low burial

Deep burial 13/131 (9.9)

Any fauna 32/131 (24.4)

Cooking vessels 32/131 (24.4)

Any stone 56/131 (42.7)

Wealthy 11/131 (8.4)

Variable Ob (%)

Agea

Table 10.7  Statistical comparison of potentially significant variables by age-at-death and sex

SA–MA > OA–VOA A > SA

A > SA YA–MA > OA–VOA YA–OA > VOA YA–MA > OA–VOA A > SA MA > OA A > SA MA–VOA > SA–YA OA–VOA > YA–MA A > SA YA–OA > VOA OA > VOA OA–VOA > YA–MA SA–MA > OA–VOA YA–OA > VOA MA–VOA > SA–YA

Comparison

0.868 0.801*

1.213* 0.819* 0.181* 2.004 1.505 1.310 0.559 0.745 0.057 1.810 0.912* 0.612* 0.311* 0.228 0.062* 1.451

χ2

(continued)

0.351 0.371

0.271 0.365 0.671 0.157 0.220 0.252 0.455 0.388 0.812 0.179 0.211 0.434 0.577 0.633 0.803 0.228

p

M>F F>M M>F M>F F>M M>F

F>M

Grave goods Wealthy Any bronze Any stone Any vessels Cooking vessels

Location (180–269°)

2.591

0.004 0.499* 1.571* 1.116 0.113* 0.226

χ2

0.107

0.953 0.480 0.210 0.733 0.737 0.635

p

Vessel position – feet Any fauna Mounded burial Deep burial Low burial Orientation (270–359°)

Variable

F>M M>F F>M M>F F>M F>M

Comparison

Sexb

0.109 0.031 0.322 1.168* 0.003 7.732

χ2

0.741 0.860 0.570 0.280 0.959 0.005

p

* χ2 Pearson’s uncorrected (Yate’s corrected designated with *). Bold signifies statistically significant differences at p < 0.05. Source: http://statpages.org/ctab2x2.html

a Comparisons: SA > A (subadult greater than adult); A > SA (adult greater than subadult); SA–MA > OA–VOA (subadult to mature adult greater than old adult to very old adult); OA–VOA > SA–MA (old adult to very old adult greater than subadult to mature adult); YA–MA > OA–VOA (young adult to mature adult greater than old adult to very old adult): OA–VOA > YA–MA (old adult to very old adult greater than young adult to mature adult); MA > OA (mature adult greater than old adult); OA > MA (old adult greater than mature adult); OA > VOA (old adult greater than very old adult): VOA > OA (very old adult greater than old adult); VOA > YA–OA (very old adult greater than young adult to old adult); YA–OA > VOA (young adult to old adult greater than very old adult). b Comparisons: F > M (female greater than male); M > F (male greater than female); (n = 81: 41M:40F).

**Excludes artefacts deposited in grave fill.

Comparison

Variable

Table 10.7  (continued)

11.37

10.105 10.5422

4

4 3

3 1

Orientation Skull chest/pelvis Location

9.1076 6.009

10.363 8.1912

3 2

2 1

2 2

2

2 2

0.011 0.014

0.006 0.005

0.003

0.006 0.017

p

3

9.108

12.642 17.9943 10.5415

6.2621 15.941

1 4 4 2 3

14.038 10.418 11.3951 12.6534

2 3 2 2

d

i

d.f.

i

d

MA–VOAb

OA–VOAa

Stone Bone Fauna Fauna position Artefact number – low Burial deposition Burial style Grave type

Ceramic style Ceramic position

BV

2

4 5 2

2 4

5 2 5 5

d.f.

0.011

0.013 0.003 0.005

0.044 0.003

0.015 0.005 0.044 0.027

p

Table 10.8  Tests of GLM model effects – interaction by age-at-death, sex and mortuary phase

4 2 3 1

4

3

3 2 4 2

I

12.642 19.3061 11.6959 8.5733

16.573

7.3831

9.639 15.25 14.868 16.215

d

YA–VOAc

5 7 2 3

5

2

2 7 5 7

d.f.

0.027 0.007 0.003 0.036

0.005

4 2 4 2 3 1

3

3 2 4

0.008 0.033 0.011 0.023 0.025

i

p

16.57 19.6994 12.639 20.981 11.693 8.167

7.381

9.636 19.808 14.868

d

SA–Ad

0.005 0.032 0.027 0.021 0.003 0.043

0.025

0.008 0.031 0.011

p

(continued)

5 10 5 10 2 3

2

2 10 5

d.f.

p

1 2 2 2

0.028