The Iron Age of the Mun Valley, Thailand

Abstract

AbstractThe archaeological landscape of the Mun River valley in north-east Thailand is dominated by many large, prehistoric settlements. These are easily recognized from the air, since they are encircled by banks and moats. Several of these sites were later occupied under the Angkorian kingdom, and incorporate brick temples. These sites present both an enigma and a challenge. Few have ever been excavated, and then only on a very small scale. This article presents the results of a fifteen-year research programme designed to illuminate the cultural sequences at several sites, investigate the social organization as it changed over time, and to identify the period when the moats and banks were constructed. Three sites have been excavated and a cultural sequence covering more than 2,000 years has been dated. This paper concentrates on the Iron Age (450bc–ad500), a period of effervescent social change that may be linked with population growth, engagement in a maritime trade network that incorporated India and China, the development of militarism and, in due course, the rapid transition into the period of the early states that anticipated the foundation of the kingdom of Angkor.