Trade and Exchange Networks in Iron Age Cambodia: Preliminary Results from a Compositional Analysis of Glass Beads

Beads made of glass and stone found at Iron Age period sites (500 BC – AD 500) in Southeast Asia are amongst the first signs for sustained trade and sociopolitical contact with South Asia. Because of this, they have become important artifacts for scholars wishing to better understand trade networks and sociopolitical development during this period. Using compositional analysis scholars can identify the recipes used to make these glass beads and in some cases this can be tied back to specific places or time periods. Current research indicates there were multiple glass bead production centers across South and Southeast Asia during this period. However there has not yet been a comprehensive examination of glass beads from Iron Age sites in Cambodia. This paper aims to fill this gap by presenting the results from a compositional analysis of glass beads from six Iron Age sites in Cambodia. Using a virtually non-destructive compositional technique (LA-ICP-MS), I was able to determine the presence of at least two glass bead-trading networks in Cambodia during the Iron Age

Building from the Ground Up: The Archaeology of Residential Spaces and Communities in Southeast Asia

54 pages. First published at https://doi.org/10.1007/s10814-021-09170-4 by Springer.Despite the ethnographic importance of the Southeast Asian house and household, an explicitly Southeast Asian “household archaeology” is still in its infancy. Nevertheless, archaeologists in Southeast Asia have undertaken excavations within habitation areas and residential spaces, identifying domestic debris, the partial remains of house structures, and activity areas. As a result, archaeologists of Southeast Asia have addressed many topics of relevance to those who use a household archaeology approach, including the identification and description of houses and household activities; the domestic economy; domestic ritual; diversity and variability both within houses as related to questions of identity, specifically gender and age, and between houses, especially as related to status; and identification of supra-household communities. In this review, I consider how archaeologists have addressed these themes using examples from a diverse set of geographic locations and time periods in mainland and island Southeast Asia. I conclude with suggestions for future research directions to continue building an archaeology of residential spaces and communities in Southeast Asia.I thank Stephen Acabado, Nigel Chang, Chihhua Chiang, Stephen Dueppen, Nam Kim, Vincent Pigott, Carmen Sarjeant, and Miriam Stark for reading and commenting on earlier drafts

Trade and Exchange Networks in Iron Age Cambodia: Preliminary Results from a Compositional Analysis of Glass Beads

11 pages.Glass and stone beads found at Iron Age period sites (500 BC – AD 500) in Southeast Asia are amongst the first signs for sustained trade and sociopolitical contact with South Asia. Because of this, they have become important artifacts for scholars wishing to better understand trade networks and sociopolitical development during this period. Using compositional analysis, scholars can identify the recipes used to make these glass beads and in some cases this can be tied back to specific places or time periods. Current research indicates there were multiple glass bead production centers across South and Southeast Asia during this period. However there has not yet been a comprehensive examination of glass beads from Iron Age sites in Cambodia. This paper aims to fill this gap by presenting the results from a compositional analysis of glass beads from six Iron Age sites in Cambodia. Using a virtually non-destructive compositional technique (LA-ICP MS), I was able to determine the presence of at least two glass bead-trading networks in Cambodia during the Iron Age.I would like to thank the Cambodian government for allowing me to work on and analyze the materials, especially H.E. Chuch Phoeurn and Ham Kimson from the MoCFA. I am grateful for the help of Dr. Laure Dussubieux and James Lankton. I would also like to thank Heng Sophady, Vuthy Voeun, Seng Sonetra, and Vin Laychour from the Memot Centre for Archaeology. Dr. Andreas Reinecke assisted with materials and information from Prohear. Dr. Pheng Sytha helped provide lab space and access to the materials from Phum Snay at the Royal University of Fine Arts. Dr. Dougald O’Reilly provided helpful information on the excavations at Phum Snay and Phum Sophy. Dr. Christophe Pottier from the EFEO and the APSARA Authority in Siem Reap allowed me to analyze the Prei Khmeng materials. Phon Kaseka provided access to materials from his project at Phnom Borei. Dr. Kyle Latinis provided helpful advice while in the field. Financial support for analysis was provided by the Bead Study Trust, the Bead Society of Los Angeles, and the Portland Bead Society. Thanks also to Dr. Mitch Hendrickson for organizing the session and commenting on a draft of this paper. Final thanks also to Drs. J. Mark Kenoyer and Miriam Stark for their guidance and support

Circular or Half-Moon Marks on Old Beads

13 pages. Article only spans first 3

Beads, Exchange Networks and Emerging Complexity: A Case Study from Cambodia and Thailand (500 BCE–CE 500)

25 pages. Copyright © The McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research 2015. First published October 15th, 2015 at doi.org/10.1017/S0959774315000207Control over the exchange of prestige goods is an important component of emerging socio-political complexity in many ancient societies. During the Iron Age period (500 BCE–CE 500), communities in mainland Southeast Asia were undergoing rapid socio-political changes, due in part to new interactions with societies from South Asia. As objects made from exotic raw materials and using complex technologies, stone and glass beads are one type of prestige object from South Asia that were exchanged widely across Southeast Asia. This study examines beads from 12 sites in Cambodia and Thailand. Morphological and compositional analyses using LA-ICP-MS resulted in the identification of different bead types that were circulated in distinct exchange networks. Initially, beads were exchanged within a pre-existing South China Sea network. However, as trade with South Asia intensified in the late Iron Age, exchange networks in Southeast Asia expanded, with an increase in the quantities of beads circulated. These results show the utility of studying beads as a means of examining trade and emerging socio-political complexity. Lastly, in considering evidence for control over the exchange of beads, I propose looking to an emerging state in the Mekong Delta.I wish to acknowledge the governments of Cambodia and Thailand for their permission to examine and analyse these beads and especially the Apsara Authority, the Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts, Cambodia, the National Research Council of Thailand and the Fine Arts Department of Thailand. Thanks also to Drs Berenice Bellina, Charles Higham, Thanik Lertcharnrit, Dougald O’Reilly, Christophe Pottier, Andreas Reinecke, Miriam Stark, Pheng Sytha, Rachanie Thosarat, as well as Heng Sophady, Phon Kaseka, Seng Sonetra, Tep Sokha, Vin Laychour, Voeun Vuthy, the Ecole francaise d’Extreme-Orient and the Suthiratana Foundation for access and assistance with the bead collections studied in this research. Compositional analysis was undertaken at the Elemental Analysis Facility at the Field Museum, managed by Dr Laure Dussubieux. Funding for portions of this project was provided by the Henry Luce Foundation/ACLS Grants in East and Southeast Asian Archaeology and Early History Dissertation Fellowship, Fulbright IIE, The Center for Khmer Studies, the Bead Society of Los Angeles, the Portland Bead Society, the Bead Study Trust, Graduate Women in Science–Beta Chapter, Geological Society of America and the Center for Southeast Asian Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Thanks also to Drs Charles Higham and Kurt Gron, Paul Madavi and the anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments on earlier drafts of this article

INTRODUCTION TO THE SPECIAL ISSUE: PAPERS FROM THE CONFERENCE “RECENT ADVANCES IN THE ARCHAEOLOGY OF EAST AND SOUTHEAST ASIA”

This special issue of the Journal of Indo-Pacific Prehistory Association presents some of the results of a small conference entitled “Recent Advances in the Archaeology of East and Southeast Asia.” The event was held in Madison, Wisconsin, and brought together a collection of scholars from the US and abroad. Organized by Nam Kim and Alison Carter, the conference was hosted at the University of Wisconsin-Madison (March 15-16, 2013), and was jointly sponsored by the Department of Anthropology, the Center for East Asian Studies, and the Center for Southeast Asian Studies

Analysis and comparison of glass beads from Ban Non Wat and Noen U-Loke

26 pages.We wish to thank Drs. Charles Higham, Rachanie hosarat, and Nigel Chang for allowing access to the glass artifacts from BNW and for allowing our participation on the project. We also wish to thank the Phimai National Museum for providing access to the objects from Noen U-Loke. We are also grateful to the National Research Council of Thailand and the Fine Arts Department of hailand for granting permission to examine these beads and to Dr. Amphan Kijngam for his assistance in getting permission to bring the beads to the United States. Karsten Brabaender shared information from his research on glass in Viet Nam. Bernard Gratuze also shared compositional data from his analysis of mixed-alkali glass. Lastly, we wish to acknowledge Dr. Laure Dussubieux at the Field Museum in Chicago; without her help this project would not have been possible