Ancient jades map 3,000 years of prehistoric exchange in Southeast Asia

We have used electron probe microanalysis to examine Southeast Asian nephrite (jade) artifacts, many archeologically excavated, dating from 3000 B.C. through the first millennium A.D. The research has revealed the existence of one of the most extensive sea-based trade networks of a single geological material in the prehistoric world. Green nephrite from a source in eastern Taiwan was used to make two very specific forms of ear pendant that were distributed, between 500 B.C. and 500 A.D., through the Philippines, East Malaysia, southern Vietnam, and peninsular Thailand, forming a 3,000-km-diameter halo around the southern and eastern coastlines of the South China Sea. Other Taiwan nephrite artifacts, especially beads and bracelets, were distributed earlier during Neolithic times throughout Taiwan and from Taiwan into the Philippines

A partial prehistory of the Southwest Silk Road: Archaeometallurgical networks along the sub-Himalayan corridor

Historical phenomena often have prehistoric precedents, with this paper we investigate the potential for archaeometallurgical analyses and networked data processing to elucidate the progenitors of the Southwest Silk Road in Mainland Southeast Asia and southern China. We present original microstructural, elemental and lead isotope data for 40 archaeological copperbase metal samples, mostly from the UNESCO-listed site of Halin, and lead isotope data for 25 geological copper-mineral samples, also from Myanmar. We combined these data with existing datasets (N=98 total) and compared them to the 1000+ sample late prehistoric archaeometallurgical database available from Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, Vietnam and Yunnan. Lead isotope data, contextualised for alloy, find location and date, were interpreted manually for intra-site, inter-site and inter-regional consistency, which hint at significant multi-scalar connectivity from the late 2nd millennium BC. To test this interpretation statistically, the archaeological lead isotope data were then processed using regionally-adapted productionderived consistency parameters. Complex networks analysis using the Leiden community detection algorithm established groups of artefacts sharing lead isotopic consistency. Introducing the geographic component allowed for the identification of communities of sites with consistent assemblages. The four major communities were consistent with the manually interpreted exchange networks and suggest southern sections of the Southwest Silk Road were active in the late 2nd millennium BC

Coastal heritage: exploring caves and associated indigenous knowledge in the Lanta Bay (Southern Thailand)

This article presents the preliminary results of community-based archaeological and ethnographic research on the maritime heritage landscape along the Lanta Bay involving the Urak Lawoi sea nomads and with a focus on caves and rock art. It documents several newly-discovered rock art sites as well as the relationships local groups entertain, or not, with these caves. By doing so, it wishes to investigate the various social groups direct or indirect involvement in regional network through time: merchants, sea nomads, fishermen, estuarine and inland forest groups, etc. In a matter of fact, until now, research has mostly focused on lowland riverine ports, foreign merchants and to long-distance connections. In comparison, much less attention has been paid to the many other local groups for whom offshore or coastal caves, islands and mangrove forest in estuaries constituted places for resource procurement, homes, landmarks, temporary shelters or ritual places. This project intends aims to document these groups’ contribution of all to maritime history and the landscape heritage. 

A first absolute chronology for Late Neolithic to Early Bronze Age Myanmar: New AMS 14C dates from Nyaung'gan and Oakaie

Late prehistoric archaeological research in Myanmar is in a phase of rapid expansion. Recent work by the Mission Archéologique Française au Myanmar aims to establish a reliable Neolithic to Iron Age culture-historical sequence, which can then be compared to surrounding regions of Southeast Asia. Excavations at Nyaung'gan and Oakaie in central Myanmar have provided 52 new AMS dates, which allow the creation of Myanmar's first reliable prehistoric radiometric chronology. They have also identified the Neolithic to Bronze Age transition in central Myanmar, which is of critical importance in understanding long-range interactions at the national, regional and inter-regional level. This research provides the first significant step towards placing late prehistoric Myanmar in its global context