Before Siam: Essays in Art and Archaeology. Nicolas Revire and Stephen A. Murphy, eds. Bangkok: River Books, 2014. 432 pp, 312 color illustrations, 56 maps and plans, Notes, Bibliographies, Index. US $49.95. ISBN 9786167339412.

The millennium-long period that began c. 500 B.C.E. has long vexed Southeast Asian archaeologists and historians for its odd mix of archaeological, documentary, and art historical data that mark a change from the prehistoric period to one recorded by local and visiting historians. We still struggle to understand this period, called variously the Iron Age, the protohistoric period, the Early Historic period, or simply Early South East Asia (with credit to Smith and Watson 1979), during which Southeast Asians embraced profound organizational and ideological transformations (Murphy and Stark 2016). Indianization, Hindicization, localization, Sanskritization: each of these terms captures some elements of settlement, subsistence, and political dynamics of the time. Yet each term reflects an outsider perspective; it is only in the last few decades that archaeologists and art historians have buckled down to do the hard work of understanding the material record of this “millennium-long no-man’s land” from the bottom up (Manguin 2011:xvi)

PRE-ANGKORIAN SETTLEMENT TRENDS IN CAMBODIA'S MEKONG DELTA AND THE LOWER MEKONG ARCHAEOLOGICAL PROJECT

Polities in the Mekong delta played a central role in regional developments between 500 BC and AD 500. Documentary data suggest the delta reached its political apex during the 3rd through 7th centuries. What were the roots of early polities in this region, and what was their organization? Research by the Lower Mekong Archaeological Project seeks to answer these questions through field investigations in southern Cambodia. Excavations at the ancient capital of Angkor Borei suggest a continuous occupation of the area from the 4th century BC onwards; the timing, development and nature of interregional networks are now under study. This presentation describes some results of research at Angkor Borei, and discusses ongoing research on the communication and settlement systems that characterized the northern section of the Mekong delta from 500 BC to AD 500

Editorial

Recent Developments in the Archaeology of Myanma Pyay (Burma): An Introductio

Residential patterning at Angkor Wat

17 pages. Copyright © Antiquity Publications Ltd, 2015. First published on December 7th, 2015 at doi.org/10.15184/aqy.2015.159Considerable attention has been devoted to the architecture and art history of Cambodia's Angkor Wat temple in the last century. There has, however, been little research on the functions and internal organisation of the large rectangular enclosure surrounding the temple. Such enclosures have long been assumed to have been sacred precincts, or perhaps ‘temple-cities’: work exploring the archaeological patterning for habitation within them has been limited. The results of LiDAR survey and excavation have now revealed evidence for low-density residential occupation in these areas, possibly for those servicing the temple. Recent excavations within the enclosure challenge our traditional understanding of the social hierarchy of the Angkor Wat community and show that the temple precinct, bounded by moat and wall, may not have been exclusively the preserve of the wealthy or the priestly elite.Gracious thanks are extended to the APSARA Authority for permission to undertake field investigations in the Angkor Wat enclosure, including HE Bun Narith, HE Ros Borath and An Sopheap, which were undertaken under ARC grant DP1092663. We thank So Malay and Martin King for administrative support, and GAP 2010 and 2013 crew members, whose labour produced this research. Damian Evans drafted Figures 1–5. Martin King and Alex Morrison provided additional graphical expertise; conversations with Christophe Pottier, Roland Fletcher, Ea Darith, Ian Lowman, David Brotherson and Paul Lavy were exceptionally helpful. Thanks also to Li Baoping, John Miksic and Louise Cort for identifications of Chinese tradewares in the 2010 excavated materials. We thank the PT McElhanney, Indonesia, company for its contribution to the LiDAR acquisition, which was funded by eight institutions in the Khmer Archaeology LiDAR Consortium: APSARA Authority, the University of Sydney, l’Ecole francaise d’Extreme-Orient, Societe Concessionaire d’Aeroport, the Hungarian Southeast Asian Research Institute, Japan- PSARA Safeguarding Angkor, the Archaeology and Development Foundation and the World Monuments Fund. All mistakes are the responsibility of the principal author

Angkor Borei and Protohistoric Trade Networks: A View from the Glass and Stone Bead Assemblage

40 pages. Published by University of Hawai'i Press: Carter, A.K., Dussubieux, L., Stark, M.T., & Gilg, H.A. (2021). Angkor Borei and Protohistoric Trade Networks: A View from the Glass and Stone Bead Assemblage. Asian Perspectives 60(1), 32-70. doi:10.1353/asi.2020.0036.Angkor Borei, Cambodia was an important urban center related to the early first millennium C.E. polity known as Funan. Excavations in the protohistoric period Vat Komnou Cemetery site uncovered over 1300 glass and stone beads, which are important material indicators of trade. In this article, we review data from earlier studies and add new previously unpublished data on glass and stone beads from this collection as well as previously unpublished glass compositional analyses from the nearby site of Oc Eo, Vietnam. Examinations of the glass beads highlight the presence of large quantities of high alumina mineral soda glass associated with Sri Lankan or South Indian bead production as well as smaller quantities of other glass types in circulation throughout Southeast Asia. Compositional and morphological studies of agate/carnelian beads show strong affinities with the Indian bead industry, while the garnet beads came from raw material sources in southern India. Overall, Angkor Borei's bead collection shows strong contacts with different regions of South Asia. Comparison with the bead assemblages of other contemporaneous sites demonstrate strong affinities with sites farther inland, such as Phum Snay and Prei Khmeng, Cambodia and Ban Non Wat, Thailand rather than other maritime coastal sites in Southeast Asia. We argue that the stone and glass beads at Angkor Borei are related to intensified interaction with South Asia and that elites at Angkor Borei used these exotic prestige goods to build alliances with sites farther inland forming an intraregional exchange network we call the Mekong Interaction Sphere.The authors wish to thank the Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts in Cambodia which facilitated the study of the beads from Angkor Borei. Thanks also to Seth Quintus for discussion of Bayesian modeling of the Vat Komnou cemetery dates and Mike Shand for assistance with Figure 2. Thanks to Pierre-Yves Manguin for providing materials from Oc Eo and information on his work at this site. Carter's research was funded by the Henry Luce Foundation/ACLS Grants in East and Southeast Asian Archaeology and Early History Dissertation Fellowship, The Bead Society of Los Angeles, The Portland Bead Society, The Bead Study Trust, Graduate Women in Science–Beta Chapter, and the Geological Society of America. SEM was undertaken at the University of Wisconsin Department of Animal Sciences Microscopy Laboratories and the University of Oregon CAMCOR laboratory

Biocultural Practices during the Transition to History at the Vat Komnou Cemetery, Angkor Borei, Cambodia

Mainland Southeast Asia underwent dramatic changes after the mid-first millennium B.C.E., as its populations embraced new metallurgical and agricultural technologies. Southeast Asians transformed their physical and social environments further through their participation in international maritime trade networks. Early state formation characterized much of the mainland by the mid-first millennium C.E. We examined a protohistoric (200 B.C.E.–200 C.E.) skeletal sample from the Vat Komnou cemetery at Angkor Borei in the Mekong Delta (southern Cambodia) to understand the health impacts of this changing environment. Degenerative joint disease patterns indicate a distinct sexual division of labor. Although intentional dental filing was practiced, its impact on oral-dental health could not be determined. Dental pathologies suggest a mixed diet with more fibrous foods and a lower reliance on soft, processed agricultural foods. A broad-spectrum diet and varied use of the local environment are inferred from the faunal evidence. Stable isotope ratios indicate a relatively greater reliance on fish and estuarine dietary resources than on terrestrial protein. Affinities with other groups in the region are suggested by the cultural practices of the relatively tall, healthy inhabitants from Vat Komnou

Prasat and Pteah: Habitation within Angkor Wat's temple enclosure

11 pages. First published in "Archaeological Research in Asia" by Elsevier: Carter, A. K., Stark, M. T., Castillo, C. C., Heng, P., Zhuang, Y., & Chhay, R. (2022). Prasat and pteah: Habitation within Angkor Wat's temple enclosure. Archaeological Research in Asia, 32, 100405. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ara.2022.100405The Angkor empire (9-15th centuries CE) was one of mainland Southeast Asia's major civilizations, with a 3000 km2 agro-urban capital located in northwest Cambodia. Since 2010, the Greater Angkor Project has been investigating occupation areas within Angkor's urban core. This work has identified temple enclosures as important residential areas that made up part of Angkor's civic-ceremonial center. In this paper, we review excavations from residential areas within Angkor Wat's temple enclosure. We concentrate on evidence for residential patterning by focusing on our 2015 excavations, one of the largest horizontal excavations of a single occupation mound within Angkor's civic-ceremonial center. These data offer further evidence for archaeological patterns of residential occupation within the Angkor Wat temple enclosure and a comparative dataset for future research of habitation areas within Angkor as well as domestic spaces in other urban settings.The authors wish to thank the APSARA Authority for permission to undertake excavations at Angkor Wat and their cooperation and collaboration in undertaking this research. We also thank Dr. Roland Fletcher for his guidance and support of our project. We extend our deepest gratitude to So Malay and Martin King for administrative support and the University of Sydney Robert Christie Research Centre. Thanks also go to Alyssa Loyless for help with Fig. 2. This work would not have been possible without efforts from the 2010, 2013, and 2015 field crews. This work was supported by the Australian Research Council under Grant DP1092663; National Geographic Society Committee for Research and Exploration under Grant 9602–14; and Dumbarton Oaks under a Project Grant in Garden and Landscape Studies

The evolution of agro-urbanism: A case study from Angkor, Cambodia

16 pages. Published in "Journal of Anthropological Archaeology" by Elsevier: A.K. Carter, S. Klassen, M.T. Stark, M. Polkinghorne, P. Heng, D.H. Evans, R. Chhay; The evolution of agro-urbanism: a case study from Angkor, Cambodia; J. Anthropol. Archaeol., 63 (2021), Article 101323The vast agro-urban settlements that developed in the humid tropics of Mesoamerica and Asia contained both elite civic-ceremonial spaces and sprawling metropolitan areas. Recent studies have suggested that both local autonomy and elite policies facilitated the development of these settlements; however, studies have been limited by a lack of detail in considering how, when, and why these factors contributed to the evolution of these sites. In this paper, we use a fine-grained diachronic analysis of Angkor’s landscape to identify both the state-level policies and infrastructure and bottom-up organization that spurred the growth of Angkor as the world’s most extensive pre-industrial settlement complex. This degree of diachronic detail is unique for the ancient world. We observe that Angkor’s low-density metropolitan area and higher-density civic-ceremonial center grew at different rates and independently of one another. While local historical factors contributed to these developments, we argue that future comparative studies might identify similar patterns.The Authors thank the APSARA National Authority for their permission to conduct remote sensing and field investigations. Thanks also to Roland Fletcher for his support. Thank you to Terry and Eileen Lustig for their comments and suggestions on aspects of economic geography and Michael E. Smith for reading and offering comments on an earlier draft of this paper. Thanks to Malay So and Maryne Dana for administrative support. Research, planning, and writing of this manuscript was undertaken with the support of the University of Oregon Global Oregon Faculty Collaboration Fund supported by the Global Studies Institute in the UO Office of International Affairs. Data collection for parts of the research in this study have been funded by: the National Geographic Society Committee for Research and Exploration under Grant 9602-14; Dumbarton Oaks under a Project Grant in Garden and Landscape Studies; the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada Postdoctoral Fellowship; the National Science Foundation Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement Awards (#1638137); Australian Research Council Discovery Early Career Researcher Award (DE150100756) and Council Discovery Grant (DP170102574); and the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (grant agreements 639828 and 866454)

Diachronic modeling of the population within the medieval Greater Angkor Region settlement complex

9 pagesAngkor is one of the world’s largest premodern settlement complexes (9th to 15th centuries CE), but to date, no comprehensive demographic study has been completed, and key aspects of its population and demographic history remain unknown. Here, we combine lidar, archaeological excavation data, radiocarbon dates, and machine learning algorithms to create maps that model the development of the city and its population growth through time. We conclude that the Greater Angkor Region was home to approximately 700,000 to 900,000 inhabitants at its apogee in the 13th century CE. This granular, diachronic, paleodemographic model of the Angkor complex can be applied to any ancient civilization.We wish to thank the APSARA National Authority for permission to conduct remote sensing and collaborative field investigations. We thank M. So and M. Dana for administrative support. We thank E. Lustig and T. Lustig for comments and suggestions on aspects of economic geography and M. E. Smith and C. Isendahl for reading and offering comments on an earlier draft of this paper. Funding: Much of the work on research, planning, and writing of this manuscript was undertaken with the support of the University of Oregon Global Oregon Faculty Collaboration Fund, supported by the Global Studies Institute in the UO Office of International Affairs. Parts of this research have been funded by the Rust Family Foundation, the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada Postdoctoral Fellowship, the National Science Foundation Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement Awards (no. 1638137), the ACLS-Robert H. N. Ho Family Foundation Program in Buddhist Studies, Australian Research Council Discovery Grant DP1092663, Australian Research Council Discovery Early Career Researcher Award DE150100756, Australian Research Council Discovery Grant DP170102574, and the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (grant agreement nos. 639828 and 866454). Author contributions: S.K. and A.K.C. contributed to the planning of this research. S.K., A.K.C., M.H., and S.O. drafted the manuscript. S.K., A.K.C., D.E., M.T.S., M.P., G.P.M., R.F., and P.H. edited the manuscript. S.K., A.A.L., M.H., J.N.-W., D.E., P.W., and S.O. contributed to the analysis. S.K., A.K.C., P.H., and M.P. compiled the data. S.K., A.K.C., P.H., G.P.M., R.F., D.E., C.P., and M.P. contributed data. S.K., M.H., and A.A.L. designed the figures. All authors discussed the results and commented on the manuscript. Competing interests: The authors declare that they have no competing interests. Data and materials availability: All data needed to evaluate the conclusions in the paper are present in the paper and/or the Supplementary Materials. Additional data related to this paper maybe requested from the authors