Nigel Chang

Implications of phytolith and diatom assemblages in the cultural layers of prehistoric archaeological sites of Ban Non Wat and Nong Hua Raet in Northeast Thailand

The Mun River valley is an imortant prehistoric archaeological region in Northeast Thailand and represents a rich and long period of occupation spanning two millennia during the Neolithic, Bronze and Iron ages. Extensive archaeological investigation provides a rich picture of the day-to-day life of the inhabitants of the many sites scattered throughout the region.

Sites, survey, and ceramics: settlement patterns of the first to ninth centuries CE in the Upper Mun River Valley, northeast Thailand

Our understanding of the transition from the last centuries of prehistory to the Pre-Angkorian period in northeast Thailand has been limited by a lack of projects bridging both periods. This article examines settlement patterns of the first to the ninth centuries CE in the Upper Mun River Valley based on recent (2012–14) surveys. The findings highlight the gradual settlement trends in the region, with a focus on local modification rather than the sudden adoption of external ideas. Results reinforce the fourth to sixth centuries CE as a pivotal period, when large centres consolidated and cautiously expanded upriver, into previously uninhabited regions. A relatively modest, flexible, and resilient settlement strategy developed, attuned to wider supraregional trends, but allowing for the demands of the local cultural and physical landscape.

Social responses to climate change in Iron Age north-east Thailand: new archaeobotanical evidence

New evidence from archaeological investigations in north-east Thailand shows a transition in rice farming towards wetland cultivation that would have facilitated greater yields and surpluses. This evidence, combined with new dates and palaeoclimatic data, suggests that this transition took place in the Iron Age, at a time of increasingly arid climate, and when a number of broader societal changes become apparent in the archaeological record. For the first time, it is possible to relate changes in subsistence economy to shifts in regional climate and water-management strategies, and to the emergence of state societies in Southeast Asia.