More questions than answers: the Southeast Asian Lead Isotope Project 2009–2012

High-tin bronze bowls and copper drums: Non-ferrous archaeometallurgical evidence for Khao Sek's involvement and role in regional exchange systems

“…Given the many similarities Khao Sek shares with Khao Sam Kaeo in terms of topography, organisation and material culture (see Bellina, this volume), we anticipated that the former would furnish a heterogeneous assemblage representing the region's numerous contacts. In this paper we will show this to be the case, and that Khao Sek's metallurgical assemblage complements current reconstructions of the Upper ThaiMalay Peninsula's Bay of Bengal and the South China Sea interaction spheres Pryce et al, 2014;Murillo-Barroso et al, 2010). The analysis of copper-base artefacts also contributes to defining the political and economic organisation of the early trading-polities that emerged during the first millennium BC.…”

“…The copper-base bowl fragments, of which the 150-200 mm diameter rims have been preserved (Figs. 2 and 3) (probably as they are thicker and more resistant to corrosion than the base and walls) have geometric patterning comparable to bowls found at the 4th-3rd c. BC and onwards sites of Khao Sam Kaeo, Ban Don Tha Phet and Khao Jamook (Thailand), Prohear (Cambodia) and Sembiran (Bali) (Pryce et al, in press-b;Reinecke et al, 2009;Pryce et al, 2014;Calo et al, 2015;Bennett and Glover, 1992;Glover and Jahan, 2014). These bowls are produced in a 'high-tin', c. 22-23 wt.…”

“…Pryce et al, 2014;Hirao and Ro, 2013). Given the many similarities Khao Sek shares with Khao Sam Kaeo in terms of topography, organisation and material culture (see Bellina, this volume), we anticipated that the former would furnish a heterogeneous assemblage representing the region's numerous contacts.…”

Dating the Myanmar Bronze Age: Preliminary 14c Dates From the Oakaie 1 Cemetery Near Nyaung’gan

“…This is to be expected when a region's Bronze Age is thought to have been stimulated by its metal-using neighbours (probably southern China), as is also evidenced by the presence of 'exotic' imports to central Thailand apparently catalysing an experimental mode of copper smelting at Non Pa Wai. (Pryce et al, 2014, Pryce et al, 2010. In conclusion, we believe that further excavation at OAI1's relatively shallow strata would be of limited utility in establishing the absolute and relative chronology of Nyaung'gan's much deeper Bronze Age deposits.…”

“…X-ray fluorescence analysis at the Curt-Engelhorn Centre for Archaeometry (Mannheim, Germany) showed the axe to be made from an unleaded bronze alloy with about four weight percent tin. Mass spectrometric analysis of the lead isotope ratios (also in Mannheim) must be treated with caution as a single data point but do not match any of the known Southeast Asian copper sources (Pryce et al, 2014). There is some compatibility with an axe from Ban Non Wat in NE Thailand dated 1000-900 BC (Pryce et al, 2014) but due to completely dissimilar typologies any connection was mostly likely restricted to shared raw material supply networks rather than the exchange of complete artefacts.…”