Establishing the Prehistoric Cultural Sequence for the Lopburi Region, Central Thailand

Shell Personal Ornaments Craft at the Site of Tha Kae, Lopburi Province, Central Thailand. Tracing the Southward Dispersal of the Drilling Technique

“…However, the florescence of this craft occurred in the late second -early first millennium BCE, sparked by new incoming technological innovations (e.g. copper-base metallurgy) and by the demand for luxuries on the inter-regional exchange circuits of the SEAIS within the general process of social complexity growth that led to the formation of the IA regional polities (Pigott and Ciarla 2007;Higham et al 2011;Rispoli et al 2013; Ciarla forthcoming; Rispoli forthcoming B).…”

“…In 1988 the Thai-Italian 'Lopburi Regional Archaeological Project-Lo-RAP' resumed investigations at what remained of the site until 1993. Preliminary reports of these excavations and several studies of the excavated materials have been published in English and Thai (Bhumadhon 1984;Ciarla 1992Ciarla , 1994Ciarla et al 1989;Cremaschi 1990;Cremaschi et al 1992;Hanwong 1985;Natapintu 1984aNatapintu , 1984bNatapintu , 1995Rispoli , 1997aRispoli , 1997bRispoli , 2004Rispoli , 2005Rispoli , 2006Rispoli et al 2013;Siripanish 1985).…”

The Mun Valley and Central Thailand in prehistory: integrating two cultural sequences

“…The four Iron Age (IA) phases cover the millennium from 420 BC to about AD 600. The chronology of the LR is based on radiocarbon determinations as well as comparisons with the dated phases from other regions [1]. Although there is a broader series of divisions than in the UMV, due to the finelygrained sequence of burial phases at Ban Non Wat, there is a reassuring correspondence.…”

“…Evidence of early agricultural practices is still elusive, although a few domestic rice husks and rachises were observed in the paste of redpainted potsherds from the Neolithic burials at Tha Kae. Archaeobotanical research carried out on flotation samples from Non Pa Wai in the Khao Wong Prachan Valley has identified millet early in the sequence, with domestic rice being found from the 1st millennium BC [1,52].…”

“…However, the publication of a synthesis of over 20 years of research in the Lopburi area (LR) [1], in conjunction with the completion of a similarly lengthy endeavour in the Upper Mun Valley (UMV) of Northeast Thailand (Fig. 1), makes possible a review of their integration over a period of about 23 centuries [2][3][4][5][6][7].…”