Union of Myanmar (Country) (Geographic Keyword)
51-75 (646 Records)
Six thousand years ago, encounters between Paleolithic Taiwanese foragers and seafaring farmers of Mainland China ushered in a new agricultural lifeway. Two hallmarks of the early Taiwanese Neolithic are sedentary settlements and red cord-marked ceramic wares. How quickly did foragers adopt these cultural traits? Did they adopt them together or separately? Archaeological data from the Neolithic transition are scarce, but ethnographic information suggests that the rate of change is affected by...
Between Angkor and Champa: Political Economy of the Buffer Zone (2019)
This is an abstract from the "The Current State of Archaeological Research across Southeast Asia" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Highland Southeast Asia was historically the domain of ethnic swiddeners, in contrast with the wet rice farmers of lowland states. Recent scholarship has re-envisioned these upland groups as active agents who resisted lowland state domination, rather than viewing them as isolated tribal groups. Highlands located east of...
Between Control and Influence - Early Globalization processes in Bronze Age China (2017)
The traditional narrative of the Zhou expansion (1046-771 BCE, roughly 800 before the formation of the first Chinese empire in 221 BCE), has been to view it as a military enlargement and conquest and as leading, consequently, to the establishment of a polity controlling a large territorial state. To date, most studies have viewed the finding of Zhou artifacts in a given region as indicating Zhou political control over that area or even that actual Zhou people inhabited the region. This paper...
Beyond Activity Areas, Beyond Burial Spaces: Islands as a Monumental Place for Coastal Foragers (2017)
Coastal foragers of southern Korean Chulmun period had actively exploited marine resources from the initial phase(6000~4500 B.C.E.), and they also have a complex network with groups of Japanese Kyushu Island from that times. Researchers usually have thought that islands served as economic patches for coastal foragers with large numbers of shell mounds. However, based on several burial sites recently excavated at some islands like gadeok, Yeondae, Yokji, we now need to reconsider islands as being...
Beyond the Bayon and Ta Phrom: Modeling Demography and Population Health at Angkor, Capital of Medieval Cambodia (802 – 1431 CE) (2017)
Angkor, the capital of the Khmer empire, is famous for being the largest "dispersed," or "low-density," city in antiquity, with an estimated population of 750,000 people. Attracting and maintaining a large support population of agriculturalists to Angkor was paramount for Khmer rulers in order for them to amass the spiritual and physical capital needed to compete against their rivals in this society’s merit-based, temple economy. In the on-going conversation surrounding Angkor’s domestic...
Beyond “Maritime”: New Approaches in Understanding Foodways of the Neolithic Coastal Dwellers in the Korean Peninsula during the Early-Middle Holocene (2023)
This is an abstract from the "Social and Environmental Interactions on Coasts and Islands in Korea" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. This study investigates the subsistence and foodways of Neolithic coastal foragers in the Korean Peninsula using an innovative method of organic chemistry. The Neolithic subsistence practice in the Korean peninsula is characterized as “maritime hunting-gathering-fishing.” Throughout the Neolithic period, people...
Bioarchaeological Approaches to Investigating Supply, Demand and Authenticity in the Colonial-era Human Remains Trade (2018)
During the Colonial era, numerous "trophy skulls" from various Indo-Pacific cultures entered Western museum and private collections, and continue to be sought as "authentic" collector’s items. However, very little bioarchaeological research exists investigating their provenience, intra-cultural variation in decoration and manufacture, and how examples created for Indigenous ritual use differed from those created for sale to Colonial explorers at the beginning of ‘curio’ trade, let alone what...
Bioarchaeological Conservation and Ethics in Mainland Southeast Asia (2017)
This paper identifies the ethical and conservation challenges of working with skeletal remains from mainland Southeast Asia, a region including Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam and Myanmar. Due to the increasing political rest experienced over the past decades, researchers have had better opportunities to work in these countries, with relatively easier access to appropriate permissions to excavate archaeological sites. The first-hand accounts of bioarchaeological research conducted by the...
A Bioarchaeological View on Long-Term Development in Prehistoric Central Thailand (2019)
This is an abstract from the "Paradigms Shift: New Interpretations in Mainland Southeast Asian Archaeology" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Archaeologically, Metal Age sites in northeast and central Thailand exhibit different patterns in site formation, size, and mortuary practice. With geophysical characteristics of each region in mind, these differences have led to an on-going discussion on, for example, the origin of metallurgy and cultigens,...
A Bioarcheological Study of a Trepanation Case with Special Reference to the Medical Care System during the Western Zhou Dynasty China (1045–771 BCE) (2023)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Therapeutic craniotomy is a kind of artificial trepanation used for treating head injuries. In this study, a skull with signs of trauma and trepanation from a young adult female who lived 3,000 years ago was assessed in the context of medical care systems and a policy of benevolence during the time. A blunt force assault on the left temporal bone induced a...
A biodistance study of Shang Dynasty human sacrifice (2017)
Ongoing archaeological investigations at the Shang capital of Yin Xu in modern Anyang have contributed much to the understanding of the Shang Dynasty (~1600-1046 BCE) and Bronze Age China. Bioarchaeological investigations of the thousands of sacrificed individuals recovered from the royal cemetery at Yin Xu has historically been somewhat limited, but is becoming an important component of current research at the site. Earlier work focused mainly on collection of craniometric data and the typology...
Biological Kinship and Cemetery Organization in Eastern Zhou Period China (2018)
The social significance of large kinship structures such as clans and lineages has been demonstrated throughout Chinese history, and kinship has in part determined social ties and participation in various social activities. Clan emblems appear on artifacts from as early as the Shang Dynasty, and kinship remains an important element of social identities in modern China. In relation to mortuary practices, kinship identities may affect factors such as mortuary assemblages and burial location. This...
A Bird's-Eye View: Utilizing Wartime Aerial Imagery to Recover the Remains of a US Servicemember from the Vietnam War (2021)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2021: General Sessions" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) is responsible for the recovery and identification of missing US servicemembers from past conflicts, including the Vietnam War. This case study involves over 25 years of investigation efforts that led to the recovery of an O-1 Bird Dog pilot shot down over Laos in 1967. The long investigative history for this case...
A brief analysis of the evolution of bird design in ancient Chinese head-ware (2017)
The bird design, as a distinctive and time-honored decoration in the Chinese culture, has its unique national forms and artistic glamour, which had also condensed and accumulated rich and profound connotations. Being an indispensable part of the ancient Chinese civilization, the head-ware of ancient Chinese women had evolved continuously in the transmission of cultural heritage. Which, reflecting not only the changes in people's aesthetics, but more importantly, the ever-developing ideology and...
Bronze Age Crucibles in China: A Unique Technological Tradition and its Cultural Implications (2019)
This is an abstract from the "Craft and Technology: Knowledge of the Ancient Chinese Artisans" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Most studies of early metallurgy in China have focused on style, manufacturing techniques and alloy compositions of bronze artefacts. In rare circumstances, other sections of the bronze production Chaîne opératoire such mining, smelting and metal processing are considered. This research concentrates on early bronze...
The Bronze and Iron Age Sites Saridjar and Karim Berdy, Tajikistan (2017)
The Late Bronze Age site of Saridjar was discovered during a survey of the northern Yakhsu valley in 2010. Excavations in 2012, in 2013, 2015 and in 2016 prove that we are dealing with a 200 x 200 m large settlement with at least three construction phases. The proportion of the hand-made ceramics in all levels varies between 80 and 90%. Only occasionally wheel-made ware appears. Andronovo pottery of the Federovo phase is present in small numbers. At Karimberdy nearly all the pottery was...
Bronzes, Mortuary Ritual and the Rise of Political Power in the NE Frontier of Ancient China: A case study of Upper Xiajiadian Burials (2019)
This is an abstract from the "Recent Research on Early Chinese Borderland Cultures and Archaeological Materials" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. This study focuses on manipulation of bronzes of different styles, and mortuary rituals overall, during in the emergence of political power in the northeastern frontier of ancient China. Data are presented on three richly furnished burials M101 at Nanshan’gen and M8501 and M9601 at Xiaoheishigou of the...
Building a Virtual Bridge Connecting Indian Himalayan Archaeology with a Virginia University and the World (2017)
The Virtual Curation Laboratory at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) in Richmond, Virginia, and the Archaeology Department of Hemwati Nandan Bahuguna (HNB) Garhwal University, in Garhwal (Srinagar), India, have partnered to create three-dimensional (3D) models of artifacts and sculptures from the trans-Himalayan region of northern India. Many of these items are on display in the HNB Garhwal University Museum of Himalayan Archaeology and Ethnography. This partnership seeks to preserve these...
Burning Questions: An Anthracological Approach to Culture, Ecology, and Imperial Expansion at Angkor, Cambodia (2017)
Compared to archaeological research in other parts of the globe, the analysis of wood charcoal assemblages, or anthracology, remains an underutilized methodology for investigating aspects of the human past in Cambodia. This paper argues for the importance of anthracology as a viable scientific methodology by foregrounding its interpretive potential in addressing a diverse suite of micro- and macro-scale questions pertaining to human-environment dynamics and cultural practices over the longue...
"Call Any Vegetable": Culinary Practices in Neolithic and Metal Age Mekong River Delta (2017)
Almost nothing is known about the early development and diversity of Vietnamese cuisine, which potentially has its origin more than 2,000 years ago. This research investigates the culinary practices in southern Vietnam during the Neolithic and Metal Age (3000 BC-AD 500) by analysis of food residues recovered from earthenware pottery. To identify former food contents, organic residue analysis was conducted on sampled pottery vessels recovered from two Neolithic sites (Rạch Núi and An Sơn) and two...
Carbon and Nitrogen isotopic analysis on human and animal bones of Nanwa site, Henan Province, China (2017)
The Nanwa site（1680BC-Song Dynasty; located in Dengfeng city, Henan Province, China, provided a valuable opportunity for the Xia Dynasty and the Chinese civilization investigation. We could provide effective evidence for the food resources utilize pattern and agricultural economy development. Stable isotopic carbon, nitrogen analysis of 14 animals and 22 human bone collagen from the Nanwa site indicated that, wild animals (-19.9‰, 4.4‰, n=1) have a C3-based terrestrial diet. Domesticated pigs...
Carnelian Beads in Korea and Japan (c. 100-700 CE): Style, Technology and Trade patterns (2017)
This regional study of carnelian beads in Korea and Japan (c. 100-700 CE) provides new perspectives on patterns of regional and long-distance trade and exchange. Possible source areas for carnelian will be presented along with the major stylistic and technological features recorded from carnelian beads. Preliminary analyses confirm the existence of intra-regional exchange between polities on the Korean peninsula and the Japanese archipelago proposed by earlier scholars. Long distance exchange...
Casting Experiment for a Small-Sized Bronze Statue of Buddha Dating to the Tang Dynasty (2019)
This is an abstract from the "From Tangible Things to Intangible Ideas: The Context of Pan-Eurasian Exchange of Crops and Objects" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The four-footed base is a specific structural feature of bronze statues of Buddha in China during the fourth to ninth century BC. This feature appears to have been made using the lost wax method, but experimental methods indicate that the four-footed base was made with the sand mold...
Casting metals for the Qin First Emperor and his underground empire (2017)
Among the most spectacular finds at the Mausoleum of China’s First Emperor (259 - 210 BC) are the Terracotta Army built to protect him in the after life, and the two sets bronze chariots designed and buried to facilitate his travel in his underground empire. Thousands of terracotta warriors are equipped with casting bronze weapons, including swords, lances, halberds, spears, crossbows, and arrows, and the quantity and quality of bronze weaponry provide an extremely rare opportunity to...
Centering the Periphery: The Case of Southeast China during the Early Imperial Period (2018)
First incorporated into China in 214 BCE, the southern region known as Lingnan (which consists of the present-day provinces of Guangxi and Guangdong), has traditionally been regarded as one of China’s peripheral regions. Not only was Lingnan distant from imperial centers in the north, its native pre-literate ‘Yue’ inhabitants spoke non-sinitic languages and were known for their distinctive ‘uncivilized’ behaviors. Along with its location at the southern margin of modern China’s territory, the...