East/Southeast Asia (Geographic Keyword)
1-25 (499 Records)
This paper explores the organizational impact of Spanish contact on the island of Luzon, Philippines from the 15th-19th centuries through an analysis of sound landscapes (soundscapes) that are produced by the habitual ringing of Catholic Church bells. Church bells in Luzon were intended to notify local residents of prayer congregation or of impending ‘Moro’ attacks; however the bells were also Spanish territorial markers that flaunted power and demanded the attention of residents living within...
5500 years of changing crop niches on the Tibetan Plateau (2016)
The timing and mechanics of the spread of agriculture to the Tibetan Plateau—one of the most challenging environmental contexts on Earth—is a focus of recent work and debate. In research on the spread of agriculture, researchers have sought evidence for the earliest, furthest or highest occurrences of diagnostic elements. However, the case of the Tibetan Plateau illustrates a key flaw in current work: archaeologists have often uncritically interpreted the presence of plant domesticates at...
Adoption of Ceramic Technology: Case Study from Incipient Jomon of Southern Kyushu (ca. 13,500/14,000 – 12,000 cal yr BP) (2015)
Hunter-gatherers of late-Pleistocene Japan were among the first in the world to adopt ceramic technology. Archaeologists have suggested that in southern Kyushu, these people of Incipient Jomon (13500/14000-12000 cal yr BP) also used large grinding stones, stored food, occupied pit houses, and made boats for navigation; they had signatures of reduced residential mobility. Nevertheless, there have not been systematic tests to assess the hypothesized decreased residential mobility. Identification...
Agriculture development in the Bronze Age Hexi Corridor-archaeobtanic evidence from Xichengyi site (2017)
The combination of crops and weeds found in the site reflects a typical rainfed agriculture dominated by foxtail millet and broomcorn millet. Under the external cultural influences, wheat and barley started to be cultivated. Since late Machang culture and, through the agricultural development during the "Transitional type" period, were widely cultivated during the period of Siba culture, when marijuna appeared in the crop assemblages. The integrated study of archaeobotanical and...
Alone in the Deep Blue Sea: A comparison of Indonesian Colonial Period nutmeg plantations and New World plantations (2015)
Plantations on the nutmeg-bearing Banda Islands are contemporaneous with early North American plantations and are an excellent place to investigate cross-cultural responses to colonialism. The Banda Islands were the world’s sole source of nutmeg in the 16th century and control over this spice was a major goal for European powers during the Age of Expansion. Consequently, the Banda Islands were the location of early experiments in colonialism by European powers and can provide information for...
Analysis of Ancient Chinese Pottery Utilizing X-Ray Fluorescence and Diffuse Reflectance Infrared Fourier Transform Spectroscopy (2017)
Field studies were performed at the Yangguanzhai Neolithic site near Xi’an, China, using an Olympus Delta Premium portable XRF spectrometer and an Agilent ExoScan FTIR spectrometer. 932 ceramic sherds collected from nine locations across the site were selected and classified based on color (red, tan and brown), decorations (painted, rope impression - cord or thread, and plain), and time period (Miaodigou and Banpo IV). Each sherd was broken, so that the analysis could be performed on a clean...
Analysis of Plant Micro-botanical Remains from the Jiahu, Peiligang and Tanghu Sites in the Upper Reaches of the Huaihe River (2015)
Since 2010, we have extracted plentiful plant micro-remains from the surfaces of both stone artifacts and pottery recovered from the Jiahu (9000-7500 cal. yr BP), Peiligang (8500-7000 cal. yr BP) and Tanghu sites in central Henan Province, China. Through micro-morphological examination, starch grains and phytoliths from Oryza, Triticeae Dumort and millet were identified. These remains reflect the existence of mixed farming of rice and millet in the upper reaches of the Huaihe River 7000 years...
An analysis of Reptile bone from an excavation at Moh-Khiew cave, Krabi province,Thailand (2015)
A study of animal in species are very few especially reptiles bone when compared to mammal bone in Thailand. And considering the amount of reptile bones found in archaeological sites in southern Thailand were plenty. About half of all animal bones in a site such as the amount of Reptiles bone an excavation at Lang Rongrian rockshelter, Thailand by Douglas Anderson (Mudar and Anderson, 2007) and from Moh-Khiew cave, Krabi province, Thailand analysis by Dr. Prasit Auetrakulvit (Auetrakulvit, 2004)...
Analysis of the Faunal Remains at Shangjing city site, Inner Mongolia (2013 excavation) (2017)
The Shangjing city site is located on the boundary between agricultural and herding subsistence economies in the Western Liao River Basin, eastern Inner Mongolia. The site was used as the Upper capital in the Liao Dynasty (A.D 916 - A.D. 1125) and the Northern capital city in the Jin Dynasty (A.D. 1115 - A.D. 1234). In 2013, several burials in the Liao and Jin Periods were unearthed, and more than 36,000 faunal remains, including bones and teeth, were collected systematically. Although Liao and...
Ancient DNA analysis of early Neolithic cattle from Houtaomuga site, Northern China (2017)
The Houtaomuga site is located on the east bank of Xinhuangpao Lake, in Da'an County, Jilin Province, Northeast China. According to the archaeological excavations, the Houtaomuga site can be divided into seven phases from the early Neolithic to the Late Bronze Age (8000-2050 BP). Although many Bos skeletal remains were found in the phases Houtaomuga III (6300-5500 cal. BP) and Houtaomuga IV (5000 cal. BP), it was very difficult to identify to the species level. In this study, ancient DNA...
Ancient DNA of a nomadic population provides evidence of the genetic structure of the royal ancient Mongols (2017)
The genetic diversity of the ancient Mongols, especially the Gold family of Genghis Khan remains unclear. Gangga site was a nomadic site dated to the 8th to 10th centuries AD in the HulunBuir grassland, northeast China. This site belonged to the Shiwei population, believed to be the direct ancestors of the ancient Mongols. Nine graves at the Gangga site were excavated with log coffins, which were considered the characteristic burial custom of the royal ancient Mongols, included the Gold family...
Ancient DNA Studies of Domesticated Cattle in Northern China (2017)
This study aims to use ancient DNA techniques to characterize the genetic features of ancient domesticated cattle in order to trace the origin and spread of cattle in ancient China from eight Late Neolithic and Bronze Age sites in Northern China. DNA was successfully extracted from ancient cattle bone or tooth samples in dedicated ancient DNA labs following vigorous protocols for contamination controls. This study was focused on amplifying mitochondrial D-loop using standard PCR techniques....
Ancient genomics of Neolithic to Bronze Age Baikal hunter-gatherers (2017)
Genome-wide data from hunter-gatherer populations of the Upper Paleolithic to Neolithic has provided unprecedented insight into the human evolutionary and demographic trajectory. However such datasets have hitherto been largely confined to Western Eurasia. The sole representative of Inner Asian past populations post-dating the split between paleolithic Europeans and Asians, as well as paleolithic Siberians and East Asians, are the Mal'ta and Afontova Gora individuals, the Ancient North East...
Ancient Human Herbivorous Diet Reflected by the Analysis of Starch Grains from the Xijincheng Site, Bo'ai county, Henan province, China (2015)
The analysis of starch grains from the Xijincheng site showed that most of the starch was from barley (Hordeum spp.) which accounted for about 70% of the total starch grains. Other starches included foxtail millet (Setaria italica), broomcorn millet (Panicum miliaceum), sorghum (Sorghum spp.) and a small amount of starch grains from Leguminosaes and root tuber plants. Combined with the analytical results of carbonized remains, we conclude that ancient Xijincheng people adopted the pattern of...
Ancient Residues Indicate Prehistoric Subsistence and Culinary Practices in the Korean Peninsula during the Middle Holocene (2017)
This study attempts to understand ancient human subsistence using isotope analysis on the organic residues extracted from the archaeological potsherds collected from prehistoric coastal shell midden sites in the southern part of the Korean peninsula. In Korean archaeology, shell middens are useful for isotope analysis because they provide suitable condition in terms of organic preservation. To date, the subsistence of these prehistoric coastal and island dwellers remains poorly known. However,...
Angkorian Collapse and Aftermath: A View from the Center (2016)
The 9th – 15th century Angkorian state was Southeast Asia’s largest ancient polity; its 1000 km2 core was among the world’s largest preindustrial urban centers. The Angkorian state’s mid-15th century CE “collapse” moved the polity’s rulers and their populations south to a series of new capitals that were closely linked to the Early Modern Southeast Asian economy. Angkor as a capital collapsed, but the Angkorian civilization continued. We use field excavations, surface survey, and remote sensing...
Angkorian Residential Patterns: A view from the trenches (2015)
One of the defining features of the great temples of Angkor is the pattern of enclosed space that surrounds many major monuments. The outer limits of these enclosures are frequently bounded by masonry walls and moats. Although more than a century of research has been devoted to understanding the temples that lie at the center of these enclosures, the structure and function of the vast rectilinear spaces that surround them remains very poorly understood. This paper draws on recent fieldwork by...
Animal utilization and animal rituals of the Okhotsk culture: with special reference to their period and regional differences (2017)
In the animal utilization and animal rituals of the Okhotsk culture, chronological and regional differences can be observed. Significant differences can be seen between the northern and eastern regions of Hokkaido in terms of the volume of archaeological artifacts recovered relating to both domestic animals (dogs, pigs) and wild animals. In northern Hokkaido, there are conspicuous differences in the use of a variety of fishes and types of sea urchins between the early period (Towada) and the...
An application of obsidian hydration dating to prehistoric sites in Japan (2015)
Recent progress of obsidian hydration dating (OHD) notably in accurate estimates of effective hydration temperature (EHT) and systematic measurements of rim thickness has now extended the utility of OHD to evaluate chronometric dates of prehistoric sites in various climatic conditions. The present paper discusses the reliability of OHD as the dating method, through a comparison of multiple specimens that were recently obtained from prehistoric sites in temperate and subarctic regions in the...
Applying a Life History Framework to Analyzing Metal Age Metal Assemblages from Thailand (2017)
Application of archaeometric techniques to metals and related evidence from prehistoric sites in Southeast Asia is in its infancy. One result is that sample sizes per site have in most cases been minute or even unspecified, although in rare instances, such as Ban Chiang, sample sizes for metallographic and elemental analyses have been more robust and representative. Small sample sizes obscure key evidence for intrasite and regional variability in technological and economic systems. Recent lead...
An Archaeobotanical Analysis of Four Prehistoric Central Thai Sites: the Preliminary Results (2016)
Thailand is a relatively new frontier for archaeobotanists, having suffered in the past from a shortage of archaeobotanical research. While archaeologists in Southeast Asia have begun to chart when and how rice and millet agriculture developed and spread, a clear picture of prehistoric agriculture in central Thailand has yet to emerge. This paper describes some preliminary results from a series of sites that have been occupied from ca. 2500 BCE to 500 CE. These are Non Pa Wai, Non Mak La, and...
Archaeobotanical records of the Middle and Late Neolithic plant food utilization from North Jiangsu Plain (2017)
As an transition zone between the southern and northern China, the Huai river valley possesses distinct uniqueness in climate environment, agriculture, archaeological culture and other aspects. We have taken a series of archaeobotany case study on the Neolithic sites of different period,such as Shunshanji, Longqiuzhuang, Wanbei, in the lower Huai river valley. Combined with previous archaeobotany research in this area, so we can summarize the plant food utilization in various periods. The...
Archaeobotany in Southeast Asia: What have we learned so far (2015)
Archaeobotany as a specialisation in Southeast Asia began in the late 1960s. Archaeobotanical methods (e.g. flotation, phytolith and pollen sampling) are still not routinely used in archaeological fieldwork in SEA, although in the past ten years, archaeobotany has gained momentum. For example, several sites in Thailand (Ban Non Wat, Khao Sam Kaeo, Khao Sek, Non Ban Jak, Phu Khao Thong), Vietnam (Lo Gach, Loch Giang, Rach Nui) and Cambodia (Ta Phrom) have included archaeobotanical analyses as...
The archaeological study of an Inner Asian empire: using new perspectives and methods to study the medieval Liao polity (2016)
Archaeological and historical data, combined with GIS analysis gives us new perspectives on 11th c. medieval period envoy missions from the Song Dynasty (960-1279) to the Liao Empire (907-1125) Middle Capital in Chifeng Inner Mongolia, China. The envoys’ routes can be recreated on maps, and optimal route and viewshed analyses give us insight into the Liao’s concerns about these foreign missions crossing their territory and how they addressed them. Furthermore, population estimates can be made...
The archaeological study of cities in East Asia (2017)
This paper explores the study of cities in China and the implications for their archaeological investigation. Walled settlements developed in China during the Neolithic and by the Bronze Age many had already grown to considerable size and complexity. While scholars in China and East Asia often consider cities to be a form of settlement organization starting at this early date, the concept of city used in their study is frequently unexamined, and historical examples of cities in the Chinese...