Recent Advances in the Settlement and Landscape Archaeology of (South)west China and Southeast Asia Part II: The Micro Perspective of Internal Settlement Organization and Object Production

Since the beginnings of archaeological research in Southwest China and Southeast Asia, the focus has largely been on burial material. Whereas the burial customs, personal decoration, and weapon and tool assemblages that accompanied the deceased are by now fairly well known, the world of the living is far less well explored. During the last few years, however, there has been increasing interest in the settlement archaeology of the region, ranging from smaller-scale investigations of sites, to a broader landscape approach. A considerable number of field projects throughout Southwest China and Southeast Asia have greatly advanced our understanding of the daily lives of prehistoric and early historic inhabitants of the area. This session assembles papers that introduce some of the results of these research projects, providing an overview of our current knowledge in this field and pointing out new avenues of research. While the first part of the session takes on the macro perspective of large-scale spatial analysis and long-term developments, this second part of the panel presents the micro perspective of settlement structure and object production.