Putting a "human face" on prehistoric mining/metallurgical communities in the Khao Wong Prachan Valley of central Thailand

Summary

In the context of prehistoric archaeology in Thailand, metallurgy has been accorded significant attention in the literature, ranging from the origins debate to smelting technology as well as the socioeconomic contexts of copper production. An important complementary component of these discussions is seeking an improved understanding of associated human occupations. In the Khao Wong Prachan Valley (KWPV) of central Thailand, a major regional copper production center, the Thailand Archaeometallurgy Project (TAP) has delved deeply in the nature of production processes at the sites of Non Pa Wai and Nil Kham Haeng. Over the past several years, TAP researchers have been making significant inroads into understanding issues including subsistence, bioarchaeology (human, faunal, and botanical), trade and exchange, site chronology, and the effects of copper smelting on human and environmental health. After a brief overview of TAP, this paper addresses several of these issues in the attempt to put a more "human face" on occupation at these two massive prehistoric copper production sites. This will serve as an introduction to a second paper that will present the results of a major new series of AMS dates from the KWPV, and their implications for Thai and Southeast Asian prehistory.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 82nd Annual Meeting, Vancouver, BC (2017)   •
• Recent Developments in East and Southeast Asian Archaeology I: Material Culture Studies

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 14742