Comparative Techniques to Uncover Networks of Ceramic Technology in Southern Vietnam

Summary

The analysis of ceramics in Southeast Asia has evolved from typologies and broad comparative discussions of vessel forms and surface treatments. Like other material culture, studies on ceramics from mainland Southeast Asian prehistoric sites that employ archaeometric techniques have escalated in recent years. The appearance of fine, incised and impressed ceramics in southern Vietnam dating to the Neolithic period (4500-3000 BP) is closely associated with sedentary settlements, cereal agriculture, and domesticated pigs and dogs. In southern Vietnam, new data about Neolithic settlements were obtained during the excavations at An Son and Rach Nui in 2009 and 2012. This paper presents systematic comparative methods, including a correspondence statistical analysis, for analyzing ceramic vessels from Neolithic sites in southern Vietnam to identify potential paths of communication for ceramic technology in the past, particularly along river courses. This is an ongoing project, and as sites are excavated or re-excavated, ceramic data can be included in the comparative study. As a result, modeling ceramic technology in southern Vietnam and beyond to other areas of mainland Southeast Asia can reveal migration pathways and interactions between different groups.

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): 14833