Trade networks and selective cultural transmission of ceramic technologies in Neolithic southern Vietnam

Author(s): Carmen Sarjeant

Year: 2019

Summary

This is an abstract from the "The Movement of Technical Knowledge: Cross-Craft Perspectives on Mobility and Knowledge in Production Technologies" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

New research on trade networks amongst early sedentary Neolithic communities, c. 4200-3000 BP, in southern Vietnam has shown that domesticated cereals and stone resources were imported to the coastal site of Rach Nui. While the stone likely came from quarry locales in the upper reaches of the Dong Nai River, possibly with specialist toolmakers, few fine ceramic wares were transported downstream to Rach Nui. Incised and impressed fine wares commonly seen in Neolithic communities throughout mainland Southeast Asia appear to have not been produced locally at Rach Nui. The local potters at Rach Nui manufactured a limited range of coarse wares not identified at other contemporaneous sites further upstream. This suggests there was no cultural transmission for learning fine ware technology at Rach Nui. A comparative analysis, including sites along the Dong Nai River and from other areas of southern Vietnam, has been conducted using statistical methods to assess the variation between ceramic assemblages in the region. Applying these results, this paper explores the cultural mechanisms, and the limitations of the current evidence, that might have caused the apparent reduced exposure to certain ceramic technologies at Rach Nui compared to other sites in southern Vietnam.

Cite this Record

Trade networks and selective cultural transmission of ceramic technologies in Neolithic southern Vietnam. Carmen Sarjeant. Presented at The 84th Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, Albuquerque, NM. 2019 ( tDAR id: 451643)

Spatial Coverage

min long: 92.549; min lat: -11.351 ; max long: 141.328; max lat: 27.372 ;

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 23360