Angkor from the Outside In: Incorporation into the Angkorian State as Seen through the Distribution of Stoneware Ceramics

Summary

This is an abstract from the "The Current State of Archaeological Research across Southeast Asia" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Incorporation into and connectivity within the Angkorian state (ninth–fifteenth centuries CE) has been studied through the construction of large temples and road/water networks across sites in mainland Southeast Asia (e.g., Hendrickson 2008, 2010; Pottier et al. 2012). However, few scholars have examined how areas outside the urban core interacted with the capital at the household level. Khmer stoneware ceramics were circulated strictly within the Angkorian polity and used for a variety of domestic activities (e.g., Chhay 2013; Ea 2013; Rooney 2000). Due to this, they can be used as a proxy for understanding how connected households in provincial areas were to Angkorian stoneware ceramic circulation networks. Here, I present the results of a study of ceramic assemblages from habitation mounds excavated around Prasat Basaet in Battambang, Cambodia. By examining the types and proportions of stoneware ceramics, I found that households at Basaet had a smaller percentage of stonewares and different types of glazed stonewares than similar households within the capital. Results from compositional analysis using NAA revealed that stonewares found at Basaet came from several Angkorian kilns. Overall, this preliminary study demonstrates the importance of studying provincial areas as a means of better understanding the Angkorian state economy.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 86th Annual Meeting, Online (2021)   •
• The Current State of Archaeological Research across Southeast Asia

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 33095