Middle Mekong Archaeological Project: Overview and New Data

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.

The Middle Mekong Archaeological Project (MMAP) is a collaborative venture developed between Joyce White and Bounheuang Bouasisenpaseuth and other researchers working to develop an archaeological research program with the Lao Department of Heritage, with a primary focus on the prehistory of the Luang Prabang area. This paper gives an overview of the research program and discusses recent significant results for regional prehistory. Speleothem evidence for a middle Holocene megadrought lasting over a millennium reshapes how that period can be interpreted by archaeologists investigating interior mainland Southeast Asia. In addition, new radiocarbon dating evidence from the Tham An Mah rockshelter, which has shown features with unmistakable relationships to the Plain of Jars, suggests that the megalithic tradition existed into the early historic period, postdating its previously assumed Iron Age period attribution.

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

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 32328