Why Stop Smelting Here? Using the History of a Slag Concentration to Understand Variability in Angkorian Iron Production Sites in the Phnom Dek Metallurgical Landscape, Cambodia

Summary

This is an abstract from the "The Current State of Archaeological Research across Southeast Asia" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

The Phnom Dek metallurgical landscape represents the single largest iron smelting region in mainland Southeast Asia. Located 100 km east of Angkor in central Cambodia, our surveys have identified over 20 production sites and a total of 150 individual slag mounds active between the sixth and twentieth centuries. Iron smelting during the Angkor period (ninth to thirteenth century) experienced a massive increase in the number, size and distribution of iron production locations and correlates directly with the expansionary phases of the Khmer Empire. Excavation at the Tonle Bak site, 2 km south of Phnom Dek, revealed the first evidence of Angkorian furnace bases within a 5 m high slag concentration and the repetitive smelting process used to generate the mound. Combining dates from in-slag and excavated charcoals, iron tools and geomagneticintensity analysis, this presentation establishes a timeline for one mound and uses this model to estimate production across the landscape. More importantly, we attempt to explain the variability in mound form and size within a given site through the lens of ritual practices, local spirits and ethnographic analogies from the Kuay, the traditional iron smelters in this region.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• The Current State of Archaeological Research across Southeast Asia   •
• Society for American Archaeology 89th Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA (2024)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 38298.0