New AMS 14C Dates from Non Pa Wai: Insights on Stratigraphic Complexity at a Prehistoric Copper Smelting Site in Central Thailand

Summary

This is an abstract from the "The Social and Environmental Context for Early Metalworking in Central Thailand" session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Non Pa Wai (NPW), located in the Khao Wong Prachan Valley on the Lopburi Plain in Central Thailand, is a 5 ha. copper-smelting site with Bronze Age deposits that overlie an earlier Neolithic occupation. The deposits dating to the earliest settlement are capped by a caliche hardpan that was much disturbed by later smelting activities. Detailed dating of the deposits is complicated by extensive bioturbation and anthropogenic disturbances. This presentation discusses the results of the entire series of 14C dates (including the newest dates) from the deep sondages on NPW’s main mound in relation to stratigraphy and distribution of index artifacts. Dating this important site contributes to the on-going discussion of the movement of copper in Thailand and Southeast Asia and facilitates completion of analyses of materials from the site.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 90th Annual Meeting, Denver, CO (2025)   •
• The Social and Environmental Context for Early Metalworking in Central Thailand

Keywords

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 51465