Ban Chiang, a Prehistoric Village Site in Northeast Thailand, Volume 1: The Human Skeletal Remains

Summary

The inaugural volume in the Thai Archaeology Monograph Series describes in detail the human skeletal remains from Ban Chiang in northeast Thailand. The skeletal material spans a period from 2100 B.C. to A.D. 200 and includes premetal, Bronze Age, and Iron Age deposits from a series of prehistoric societies.

The history of Homo sapiens in Asia has long been a topic of interest among scholars investigating human biology. This study, which is based on one of the larger, comprehensively analyzed skeletal series ever excavated in the region, makes fundamental contributions to understanding human settlement in eastern Asia.

The volume includes detailed summaries of metric and nonmetric variation recorded in teeth, skulls, and the rest of the skeleton, and evidence of disease of the Ban Chiang people. These data are used to examine a number of questions: Where did the people of Ban Chiang come from? Did more intensified agriculture influence the health of the people? How do the people of Ban Chiang compare to the inhabitants of other ancient sites in Thailand and to the modern peoples of Thailand and neighboring regions?

Contrary to other groups experiencing similar transitions elsewhere in the world, no clear evidence for a decline in health over time is noted in the Ban Chiang skeletal series, suggesting continuity in a broad-based subsistence strategy even in the face of intensifying agriculture. The skeletal evidence further suggests a rigorous physical lifestyle with little evidence for infectious disease or interpersonal violence.

The documents and datasets included as part of this record are from the Appendix E, supplementary material included on a CD with the publication.

The twelve databases that make up Appendix E contain metric and non-metric observations by individual burial excavated from the BC and BCES locales at Ban Chiang, Thailand. The databases are in two formats, comma-delimited text files and Microsoft Access format. Users should be able to import one or the other format into most major spreadsheet, database, or statistical analysis software packages. The comma-delimited format is in ASCII text with commas separating the columns of data; this version of the data is found in the file folder called "Delimited Data." The Microsoft Access 95 format is version 7 and should be easily converted to later versions of Microsoft Access and Excel; this version of the data is found in the file folder called "Access Data." For most software you will have to use your package's instructions on how to import data.

Database Titles

Database E.1 Individual Records of Cranial Measurements, Indices, and Capacities in Adults

Database E.2 Individual Records of Mandibular Measurements and Indices in Adults

Database E.3 Individual Records of Cranial Non-metric Variation in Adolescents and Adults

Database E.4 Individual Records of Measurements of Permanent Dentitions in Adolescents and Adults

Database E.5a Individual Records of Dental Non-metric Observations in Permanent Dentitions in Children, Adolescents, and Adults

Database E.5b Individual Records of Pathological Conditions in Permanent Dentitions in Children, Adolescents, and Adults

Database E.6 Individual Records of Non-metric Observations in Deciduous Dentitions in Children

Database E.7 Individual Records of Hypoplasias and Carious Lesions in Permanent Dentitions in Children, Adolescents, and Adults

Database E.8 Individual Records of Infracranial Measurements in Adults

Database E.9 Individual Records of Infracranial Non-metric Variation in Adults and Adolescents

Database E.10 Individual Records of Vertebral Non-metric Variation in Adults and Adolescents

Database E.11 Individual Records of Osteoarthritis in the Adult Skull and Appendicular Skeletons

Database E.12 Individual Records of Osteoarthritis and Osteophytosis in Adult Vertebral Columns

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology

Keywords

Temporal Coverage

Calendar Date: -2100 to 200

Spatial Coverage

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology

Repository(s): University of Hawai'i Department of Anthropology

Source Collections

The complete collection of Ban Chiang Skeletal remains and original data collection forms are currently curated at the University of Hawai'i Department of Anthropology. The skeletal collection will eventually be returned to Thailand.