Understanding Comparative Beliefs Visualized: Pedagogy and the Power of GIS in the Contextualizing of Historical Taiwan

<p class="Default"><em>This paper will provide an overview of the historical influences that are the subject of the time-mapping visualization of Taiwan, primarily from the perspective of how those influences affected the island’s original inhabitants. This narrative accompanies a description of the mapping project itself—part of the Electronic Cultural Atlas Initiative based at UC Berkeley—including details related to the source of historical/geographical data and the digitization of that data for dynamic representation. This project is centred on the cultural resources and experience of Taiwan, which today faces issues of aboriginal language extinction, identification and access to cultural resources, the teaching of history in public education, and adapting to a multicultural identity, all of which are components of cultural resource management (CRM), and all of which would be served well by the CRM technology and programs of which this project can be considered a pilot project. </em></p>

Cultural Resource Management of the Dying Ivory Craftsmanship as Reflected in the Wood Carving of Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala

<p class="Default"><em>Ivory carving from Thiruvananthapuram, the capital of the Indian state of Kerala, was once appreciated internationally for its outstanding craftsmanship. The origin of the industry can be traced back to 17th century CE or before that, and grew as a full fledged industry under the patronage of the Maharajas of Travancore from the 19th century onwards. During the old period it was practiced by Brahmins and goldsmiths, and later by the carpenters (achary) as well. Though they are very few in number, some craftsmen are now continuing the art on alternatives to ivory such as rosewood, white cedar and, even more rarely, sandalwood. After the ban on ivory in 1990, this practice—emblematic of Intangible Cultural Heritage—looked on the brink of disappearing. In an example of Cultural Resource Management (CRM) success, the traditional carvers of Thiruvananthapuram were shifted to sandalwood carving. Presently, sandalwood is a vulnerable species and extremely expensive. In addition to the threats mentioned in the UNESCO Paris convention (UNESCO 2003), some elements of Intangible Cultural Heritage are also disappearing due to the conflict that arises from the cultural use of natural heritage, leading nature’s beings toward extinction. The aim of the current research is to analyze these problems and to formulate fruitful strategies for the safeguarding of the age-old craft with sustainable use of natural raw materials and alternative materials. </em></p>

Metrical Distinctiveness of Indian Crania Demonstrated through Stepwise Multivariate Classification

Our previous metrical study of Indian crania from across the South Asian subcontinent found great variability within all of the series, combined with average trends whereby the Indian series resemble each other and contrast with series outside of South Asia. This contribution confirms the craniometric distinctiveness of Indian crania, notwithstanding their intra-series variability, through stepwise discriminant function analysis of the six best sampled series from northern and South India. The proportion of crania from places beyond South Asia classified as Indian is negligible, while over 90% of Indian crania are correctly identified as Indian. This correct identification of Indian crania is enhanced amongst those specimens whose possession of pronouncedly Indian craniometric attributes is revealed through index analysis. By extrapolation, index analysis may also assist the correct classification of non-Indian populations that also are craniometrically distinct. Further, Indians’ craniometric distinctiveness aligns with genetic evidence for the predominantly indigenous ancestry of Indians who speak Indo-Aryan and especially Dravidian languages.

An early hunter-gatherer site at Ban Non Wat, Northeast Thailand

<em>The inland plains of Southeast Asia are a void in terms of early occupation by hunter gatherers. Two radiocarbon determinations from basal Ban Non Wat on the Khorat Plateau date a shell midden and possibly associated human and deer remains between 18000-20000 years ago. </em>

DATING THE BRONZE AGE OF SOUTHEAST ASIA. WHY DOES IT MATTER?

<p class="BasicParagraph"><em>We have dated human bone, freshwater shell, charcoal and rice grains from key sites in mainland Southeast Asia in order to establish the chronological scaffolding for later prehistory (ca 2500 BC-AD 500). In a recent report on the metal remains from the site of Ban Chiang, however, this chronology has been challenged. Here, we respond to these claims and show that they are unfounded and misleading. We maintain the integrity of the Bayesian-modelled radiocarbon results that identify the arrival of the first rice and millet farmers in mainland Southeast Asia towards the end of the 3rd millennium BC, with the first evidence for the casting of bronze by about 1100 BC. Social change that followed the establishment of metallurgy was rapid and profound. </em></p>

INDUSTRIES OF ANGKOR PROJECT: PRELIMINARY INVESTIGATION OF IRON PRODUCTION AT BOENG KROAM, PREAH KHAN OF KOMPONG SVAY

<p>The Industries of Angkor Project (INDAP) is the first intensive investigation into the history and role of iron production at Preah Khan of Kompong Svay (Preah Khan), the largest regional enclosure complex built by the Angkorian Khmer (9^th to 15^th c. CE) in Cambodia. We present the initial multidisciplinary research of the primary iron smelting sites located on Boeng Kroam, a large reservoir located north of Preah Khan’s central temple complex. Ground-penetrating radar surveys and excavation at Location 1, a slag concentration on top of the reservoir bank, revealed that it is a deposit of metallurgical waste from a nearby furnace. Multiple radiocarbon dates from Location 1 indicate that the smelting activities took place in the early 15^th century during the time of Angkor’s ultimate collapse as the political centre of the Khmer world. This indicates a re-use of spaces by iron workers after the primary occupation of Preah Khan between the 11^th and 13^th centuries.</p>

MEGALITHIC JAR SITES OF LAOS: A COMPREHENSIVE OVERVIEW AND NEW DISCOVERIES

<span>The megalithic jar sites of central Laos remain one of Southeast Asia's archaeological enigmas. These sites, more than 90 known to date, comprise large stone jars, discs, apparent lids and imported boulders located in elevated positions on hillslopes, mountain ridges or saddles. While the sites were first noted in the late 19th century, the first systematic research at these sites only began in the 1930s with the work of Madeleine Colani. Since that time, attempts to understand the culture that created the jars, their distribution and purpose have been limited not least because of the presence of unexploded ordnance (UXO) dating to the conflict in Indo-China in the 1960s and '70s. Renewed archaeological research by the authors commenced in 2016. This paper provides an inventory of known sites, matching historical accounts with more recent survey and lastly lists new sites identified in the recent research programme.</span>

BIOLOGICAL ANTHROPOLOGY IN THE INDO-PACIFIC REGION: NEW APPROACHES TO AGE-OLD QUESTIONS

<p>Biological anthropological research, the study of both modern and past humans, is a burgeoning field in the Indo-Pacific region. It is becoming increasingly apparent that the unique environments of the Indo-Pacific have resulted in an archaeological record that does not necessarily align with those in the northern hemisphere. New, regionally-specific archaeological models are being developed, and biological anthropological research has an important role to play in establishing past human experience within these models. In the Indo-Pacific, research using ancient and modern human tissues is adding insight into global processes of prehistoric settlement and migrations, subsistence change and human biosocial adaptation. This review synthesises current themes in biological anthropology in this region. It highlights the diverse methods and approaches used by biological anthropologists to address globally-relevant archaeological questions. In recent decades a collaborative approach between archaeologists, biological anthropologists and local communities has become the norm in the region. The many positive outcomes of this multi-disciplinary approach are highlighted here through the use of regionally-specific case studies. This review ultimately aims to stimulate further collaborations between archaeologists, biological anthropologists and the communities in the region, and demonstrate how the evidence from Indo-Pacific research may be relevant to global archaeological models. </p>

CHANGING PARADIGMS IN SOUTHEAST ASIAN ARCHAEOLOGY

<p>Abstract: An argument is presented for Southeast Asian archaeologists to replace the Birds Eye View/Rear View Mirror paradigm prevalent during the mid-twentieth century with a forward-facing, “emergent” paradigm in alignment with current trends in archaeological theory. An earlier version of this text was prepared for a keynote address at the European Association of Southeast Asian Archaeologists (EurASEAA), 14^th International Conference that took place at in Dublin, September 18-21 2012.</p>

SHELL PERSONAL ORNAMENTS CRAFT AT THE SITE OF THA KAE, LOPBURI PROVINCE, CENTRAL THAILAND. TRACING THE SOUTHWARD DISPERSAL OF THE DRILLING TECHNIQUE

<p>The collection of mollusk remains excavated at Tha Kae has been recently re-analyzed and identified as to genera or family level. Out of 5 main fresh/salt-water mollusk families, only Conus and Tridacna were used to make personal ornaments and, for Tridacna, small adzes, during the local Bronze Age (BA) (c. 1100-500 BCE).</p><p>The study of 100 kg of production debris and of whole/fragmentary ornaments demonstrated the manufacturing cycle consisted of two main steps: 1) Procurement of the raw material; 2) Transformation in a sequence of six stages of the raw material into the base material for luxuries that arguably entered inter-regional exchange circuits. The manufacturing cycle, possibly part of a system organized at the community level, implied procurement expeditions and skilled craftspeople able to organize and use the relevant tool kit, whose origin can be traced back to the lower Yangtze valley (late fourth millennium BC). The shell-craft cycle also sheds light on the cognitive processes of the craftsmen, who had to make a choice in order to maximize the output of their work.</p>The study provides newly organized data of direct archaeological interest to the field of Southeast Asian pre-protohistory, as well as to those of social and cultural anthropology, cognitive science, marine palaeobiology and to palaeogeography.