More questions than answers: the Southeast Asian Lead Isotope Project 2009–2012

Thomas Oliver Pryce ¹ Sandrine Baron ² Bérénice Bellina ¹ Peter S. Bellwood ³ Nigel Chang ⁴ Pranab Chattopadhyay ⁵ Eusebio Dizon ⁶ Ian C. Glover ⁷ Elizabeth Hamilton ⁸ Charles F. W. Higham ⁹ Aung Aung Kyaw ¹⁰ Vin Laychour ¹¹ Surapol Natapintu ¹² Viet Nguyen ¹³ Jean-Pierre Pautreau ¹⁴ Ernst Pernicka ¹⁵ Vincent C. Pigott ¹⁶ Mark Pollard ¹⁷ Christophe Pottier ¹⁸ Andreas Reinecke ¹⁹ Thongsa Sayavongkhamdy ²⁰ Viengkeo Souksavatdy ²¹ Joyce White ¹⁶

1 PréTech - Préhistoire et Technologie

2 TRACES - Travaux et recherches archéologiques sur les cultures, les espaces et les sociétés

3 ANU - Australian National University

4 JCU - James Cook University

5 CASTEI - Centre for Archaeological Studies and Training

6 National Museum of the Philippines

7 UCL - University College of London [London]

8 Department of Immunology and Infectious Diseases

9 University of Otago [Dunedin, Nouvelle-Zélande]

10 Department of Archaeology

11 MCFA - Ministry of Culture and Fine arts

12 Department of Archaeology

13 E-MOTION - Geometry and Probability for Motion and Action

GRAVIR - IMAG - Laboratoire d'informatique GRAphique, VIsion et Robotique de Grenoble, Inria Grenoble - Rhône-Alpes

14 CReAAH - Centre de Recherche en Archéologie, Archéosciences, Histoire

15 CEZA

16 University of Pennsylvania [Philadelphia]

17 Research Laboratory for Archaeology and the History of Art [Oxford]

18 EFEO - École française d'Extrême-Orient

19 DAI - Deutsches Archäologisches Institut

20 Department of national heritage, Ministry of Information and Culture

21 Department of Museums, Historic Buildings and Archaeology

Abstract : As in most parts of the world, ancient Southeast Asian metal production and exchange has been accorded great importance as a cultural and technological development with far-reaching economic and political impacts. Here we present the results of the Southeast Asian Lead Isotope Project's 2009–2012 research campaign, a systematic effort to empirically reconstruct regional metal exchange networks and their attendant social interactions c. 1000 BC–c. 500 AD. The study's morpho-stylistic, technological, elemental and isotopic datasets cover early metal production (minerals and slag) and consumption (Cu, Cu–Sn, Cu–Pb, Cu–Sn–Pb alloys) assemblages from thirty sites in eight countries. These data have either identified or substantiated long-range maritime and terrestrial exchange networks connecting Han China and Mauryan India with most of continental Southeast Asia. The variety and intensity of the attested metal exchange behaviours hints at a dynamic and innovative 1st millennium BC regional economy and the vibrant exchange of cultural practices amongst populations separated by thousands of kilometres. Important too is the provision of indirect evidence for intra-regional economic integration between the Southeast Asia's metal-consuming lowland majorities and metal-producing upland minorities. Southeast Asia has a comparable surface area and present day population to Europe, and thus our efforts represent only the beginning for diachronic and multi-scalar metal exchange research. However, archaeometallurgical methodologies have the potential to greatly improve our understanding of Southeast Asia's vast cultural diversity and interconnectedness. With this paper we lay the framework for such an endeavour and, we hope, define the major questions for its next phase.

Keywords : Southeast Asia Copper-base metal exchange Eurasian technology transmission Lead isotope

Document type :

Journal articles

Domain :

Humanities and Social Sciences / Archaeology and Prehistory

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https://hal.parisnanterre.fr//hal-01529111
Contributor : Administrateur Hal Nanterre <>
Submitted on : Tuesday, May 30, 2017 - 11:35:14 AM
Last modification on : Thursday, January 14, 2021 - 11:47:25 AM

More questions than answers: the Southeast Asian Lead Isotope Project 2009–2012

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More questions than answers: the Southeast Asian Lead Isotope Project 2009–2012

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