| Abstract: |
The occupation area at Khao Sam Kaeo was delimited by the walls. No structures other than the hydraulic ones have been found outside the boundary walls. Inhabitants built structures on piles and on terraces set on plateaux and the gentle slopes of the four hills. The bases of the hills and the river banks were also occupied. Occupied zones are characterised by domestic or craft structures of small dimensions (terraces, floors, wells, low walls, drains, and holes left by posts) and by monumental structures (pathways with drains and terraces). The network of habitations on piles and terraces was dense and is characterised by accumulations of terraces and drains. All craft activities (iron, copper-base alloy, and hard stones) expanded both on the plateaux and at the bases of the hills, except that the lapidary glass, stone, and glass-bracelet craft centres have been identified exclusively in the lower parts of Valley 1 and along the river. The western and low slopes of Hill 2 may have held a cemetery, which we did not excavate but which yielded a rich small-material assemblage (hard stone ornaments, glass, and gold) and thick jars. Burial deposits at Khao Sam Kaeo were found associated with individual habitation areas, be they on hills or in lowland areas. It is in this latter environment that most funerary deposits seem to concentrate. As mentioned above, the western part of Hill 2 may have corresponded to a cemetery. The funerary mode consists of pots found empty or containing ashes (and in one instance cremated bones of two children), with which ornaments were sometimes associated.
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