| Abstract: |
Khok Phanom Di is located in Central Thailand, and was occupied between 2000 and 1500 BC. A cemetery spanning 17-20 generations was encountered, in which members of the same family were interred alongside and over each other within collective burial areas. At first settlement, the site commanded a major estuary, one of the world's richest habitats in terms of self-replenishing food. The diet comprised marine species and rice. Access was possible to local sources of shell for the manufacture of jewellery, and the site was also a pottery-making centre. The biological remains suggest that a major environmental change, involving the relocation of the river and coastal progradation, occurred after the passage of about ten generations. This was accompanied by changes in the human diet and health. Males had less-developed upper body strength which could reflect a sharp reduction in canoeing. Hardly any shell beads were found in the graves representing the four generations which followed this change. It is suggested that local sources of shell for bead manufacture were no longer available, and men ceased coastal canoe voyaging. With the fifth generation, there was a dramatic increase in some very rich graves, which incorporated an entirely new range of shell jewellery made from probably exotic species. At the same time, women predominated numerically and in terms of wealth. Some infants interred alongside these women were also very wealthy. It is suggested that the women were pottery makers and were able to engage in long-distance exchange as a means to attaining high individual status. A trend towards matrilocality saw young females becoming central in maintaining the social group. Those who died in infancy were given particularly impressive burial rites. Yet status was personally achieved rather than ascriptive.
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