| Abstract: |
The history of inquiry into the Bronze Age of Southeast Asia began with the discovery of copper-base tools and ornaments at Samrong Sen in Cambodia during the 1860s. After a series of analytical papers were published, the subject became dormant until in 1964, burials with a few bronzes were excavated at Non Nok Tha in northeast Thailand. Initial results of radiocarbon dating suggested a remarkable early adoption of metallurgy, reinforced by equally early contexts in the fourth millennium BC claimed at the nearby site of Ban Chiang. This situation provided a conundrum: whereas elsewhere in the Old World copper-base technology stimulated rapid social change, in Southeast Asia there was none. New dating initiatives, linked with the excavation of the Thai site of Ban Non Wat have provided evidence for a transition into the Bronze Age in the eleventh century BC and a rapid rise of wealthy, social elites.
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