Further Evidence of Heterarchy in Bronze Age Thailand

• Published in: Current anthropology 2003-04, Vol.44 (2), p.300-306
• Main Author: O'Reilly, Dougald J W
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Anthropology; Archaeology; Cross-cultural analysis; Graves; Hierarchy; History; Indigenous people; Native peoples; Prehistory; Social organization; Thailand
• ISSN: 0011-3204; 1537-5382
• DOI: 10.1086/367973

Intensive archaeological research in Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Malaysia, Cambodia, and Vietnam is a relatively recent development, and the description of the sociopolitical organization of prehistoric Southeast Asian populations is in its infancy. With the increase in the number of excavated sites it is becoming possible to form a more comprehensive picture of the prehistoric peoples of this area. Attempts to reconstruct the sociopolitical milieu of prehistoric societies on the basis of archaeological material are, however, fraught with difficulties such as differential taphonomy and the interpretation of mortuary contexts. Whether the materials interred with the dead are an accurate reflection of their positions in life may be debated. The wisdom of applying models of sociopolitical organization to different cultures far removed in space and time may also be called into question. Many of our conceptions of the prehistory of Southeast Asia have been formed with regard to an inflexible framework. It is apparent that the various theories of social development do not accord well with the data from Southeast Asia. White (1995) has proposed an alternative concept based upon the work of Crumley (1979), and it is the aim of this paper to provide further evidence from a recently excavated Bronze Age (ca. 15 00-500 B.C.) site in present-day Northeast Thailand that will attest to the value of that concept.