International Journal of Historical Archaeology, Vol. 2, No. 3, 1998
The Transition from Prehistory to the Historic Period in the Upper Mun Valley C. F. W. Higham1
The Early Historic Period in the Mun Valley occupies a critical three centuries, from A.D. 500 to A.D. 800, a period often known as that of Zhenla, a name derived from early Chinese accounts. This article first describes early findings of fieldwork designed to illuminate the prehistory of the upper Mun Valley, a period which covers approximately two millennia, with initial settlement now dated between 1500 and 1000 B.C. It then considers the nature of the transition to the complex polities of Zhenla. This involves a combination of archaeological and documentary evidence. Sources for the latter are rare for the Mun Valley, but by broadening the area considered, it is possible to integrate archaeological and historical sources in order to portray the intensifying social changes which characterize the Early Historic Period. It is suggested that most of the Mun Valley was occupied by Khmer speakers during the Iron Age, people responsible for the transition to increasingly centralized polities of the Early Historic Period. In the upper reaches of the Mun catchment, and in the Chi Valley to the north, the late prehistoric inhabitants spoke Mon. They had close affinities with the Dvaravati polities of Central Thailand. If confirmed, this hypothesis would indicate a series of local trends towards increasing social complexity which we can recognize in the early epigraphic record. KEY WORDS: Iron Age; Khmer; Thailand; early states.
INTRODUCTION This study is restricted, initially, to a review of current research in a small valley which comprises part of the upper Mun catchment on the Khorat Plateau in Northeast Thailand (Fig. 1). It then considers the im'Department of Anthropology, PO. Box 56, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand. 235 l092-7697/98/0900-0235$15.00/0 O 1998 Plenum Publishing Corporation
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plications of results on a broader scale. The study area was chosen because, first, it incorporates some of the so-called "moated" sites of northeast Thailand and, second, because within the general area, there are several major Angkorian temple sanctuaries. The research program investigates the transition from the late prehistoric Iron Age into the period which saw the establishment of polities responsible for brick or stone sanctuaries constructed for the worship of either the Buddha or Hindu deities. The Mun Valley is separated from the plains of northern Cambodia by the Dang Rack Range. This is not a major obstacle to movement, and today is crossed with ease over many tracks. There is no reason to separate the two regions in any cultural sense; even today, after the establishment of an international frontier along the crest of the Dang Rack escarpment, there are many Khmer speakers on the Thai side of the border in regular communication with relatives to the south. Both areas share a relatively low rainfall, but not so low or irregular that inundation rice farming cannot sustain a dense network of villages. The Mun Valley is peripheral to the main concentration of pre-Angkorian Khmer language inscriptions (Fig. 2). Nevertheless, these inscriptions mark the transition into the historic period and their contents provide virtually the only historic records available. We lack the Chinese or Indian sources, based on travelers' tales, which concentrate in the coastal tracts of the mainland of Southeast Asia and play such a prominent part in the research undertaken by Stark at Angkor Borei. Yet the area contains many prehistoric sites and some of the larger provincial Angkorian temple sanctuaries, and documenting the transition draws on archaeological and historical sources.
THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL SEQUENCE
Our knowledge of the prehistory of the upper Mun Valley has greatly benefited from the fieldwork of Welch and McNeill (1991). They have taken a holistic approach which pays equal weight to the prehistoric and historic periods, dividing the sequence into six phases: Tamyae (1000-600 B.C.), Prasat (600-200 B.C.), Classic Phimai (200 B.C.-A.D. 300), Late Phimai (A.D. 300-600), Muang Sema (A.D. 600-1000), and Lopburi (A.D. 1000-1300). As a result of their intensive site surveys across the three major environmental zones of the Phimai region, they have noted that the few Tamyae sites are restricted to the alluvial plain. During succeeding phases, the number of sites grew and settlement expanded onto the surrounding terraces and uplands. The number of settlements doubled between the Prasat and the Classic Phimai phases on the alluvial plain. The Early His-
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Fig. 2. The distribution of Khmer and Mon language inscriptions and other sites mentioned in the text. (1) Nakhon Fathom; (2) Ban Sao, Lopburi; (3) Nakhon Sri Thammarat; (4) Amphoe Phra Buddhabhat, Saraburi; (5, 6) Amphoe Swang Arom, Lopburi; (7) Amphoe Muang, Lopburi; (8, 9) Amphoe Chumphae, Khon Kaen; (10, 11) Amphoe Nadune, Mahasarakham; (12) Muang Fa Daet; (13, 14) Amphoe Muang, Nakhon Sawan; (15) Kumalasai, Kalasin; (16) Amphoe Sanpatong, Chiang Mai; (17) Lamphun; (18) Prasat Khao Noi; (19) Isanapura; (20) Khan Thevada; (21) Pak Dom Noi; (22) Tham Ped Thong; (23) Sri Muang Aem; (24) Chong Srajaeng; (25) Bor E-Ka (Muang Sema); (26) Sri Thep; (27) Hin Khon; (28) Wat Ban Song Puay.
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toric Period corresponds to the Muang Sema phase. Many of the "moated" sites were abandoned by this period, but others continued in occupation, and there was a strong element of continuity in the preferred area of settlement. During the Lopburi phase, we find much evidence for intense building activity at major ceremonial centers, such as Phimai, Phanom Wan, and Phanom Rung, which involved temples, walled precincts, and barays (reservoirs).
THE AREA DURING PREHISTORY
The above sequence has been established on the basis of a series of site surveys and limited excavations. Within the framework of a multidisciplinary research program, the author and Rachanie Thosarat are currently investigating an area west of that studied by Welch and McNeill, in an attempt to define the nature of the prehistoric communities and their adaptation to the new conditions which are subsumed under the Early Historic Period. This research has involved the excavation of three sites, one of which belongs entirely to the Bronze Age, the other two to the Iron Age. This study is only in its early stage, and results are based more on impressions than defined conclusions. The overall objective of the fieldwork is to establish the nature of those prehistoric societies which were to transform themselves into the polities often referred to as Zhenla and Angkor. The subject matter involves substantial prehistoric sites, some covering up to 50 ha, which, from the air, appear to be ringed by moats. As a point of departure, we proposed that these were indeed moats which, linked with putative canals, represent a late prehistoric interest in water control measures related to agriculture, defense, or the provision of water for the populace during the dry season, either singly or in combination. We also wished to examine the nature of these large settlements. Already at Ban Don Phlong, Nitta (1991) had identified a cemetery under a cluster of ironsmelting furnaces. At Non Yang, he had found evidence for structures of wood and clay. Yet the spatial and social dimensions of an Iron Age cemetery remained unknown. Such mortuary data, however, represent the most promising source of information on the social organization, particularly when grave goods include exotic items and iron or bronze artifacts bearing on war, agriculture, or ceremonial activities. The prehistoric ceramic industry is also a promising potential source of information, particularly if it can be shown that there were trends to specialization in production centers. After three field seasons of site survey, we decided to concentrate excavations at Ban Lum Khao, Noen U-Loke, and Non Muang Kao (Fig. 3). The first was selected because it seemed, on superficial evidence, to belong
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only to the Bronze Age, and we wished to provide a benchmark from which to judge changes which followed the availability of iron. Noen U-Loke and Non Muang Kao are apparently moated sites and much larger in area than Ban Lum Khao. Ban Lum Khao
The excavation of Ban Lum Khao was undertaken in order to define as far as possible, the main elements of a Bronze Age community. Surface surveys indicate that the site incorporated a cemetery with typical Prasat
Fig. 3. The study area in the upper Mun Valley, Northeast Thailand.
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Phase pottery vessels, but there was no evidence for Phimai Phase occupation. We opened an area of 15 x 10 m and encountered a stratigraphic sequence just over 2 m deep. The initial occupation phase incorporated a series of pits rich in faunal and artifactual material, including much charcoal. The five radiocarbon dates for these contexts indicate initial settlement in the period 1450-1000 B.C. (Table I). Pottery from this phase equates, we think, with Welch and McNeill's Tamyae Phase. The faunal remains include wild water buffalo and deer, and many fish larger by far than modern counterparts. There were also domestic dogs, cattle, and pigs. We have the impression that the initial inhabitants entered an environment hitherto unoccupied and were thus able to exploit species unaffected by human predation. There are no secure radiocarbon samples available for the ensuing Bronze Age cemetery, but it is most likely to fall between 1000 B.C. and the beginning of the Iron Age, which is dated after 500 B.C. Our insight
Table I. Radiocarbon Dates from Barn Lum Khao (BLK), Non Muang Kao (NMK), and Noen U-Loke (NUL) a Site
Wk
% modern
Result BP
2a corrected
BLK BLK BLK BLK BLK
4507 4508 4509 4510 4511
68.2 68.8 68.9 68.09 67.8
± ± ± ± ±
0.4 0.4 0.6 0.96 0.4
3080 3010 3000 3043 3120
NMK NMK NMK NMK
4512 4513 4514 4515
80.4 81.08 80.9 81.9
± ± ± ±
1.6 0.72 0.9 0.6
1750 ± 160 1640 ± 70 1700 + 90 1610 ± 60
3 B.C.-A.D. 639 A.D. 315-584 A.D. 129-545 A.D. 336-600
NUL NUL NUL NUL NUL NUL NUL NUL NUL NUL NUL NUL NUL NUL NUL
5353 5352 5359 5354 5358 5362 5360 5351 5355 5357 5361 5356 5363 5364 5365
83.2 81.1 79.5 79.4 79.6 81.5 80.3 79.8 79.5 79.3 79.1 77.1 74.5 75.3 71.3
± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ±
1.2 0.8 0.6 0.6 0.4 0.6 0.5 0.5 0.6 0.4 0.5 0.4 0.5 1.1 0.5
1470 ± 120 1680 ± 90 1840 ± 60 1850 ± 70 1830 ± 50 1650 ± 70 1770 ± 60 1820 ± 60 1850 ± 70 1870 ± 50 1880 ± 60 2090 ± 50 2360 ± 60 2280 ± 130 2720 ± 60
A.D. 346-786 A.D. 140-597 A.D. 65-343 A.D. 18-375 A.D. 79-337 A.D. 243-592 A.D. 123-417 A.D. 75-383 A.D. 18-375 A.D. 58-316 A.D. 11-320 199 B.C.-A.D. 20 540-360 B.C. 773-1 B.C. 995-796 B.C.
± ± ± ± ±
"Dates are calibrated after Stuiver and Reimer (1993).
50 60 80 82 50
1435-1209 1394-1068 1410-1068 1449-1019 1461-1255
B.C. B.C. B.C. B.C. B.C.
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into this community is provided by 110 inhumation graves, one of the larger samples available for this part of Southeast Asia. There are at least four and possibly five interment phases in the cemetery, but the ritual of death remained basically the same. Bodies were interred, usually with the head to the southeast, with a range of grave goods. The cemetery included men, women, children, and infants, and some spatial coherence is seen in the formation of rows of interments (Fig. 4). Infants were usually interred in lidded jars at the heads of females. Grave goods included pottery vessels, bivalve shellfish, marine shell bangles, ear ornaments and beads, marble bangles, the foot bones of pigs, spindle whorls, stone adzes, and fish skeletons. It is notable that in a Bronze Age cemetery, there is not one bronze grave good. No contemporary cemetery in Thailand has more than a handful of graves with bronze offerings, but no other has a dearth. In other respects, however, Ban Lum Khao falls into a general pattern for this period. No group of graves, or particular individuals, stands out, although later graves have markedly more offerings. There is no obvious distinction in treatment by gender, and infants were often accompanied by a similar range and quantity of goods as were adults. Of particular interest is the number of red slipped or painted pottery vessels, over 400 being recovered. Few people reached the age of 40 years, and there was a high incidence of mortality among infants and children. A similar situation has been identified at nearby Ban Prasat, where the pottery styles and personal ornaments were virtually identical, and bronzes were extremely rare. There, however, one or two graves stood out, on the basis of the quantity of offerings, a man, for example, being accompanied by over 50 pottery vessels (Monkhonkamnuanket, 1992). The Iron Age
Now that we have a benchmark in the Ban Lum Khao cemetery, it is possible to appreciate the changes which came with the ensuing Phimai Phase, the local Iron Age. We have examined two so-called "moated" sites, Noen U-Loke and Non Muang Kao. The two seasons of excavations at the former, which viewed from the air appears to be ringed by a series of moats, were undertaken in an area of 14 x 14 m between November 1996 and March 1998. The natural substrate was reached at a depth of 4.85 m (Fig. 5). Nearly the entire sequence in this area belongs to the Iron Age, there is one Bronze Age grave. The sequence began with evidence for the presence of a small stream bed running across the excavated area, in the channel of which were potsherds. It is evident that Bronze Age remains from higher on the mound were redeposited by stream erosion. There followed
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four major cultural layers which contained evidence for industrial, occupation, and mortuary activity during the Iron Age. The radiocarbon dates evidence settlement from about 800 B.C. to A.D. 400. The industrial activity involved the construction of a series of clay-lined furnaces equipped with tuyeres. We are unsure of the precise function of the furnaces, but they were clearly used on several successive occasions, for we have found that the clay was relined and interspersed with layers of asbestos. There are at least three possible functions for these furnaces. The presence of iron slag indicates smelting. Saitowitz (personal communication) has suggested that glass rod and pits filled with sand reflect local glass manufacture, and bivalve molds indicate bronze casting. Remains of the occupation included rows of deep postholes and hearths and pits containing large samples of carbonized rice. Some clay floors and burned clay of a wattle and daub method of wall construction indicate domestic dwellings, and many of the pottery vessels and potsherds showed evidence for a white residue on the interior which C. Heron (personal communication) has identified as dipterocarp resin. Most interest, in terms of assessing aspects of social organization at this site, derives from the burials. The sample of 126 inhumation graves include five phases, ranging in depth from 5 to 0.65 m below the present surface of the mound (Fig. 6). All but one, the phase 1 Bronze Age interment, belong to the Iron Age. The mortuary phase 2 graves were cut from lower layer 4 through layers 5 and 6. They are dated between circa 200 and 100 B.C. Mortuary phase 3 graves were found between 2.95 and 3.35 m below datum and were probably cut from upper layer 4. They are dated to approximately A.D. 75-250. Mortuary phase 4 graves were found between 2.00 and 3.03 m below datum and are marginally later than phase 2, but not by a significant amount. Mortuary phase 5 graves were found between 0.65 and 1.35 m below datum and, thus, to date slightly later than A.D. 300. Burials 26 and 27, both phase 2 interments, lie alongside each other with the heads pointing, respectively, north and south. Tayles (personal communication) has suggested that both were male. Burial 27 (Fig. 7) was associated with a set of two bronze tores (neck rings), a deep bronze bangle on each wrist, and two socketed bronze spearheads beyond the feet. A large socketed iron implement, probably a spear, was placed beside the head, and a socketed iron hoe was found beside the left ankle. At least two of the four associated pottery vessels contained the complete skeletons of fish. Several shell disks were also found, two beside the head and four beyond the feet, while four tiger's canines in the neck area were probably strung as a necklace. The adjacent interment had fewer grave goods, the pottery vessels again containing fish skeletons, while an articulating pig's
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Fig. 7. Burial 27, an early Iron Age interment from Noen U-Loke.
manus had been placed between the thighs. Burial 108 is particularly interesting, because all the associated jewelry, three bangles and a tore, is made of iron. The third mortuary phase, which incorporated a cluster of inhumation graves with the head pointing to the northeast, show a number of differences from those ascribed to phase 2. Apart from the tight clustering and different orientation, two were associated with complete, very young pigs, and we find the first evidence for glass beads. One person had been buried prone; all others were supine. Burial 37 was found with an agate neck pendant of a form which was found with burials of all later phases, while some of the individuals wore bronze finger rings. The latest burial in this group was a lidded jar containing the remains of an infant.
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The fourth mortuary phase incorporates a series of clusters, the graves revealing a number of changes in mortuary ritual. The dead were now buried in what we have termed "rice beds." This interment method involved filling the base of adult and infant graves with a layer of rice before interring the body. A further layer of rice then covered the human remains to a present depth of about 10 cm, although subsequent compaction makes it difficult to estimate the depth of the rice at the time of burial. The rice was burned, partially cremating the human remains. Grave goods now included beads of gold, carnelian, agate, and glass of many colors, agate pendants, and a wide range of bronze jewelry: finger and toe rings, bangles, earrings, ear coils, belts, and bells. Several finger or toe rings of silver were recovered. Some individuals, possibly women, were buried with spindle whorls, and some graves contained pig bones. Each cluster had its own characteristics. No pottery vessels or iron artifacts were found in association with one cluster. A second, contemporary cluster was found just to the west of this group, again in rice beds but on this occasion oriented on a north-south axis. These burials included many pottery vessels and iron artefacts. A third cluster was unusually rich, the graves being deep and lined with clay. Burial 113 within this group wore a necklace of 66 gold and many agate beads. Burial 14, the richest in yet another cluster, was associated with one of the most remarkable assemblages of bronzes known to the excavators for this period in Northeast Thailand. The adult male was found with silver earrings still bearing gold leaf. A bimetallic bronze and iron ring was found in the neck area. On each arm, there were approximately 75 bronze bangles covering the body from the elbow to the shoulder, while the finger bones were covered with rings. Three belts of circular bronze were found round the waist, and the toes bore large, bronze rings. In addition to these finds, the body was associated with pottery vessels, glass beads in the area of the neck, chest, and ankles, and an iron knife. An infant buried nearby was also richly endowed with bronze and glass ornaments. The final phase of burials were found between 0.65 and 1.35 m below the surface of the mound. The orientation remained with the head to the north, but rice beds were no longer in evidence. Continuity was seen in the use of jar burials for infants, and the presence of agate pendants and beads in the neck area and the bronze jewelry. Burial 1, for example, included bronze finger rings, bracelets, earrings, and bimetallic bronze and iron rings. A feature of these later burials, however, is the marked increase in iron implements, which include knives, sickles, and, in one case, a socketed spearhead. One male, buried prone, revealed a tanged iron arrowhead lodged against the spine. Glass beads became extremely rare, however, and no carnelian was recovered.
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One of the main objectives of this first season of excavations was the examination of the supposed moats and canal surrounding the settlements of Noen U-Loke and Non Muang Kao (Fig. 8). These features have long attracted the attention of archaeologists and other specialists (WilliamsHunt, 1950; Moore, 1989; Parry, 1992). Ascertaining their prehistoric profiles and dates is a major part of our research, because of the likelihood that they reflect water control measures prior to the well-known and documented hydraulic works of Zhenla and the Angkorian state (Groslier, 1979). Initial fieldwork involved excavating two trenches, 250 and 150 m long, respectively, through the earthworks and a shorter cut through the alleged canal, to a depth of up to 3 m. William Boyd, the project geomorphologist, then examined the cross sections. Our intention had been to map the profile of the moats, to identify old land surfaces on the intervening banks in order to obtain dating material, and to take biological samples to reconstruct the water regime involved.
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The initial results of the analysis of the sections came as a major surprise, almost a shock, to the codirectors of the program. No evidence was found for the presence of moats, or for the mounding of the excavated fill onto the banks in prehistory. Rather, the sedimentological sequence, linked with a study of aerial photographs, revealed the presence of a series of river channels, interspersed with relict parts of the base of the old floodplain. The section to the east of the settlement revealed much evidence for low-lying swamps but no indication of human intervention in the provision of moats. Attracted by the high- quality rice soils provided today by such swamp and river bed deposits, modern farmers have cut back the old floodplain in order to expand the area under rice, thus forming discrete intervening banks between old river channels. It is possible that two outer banks did receive some modification in prehistory, perhaps in order to retain the mobile local river course close to the settlement. At present, it seems that Noen U Loke was not in fact moated at all, but was encircled by a series of river channels. In order to test these results, a further four sites were examined in 1998, with the same results. The preliminary analysis of the faunal remains from Noen U-Loke also provided some surprises. Wild animals were extremely rare. There were very few bones from the water buffalo and some pig remains, but the overwhelming majority of bones come from small domestic cattle. Fish bones were not nearly as abundant as in the Bronze Age settlement of Ban Lum Khao. It seems that the occupants of the site during the Iron Age concentrated on rice cultivation and cattle breeding. Non Muang Kao
This is a very large double-mounded site which, from the air, appears to be ringed by up to six old channels. On excavation, at least one of these was found by Boyd to represent an old river course which had formerly curled around the site. It is possible that it had been extended to form a complete circuit during the Iron Age, but again, serious doubt has been cast on the presence of artificial moats. This does not rule out their presence elsewhere but emphasizes the need to excavate in order to examine profiles and the nature of sediments. Excavations under the direction of Dougald O'Reilly in 1996 and 1997 encountered a complex stratigraphic sequence, which has been dated in part by four radiocarbon dates to the first half of the first millennium A.D. No determinations are yet available for the lowest layers in the 3.5-m-deep cultural sequence, but it probably extends back a century or so, into the first millennium B.C.
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O'Reilly traced a series of superimposed clay floors incorporating what look like the traces of timber wall foundations and wooden postholes. The deposits were too hard to allow a more extensive excavation than the 5 x 5-m exposure, so the form of the structures remains to be investigated. Twelve graves were also encountered, some incorporating the same burned rice, agate, carnelian, and glass jewelry; and black burnished pottery vessels as at Noen U-Loke. There was also a novel feature, in that some later graves were clay-lined, including clay covering of the body.
THE HISTORIC PERIOD: THE MUN VALLEY
With the advent of the Early Historic Period in the Mun Valley, the evidence of archaeology must be considered in conjunction with a small corpus of inscriptions. The area lacks the broader-based historical sources such as Chinese eyewitness accounts that are available for the lower valley of the Mekong River (Stark, this issue). Archaeological evidence for the period A.D. 500-800 in the Mun Valley is thin. Recently, however, excavations at Muang Sema have filled part of this void (Hanwong, 1991). This is a critical large site, covering an area of 755 x 1845 m, which reveals, through its two moated enclosures, a considerable expansion in size. Excavations showed that occupation began with a 3-m-thick deposit in which the ceramics, such as the carinated and incised bowls, reveal close similarities to the Dvaravati material from central Thailand. This deposit was followed by a 40-cm-thick layer in which Khmer material appeared, to be followed, in the uppermost 1.1 m, by Khmer ceramics dating from the 10th century onward. The initial Dvaravati occupation provides strong evidence, in the form of bronze Buddha images, a part of the wheel of the law, that is, the wheel set in motion by the Buddha, and stone statues of deer and tablets of Boddhisatvas, that Buddhism was the dominant religion at this site. It is also to this period that an enormous reclining Buddha, the largest in Thailand, belongs. Prasat Phanom Wan is a large Angkorian period (from A.D. 800) temple center with associated reservoirs. During reconstruction, P Bandom (personal communication) encountered the remains of earlier brick structures which indicate the presence of a Zhenla period temple. Adjacent and on the same orientation as the Angkorian temple, he encountered an Iron Age burial similar to those from Non Muang Kao and Noen U-Loke. Brick foundations underlying Angorian period temples have also been reported at Phimai and Phanom Rung (Pichard, 1976; Moore and Siribhadra, 1992). At the former, prehistoric settlement is also documented at nearby Ban Suai (Solheim and Ayres, 1978). At Prasat Phumphon in Surin Province,
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a brick temple complex has survived unscathed by later rebuilding, and lintels place the construction in the seventh century A.D. These examples are not exhaustive but illustrate the energy being expended on religious structures in sites occupied since the late prehistoric period. The inscriptions for this period in the Mun Valley describe warfare and temple foundations or donations. Several describe the campaigns of Mahendravarman during the early years of the seventh century. Three come from the vicinity of the strategic confluence between the Mun and the Mekong rivers. The Khan Thevada stela both records the illustrious ancestry of Mahendravarman and boasts of a victory. The language in these inscriptions is most revealing. After recounting his royal credentials, he asserts that "his name was renowned for good morals since he was young, and that he received his name in a royal lustration ceremony. When he conquered this land, he raised a sivalinga on the mountain to symbolize his victory." The inscription from the cave of Tham Pu Manai described the raising of a stone statue of a bull, symbol of Siva, while a foundation for another inscription from Pak Dom Noi belongs to the same style and could also belong to this episode (Prishanchit, 1992; Weeraprajak, 1986). But these ventures were not confined to the Mun Valley. At Tham Ped Tong in Buriram, we pick up the trail of Mahendravarman, and even as far north as Sri Muang Aem, about 40 km north of Khon Kaen, we encounter epigraphic evidence for the construction of a monument to celebrate a victory by this overlord (Jacques, 1989). To the south, in Prachinburi at Chong Srajaeng, an inscription in Sanskrit describes Mahendravarman as being responsible for the construction of a water tank. There is also a concentration of inscriptions carved sometimes in Mon or Khmer, and on occasion with Sanskrit texts, in Nakhon Ratchasima and Chaiyaphum Provinces which stylistically belong in the seventh to the ninth centuries. The Bor E-ka at Muang Sema is a tenth-century temple sanctuary located in the middle of the moated enclosure. An inscription, stylistically belonging to the ninth century, in Sanskrit and Khmer, records a gift of 20 fat and healthy water buffalo cows, 50 cows with full udders and healthy calves, and 10 male and female slaves to a Buddhist community by the overlord of a polity named Sri Canasa in order to gain merit. An inscription of A.D. 937 found at Ayutthaya records that a Mangalavarman ruled over Sri Canasa. Hanwong (1991) has suggested that at this period, Muang Sema was the center of the polity of Sri Canasa. Saraya (1989, 1992b), however, has preferred Sri Thep as the capital. Perhaps only the discovery of more inscriptions will resolve issues such as this, but in either case, Muang Sema illustrates the size and scale of early Dvaravati centers in the Mun Valley before strong influence from the Khmer manifested itself. Again, by more
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extensive excavations, preferably in the older of the two moated areas at Muang Sema, prehistoric origins to settlement may well be found. There is a small corpus of other inscriptions which tell the same story, of local rulers with Sanskrit names, ruling over groups who probably spoke Khmer. At Hin Khon, 35 km south of Nakhon Ratchasima, an overlord called Nripendradhipativarman, who ruled in a city called Sro Vraah, erected four sema stones (sacred boundary markers) during the 8th century, and made the meritorious gift of rice fields, slaves, flowers, fruit, cattle, gold and silver utensils, an elephant, and betel trees to a Buddhist temple (Weeraprajak, 1986). Two further inscriptions also records actual names of rulers—Indravarman, Soryavarman, and Jayasinhavarman—and a capital called Tamran. Farther to the east, there is an inscription from Wat Ban Song Puay in Yasothon which mentions King Pravarasena and his capital Sankhapura. Jacques (1989) has hinted at a potential link between such seventh- and eighth-century polities and the large moated settlements described above. The Early Historic Period: Zhenla
By expanding this review to include Zhenla as a whole, a more complete picture is formed. Parmentier (1927) assembled a monumental corpus of known sites, from which we can appreciate the size of energy of elite centers. The best known is Isanapura, center for a powerful overlord, Isanavarman, who ruled in the A.D. 620s. His capital was girt by a double wall measuring 2 x 2 km, and within were three walled precincts, each containing a series of stone temples round a main central sanctuary. The outer wall of one precinct enclosed an area of 300 x 270 m (Parmentier, 1927). Inscriptions associated with these structures leave us in no doubt that Isanavarman was responsible for their construction, or that they were dedicated to the worship of Siva, the god after whom this overlord was named. Beyond the outer wall, there is a baray and the location of this site in the valley of the Stung Sen, above the level of wet season flooding, would have been favorable for rice cultivation (van Liere, 1980). Excavations by Pisnupong at Prasat Khao Noi have unearthed a row of three temples which incorporate exquisite lintels. These are dated stylistically to the seventh century A.D. and incorporate a scene popular in eastern Thailand at this period, a makara or sea monster associated with a swan. Most intriguingly, an inhumation burial behind temple 1 included as grave goods 13 burnished and incised vessels, which might well indicate late prehistoric occupation of this site, prior to temple construction (Pisnupong and Thawiphon, 1989).
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The Historic Period: Documents The presence of inscriptions in the Mun Valley which belong to the Zhenla corpus opens the possibility that the group as a whole might contribute to an appreciation of social and other trends between the seventh and the ninth centuries A.D. It is stressed, however, that until about A.D. 400-500, archaeology is the sole source of information for this region. For the ensuing and critical three centuries, we rely on fragmentary and difficult historical sources, to the virtual exclusion of archaeology. The sudden transition from one source to another makes it particularly difficult to delineate and understand this period, for one departs from the relative security of the late prehistoric record of settlement and mortuary data into the arcane world of Sanskrit, old Khmer, and Mon epigraphy. The pitfalls which can accompany the latter have been well summarized by Vickery (1986) and have been responsible in large part for the poor press accorded prehistoric societies in the establishment of Zhenla polities by historians. Over the past two decades, however, there has been a welcome resurgence of scholarly appreciation of the epigraphic data which has stressed not only the importance of returning to the documents themselves, rather than offering revisions of earlier translations, but also the need to place such inscriptions into their cultural contexts. Many, for example, were raised as propaganda tools for self-advertisement and should not be taken literally. Jacob (1979) has summarized the available data, from which it is possible to infer that the polities recognized a social hierarchy which incorporated overlords at the top and slaves at the bottom of the social scale, with free people in between. The status of the slaves has been a subject of dispute, with the possible interpretation that some, at least, were willing devotees in the maintenance of the temples. On the other hand, others were foreigners and prisoners taken in conflicts and they may indeed have lacked freedom. Duties of the slaves provide some insight into daily activities. They are recorded as grinding, spinning, molding statues, working in the rice fields, herding cattle, cooking, dancing, and making baskets. There is little here which would not have been undertaken in late Iron Age sites. Spinning, for example, is reflected in the presence of spindle whorls as grave offerings. Cattle herding took place, and molding statues might have involved bronze casting. The development of titles denoting rank has also been noted by Jacob (1979) and Vickery (1986). The Pon, for example, was an official mentioned in a number of seventh century inscriptions who, among other things, officiated in the founding of temples. Other duties included the supervision of reservoirs. Higham (1989) has suggested that there may have been a
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direct line of ancestry from late prehistoric leaders to such officials. By A.D. 650, the Pon were, according to Vickery (1986), subservient to the Mratan, a new order of high officials within court societies which were soon to employ not only different subtitles for Mratan, but also the term Raja, which implies the presence of overlords. The emergence of settlement hierarchies has also been noted, in the manner whereby a certain Dharmasvami was overlord of Dhammapura, but his sons controlled two dependant centers, Dhruvapura and Dhanvipura. Through these inscriptions, we can also appreciate the seventh- to eighthcentury landscape, with its groves of betel trees, orchards, rice fields, tanks and reservoirs, paths, and settlements clustered around the central precinct with its temples. Wolters (1979) has construed, on the basis of the epigraphic record, that the adoption of Hinduism by the Zhenla elites provided overlords with a route, through ascetic zeal, to godlike qualities. This trend fits well with the archaeological remains of temples and sacred precincts at Isanapura and the Sanskritization of high-status personal and place names. THE WIDER SCENE
Hitherto, this paper has concentrated on the Mun Valley, with passing reference to northern Cambodia. There is a concentration of Khmer language inscriptions in Cambodia, with outliers in the Mun Valley. Their distribution contrasts with a smaller number of contemporary inscriptions in the Mon language (see Fig. 2). It is suggested on this basis that there was a language boundary in late prehistory which ran along the southern sector of the Petchabun Range before dividing Mon from Khmer laterally across the Khorat Plateau north of the Mun catchment. This finds an echo in the archaeological record. In a speculative vein, it is suggested that the Mun Valley was occupied by speakers of Khmer, in a settlement expansion which may have begun in the Bronze Age, but gathered pace during the Iron Age. With the Early Historic Period, therefore, we encounter increasingly complex polities whose affinities lie with corresponding groups in Cambodia, all of which could be incorporated under the term "Zhenla." Two main styles of prehistoric pottery are found in the Iron Age sites, the so-called Phimai Black of the upper Mun Valley and the Roi-et Painted wares of the lower reaches. There is a longer prehistoric sequence to the north, in the Middle and Upper Chi catchment. During the Iron Age, we know of at least two regional ceramic styles, the best documented at Non Chai, the other at Ban Chiang Hian. Both involved red painted decoration. The inscriptions sug-
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gest that this area was occupied by Mon speakers who had linguistic and cultural affinities with central Thailand rather than Cambodia and the Mun Valley. When we encounter the move into the Early Historic Period in this region, we find that architecture and religion match that of the Mon Dvaravati polities of central Thailand. As research progresses backward in time from this Early Historic Period into its prehistoric foundations, so we should be aware of this apparent dichotomy and seek to refute or confirm a series of local transitions to increasing social complexity.
CONCLUSION The millennium commencing about 500 B.C. saw deep and significant cultural changes in the upper Mun Valley. There was a considerable increase in the number and the size of settlements, some of which were founded on the slightly elevated terraces which flank the alluvial plain. Most, however, were located within broad multiple river channels. The radiocarbon dates from Noen U-Loke and upper Non Muang Kao suggest that occupation of this site continued virtually into the period of the earliest Khmer inscriptions in the Mun Valley. A degree of continuity between the late prehistoric Iron Age and the period which saw the construction of early Hindu temples is also hinted at through recent excavations at Prasat Phanom Wan, about 35 km southwest of Noen U-Loke. The excavation at Noen U-Loke itself has provided us with tantalizing glimpses of the nature of Iron Age society and changes with time, but also emphasizes the need to open a larger area. Some lines of evidence include the presence, even in the earliest phase, of graves containing a rich array of grave goods, including bronze ornaments and spearheads, and iron tools, ornaments, and weaponry. During the third phase, we find the first evidence for exotic glass and agate jewelry. By phase 4, the first carnelian was recovered, and graves included large quantities of rice. Bronze ornaments were common, and there are many pottery vessels and iron artifacts. This phase includes burials of extraordinary wealth expressed in the form of gold, silver, and novel bronzes, while during phase 5, we encounter a row of interments which include, for the first time, an increased number and range of iron tools and weapons including an arrow lodged against a man's spinal column. These findings support the hypothesis that the Iron Age communities recognized status differentials in the mortuary ritual, though a bigger sample will be necessary to test this possibility further. This lead should be considered in conjunction with several other variables. We find rich graves associated with a new range of exotic jewelry fashioned from gold, silver,
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carnelian, agate, and glass, all of which could have been subject to controlled redistribution within the community. The range and quality of the bronzes, and the high degree of skill noted by G. McDonnell (personal communication) in the forging of iron, are compatible with specialized production. Surface collections of hammer scale indicate on-site iron forging at Noen U-Loke and Non Muang Kao. Many of these sites, including Noen U-Loke, are located near saltworking mounds. All those examined date back into the Iron Age, and it is suggested that specialized salt processing was under way during that period. There are many settlement sites in the Mun Valley, and they are found close to each other in our survey area. The sites covered a much larger area than previous settlements, hinting at a population increase. This finding, linked with the presence of iron weaponry, is compatible with a situation of intercommunity friction. Each of these variables remains fugitive, but taken in conjunction, it is possible to suggest, as a vehicle for further research and testing, that the Iron Age communities of the Mun Valley, and by inference the similar sites found on the plain of northwest Cambodia, witnessed a series of changes which reflect increasing social complexity latent in a transition to the state. These include larger population numbers, a concentration of settlements in favored low-lying riverine swamplands suited to rice cultivation, the beginning of specialized salt production and exchange, the production and concentration of symbols of wealth and status in the hands of individuals, the establishment of iron smelting and forging within settlements which involved a high level of skill, the production of iron and bronze weaponry, and the availability of a new suite of exotic goods which could have been used as emblems of status. But all these proposed changes demand further excavation and consideration before we can advance further in documenting the transition to states in inland Southeast Asia. At the dawn of history, the upper Mun Valley appears to have been a border area between predominantly Khmer speakers to the south and Mon speakers to the north and west. New data obtained from excavations indicate that Iron Age communities grew in size and number and particularly favored broad multichannel river systems. The excavation of alleged moats is throwing considerable doubt on the degree to which these groups constructed water control facilities, like moats and canals. Mortuary data, however, indicate considerable increases in the wealth and energy devoted to the dead. We find clay-lined graves, rice bed burials, a proliferation in the quantity and variety of bronzes, and a new range of jewelry including gold, silver, agate, carnelian, and glass. Iron was forged into weapons, ornaments, and implements for agricultural or industrial purposes. It is argued that these communities reached, by A.D. 400, a degree of social
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complexity compatible with the transition to more complex polities with state-like attributes. At this point in history, the archaeological record falls silent. Little has been achieved for the vital Early Historic Period since the pioneering work of Parmentier (1927). We turn to the corpus of inscriptions, augmented by allusions to the area in Chinese archival sources, in order to appreciate the nature of the so-called Zhenla period. These indicate central settlements incorporating substantial brick temple structures, the presence of palaces, the adoption of Sanskrit as a court language, Sanskritization of personal and place names, the development of an increasingly hierarchic social order, the expansion of warfare, and competition for dominance by a succession of overlords. The study of linguistics, or of a newly discovered inscription, adds to our information quickly. Archaeology is a much slower method. But, it is urged, it is only through extensive and major archaeological programs, matching those recently begun at Wat Phu and Angkor Borei, linked with the available historical sources, that the transition to the Early Historic Period will be properly delineated and explained.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I wish to thank my codirector of our current research project, Dr. Rachanie Thosarat, for enabling me to continue my work in Thailand. My colleagues and students involved in the Origins of Angkor Project have also contributed much to the viability of our research and I accordingly thank Associate Professor W. E. Boyd, Dr. Kamolthip Brown, Mr. Phongdham Bundhom, Ms. Chutima Chanthed, Dr. T F. G. Higham, Dr. Elizabeth Moore, Dr. Nancy Tayles, Dr. C. Heron, Mr. G. M. Mason, Dr. G. McDonnel, Dr. S. Saitowitz, Dr. G. B. Thompson, Ms. Siripan Tirasarichote, Sarah Talbot, Paul Rivett, Jeremy Habberfield-Short, Dougald O'Reilly, Kate Domett, Judy Voelker, Nigel Chang, Hallie Buckley, Robert Theunissen, and Kirsten Nelsen. Financial support has been provided by the Marsden Fund, the National Geographic Society, Earthwatch and its Research Corps, The Universities of Cambridge and Otago, the British Academy, and Southern Cross University.
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