Human biology from the bronze age to the iron age in the Mun River valley of northeast Thailand

Abstract

Recent excavations of 1 wo sites in [he Mun River valley in Northeast Thailand (Fig. t.l, p. 5) as part of The Origins of Angkor Project have uncovered two large cemeteries. The site of Ban Lum Khao includes a bronze age cemetery in use between approximately 3400 and 2500 BP (Higham 2002), A IOm>< 14m square was excavated to a maximum depth of 1.7 m on the edge of this mounded site as other areas of the site had been subjected to looting (Higham 2002). The cemetery site of Noen U-Loke, only a few kilometres to the west, is dated to the iron age, approximately 2300-2200 BP to 1700-1600 BP (Higham 2002), This iron age site was considerably more extensive than earlier sites and covered up to l2ha (Higham 2002). A total of220m2 were excavated to a depth of 5 m (Higham 2002). Given the size of these sites, neither was excavated to their full extent. These two sites present an opportunity to compare health changes through time with the significant advantage that the populations lived in similar natural environments.