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- Convenors:
-
Katerina Douka
(University of Oxford)
Tom Higham (RLAHA)
- Location:
- Amphi B2
- Start time:
- 6 July, 2015 at
Time zone: Europe/Paris
- Session slots:
- 1
Short Abstract:
Well-defined chronologies are crucial in understanding cultural change, yet precise and accurate frameworks are rare in the prehistoric record of SE Asia. This session aims to bring together dating information from various prehistoric sites, spanning the Palaeolithic to the Bronze Age of the region.
Long Abstract:
Chronology underpins most questions in prehistory, providing a framework on which to compare different technological and biological assemblages, and environmental records. These accurate frameworks are crucially important if we are to understand issues relating to human dispersals, adaptation, subsistence and the interaction between various populations living in the same region. Unfortunately, good chronologies are lacking from the prehistoric record of SE Asia.
The establishment of reliable chronological frameworks in the tropics has proven very challenging, especially because preservation of organic material is often poor. Recent years have seen numerous exciting developments in chronology building. Existing techniques have been improved, for example, new pretreatment methods increased the accuracy of radiocarbon dating, and medium- to large-scale projects examining the chronologies of multiple sites or regions to answer single archaeological questions, undertaken through close collaboration between archaeologists and dating specialists, are becoming increasingly common and are often extremely fruitful.
This session aims to explore issues regarding the chronology of SE Asian prehistoric sites from the Palaeolithic to the Bronze Age. Papers are invited on a wide range of chronometric applications including the use of new scientific methodologies in the dating of archaeological sites, the building of chronologies - both site-based and region wide, the integration of science and archaeology in the dating process, and on other similar themes in which dating is a key issue.
Accepted papers:
Session 1Charles HIgham (University of Otago) Katerina Douka (University of Oxford)
Paper short abstract:
Two new series of radiocarbon determinations on human bone collagen have required a complete revision of the chronology of Ban Chiang and Non Nok Tha
Paper long abstract:
The chronologies of Ban Chiang (excavation 1974-5) and Non Nok Tha (excavation 1966-8) have been controversial for over half a century. We have dated human bone collagen from both sites. These indicate initial Neolithic settlement in the mid second millennium BC and the transition into the Bronze Age in about 900-1000 BC. These results harmonise with other new results from human bone collagen obtained from the sites of Ban Na Di and Ban Lum Khao.
Tom Higham (RLAHA) Katerina Douka (University of Oxford) Thibaut Deviese (Oxford University) Rachel Hopkins
Paper short abstract:
Reliable chronologies are crucial for understanding cultural change and prehistory. Radiocarbon dating is challenging in SE Asia owing to often poor preservation of dateable materials. We describe improved methods to overcome this.
Paper long abstract:
Radiocarbon dating is challenging in SE Asia. The dating of bone from archaeological sites in particular is very difficult because of the low preservation of the remaining protein. Collagen diagenesis is very closely linked with the thermal history of the bone, the site pH, the level of microbial and bacterial activity and the presence of water. High values for these parameters mean that collagen survival is compromised and where it survives, it does so in very low proportions. To overcome these difficulties we have worked on several methods of improving the routine dating of bone and related biominerals from SE Asian sites.
We have applied and tested improved methods for screening remaining collagen by measuring bulk bone % nitrogen values. This allows us to only focus our efforts in the laboratory on extracting collagen from bones that contain a level of nitrogen that is above ~0.6% weight. Since the nitrogen is only found in the bone protein it is a correlate for collagen. We use ultrafiltration of the bone collagen to improve the purification of the sample prior to AMS dating. In cases where the % nitrogen falls below 0.6% we have developed a method of extracting single amino acids from poorly preserved bones that allows a purified amino acid fraction to be isolated using an HPLC for dating. Finally, we have tested and applied methods for dating tooth enamel carbon from subtropical environments. We will describe these methods and some of the results from specific sites.