Current LoRAP Collaborations

1.
BROGLASEA: Bronze and Glass as Cultural Tracers and Catalysts in Early Southeast Asia.

Director: Dr T. O. Pryce
French National Centre for Scientific Research, UMR 7055 Préhistoire et Technologie
Sponsored by: French National Research Agency – https://anr.fr/Project-ANR-16-CE27-0011

A chronologically and spatially-extensive effort to reconstruct Southeast Asian social interaction networks, intra- and extra-regional, via the morphological, typological, technological, elemental and isotopic analysis of non-ferrous/non-precious metals and glass artefacts, and of their production debris.

2a.
Embodied Boundaries: A Bioarchaeological Approach to Foodways and Community Organization in Metal Age Central Thailand (c. 1100 BCE – CE 500) (Ph.D. Dissertation).

Candidate: Mrs Gina Palefsky
University of California, Merced, USA

2b.
Bioarchaeology of Social Inequality during the Southeast Asian Metal Age: A Stable and Radiogenic Isotopic Investigation of Human Skeletal Remains from Archaeological Sites in Central Thailand (NRCT and Thai FAD).

Directors: Gina Palefsky, Ph.D. Candidate, University of California, Merced, USA; Dr. Thanik Lertcharnrit, Faculty of Archaeology, Silpakorn University, Bangkok, Thailand

Sponsoring Agencies:
Wenner-Gren Foundation (Dissertation Fieldwork Grant, 2019)
American Philosophical Society (Lewis and Clark Fund for Exploration and Field Research, 2018)
Arizona State University Center for Bioarchaeological Research (Pilot Project Research Grant, 2017-2018)
University of California, Merced Center for the Humanities (Summer Fieldwork Fellowships, 2015, 2017, 2018)

Community has been identified as one of the most meaningful contextual scales for understanding how social interactions shape the human experience. Bioarchaeological approaches are uniquely positioned to investigate how collective identities affected the lives of past peoples because multiple facets of social identity including age, sex, and cultural modifications of the body are preserved in the human skeleton, and traces of more ephemeral aspects of community identity such as dietary practices and residential histories are preserved in the chemical matrices of bones and teeth. This dissertation research analyzes mortuary populations from four archaeological sites in central Thailand -Ban Mai Chaimongkol, Ban Pong Manao, Phu Noi, and Tha Kae- applying stable and radiogenic isotope analysis to investigate human dietary patterns, residential life histories, and ecological conditions during the Metal Age (c. 1100 BCE – CE 500). Isotopic analysis of multiple hard tissues is currently underway and will enables this research to assess diet and changes in regional residence as interconnected processes that are dynamic across a lifetime, tracking individuals from early childhood through adolescence and adulthood and exploring the relationship between social identity and foodways.

3.
Morphological and technological analysis of semi-precious stone beads from the archaeological site of Tha Kae, Lopburi.

Director: Dr Wannaporn Rienjang
Faculty of Sociology and Anthropology, Thammasat University, Bangkok, Thailand
Sponsored by: Faculty of Sociology and Anthropology, Thammasat University

Examining the morphology and manufacturing techniques of semi-precious stone beads in Lopburi region, with special reference to those from the iron age layers of Tha Kae archaeological site, with the aim to understand socio-economic environs and exchange networks of this region.

4.
The Peopling of Thailand.

Project leader: Dr. Hugh McColl
University of Copenhagen, Globe Institute, Lundbeck Foundation Geogenetics Centre, Copenhagen, Denmark
Sponsored by: Lundbeck Foundation

The population of Thailand has been extremely dynamic over the last 4,000 years. From the hunter-gatherer period to the first farmers, the Ancient Khmer Empire to the present day migrations into and within Thailand have shaped the current day diversity, reflected in the present diversity. Ancient DNA at present only exists for ten samples from two sites – by increasing the number and geographical range of samples, we plan to elucidate the timing and origins of these migrations, as well societal structure within sites.

5.
Classification of the Animal Bones and Shell at Tha Kae (Amphoe Muang, Lopburi Province, Central Thailand) (M.A. dissertation).

Candidate: Ms Thamanan Ankumpoch
Silpakorn University, Department of Archaeology (Advisor: Dr Prasit Auetrakulvit)
Animal bones found in Tha Kae archaeological site has been classified in relationship with human activities, such as hunting, consumption patterns, tools, appliances (including jewelry making) in order to interpret the past environment.

The study is currently classifying and examining the evidence of animal bone types to identify the animal family, following the methods of study that include: counting of all found bone fragments (TNF – Total number of fragment), calculation of the animal bone fragmentation (NISP – Number of identified specimens) and determining the fewest possible number of animals in a skeletal assemblage (MNI – Minimum number of individual).