Programa Escuela Verde

This chapter has discussed a range of developments in relation to age-at-death estimation and the process of ageing. These include a gendered approach in

archaeological discourse as a means to critically engage, initially through second-wave feminist approaches, with established androcentric perspectives regarding females in the past. Feminist critiques, and the application of third-wave approaches to

archaeology, has led to the emergence of the meaningful study of young and the old. Archaeology has fruitfully engaged with the young for over twenty-five years now and has challenged entrenched, and idealised, viewpoints of this group resulting in greater awareness of the significance and contribution of this cohort in prehistory at a social, ritual, economic and innovative level. However, as research on the elderly in

archaeological contexts has only commenced since the turn of the century this cohort currently continues to remain under-researched and under-theorised.

This chapter also explored dominant themes in relation to the evolution of ageing affecting the development of humans, identifying that the biological mechanisms associated with senescence are still contested. A brief description of a select range of the biological phases of foetal and infant development, as well as degenerative factors found in age-at-death estimation of adults, and the overarching age estimation

techniques applied to each cohort in bioarchaeological assessments was also discussed. Finally, this chapter explored the challenges facing the young, but especially the elderly, in palaeodemographic studies. The following chapter will explore key developments in Mainland Southeast Asia across the Neolithic to the Iron Age and provide an overview of

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the four sites, Khok Phanom Di, Ban Non Wat, Ban Lum Khao and Noen U-Loke, under review in this research.

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4

Mainland Southeast Asia: Overview and Site Discussion

4.1 Introduction

Mortuary traditions across Island and Mainland Southeast Asia demonstrate a rich and diverse history, through the Pleistocene and Holocene (e.g. Higham, 1996, Higham, 2002, Higham, 2013, O'Reilly, 2015, Oxenham et al., in review-a, Oxenham et al., in review-b). As in other locales, mortuary traditions in this region also act as mediums through which to engage and chart the variation and development of a range of behaviours related to individual identity, group organisation and the connections and relationships between populations over time. While mortuary variability exists, it is broadly recognised that the three periods under review, the Neolithic through to the Iron Age, witnessed a transition from relatively non-stratified, sometimes egalitarian, social systems in the Neolithic and Bronze Age, with exceptions, towards a more complex hierarchal structure prior to the rise of states from the Iron Age (O'Reilly, 2000, Higham, 2004b, Higham and Higham, 2009a, Rispoli et al., 2013, O'Reilly, 2014, O'Reilly, 2015). The Iron Age precipitates the emergence of proto-states in Southeast Asia, influenced through ongoing and increased contact and exchange with India and China.

Regarding mortuary practices specifically there is a substantial body of research which demonstrates a wide variety of practices in the region. Examples of variable mortuary styles adopted across Southeast Asia over the Pleistocene and Holocene include the presence of:

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• flexed, squatting and semi-flexed burials (Higham, 1996, Pietrusewsky and

Douglas, 2001, Higham, 2002, Treerayapiwat, 2005, Mornais, 2007, Higham and Wiriyaromp, 2010a, Higham, 2013, Higham et al., 2014a, Tayles et al., 2015, O'Reilly and Shewan, 2016, Oxenham, 2016, Piper, 2016, Oxenham et al., in review-a, Oxenham et al., in review-b);

• secondary burials (Piper, 2016, Oxenham et al., in review-b);

• cremation (Lara et al., 2013, Ward and Tayles, 2016, Schrenk, 2017);

• the use of shrouds (Higham, 1996, Higham, 2002, Liem, 2005, Willis and Tayles, 2009, Harris and Tayles, 2012, Harris et al., 2016, Oxenham et al., 2016,

Oxenham et al., in review-a);

• disposal containers (i.e. wood, clay coffins) (Higham, 2002, Treerayapiwat, 2005, Talbot, 2007, Nakbunlung and Wathanawareekool, 2008, Willis and Tayles, 2009, Higham, 2012h, Higham, 2012e, Higham, 2012f, Harris et al., 2016, Oxenham et al., in review-b);

• residential burial (White and Eyre, 2011);

• clustered burial (Higham and Bannanurag, 1990);

• rice burial (Higham and Thosarat, 2007a);

• on/under beds of gastropods (Ninh, 2000, Higham, 2012h) or broken sherd sheets (under or on top of sheet) (Douglas, 1996, Ciarla, 2008, Van Esterik, 2011);

• the ubiquitous jar burials (e.g. Indrawooth, 1997, Thinh, 2005, Dzung, 2009), primarily of subadults but also including, on occasion, adults (Higham and Wiriyaromp, 2010b); and

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Mortuary variation regarding jar burials occur. In addition to the most-commonly applied whole-body placement within the vessel there are also examples of the subject’s head

being placed within the vessel (Tayles, 2003, Higham and Thosarat, 2007c) or where the body is deposited between two vessels that were placed/positioned mouth-to-mouth (aperture-to-aperture) (Thinh, 2005, O'Reilly, 2007, Higham et al., 2014a).

Chapter Four is divided into five broad sections with the initial section engaging with mortuary developments on the Southeast Asian mainland and some of the major cultural traditions from non-Thai nations across the Pleistocene (Hoabinhian) and into the

Holocene. Section 4.2 explores mortuary developments in Thailand in the same broad period and considers aspects of mortuary behaviour which could support or suggest the presence of identity, ideally age-identity, from the sites discussed. Section 4.3 look at influences that drove, and impacted on, social change in the region followed by a review of developments related to archaeological research focused on the young and old in Southeast Asia. The final part of the chapter provides an overview of research developments related to each of the four sites under review.