The Society for American Archaeology is holding its 84th annual meeting in Albuquerque, New Mexico from April 10-14, 2019. On April 11, SAA will host a symposium called Paradigms Shift: New Interpretations in Mainland Southeast Asian Archaeology. The chairs are Vincent Pigott and Chin-hsin Liu and the discussant is Ben Marwick.
Session abstract:
Over the past 20 years or more paradigmatic changes have led to new interpretations in prehistoric and historic Mainland Southeast Asian (MSEA) research, ranging from long-term field projects to cutting-edge laboratory analyses. These new interpretations are reshaping how we look at human adaptation and cultural development across this vast region. Topics seeing new insights include: roles of migration and demography in shaping regional population history; technology and economic organization of metal and ceramic production; and evidence for hitherto unappreciated subsistence diversity. Papers in this session synthesize and reevaluate recent developments in research fields including: bioarchaeology, faunal analysis, archaeobotany, chronological revision, small finds analysis, the technology and organization of productive systems and their related exchange networks, and finally the rise, functioning and collapse of empire. Recently, developments in these research foci have significantly improved our understanding of the complex culture area that is MSEA and, over time, have prompted theoretical paradigm shifts of their own. Our intent here is to highlight the recent methodological and interpretational shifts in these areas and to explore current and future research pathways across the greater region.
Each presentation within the symposium will last 15 minutes. The presentations are:
Vincent C. Pigott—The Technology of Metallurgy and Evolving Views of Its Development in Prehistoric Thailand
Joyce White—Explaining Prehistoric Thailand’s 2000 Year Resilient Growth Economy and Peaceful Society: A Bottom-up Approach
Judy Voelker—Rethinking Household/Community Based Production – Broadening the Conversation
Karen Mudar—Old Bones, New Data: Pigs and Dogs from Prehistoric Non Pa Wai, Lopburi Province, Central Thailand in a Regional Context
Chin-hsin Liu—A Bioarchaeological View on Long-Term Development in Prehistoric Central Thailand
R. Alexander Bentley—Kinship and Migration in Prehistoric MSEA: Insights from Isotopic Analysis over the Years
Nancy Tayles, Sian Halcrow, Kate Domett, Louise Shewan and Dougald O’Reilly—Don’t Throw the Baby out with the Bathwater: New Insights into Palaeodemographic Change with the Intensification of Agriculture in Southeast Asia
Nigel Chang—Individual, Family, Site, ‘Community’ or Region? Thinking Across Spatial and Social Scale in Prehistoric Laos and Thailand
Lisa Kealhofer, Kaseka Phon, Peter Grave, Miriam Stark and Darith Ea— Centralized Power/Decentralized Production? Angkorian Stoneware and the Southern Production Complex of Cheung Ek, Cambodia
Alison K. Carter, Hong Wang, Miriam Stark, Rachna Chhay and Piphal Heng— Mind the Gap: Occupation at Angkor Wat and Implications for the Decline of Angkor
The conference will also feature two other sessions on Southeast Asian archaeology on April 13: The Current State Of Archaeological Research Across Southeast Asia, chaired by Scott Macrae, and Space and Place in Ancient Southeast Asia, chaired by Chihhua Chiang.