Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-jkksz Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-28T15:24:07.696Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Rainfall and circular moated sites in north-east Thailand

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 October 2015

Glen Scott  and
Dougald O’Reilly
Dougald O’Reilly
Affiliation:
The Australian National University, School of Archaeology and Anthropology, Canberra ACT 0200, Australia (Email: dougald.oreilly@anu.edu.au)
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The existence of moated mounds in the archaeological record of north-east Thailand has long been known, the majority constructed during the earlier first millennium AD. Despite considerable research, the purpose of the substantial and sometimes multiple moats surrounding raised occupation mounds has remained a mystery. Combining locational, hydrological and rainfall data with the archaeological evidence, this study of the moated mounds of the Khorat Plateau seeks to resolve the question through statistical analysis. The results suggest that water storage may have been the primary purpose of the moats, enabling communities to survive dry seasons and droughts.

Keywords

ThailandIron Agemoatrainfallwater managementirrigationstatistical analysis
Type
Research
Information
Antiquity , Volume 89 , Issue 347 , October 2015 , pp. 1125 - 1138
Copyright
Copyright © Antiquity Publications Ltd, 2015 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Boyd, W. 2007. The geoarchaeology of Noen U-Loke and Non Muang Kao, in Higham, C.F.W., Kijngam, A. & Talbot, S. (ed.) The origins of the civilization of Angkor: the excavation of Noen U-Loke and Non Muang Kao (volume 3): 29–53. Bangkok: The Fine Arts Department of Thailand.Google Scholar
Boyd, W.E. & Habberfield-Short, J.. 2007. Geoarchaeological landscape model of the Iron Age settlements of the upper Mun River floodplain, in Higham, C.F.W., Kijngam, A. & Talbot, S. (ed.) The origins of the civilization of Angkor: the excavation of Noen U-Loke and Non Muang Kao (volume 3): 1–28. Bangkok: The Fine Arts Department of Thailand.Google Scholar
Boyd, W., Higham, C. & McGrath, R.. 1999. The geoarchaeology of Iron Age ‘moated’ sites of the Upper Mae Nam Mun Valley, NE Thailand I: Palaeodrainage, site–landscape relationships and the origins of the ‘moats’. Geoarchaeology 14: 675–716. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/(SICI)1520-6548(199910)14:7<675::AID-GEA4>3.0.CO;2-G Google Scholar
Boyd, W. & McGrath, R.. 2001. The geoarchaeology of the prehistoric ditched sites of the upper Mae Nam Mun Valley, NE Thailand, III: Late Holocene vegetation history. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 171: 307–28.Google Scholar
Boyd, W., McGrath, R. & Higham, C.. 1999. The geoarchaeology of the prehistoric ditched sites of the Upper Mae Nam Mun Valley, NE Thailand, II: stratigraphy and morphological sections of the encircling earthworks. Bulletin of the Indo Pacific Prehistory Association 18: 169–79. http://dx.doi.org/10.7152/bippa.v18i0.11712 Google Scholar
Bruins, H.J., Evenari, M. & Nessler, U.. 1986. Rainwater-harvesting agriculture for food production in arid zones: the challenge of the African famine. Applied Geography 6: 13–32. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/0143-6228(86)90026-3 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Damrong Rajanubhap, HRH Prince. 1995. Visitations in Monthon Nakhon Rajasima and Monthon Udon Isarn in Rattanakosin 125 and B.E. 2449. Bangkok: Diskul Foundation (in Thai).Google Scholar
Dominguez, S. & Kolm, K.E.. 2005. Beyond water harvesting: a soil hydrology perspective on traditional southwestern agricultural technology. American Antiquity 70: 732–65. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/40035872 Google Scholar
Drennan, R.D. 2004. Statistics for archaeologists, a common sense approach. New York: Springer.Google Scholar
Fox, J.J. & Ledgerwood, J.. 1999. Dry-season flood-recession rice in the Mekong Delta: two thousand years of sustainable agriculture? Asian Perspectives 38: 37–50.Google Scholar
Hatibu, N. & Mahoo, H.. 1999. Rainwater harvesting technologies for agricultural production: a case for Dodoma, Tanzania, in Kaumbutho, P.G. & Simalenga, T.E. (ed.) Conservation tillage with animal traction: 161–71. Harare: Animal Traction Network for Eastern and Southern Africa.Google Scholar
Higham, C. 1998. The transition from prehistory to the historic period in the Upper Mun Valley. The transition to history in Southeast Asia, part I: Cambodia and Thailand 2 (3): 235–60.Google Scholar
Higham, C. 2011. The Iron Age of the Mun Valley, Thailand. The Antiquaries Journal 91: 1–44.Google Scholar
Higham, C. 2014. From the Iron Age to Angkor: new light on the origins of a state. Antiquity 88: 822–35. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0003598×00050717 Google Scholar
Higham, C. & Kijngam, A. (ed.). 2013. The excavation of Ban Non Wat: the Iron Age (volume 6). Bangkok: The Thai Fine Arts Department.Google Scholar
Jiang, J. 1996. REML estimation: asymptotic behavior and related topics. Annals of Statistics 24: 255–86. http://dx.doi.org/10.1214/aos/1033066209 Google Scholar
Kealhofer, L. & Penny, D.. 1998. A combined pollen and phytolith record for fourteen thousand years of vegetation change in northeastern Thailand. Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology 103: 83–93. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0034-6667(98)00029-3 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
King, C., Bentley, A., Tayles, N., Viŏarsdóttir, U.S., Nowell, G. & Macpherson, C.. 2013. Moving peoples, changing diets: isotopic differences highlight migration and subsistence changes in the Upper Mun River valley, Thailand. Journal of Archaeological Science 40: 1681–88. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jas.2012.11.013 Google Scholar
Maxwell, A. 2004. Fire regimes in north-eastern Cambodian monsoonal forests, with a 9300-year sediment charcoal record. Journal of Biogeography 31: 225–39.Google Scholar
Mbilinyi, B.P., Tumbo, S.D., Mahoo, H.F. & Mkiramwinyi, F.O.. 2007. GIS-based decision support system for identifying potential sites for rainwater harvesting. Physics and Chemistry of the Earth 32: 1074–81. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.pce.2007.07.014 Google Scholar
McGrath, R. & Boyd, W.. 2001. The chronology of the Iron Age ‘moats’ of northeast Thailand. Antiquity 75: 349–60. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0003598×00061007 Google Scholar
McGrath, R.J., Boyd, W.E. & Bush, R.T.. 2008. The paleohydrological context of the Iron Age floodplain sites of the Mun River Valley, northeast Thailand. Geoarchaeology 23: 151–72. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/gea.20210 Google Scholar
McNeill, J. & Welch, D.. 1991. Regional and interregional interaction on the Khorat Plateau. Bulletin of the Indo-Pacific Prehistory Association 10: 327–40.Google Scholar
Moore, E. 1988. Moated sites in early north east Thailand (British Archaeological Reports international series 400). Oxford: Hedges.Google Scholar
Mupangwa, W., Love, D. & Twomlow, S.. 2006. Soil-water conservation and rainwater-harvesting strategies in the semi-arid Mzingwane Catchment, Limpopo Basin, Zimbabwe. Physics and Chemistry of the Earth 31: 893–900. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.pce.2006.08.042 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nabhan, G.P. 1979. The ecology of floodwater farming in arid southwestern North America. Agro-Ecosystems 5: 245–55. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/0304-3746(79)90004-0 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nitta, E. 1991. Archaeological study on the ancient iron-smelting and salt-making industries in the northeast of Thailand. Preliminary report on the excavations of Non Yang and Ban Don Phlong. Journal of Southeast Asian Archaeology 11: 1–46.Google Scholar
Ohba, K. & Ponsana, P.. 1987. Evapotranspiration in the northeast district of Thailand as estimated by Morton method. Journal of Agricultural Meteorology 42: 329–36. http://dx.doi.org/10.2480/agrmet.42.329 Google Scholar
O’Reilly, D. 2008. Multivallate sites and socio-economic change: Thailand and Britain in their Iron Ages. Antiquity 82: 377–89. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0003598×00096873 Google Scholar
O’Reilly, D. 2014. Increasing complexity and the political economy model: a consideration of Iron Age moated sites in Thailand. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 35: 298–309.Google Scholar
O’Reilly, D. & Scott, G.. 2015. Multi-vallate sites of the Iron Age in the Mun River valley, Thailand: new discoveries using Google Earth. Journal of Field Archaeology.Google Scholar
Parnwell, M.J.G. 1988. Rural poverty, development and the environment: the case of north-east Thailand. Journal of Biogeography 15: 199–208. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/2845060 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Parry, J. 1992. The investigative role of Landsat-TM in the examination of pre- and proto-historic water management sites in northeast Thailand. Geocarto International 7 (4): 5–24. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10106049209354385 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Paul, B.K. 1984. Perception of and agricultural adjustment to floods in Jamuna floodplain, Bangladesh. Human Ecology 12: 3–19. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/BF01531281 Google Scholar
Penny, D. 2001. A 40,000 year palynological record from north-east Thailand; implications for biogeography and palaeo-environmental reconstruction. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 171 (3–4): 97–128. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0031-0182(01)00242-5 Google Scholar
Prinz, D. 2002. The role of water harvesting in alleviating water scarcity in arid areas (keynote lecture), in Proceedings of the international conference on water resources management in arid regions. 23–27 March, 2002 (volume 3): 107–22. Kuwait: Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research.Google Scholar
Riethmuller, R. 1988. Differentiation and dynamics of land-use systems in a mountain-valley environment: a case study of new colonization areas in the upper Mae Nam Pa Sak catchment area, Thailand, in Manshard, W. & Morgan, W.B. (ed.) Agricultural expansion and pioneer settlements in the humid tropics: 74–99. Tokyo: United Nations University.Google Scholar
Scott, G. 2013. Examining the function of circular moated sites in north east Thailand: agriculture, defence or water storage? A landscape analysis. Unpublished BA dissertation, Australian National University.Google Scholar
Supapoj, N., Naklang, K. & Konboon, Y.. 1998. Using organic material to improve soil productivity in rainfed lowland rice in northeast Thailand, in Ladha, J.K., Wade, L., Dobermann, A., Reirchardt, W., Kirk, G.J.D. & Piggin, C. (ed.) Rainfed lowland rice: advances in nutrient management research: 161–68. Los Banos: International Rice Research Institute.Google Scholar
Talbot, S. & Janthed, C.. 2001. Northeast Thailand before Angkor: evidence from an archaeological excavation at the Prasat Him Phimai. Asian Perspectives 40 (2): 179–94. http://dx.doi.org/10.1353/asi.2001.0027 Google Scholar
Vallibhotama, S. 1984. The relevance of moated settlements to the formation of states in Thailand, in D. Bayard (ed.) Southeast Asian archaeology at the XV Pacific Science Congress: papers presented in symposium K.1e, the origins of agriculture, metallurgy, and the state of mainland Southeast Asia, Dunedin, New Zealand, 8–10 February 1983 (University of Otago studies in prehistoric anthropology 16): 123–28. Dunedin: Department of Anthropology, University of Otago.Google Scholar
Welch, D.J. 1989. Late Prehistoric and Early Historic exchange patterns in the Phimai region, Thailand. Journal of Southeast Asian Studies 20: 11–26. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0022463400019810 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Welch, D.J. & McNeill, J.R.. 1988–1989. Excavations at Ban Tamyae and Non Ban Kham, Phimai region, northeast Thailand. Asian Perspectives 28: 99–123.Google Scholar
Williams-Hunt, P.D.R. 1950. Irregular earthworks in eastern Siam: a review. Antiquity 24: 30–36. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0003598×00022821 Google Scholar