Emergence and diversification of the neolithic in southern Vietnam: insights from coastal Rach Nui

Oxenham, Marc F., Piper, Philip J., Bellwood, Peter, Hoang, Bui Chi, Nguyen, Khanh Trung Kien, Nguyen, Quoc Manh, Campos, Fredeliza, Castillo, Cristina, Wood, Rachel, Sarjeant, Carmen, Amano, Noel, Willis, Anna, and Ceron, Jasminda (2015) Emergence and diversification of the neolithic in southern Vietnam: insights from coastal Rach Nui. Journal of Island and Coastal Archaeology, 10 (3). pp. 309-338.

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Abstract

We examine the southern Vietnamese site of Rach Nui, dated to between 3390 and 3850 cal BP, in the context of three major aspects of the Neolithic in Mainland Southeast Asia: mound formation and chronology, construction techniques, and subsistence economy. Results indicate that this ca. 75 m in diameter, 5 m high mound, comprising over a dozen phases of earthen platforms, upon which were raised sophisticated wooden structures, was built in <200 years. While consuming domesticated millet, rice, and occasionally dogs and pigs, the main subsistence orientation included managed tubers and fruits and a range of mangrove ecosystem taxa: catfishes, turtles, crocodiles, monitor lizards, macaques and langurs, to name a few. This combined vegeculture-foraging lifeway in a mangrove forested environment, likely in the context of a tradable goods extractive industry, adds to a growing picture of significant diversity, and sophisticated construction skills in the Southeast Asian Neolithic.

Item ID: 48108
Item Type: Article (Research - C1)
ISSN: 1556-1828
Keywords: building technology; coastal adaptation; mangrove ecosystem; mound construction; vegeculture-foraging subsistence
Funders: Australian Research Council (ARC)
Projects and Grants: ARC grant DP110101097, ARC grant FT120100299, ARC grant FT100100527
Date Deposited: 03 Apr 2017 05:52
FoR Codes: 21 HISTORY AND ARCHAEOLOGY > 2101 Archaeology > 210103 Archaeology of Asia, Africa and the Americas @ 100%
SEO Codes: 95 CULTURAL UNDERSTANDING > 9505 Understanding Past Societies > 950502 Understanding Asias Past @ 100%
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