Bodies in transition: Tooth ablation from Neolithic to Iron Age in Vietnam and Southeast Asia

Missing lateral incisors in Iron Age South-East Asians as possible indicators of dental agenesis

Ritual tooth ablation, the intentional removal of teeth, is a highly visible form of body modification that can signal group identity and mark certain life events, such as marriage. The widespread occurrence of the practice in Asia appears to have begun in the Neolithic period and in some areas, such as Taiwan, continued until the ethnographic present. We aim to use a biocultural approach to investigate the significance of tooth ablation in Indonesia and Vanuatu during the maritime expansion of Austronesian-speaking groups ca. 3500–2000 years ago. Here we assess the presence and patterns of tooth ablation in four prehistoric skeletal assemblages from eastern Indonesia (Pain Haka, Melolo, Lewoleba and Liang Bua) and one from Vanuatu (Uripiv). Despite the relatively small sample sizes, it was found that individuals from all the sites displayed tooth ablation. The Indonesian populations had ablation patterns that involved the maxillary lateral incisors and canines and the individuals from Uripiv had the central maxillary incisors removed. We suggest that the distribution of tooth ablation in eastern Indonesia provides strong evidence that this practice was an important ritual process associated with the early expansion of Austronesian-speaking populations in the region. The identification of tooth ablation at the site of Uripiv is the earliest example of the practice in the Pacific Islands and was either a Southeast Asian tradition brought by Austronesian settlers, was introduced later from Near Oceania, or was an indigenous development in Vanuatu. A similar pattern of tooth ablation (the removal of central maxillary incisors) has been documented in ethnographic reports of northern Vanuatu tribes. We argue that the practice could possibly be a ritual passed through the generations since the early settlement of Vanuatu.

This chapter documents tooth ablation in early Neolithic skeletons (ca. 5000–4200 BP) from the Nankuanli East (NKLE) site in southwestern Taiwan and makes comparisons to Iron Age skeletons (1800–500 BP) from Shihsanhang (SSH) in northwest Taiwan and other groups from Taiwan and surrounding regions. The most common pattern of tooth ablation in the NKLE skeletons is symmetrical removal of the upper lateral incisors and canines in adult males and females. No ablation was observed among the Iron Age skeletons from Taiwan. The manner and timing of tooth removal, a possible marker of cultural/kinship identity, and its absence in the SSH teeth are discussed. The pattern of tooth ablation observed in the NKLE skeletons is rare in other regions surveyed. Studies of skeletons from Mainland China help identify the possible origin of the pattern of dental modification observed in Taiwan’s earliest Neolithic inhabitants.

Tooth ablation is identified differentially among Iron Age inhabitants of the inland region of central Thailand at the archaeological sites of Ban Mai Chaimongkol and Tha Kae (ca. 2650–1450 bp). Analysis of the subsets of adult individuals with adequately preserved anterior dentition (Ban Mai Chaimongkol n = 12; Tha Kae n = 6) documents bilateral removal of the maxillary lateral incisors and canines at Ban Mai Chaimongkol and bilateral removal of the maxillary lateral incisors at Tha Kae, affecting 17% (n = 2) and 67% (n = 4) of observable individuals, respectively. Ablation was not associated with sex, age, mortuary features, or grave goods in this sample. Possible social significances of this practice are discussed in relation to skeletal evidence of tooth ablation elsewhere in Mainland Southeast Asia and archaeological contexts specific to central Thailand.

Early Bronze in Northeastern Thailand

A sample of skeletons excavated from an undisturbed prehistoric (4000–3500 years BP) burial site in Thailand included a high proportion of individuals with anterior teeth missing in distinctive, mostly symmetrical, patterns. The patterns, types and numbers of teeth missing have been compared between males and females, with age at death, with depth of burial and among spatially distinct groups within the cemetery. The patterns of missing teeth changed over time. In early burials, lateral maxillary incisors were most commonly missing. Two-thirds of the adults had missing teeth. There were no significant differences between the sexes or with age. In later burials, central maxillary incisors and mandibular incisors were most commonly missing. All adults and some children as young as 11 years had missing teeth. There were no significant changes with age but females had more missing teeth than males. Loss as a result of extreme wear inflicted through the use of teeth as tools, congenital absence and ritual ablation are discussed as explanations for the absence of the teeth. The evidence suggests that ritual ablation is the most likely explanation, although the loss of mandibular incisors in some early burials may be as a result of industrial use of the teeth. The ablation of maxillary lateral incisors, found in the early burials, has been recorded at another prehistoric site in the west of Thailand and at sites in southern China.

A sample of skeletons excavated from an undisturbed prehistoric (4000–3500 years BP) burial site in Thailand included a high proportion of individuals with anterior teeth missing in distinctive, mostly symmetrical, patterns. The patterns, types and numbers of teeth missing have been compared between males and females, with age at death, with depth of burial and among spatially distinct groups within the cemetery. The patterns of missing teeth changed over time. In early burials, lateral maxillary incisors were most commonly missing. Two-thirds of the adults had missing teeth. There were no significant differences between the sexes or with age. In later burials, central maxillary incisors and mandibular incisors were most commonly missing. All adults and some children as young as 11 years had missing teeth. There were no significant changes with age but females had more missing teeth than males. Loss as a result of extreme wear inflicted through the use of teeth as tools, congenital absence and ritual ablation are discussed as explanations for the absence of the teeth. The evidence suggests that ritual ablation is the most likely explanation, although the loss of mandibular incisors in some early burials may be as a result of industrial use of the teeth. The ablation of maxillary lateral incisors, found in the early burials, has been recorded at another prehistoric site in the west of Thailand and at sites in southern China.

Recent research has made considerable progress towards our understanding of the origins of agriculture and the domestication of animals in prehistoric Southeast Asia. This thesis will contribute to this knowledge by investigating the faunal assemblage from archaeological sites in the Upper Mun River Valley, northeast Thailand. The major goal of this research is to address the hypothesis: Prehistoric communities in the Upper Mun River Valley became more reliant on domestic animals as part of their subsistence strategies over time, from the Neolithic to the Iron Age To address this hypothesis 22283 vertebrate animal remains from the prehistoric sites of Ban Non Wat, Ban Salao, and Nong Hua Raet were identified and analysed into 57 taxonomic groups. From this analysis, the subsistence strategies in these early communities were determined. Whether these strategies changed throughout time, due to social changes, was investigated. The zooarchaeological records from the three sites were compared to modern comparative studies from the Hmong and Lao-Isan cultures of Southeast Asia. The results show that the subsistence role of domestic animals in the Upper Mun River Valley changed from the Neolithic to the Iron Age. At Ban Non Wat, a site that encompasses a time span of 1650 BC to 500 AD, the volume (m3) of pig and bovid remains increased in the Bronze Age contexts, with bovid remains increasing again in Iron Age contexts. This illustrates the increasing importance of animal husbandry at this site. Wild resources such as deer, fish, and turtle/ tortoise remains were also identified in lower volumes in Iron Age contexts in comparison to Bronze Age and Neolithic at Ban Non Wat. At Ban Salao, an Iron Age site (500 BC to 500 AD), bovid remains made up the majority of the assemblage, with pig second highest. Only a small number of deer, fish, and turtle remains were identified. Likewise, at the Iron Age site of Nong Hua Raet (500 BC to 500 AD), bovid remains were found more often than pig remains and other animals, such as deer, fish, and turtle. The age at death estimates for pig, and the frequency of skeletal elements at Ban Salao and Nong Hua Raet, indicates that pigs may have been raised or butchered offsite. The lack of fish species related to rice agriculture, and low numbers of rats and mice, suggests that Ban Salao and Nong Hua Raet were not intensive rice farming sites. It is argued that these sites were seasonally occupied. If the Iron Age results are analysed as a community of sites, it demonstrates clustered groups specialising in one or two resources, with linear communities sharing resources. These findings demonstrate how the subsistence role of animals in early agricultural communities in the Upper Mun River Valley changed over time, with communities becoming more reliant on domestic animals from the Neolithic to the Iron Age. However, hunting and fishing remained an important part of subsistence strategies throughout all time periods at Ban Non Wat. The increased reliance on domestic animals confirms a socio-cultural change in subsistence towards the use of domestic animals as a food source, and provides evidence of an agricultural intensification of seasonal rice farming. The comparative studies from the Hmong and Lao-Isan cultures has led to the conclusion that the seasonal nature of intensive Iron Age agricultural may have had an influence on the season wild animals were hunted. The results of this thesis are inconclusive as to which current model of social change in Southeast Asia the data supports. This may relate to the overlap within the structure of the models themselves, or suggest that no model entirely encompasses social change that occurred in the prehistoric communities of the Upper Mun River Valley. This research contributes significantly to our understanding of changes to subsistence resources in agricultural communities of Upper Mun River Valley and the wider Southeast Asian region.

Reviewed by: Archaeology and Culture in Southeast Asia: Unraveling the Nusantao John A. Peterson Archaeology and Culture in Southeast Asia: Unraveling the Nusantao. Wilhelm G. Solheim II, with contributions from David Bulbeck and Ambika Flavel. Foreword by Victor Paz. Quezon City: University of the Philippines Press, 2006. 316 pp. + xvi, illustrations, maps. ISBN 9715425089. Bill Solheim founded this journal, Asian Perspectives, which first appeared in 1957. For over 50 years he has been a leader and contributor to Southeast Asian archaeological studies. He has been prolific, and his work has been foundational for studies in the region. He has recently revised and republished his Archaeology of the Central Philippines: A Study Chiefly of the Iron Age and Its Relationships (Solheim 2002) as well as updated earlier reports in "Archaeological Survey in Papua, Halmahera, and Ternate, Indonesia" (chapter 6 in this volume under review). He also recently revisited ceramic collections in the Sarawak Museum from the Gua Sirah project, which he is currently preparing for publication. In other words, Solheim has been vigorous and productive since his "retirement" from teaching in 1991 from the Department of Anthropology at the University of Hawai'i. He is currently on the faculty of the Archaeological Studies Program at the University of the Philippines in Diliman. The festschrift Southeast Asian Archaeology was published in 2005 in his honor by his colleagues and former students, and it includes articles from throughout Mainland and Island Southeast Asia—the latter a neologism that he helped coin. This book on the Nusantao is a consummate review by Solheim of his life's work in the region. It is written in a fresh and sometimes conversational style, with an eye not only toward reviewing his previous work, but also accommodating recent findings and literature. Solheim takes advantage of hindsight to revise a few earlier misconceptions or misstatements, and he also takes the opportunity to frame his vision of migration in the region in light of a current controversy of contending models. In this sense, this volume presents the history of an idea as well as the fieldwork and analyses that Solheim has done over the past half century. Unraveling the Nusantao is at the same time a recounting of the data, a historiography of the concept, a personal intellectual biography, and also a vision of a vibrant maritime culture that has inhabited the region since the Late Paleolithic. It is a compelling argument for his model of dispersive and expansive settlement in Southeast Asia. The concept has evolved considerably from its earliest presentations as a Neolithic era "Nusantao" culture, and this volume reflects not only the emergence of data but also an emerging and quite sophisticated model of migration. The theme is central to theory and interpretations of migration throughout the region and is currently controversial in its opposition to models that focus on Taiwan as the fulcrum of Austronesian Neolithic period diffusion. Solheim examines this alternate model and compares it unfavorably to the data, as well as to his own theory. Solheim himself eschews the term "theory," as he has long been skeptical of fads and fashions, old wine in new skins, or revisionistic explanations. In contrast, Solheim remains close to his experience of the archaeological landscapes of the region, to the data, and to his prodigious knowledge of artifacts, sites, and collections in his illumination of a powerful and resilient model for settlement and migration. He presents the ethnographic, ethnohistorical, and linguistic as well as archaeological bases for his theory. The book is divided into seven chapters, with two contributions regarding the analyses of his Sa Huynh–Kalanay ceramic tradition [End Page 235] that he had first proposed in 1952 for the central Philippines as the Kalanay tradition. He later expanded the concept into a panregional tradition where ceramic styles from the Sa Huynh site in Vietnam were interpreted as genetically related to the Kalanay, with stylistic flow occurring over probably a very short period of time during the Neolithic and evolving throughout the early Iron Age in the region. David Bulbeck and Ambika Flavel have contributed appendices to this volume that statistically support Solheim's earlier stylistic lumpings. Another brief section, an account of survey results from...

In this paper, I shall discuss the issue of the Iron Age in Southeast Asia under two headings - mainland Southeast Asia and island Southeast Asia. On the mainland, I shall discuss the evidence from Vietnani, Thailand and Peninsular Malaysia, but exclude Burma, Laos and Kampuchea for lack of relevant data. In the islands, I will discuss Indonesia, Sabah, Sarawak and the Philippines. I would argue that the Iron Age as a separate cultural entity is evident on the mainland, but in the islands there is no identifiable Bronze Age preceding the adoption of iron. By the Iron Age, I mean a period associated with iron artefacts, wet rice farming, brisk internal exchange and external trade and, in the lowland at least, a ranked society. This corresponds roughly to the General Period C of Bayard (1984b, 163, see also Higham and Kijngam 1984, 13-21). But two points should be made about this scheme: <ol><li>This is a heuristic device, so all sites in Southeast Asia can not be easily fitted into it.</li><li>There is as yet no general agreement among scholars regarding the chronology of various periods.</li></ol>

In this paper, I shall discuss the issue of the Iron Age in Southeast Asia under two headings - mainland Southeast Asia and island Southeast Asia. On the mainland, I shall discuss the evidence from Vietnani, Thailand and Peninsular Malaysia, but exclude Burma, Laos and Kampuchea for lack of relevant data. In the islands, I will discuss Indonesia, Sabah, Sarawak and the Philippines. I would argue that the Iron Age as a separate cultural entity is evident on the mainland, but in the islands there is no identifiable Bronze Age preceding the adoption of iron. By the Iron Age, I mean a period associated with iron artefacts, wet rice farming, brisk internal exchange and external trade and, in the lowland at least, a ranked society. This corresponds roughly to the General Period C of Bayard (1984b, 163, see also Higham and Kijngam 1984, 13-21). But two points should be made about this scheme: <ol><li>This is a heuristic device, so all sites in Southeast Asia can not be easily fitted into it.</li><li>There is as yet no general agreement among scholars regarding the chronology of various periods.</li></ol>

The purpose of this article is to present new oral health data from Neolithic An Son, southern Vietnam, in the context of (1) a reassessment of published data on other Neolithic, Bronze, and Iron Age Southeast Asian dental series, and (2) predictions of the Neolithic Demographic Transition (NDT). To this end, frequencies for three oral conditions (caries, antemortem tooth loss, and alveolar lesions) were investigated for seven Southeast Asian adult dental series from Thailand and Vietnam with respect to time period, age-at-death and sex. A clear pattern of elevated rates for oral disease in the Neolithic followed by a marked improvement in oral health during the Bronze and Iron Ages was observed. Moreover, rates of caries and antemortem tooth loss for females were almost without exception higher than that for males in all samples. The consensus view among Southeast Asian bioarchaeologists that oral health did not decline with the adoption/intensification of agriculture in Southeast Asia, can no longer be supported. In light of evidence for (1) the low cariogenicity of rice; (2) the physiological predisposition of females (particularly when pregnant) to poorer oral health; and (3) health predictions of the NDT model with respect to elevated levels of fertility, the most plausible chief explanation for the observed patterns in oral health in Southeast Asia is increased levels of fertility during the Neolithic, followed by a decline in fertility during the subsequent Bronze and Iron Ages.

Traditional reconstructions of the prehistory and early history of Southeast Asia contain two periods of contact between Southeast Asia and the West, these being the beginnings of the so-called Dongson Culture and the first historic state of Funan. There has been controversy as to whether the Western contacts which gave rise to the "Dongson Culture" came directly to north Vietnam around 800 B.C. or whether they were filtered through Chou China and reached north Vietnam about 300 B.C. In either case, primarily decorative patterns, ultimately from the European Bronze and Early Iron Age, and bronze-working came in together. The "Dongson" patterns spread over much of Southeast Asia and are still being used today in some areas. Research by historians and geographers indicated that the Kingdom of Funan existed somewhere in coastal Mainland Southeast Asia. From this work it was apparent that Funan was in some way connected with the trade between China and the West during the first millennium A.D. up until the end of Funan around 600 A.D. In both of these models of contact Southeast Asians were the passive recipients of whatever came from the West.

Previous articleNext article No AccessReportsFurther Evidence of Heterarchy in Bronze Age Thailand1DougaldJ.W.OReillyDougaldJ.W.OReillyFaculty of Archaeology, Royal University of Fine Arts, 2 Samdech Ouk, Phnom Penh, Cambodia ([email protected]). 30 v 02 Search for more articles by this author Faculty of Archaeology, Royal University of Fine Arts, 2 Samdech Ouk, Phnom Penh, Cambodia ([email protected]). 30 v 02PDFPDF PLUSFull Text Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by Current Anthropology Volume 44, Number 2April 2003 Sponsored by the Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/367973 Views: 142Total views on this site Citations: 18Citations are reported from Crossref 2003 by The WennerGren Foundation for Anthropological Research. All rights reserved PDF download Crossref reports the following articles citing this article:Alison Kyra Carter Building from the Ground Up: The Archaeology of Residential Spaces and Communities in Southeast Asia, Journal of Archaeological Research 52 (Jan 2022).https://doi.org/10.1007/s10814-021-09170-4Joyce C. White, Elizabeth G. Hamilton The metal age of Thailand and Ricardo's Law of Comparative Advantage, Archaeological Research in Asia 27 (Sep 2021): 100305.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ara.2021.100305Marc F Oxenham, Trinh Hoang Hiep, Hirofumi Matsumura, Kate Domett, Damien Huffer, Rebecca Crozier, Lan Cuong Nguyen, Clare McFadden Identity and community structure in Neolithic Man Bac, northern Vietnam, Archaeological Research in Asia 26 (Jun 2021): 100282.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ara.2021.100282Siavash Samei, Karim Alizadeh, Peter F. Biehl The spatial organization of craft production at the Kura-Araxes settlement of Köhne Shahar in northwestern Iran: A zooarchaeological approach, PLOS ONE 15, no.33 (Mar 2020): e0229339.https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0229339Elisabeth A. Hildebrand, Katherine M. Grillo, Elizabeth A. Sawchuk, Susan K. Pfeiffer, Lawrence B. Conyers, Steven T. Goldstein, Austin Chad Hill, Anneke Janzen, Carla E. Klehm, Mark Helper, Purity Kiura, Emmanuel Ndiema, Cecilia Ngugi, John J. Shea, Hong Wang A monumental cemetery built by eastern Africa’s first herders near Lake Turkana, Kenya, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 115, no.3636 (Aug 2018): 8942–8947.https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1721975115Alison Kyra Carter The Production and Exchange of Glass and Stone Beads in Southeast Asia from 500 BCE to the early second millennium CE: An assessment of the work of Peter Francis in light of recent research, Archaeological Research in Asia 6 (Jun 2016): 16–29.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ara.2016.02.004Mina YOKOCHI, Fumie EMISU, Satoko YANAGISAWA, Chizuko SHIMURA Experiences of women who consult a gynecologist for menopausal symptoms, Journal of Japan Academy of Midwifery 29, no.11 (Jan 2015): 59–68.https://doi.org/10.3418/jjam.29.59Dougald J.W. O’Reilly Increasing complexity and the political economy model; a consideration of Iron Age moated sites in Thailand, Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 35 (Sep 2014): 297–309.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaa.2014.06.007Nam C. Kim Lasting Monuments and Durable Institutions: Labor, Urbanism, and Statehood in Northern Vietnam and Beyond, Journal of Archaeological Research 21, no.33 (Feb 2013): 217–267.https://doi.org/10.1007/s10814-012-9064-7Fiorella Rispoli, Roberto Ciarla, Vincent C. Pigott Establishing the Prehistoric Cultural Sequence for the Lopburi Region, Central Thailand, Journal of World Prehistory 26, no.22 (Jul 2013): 101–171.https://doi.org/10.1007/s10963-013-9064-7N.J. Harris, N. Tayles Burial containers – A hidden aspect of mortuary practices: Archaeothanatology at Ban Non Wat, Thailand, Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 31, no.22 (Jun 2012): 227–239.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaa.2012.01.001Steve Weber, Heather Lehman, Timothy Barela, Sean Hawks, David Harriman Rice or millets: early farming strategies in prehistoric central Thailand, Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences 2, no.22 (Apr 2010): 79–88.https://doi.org/10.1007/s12520-010-0030-3Joyce C. White, Chureekamol Onsuwan Eyre 5 Residential Burial and the Metal Age of Thailand, Archeological Papers of the American Anthropological Association 20, no.11 (May 2011): 59–78.https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1551-8248.2011.01028.xA. Willis, N. Tayles Field anthropology: application to burial contexts in prehistoric Southeast Asia, Journal of Archaeological Science 36, no.22 (Feb 2009): 547–554.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jas.2008.10.010Stephen G. Perz, Angelica M. Almeyda A Tri-Partite Framework of Forest Dynamics: Hierarchy, Panarchy, and Heterarchy in the Study of Secondary Growth, (Sep 2009): 59–84.https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-9656-3_4Dougald J .W. O'Reilly Multivallate sites and socio-economic change: Thailand and Britain in their Iron Ages, Antiquity 82, no.316316 (Jan 2015): 377–389.https://doi.org/10.1017/S0003598X00096873Lisa Kealhofer, Peter Grave Land Use, Political Complexity, and Urbanism in Mainland Southeast Asia, American Antiquity 73, no.22 (Jan 2017): 200–226.https://doi.org/10.1017/S0002731600042256Miriam T. Stark Early Mainland Southeast Asian Landscapes in the First Millennium A.D., Annual Review of Anthropology 35, no.11 (Oct 2006): 407–432.https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.anthro.35.081705.123157

Asian Perspectives, Vol. 62, No. 2 © 2023 by the University of Hawai‘i Press. Digging Deep: A Journey into Southeast Asia’s Past. Charles Higham. Bangkok: River Books, 2021. 256 pp., 226 photographs. Paperback ฿850, ISBN 97886164510586. Reviewed by Dougald O’REILLY, Australian National University Autobiographies penned by archaeologists are rare finds indeed and with his book Digging Deep: A Journey into Southeast Asia’s Past, Professor Charles Higham joins the august ranks of Sir Mortimer Wheeler and W. M. Flinders Petrie in penning a reckoning of his distinguished career in the field. Over 14 chapters, Higham takes us through the arc of his life, beginning with a childhood recounted in remarkable detail thanks to the author’s habit of keeping a daily journal throughout his life. The first four chapters of Digging Deep cover Higham’s formative years. Born in 1939, Higham was educated in South London. He developed a passion for archaeology at an early age, due in part to Mortimer Wheeler’s appearance on British television. Higham and his brother first volunteered in the 1955 excavations of the Bronze Age site of Snail Down in Wiltshire before broadening their horizons by working on the digs at Arcy sur Cure in France. Higham studied for two years at the Institute of Archaeology, London University, with a focus on the archaeology of the western Roman provinces. He was privileged to have the opportunity to excavate in the United Kingdom at the Roman-era site of Verulamium and in France at an Iron Age site, Camp du Charlat. In 1959, he took up an offer from Cambridge University, where he studied the European Neolithic, Bronze, and Iron ages. In Digging Deep, these early years read like a Boy’s Own adventure, including an early trip to excavate in the fabulously named Grotte de L’Hyène in France and being awoken from siesta by Mongolian bagpipes played by the excavation director. A highlight of Higham’s time at Cambridge was being selected for the university’s rugby side and playing before a crowd of nearly 70,000 spectators and later being selected as an England triallist. A rugby career was not to be and Higham embarked on a doctorate focused on the prehistoric economic history of Switzerland and Denmark. He was awarded his Ph.D. in 1966. In the late 1960s, antipodean universities were eager to attract academic talent and recruited many Cambridge graduates. Higham was offered a lecturing position at the University of Otago in New Zealand the year he completed his doctorate. He was appointed Foundation Professor of Anthropology only two years later, at the age of 29. An American graduate student, Donn Bayard, later to have a long and distinguished career himself at Otago, introduced Higham to Southeast Asian archaeology. This area of study was largely overlooked at the time, but was brought to prominence by a number of astonishing claims including what was dubbed the ‘WOST’, World’s Oldest Socketed Tool, which was dated at the time to the fourth millennium B.C. (Solheim 1968). Higham’s work with Bayard at the Thai site of Non Nok Tha led to an introduction to another fabled Southeast Asian specialist, Chet Gorman, who Higham was told “was a bit wild [and] a bit too keen on illegal stimulants;” indeed, Higham recounts being offered some “herbacious-looking stuff” that Gorman called ‘Sakhon Nakon crippler’ during one of their digs (p. 91). Gorman and Higham excavated together in remote jungle in northern Thailand chasing the origins of agriculture while listening on the radio to reports of downed B-52 bombers over the not-too-distant north Vietnam. They continued their collaboration at the famed site of Ban Chiang in Northeast Thailand. These early experiences in Thailand convinced Higham of the importance of understanding the arc of human development in Southeast Asia and he struck out on his own, as is detailed in chapter 7. Building on the relationships he had established with Thai researchers, many of whom were to study with him in New Zealand, Higham focused his attention on “a little gem of a site,” Ban Na Di, while Gorman continued research at Ban Chiang (p. 98). It was...