Thomas Oliver Pryce

This osteobiography explores the life history of an adolescent who lived during the early‐mid Bronze Age (c. 1000–700 bce ) and was buried at Nyaung'gan, a site in north‐central Myanmar. Burial 3b had multiple skeletal lesions, and their bones were covered in well‐remodeled subperiosteal new bone. A differential diagnosis was undertaken to evaluate the etiology of the lesions and potential co‐morbidity. The lesions observed have different underlying mechanisms, and while most represent reactive biological responses to trauma and disease, a circular cranial lesion with remodeled margins is more consistent with intentional trepanation than a natural biological process. The findings suggest that 3b had survived a significant traumatic cranial injury earlier in childhood and was suffering from a dislocated temporomandibular joint and possible co‐morbid vitamin D deficiency‐related osteomalacia. It is cautiously suggested that 3b survived a subsequent trepanation performed to alleviate symptoms of their condition. Drawing on bioarchaeological approaches to past caregiving, we consider the consequences of these on 3b and how they were cared for, providing unique insight into social dynamics and community care in ancient Myanmar.

Mainland Southeast Asian metal exchange networks during the regional Bronze Age (c. 1200–500 bc ) are increasingly well‐documented and understood in their complexity and relations to southern China. However, significant gaps remain due to the scarcity of excavated sites of this period with metallurgical assemblages, as well as most of the previously studied sites being in irregularly distributed clusters. The Bronze Age cemeteries of Nong Nor and Koh Ta Meas represent atypical locations, on the coast of the Bangkok Embayment in Thailand and submerged in the Western Baray of Angkor in Cambodia, respectively. The 17 Thai and two Cambodian copper‐base samples cover seven broad typologies and five alloys, including rare near‐pure tin. The limited Koh Ta Meas assemblage appears to represent exchange relationships with communities upstream on the Mekong River, whereas the Thai artefacts seem related to northeast Thailand, and potentially Red River communities in northern Vietnam.

Fe–Cu skarns of the Loei Fold Belt have been poorly investigated in terms of lead isotopic signatures. We report the first MC‐ICP‐MS dataset from the belt, based on 15 ore samples from the Khao Thap Kwai deposit (Lop Buri, Thailand). Ores signatures display internally coherent yet dispersed signatures ( ²⁰⁶ Pb/ ²⁰⁴ Pb = 17.794–18.335, ²⁰⁷ Pb/ ²⁰⁴ Pb = 15.495–15.601, and ²⁰⁸ Pb/ ²⁰⁴ Pb = 37.628–38.256). The data plot between mantle and upper‐crust evolutionary fields and overlaps the orogenic growth curve; binary mixing between hydrous mantle‐derived arc melts and upper‐crustal reservoirs provides a parsimonious explanation. Regionally, Khao Thap Kwai field partly overlaps the Chatree epithermal system but shows distinctly lower ²⁰⁸ Pb/ ²⁰⁴ Pb ratios, whereas ore deposits of the Truong Son Belt are more radiogenic, highlighting the utility of Pb isotopes for discriminating metallogenic provinces in western Indochina.

The origins of agriculture have been a focal point of interest in Southeast Asia because of the profound influence domestication of cereal crops had on the ancient inhabitants of the region. Historically, an emphasis has been placed on the movement of farmers from China into Southeast Asia during the Neolithic, however, the origin of agriculture in Myanmar remains unknown. Recently, stable carbon and oxygen isotope analyses have provided insight into the subsistence practices of two prehistoric communities, Oakaie 1 and Nyaung’gan, living in north-central Myanmar during the late Neolithic and early Bronze Age, ca. 1300 − 700 BCE, but lacked the temporal resolution to identify any changes in the intensification of agriculture. Here, we report new C and O stable isotope analysis of individuals from Oakaie 1, and the UNESCO World Heritage complex of Halin excavated between 2017 and 2020. With a longer chronological sequence —dating between ca. 2700 BCE and 1300 CE— Halin provides the opportunity to examine diachronic changes in these practices. The results suggest individuals from Myanmar had a mixed subsistence economy focused on C₃/C₄ resources during the late Neolithic to Bronze Age and a less variable subsistence focused on C₃ resources in the Iron Age, possibly associated with the intensification of wet rice agriculture and changes in water management practices. Situated in north-central Myanmar on the edge of mainland Southeast Asia, we suggest that southwest China, with a subsistence economy of rice and millet, played a role in the movement of this mixed farming strategy into Myanmar.

Les profils d’âge au décès des individus dans les cimetières sont couramment utilisés pour étudier indirectement la santé et les fluctuations démographiques dans les études bioarchéologiques. Dans cet article, nous examinons un vaste ensemble de données comprenant 18 sites bien datés de Thaïlande, du Viêt Nam, du Cambodge et du Myanmar, allant du Néolithique à l’âge du Fer, afin d’étudier les tendances liées à l’âge. Nous remettons en question l’hypothèse selon laquelle ces schémas sont uniquement dus à la démographie sous-jacente, à des fouilles incomplètes ou à la préservation sélective de certains squelettes. Nous soutenons que les anomalies liées à l’âge sont liées, au moins en partie, aux dimensions funéraires et sociales de ces sites. En utilisant des profils d’âge au décès, nous démontrons que la sélection basée sur l’âge participe au comportement funéraire global d’une culture donnée, bien que d’autres influences, telles que les fluctuations démographiques et les maladies, puissent jouer un rôle déterminant dans des lieux donnés et à des périodes différentes.

Myanmar is located within an important geographic corridor of prehistoric demographic and technological exchange, yet relatively few archaeological sites have been securely dated. Here, the authors present a new radiocarbon chronology for Halin, a UNESCO-listed complex in the north-central Sagaing Division of Myanmar, which contributes to the generation of nuanced regional chronologies and to improving the temporal resolution of Southeast Asia more generally. Discussion of 94 radiocarbon determinates, together with site stratigraphy and pottery traditions, provides a chronological sequence from the early third millennium BC to the early second millennium AD. Corroboration of the beginning of this sequence would place Halin as the oldest currently dated Neolithic site in Mainland Southeast Asia and would provide support for the two-layer model of Neolithic migration.