Declaration         
Abstract           
Table of Contents          
List of Figures          
List of Tables         
List of Appendices        
Acknowledgements        
 
CHAPTER 1 – Introduction       
1.1 INTRODUCTION        
1.2 RESEARCH QUESTIONS      
1.3 A NOTE ON 'INDIANISATION'        
1.4 THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK    
 
CHAPTER 2 – Geography: Present and Past  
2.1 PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY      
2.2 GEOLOGY        
2.3 CLIMATE and RAINFALL       
2.4 VEGETATION        
2.5 SOILS         
2.6 AGRICULTURE         
2.7 PAST ENVIRONMENT       

CHAPTER 3 – Archaeobotany in Southeast Asia  
3.1 INTRODUCTION      
3.2 A SHORT HISTORY OF ARCHEOBOTANY IN     
SOUTHEAST ASIA       
3.3 SOME CONSIDERATIONS ON SOUTHEAST  
ASIAN ARCHEOBOTANY       

CHAPTER 4 – Materials and Methods  
4.1 SOURCE DATA                   
4.2 MACROREMAINS                 
4.3 PHYTOLITHS                   
4.4 IDENTIFICATION CHALLENGE                
4.5 REFERENCE COLLECTIONS                 
4.6 CHARRING EXPERIMENTS                 
4.7 OTHER REFERENCES                 
4.8 A FINAL NOTE ON TROPICAL ENVIRONMENTS and SAMPLING     
              
CHAPTER 5 – Preservation Bias 
5.1 INTRODUCTION                  
5.2 OTHER EXPERIMENTS and RESULTS        
5.3 METHODOLOGY                
5.4 OBSERVATIONS               
5.5 OVERALL RESULTS                        
 5.5.1 Absolute frequencies              
 5.5.2 Relative frequencies               
 5.5.3 Shrinkage factors               
 5.5.4 Temperature                
5.6 ARCHAEOLOGICAL DATA and PRESERVATION BIAS  
         
CHAPTER 6 –Khao Sam Kaeo 
6.1 SITE DESCRIPTION                
 6.1.1 The material artefacts               
 6.1.2 Early globalisation               
6.2 CHRONOLOGY                 
6.3 CONTEXTS                 
6.4 DATASETS                 
6.5 RESULTS and DISCUSSION: An ecological and agricultural interpretation                       
 6.5.1 The Resource Base               
 6.5.2 Modern contaminants and context security            
 6.5.3 The Economic Crops: cereals and pulses            
  6.5.3.1 Oryza sativa (L.)              
  6.5.3.2 Setaria italica (L.) Beauv. ssp. italica           
  6.5.3.3 Paspalum cf. scrobiculatum             
  6.5.3.4 Vigna radiata (L.) Wilczek var. radiata            
  6.5.3.5 Macrotyloma uniflorum (Lamarck) Verdcourt         
  6.5.3.6 Vigna cf. umbellata             
  6.5.3.7 Cajanus sp. / cf. Cajanus             
  6.5.3.8 cf. Lablab               
  6.5.3.9 A few notes on pulses (Fabaceae)            
 6.5.4 The Cash Crops: evidence of exchange networks           
   6.5.4.1 cf. Citrus / Citrus sp.            
   6.5.4.2 cf. Gossypium                
   6.5.4.3 Piper cf. longum              
 6.5.5 Overall analysis of economic crops, pulses and cash crops    
 6.5.6 Weeds                 
 6.5.7 Agricultural Practices in Khao Sam Kaeo      
6.6 KHAO SAM KAEO and THE EVOLUTION OF AGRICULTURE IN MAINLAND SOUTHEAST ASIA            
6.7 CONCLUSION                

CHAPTER 7 –Phu Khao Thong 
7.1 SITE DESCRIPTION               
7.2 CHRONOLOGY                
7.3 CONTEXTS                
7.4 DATASETS                
7.5 RESULTS                 
 7.5.1 The Resource Base              
 7.5.2 Modern contaminants and context security            
 7.5.3 The Economic Crops: cereals and pulses           
   7.5.3.1 Oryza sativa (L.)             
   7.5.3.2 Eleusine cf. coracana             
   7.5.3.3 Vigna radiata (L.) Wilczek var. radiata          
   7.5.3.4 Macrotyloma uniflorum (Lamarck) Verdcourt       
   7.5.3.5 Vigna cf. mungo             
   7.5.3.6 Lathyrus sativus (L.)             
   7.5.3.7 Vigna cf. umbellata             
 7.5.4 The Cash Crops               
   7.5.4.1 cf. Citrus / Citrus sp.            
   7.5.4.2 Piper cf. longum            
   7.5.4.3 Sesamum indicum               
 7.5.5 Acmella paniculata: weed of agriculture or vegetable?        
 7.5.6 Weeds of cultivation              
 7.6 DISCUSSION: East of India and West of Khao Sam Kaeo   
           
CHAPTER 8 – Charring Experiments: Interpretation 
8.1 INTRODUCTION                                      
 8.2 CEREAL HUSK                
 8.3 RICE SPIKELET BASES             
 8.4 MUNGBEAN BIAS              
 8.5 THE SMALL MILLET GRAINS            
 8.6 CONCLUSION              

CHAPTER 9 – Rice in Prehistoric Thailand 
 9.1 INTRODUCTION             
 9.2 BACKGROUND ON DOMESTICATION OF RICE         
 9.3 DIFFERENTIATING WILD FROM DOMESTICATED RICE             
 9.4 RICE IN THAILAND             
 9.5 ORIGINS and SPREAD OF RICE          
 9.6 GENETIC and MORPHOMETRIC STUDIES          
 9.7 NEW VIEWS ON THE SPREAD OF RICE           
 9.8 CONCLUSION               

CHAPTER 10 – Discussion and Conclusion 
 10.1 SUMMARISING THE LATE PREHISTORIC SUBSISTENCE REGIME IN PENINSULAR THAILAND
 10.2 INDIANISATION and WORLD SYSTEMS   
 10.3 FUTURE WORK    
         
BIBLIOGRAPHY               
APPENDICES 

The Thai-Malay Peninsula lies at the heart of Southeast Asia. Geographically, the narrowest point is forty kilometres and forms a barrier against straightforward navigation from the Indian Ocean to the South China Sea and vice versa. This would have either led vessels to cabotage the southernmost part of the peninsula or portage across the peninsula to avoid circumnavigating. The peninsula made easy crossing points strategic locations commercially and politically. Early movements of people along exchange routes would have required areas for rest, ports, repair of boats and replenishment of goods. These feeder stations may have grown to become entrepôts and urban centres. This study investigates the archaeobotany of two sites in the Thai-Malay Peninsula, Khao Sam Kaeo (KSK) and Phu Khao Thong (PKT). KSK is located on the east whereas PKT lies on the west of the peninsula and both date to the Late Prehistoric period (ca. 400-100 BC). KSK has been identified as the earliest urban site from the Late Prehistoric period in Southeast Asia engaged in trans-Asiatic exchange networks. There is evidence of craft specialisation and material culture that links the site to India, China and the rest of Southeast Asia. PKT has similar material culture as KSK. The purpose of examining the archaeobotanical results from KSK is to add to the understanding of how an early urban site with an active exchange network and specialised craft production would have supported itself. The results provide insights into exchanged foodstuffs and the agricultural base that sustained the different communities at KSK: the local population, temporary settlers and transient voyagers. The archaeobotany of Khao Sam Kaeo is compared to the contemporaneous site PKT. PKT lies closer to the Indian Ocean and has more Indian domesticates in the assemblage.