DATING EARLY BRONZE AT BAN CHIANG, THAILAND

Abstract

In 1982, the dating for the earliest bronze grave good at Ban Chiang, Thailand, was revised from the fourth to the early second millennium B.C. Some scholars did not accept the revised dating, and have argued for a date of younger than 1500 B.C. The debate has focused on bronzes that were grave goods and has not addressed the non-burial metals and metal-related artefacts. This article summarizes the burial and non-burial contexts for early bronzes at Ban Chiang, based on the evidence recovered from excavations at the site in 1974 and 1975. New evidence, including previously unpublished AMS dates, is presented supporting the dating of early metallurgy at the site in the early second millennium B.C. (c. 2000-1700 B.C.). This dating is consistent with a source of bronze technology from outside the region. However, the earliest bronze is too old to have originated from the Shang dynasty, as some archaeologists have claimed. The confirmed dating of the earliest bronze at Ban Chiang facilitates more precise debate on the relationship between inter-regional interaction in the third and second millennia in Asia and the appearance of early metallurgy.