| Abstract: |
The Bronze Age (c. 2000-500 BC) is one of Mainland Southeast Asia's better documented periods, with debate focused primarily on the dating of the adoption of bronze production and the nature of social organization, particularly in regards to status differentiation. To further our understanding of this period, this paper examines the intersections of gender, status and ranking in Northeast Thailand, and specifically at the site of Non Nok Tha, by drawing upon approaches positing material culture as central in the formation, maintenance and negotiation of social identities and relations. Results of statistical analyses of the burials provide new insights into the expression and intersection of these identities, and their interplay with craft goods including those produced in the new medium of bronze. More specifically, results suggest the existence of status hierarchies, particularly of gender, during the early Bronze Age, and provide clearer evidence for institutionalized hierarchies during the middle Bronze Age. Bronze, ornaments, and certain grave features were central to these various interplays of gender, status and ranking.
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