| Abstract: |
The French-Thai archaeological programme in the Upper Thai-Malay Peninsula was developed to reconstruct the early phases of a technical, economic, and cultural exchange process that participated in shaping South and Southeast Asian cultural identities. To that end, it seeks to define the sequence of early socio-cultural developments of a region taken as pivotal in trans-Asiatic exchanges. The programme focuses on the interplay between the productions of the complex societies' involved in these exchanges by 'productions' we specifically refer to anthropomorphic landscapes and socio-technical systems. The multi-disciplinary research carried out combines a study of the late prehistoric settlement and production centre of Khao Sam Kaeo and its palaeo-environment, with technological analysis of the onsite craft production systems (ceramics, glass, stone ornaments and metallurgical artefacts). This approach is intended to evaluate how trans-Asiatic exchanges affected the political, economic and social landscape of the Peninsula, and concurrently to ascertain more precisely what role the peninsular region played in these exchanges. Three years of investigation at Khao Sam Kaeo provide the evidence presented here to support the assertion that Khao Sam Kaeo was a significant early polity involved in Trans-Asiatic exchange bearing signs of urbanisation and possibly centralisation. It is conceivable that some of these processes bear Indianised imprints. The Upper Kra Isthmus appears therefore to have played a prominent role in the burgeoning early trans-Asiatic economic and cultural networks of the mid-1st millennium BC.
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