| Abstract: |
In this article White attempts to explain in more detail and and why the dates for Ban Chiang were chosen. This is a response to the criticism of Higham (1984:231) who states that on charcoals sample should "come from \uin situ\u contexts such as hearths, charcoal from within bronze casting furnaces, or wood cut from prehistoric coffins." Whites points out, that while this is the ideal situation, it is not always possible to due so because the context does not exist or there is not sufficient amounts. She then uses ethnographic analysis of the Ban Chiang region today to try to explain where possibly good charcoal areas are and why they just may not exist. Various reasons given for why it may not exist include, raised hearths (off the ground) and fires which may be used outside the village limits. She advocates refining procedures and analytical logic to cope with the data that our sites produce, while remaining flexible in interpretation in anticipation of forthcoming evidence.
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