| Abstract: |
Ban Chiang lies within the theoretical zone of the early domestication of rice, yams and othe rindigenous Southeast Asian domesticants, the multidisciplinary research effort into the paleoeconomy and paleoecology of Ban Chiang and related sites should shed light on the biological, social, and technological factors in the emergence and development of plant cultivation throughout the Indo-Pacific region. Northeast Thailand lies in a tropical rainfall that receives all of its annual rainfall within about six months- May through October. During the dry season, November through April, lakes and marshes contract, streams dry up, the water table drops. It is likely that this seasonal pattern of rainfall dates back to the lowland settlement of this region in the 4th millenium B.C. because the same faunal species found in the excavations have been found in the bivinity of Ban Chaing within living memory of the inhabitants.
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