| Abstract: |
Throughout Southeast Asia, evidence of Holocene human occupation can be recovered from most beaches, strands and estuaries. Yet interpretation of such coastal sites has hitherto been limited. Was usage the same everywhere? What social structures enabled survival of such widespread and fragmented communities? Epistemologically, how can evidence of this maritime mode of adaptation be retrieved? In this paper the authors describe an evolutionary palimpsest of sites in the Phuket region of Thailand, ranging from seasonal fishing camps through long-term base camps where "sea-peoples" congregate annually during the monsoon season. Over time these base camps are modified to accommodate increased populations, but eventually a camp's carrying capacity is reached and the community splinters and moves to new but always pre-tested sites, following well-established dendritic sea paths linking the widely spaced econiches. The authors develop and evaluate archaeological methodologies designed to retrieve information about the nature of sites and the degrees to which they have been exploited to the limits of their carrying capacity. Shell and other midden deposits, in particular, are critically examined for their usefulness in conveying this type of information and compared with archaeological deposits for their explanatory value.
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