Papers by Dougald O'Reilly
Asian Archaeology, Jul 19, 2023
Chronology, Duration, and Periodicity of Linear Enamel Hypoplasia at the Late Iron Age Site Non Ban Jak, Thailand: A Quantitative Microscopic Analysis
SSRN Electronic Journal
New insights into Metabolic Syndrome among ancient populations in mainland Asia
American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 2020
Current World Archaeology, 2020
Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, 2020
Angkor Borei is a protohistoric (ca. 500 BCE -500 CE) site in southern Cambodia (Takeo Province),... more Angkor Borei is a protohistoric (ca. 500 BCE -500 CE) site in southern Cambodia (Takeo Province), on the western edge of the Mekong Delta. Cambodia's protohistoric period, concurrent with the Iron Age elsewhere in mainland Southeast Asia, is a period characterised by major socio-political transformation: early state formation, incorporation into the South China Sea network, and urbanisation. First occupied in the mid-first millennium BCE, Angkor Borei became the delta's largest regional centre during the Funan period (c. 1st-6th century CE). This study builds on previous skeletal chemistry research, increasing the sample set by additional 15 individuals, to refine our understanding of the residential behaviour and exploitation strategies of the Angkor Borei mortuary sample. Using strontium, oxygen, carbon, and nitrogen isotope measurements from tooth enamel and bone, and incorporating bioavailable baseline strontium isotope data, we find that the majority of individuals have a childhood 87 Sr/ 86 Sr signature consistent with locally acquired food resources. For those individuals with outlier 87 Sr/ 86 Sr values, utilisation of the broader regional environment is suggested without the need to infer longdistance migration. The evidence for population stability at Angkor Borei during this dynamic period of increasing regional societal complexity indicates that the catalysts for change are manifold. Many factors are likely to have contributed to the genesis of early state society including social differentiation, cultural exchange, mercantile activity, residential mobility, and settlement growth, rather than one 'external' prime causative factor.
PLOS ONE, 2021
The megalithic jar sites of Laos (often referred to as the Plain of Jars) remain one of Southeast... more The megalithic jar sites of Laos (often referred to as the Plain of Jars) remain one of Southeast Asia’s most mysterious and least understood archaeological cultures. The sites, recently inscribed as UNESCO World Heritage, host hollowed stone jars, up to three metres in height, which appear scattered across the landscape, alone or clustered in groups of up to more than 400. Until now, it has not been possible to estimate when the jars were first placed on the landscape or from where the stone was sourced. Geochronological analysis using the age of detrital zircons demonstrates a likely quarry source for one of the largest megalithic jar sites. Optically Stimulated Luminescence (OSL) dating suggests the jars were positioned at the sites potentially as early as the late second millennium BC. Radiocarbon dating of skeletal remains and charcoal samples places mortuary activity around the jars from the 9-13th century AD, suggesting the sites have maintained ritual significance from the p...
Don’t Throw the Baby out with the Bathwater: New Insights into Palaeodemographic Change with the Intensification of Agriculture in Southeast Asia
Developing a new project: the impact of social change on health at the late Iron Age site of Non Ban Jak in Northeast Thailand
This paper introduces on-going research by presenting the original proposal for this work. This r... more This paper introduces on-going research by presenting the original proposal for this work. This research seeks to combine archaeological and bioarchaeological analyses, as well as theoretical perspectives from these fields, to obtain an integrated and holistic perspective of social change and its effect on health in prehistory. This approach will be tested on the archaeological and human skeletal remains from the late Iron Age site of Non Bak Jak in northeast Thailand. Social organization prior to the advent of state society in mainland Southeast Asia has long been a focus of archaeological research. The Iron Age of northeast Thailand (420 BCE-500 CE) has received particular archaeological attention, as rapid social and technological change has been identified in this region during this period. These changes include increasing social complexity, which is often associated with inequality between social groups and deterioration of population health. In contrast, bioarchaeological rese...
Antiquity, 2020
The use of coffins and jars as funerary receptacles was common across Southeast Asia. During the ... more The use of coffins and jars as funerary receptacles was common across Southeast Asia. During the fifteenth to seventeenth centuries AD, cremation was the dominant mortuary tradition on the Angkorian plains, but in the Cardamom Mountains to the south, contemporaneous groups practised a unique burial tradition involving the deposition of un-cremated bone in exposed ceramic vessels and log coffins. The authors present the first geochemical analysis of individuals from this highland culture, specifically the site of Phnom Pel. The childhood diets of those interred in jars and coffins may have been sourced from different areas within the Cardamom Mountains, suggesting that the individuals came from discrete groups.
Isotopic Insights into Mortuary Ritual in the Cardamom Mountains of Cambodia
Antiquity, 2021
Bioarchaeology International, 2020
The rise of social inequality is a key development in human history and is linked to deterioratin... more The rise of social inequality is a key development in human history and is linked to deteriorating health. These associated health impacts are poorly understood for Iron Age (420 B.C.–A.D. 500) northeast Thailand. To clarify this issue we investigate whether social status differences influence non-specific stress at the site of Non Ban Jak (A.D. 300–800), which comprises two separate burial mounds. These mounds are thought to represent the neighborhoods of two distinct social groups at the site. Quantitative analyses were used to explore differences in grave goods among the adults of Non Ban Jak (N = 47). Long bone lengths, ages at death, and linear enamel hypoplasia (LEH) were examined to explore differences in non-specific stress on the basis of age, sex, burial mound, and mortuary phase. Results demonstrated that older adults of both sexes, males of all ages, and west mound individuals received greater grave good quantities and may therefore have been of higher social status. Wes...
Asian Perspectives, 2020
Prei Khmeng, a village 13 km northwest of Siem Reap, Cambodia, is noted for the presence of one o... more Prei Khmeng, a village 13 km northwest of Siem Reap, Cambodia, is noted for the presence of one of the region's earliest monuments, Prasat Prei Khmeng. Aside from its ruined temple, Prei Khmeng is an important prehistoric occupation site that immediately pre-dates the foundation of the temple. First excavated by a Franco-Cambodian team in the early 2000s, the site was revisited in 2014 by an Australian-Cambodian research team. Recent research revealed Iron Age domestic occupation as well as inhumation burials. The burial assemblage provides evidence of regional trade and exchange and mortuary wealth differentiation. Bioarchaeological examination of the individuals interred at the site reveals intentional dental modification and perimortem blunt and sharp force skeletal trauma. This research sheds light on this important epoch in prehistory, a juncture between the prehistoric and protohistoric period in Cambodia, which was a time of substantial socio-political transformation.
Archaeometry, 2020
Strontium (Sr) isotope ratios (87Sr/86Sr) measured in human skeletal material can increase one... more Strontium (Sr) isotope ratios (87Sr/86Sr) measured in human skeletal material can increase one's understanding of the residential behaviour and resource‐acquisition strategies of past populations. The paper maps bioavailable 87Sr/86Sr variation in 183 plant and soil samples across Cambodia. Bioavailable 87Sr/86Sr, as measured in plants, differs significantly between four major geological units. The data set will support future investigations of skeletal material from Cambodian archaeological sites. Baseline 87Sr/86Sr data should be applied judiciously to skeletal populations, and in concert with other lines of evidence, to identify potential geographical outliers rather than to ascribe specific locations from which individuals may have moved.
Environmental and Social Change in Northeast Thailand during the Iron Age
Cambridge Archaeological Journal, 2019
The Iron Age of Mainland Southeast Asia began in the fifth centurybcand lasted for about a millen... more The Iron Age of Mainland Southeast Asia began in the fifth centurybcand lasted for about a millennium. In coastal regions, the development of trade along the Maritime Silk Road led to the growth of port cities. In the interior, a fall in monsoon rains particularly affected the Mun River valley. This coincided with the construction of moats/reservoirs round Iron Age settlements from which water was channelled into wet rice fields, the production of iron ploughshares and sickles, population growth, burgeoning exchange and increased conflict. We explore the social impact of this agricultural revolution through applying statistical analyses to mortuary samples dating before and after the development of wet rice farming. These suggest that there was a swift formation of social elites represented by the wealth of mortuary offerings, followed by a decline. Two associated changes are identified. The first involved burying the dead in residential houses; the second considers the impact of an...
Asian Perspectives, 2019
It is widely accepted that a major historic pathway to agriculture in the tropics has been via th... more It is widely accepted that a major historic pathway to agriculture in the tropics has been via the management of forest and reliance on tree resources. Using ethnographic and ethnobotanical data from Seram in the Moluccas, this article illustrates how this might have happened in one part of Island Southeast Asia. Several species of the genus Canarium produce proteinaceous nuts that have been ethnographically, historically, and prehistorically shown to be an important part of local diets. To understand how food-procurement systems evolve, we need to examine the biocultural dynamic established over the long term between different species, types of arboriculture, and cultivation strategies. One factor was likely subsistence pressure, but exchange has also been an important driver in relation to procurement of Canarium in particular and to the modification of forest landscapes more generally, hence the term "landscapes of exchange." While theorists tend to assume dietary need is the main cause of agricultural change, the social and ritual significance of particular species often drives ecological and genetic change in anthropic contexts.
Asian Archaeology, 2019
Ban Phakeo is a village in central Laos near which 415 megalithic jars and other associated lithi... more Ban Phakeo is a village in central Laos near which 415 megalithic jars and other associated lithic objects were discovered. There are over 80 such sites known in central Laos and this site was assigned the number 52 in the Lao National Inventory. Site 52 was excavated in eight discrete locations. Prospection was undertaken in the surrounds of Site 52 leading to the discovery of several previously undocumented sites which appear to be quarries or transport sites. The present paper focuses on the archaeological excavations undertaken at Site 52 and the newly discovered sites presenting the results of this research.
Antiquity, 2017
Recent archaeological investigations and technological applications have increased our appreciati... more Recent archaeological investigations and technological applications have increased our appreciation of the intricacies of pre-Angkorian societal development. The results reveal a transformative period characterised by increasing socio-political complexity, exchange and technological transfer, differences in burial wealth, growing levels of conflict and variation in site morphology. Among the excavated Iron Age sites in Cambodia, Lovea, near the heart of Angkor, is well placed to provide a greater understanding of these changes in this region. Excavation and remote sensing confirm that the two moats surrounding Lovea are testimony to the early adoption of water-management strategies. These strategies grew in complexity, culminating in the vast network of canals, reservoirs and tanks that are the hallmarks of the hydraulic society of Angkor.
Radiocarbon, 2012
We present the first radiocarbon dates from previously unrecorded, secondary burials in the Carda... more We present the first radiocarbon dates from previously unrecorded, secondary burials in the Cardamom Mountains, Cambodia. The mortuary ritual incorporates nautical tradeware ceramic jars and log coffins fashioned from locally harvested trees as burial containers, which were set out on exposed rock ledges at 10 sites in the eastern Cardamom Massif. The suite of 2814C ages from 4 of these sites (Khnorng Sroal, Phnom Pel, Damnak Samdech, and Khnang Tathan) provides the first estimation of the overall time depth of the practice. The most reliable calendar date ranges from the 4 sites reveals a highland burial ritual unrelated to lowland Khmer culture that was practiced from cal AD 1395 to 1650. The time period is concurrent with the 15th century decline of Angkor as the capital of the Khmer kingdom and its demise about AD 1432, and the subsequent shift of power to new Mekong trade ports such as Phnom Penh, Udong, and Lovek. We discuss the Cardamom ritual relative to known funerary ritua...
Antiquity, 2011
Examination of skeletal material from graves at Phum Snay in north-west Cambodia revealed an exce... more Examination of skeletal material from graves at Phum Snay in north-west Cambodia revealed an exceptionally high number of injuries, especially to the head, likely to have been caused by interpersonal violence. The graves also contain a quantity of swords and other offensive weapons used in conflict. The authors propose a context for these warriors in the struggle between emergent polities in the Iron Age before the domination of Angkor.
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Papers by Dougald O'Reilly