The Origins of the Civilization of Angkor, Volume 5: The Excavations of Ban Non Wat. Part III: The Bronze Age

Ban Non Wat is a large, moated prehistoric settlement in Nakhon Ratchasima Province, Northeast Thailand. Excavations in 2002-8 revealed a cultural sequence that began with a group of hunter-gatherers, followed by 10 mortuary phases covering the Neolihtic to the Iron Age. This report describes the Bronze Age occupation of this site. The five phases of Bronze Age burials began with the transition from the late Neolithic in the late 11th century BC, and reveal the rapid rise of social elites seen in the princely graves of the second and third phases. These were followed by a sharp decline in mortuary wealth, leading directly into the early Iron Age in about 420 BC.