Editing Bronze Age (section)

==== Thailand ====
In [[Ban Chiang]], Thailand, bronze [[artifact (archaeology)|artefacts]] have been discovered that date to 2100&nbsp;BCE.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://penn.museum/documents/publications/expedition/PDFs/43-2/Science.pdf |title=Bronze from Ban Chiang, Thailand: A view from the Laboratory |publisher=Penn Museum |access-date=24 September 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110427023505/http://penn.museum/documents/publications/expedition/PDFs/43-2/Science.pdf |archive-date=27 April 2011 |url-status=dead}}</ref> However, according to the radiocarbon dating on the human and pig bones in Ban Chiang, some scholars propose that the initial Bronze Age in Ban Chiang was in the late 2nd millennium.<ref name="Higham2011" /> In [[Nyaung-gan]], Myanmar, bronze tools have been excavated along with ceramics and stone artefacts. Dating is still currently broad (2300–500&nbsp;BCE).<ref>{{cite web |last1=Pryce |first1=Thomas Oliver |title=A first absolute chronology for Late Neolithic to Early Bronze Age Myanmar: new AMS 14C dates from Nyaung'gan and Oakaie |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/antiquity/article/first-absolute-chronology-for-late-neolithic-to-early-bronze-age-myanmar-new-ams-14c-dates-from-nyaunggan-and-oakaie/B07D5550EA305C72B89A52D4DFBB108C |website=Cambridge Core |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |access-date=9 February 2025 |date=27 June 2018}}</ref> [[Ban Non Wat]], excavated by [[Charles Higham (archaeologist)|Charles Higham]], was a rich site with over 640 graves excavated that gleaned many complex bronze items that may have had social value connected to them.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Higham |first=C. F. W. |year=2011 |title=The Bronze Age of Southeast Asia: New insight on social change from Ban Non Wat |journal=Cambridge Archaeological Journal |volume=21 |issue=3 |pages=365–389 |doi=10.1017/s0959774311000424 |s2cid=162729367}}</ref>

Ban Chiang, however, is the most thoroughly documented site and has the clearest evidence of metallurgy when in Southeast Asia. With a rough date range from the late 3rd millennium&nbsp;BCE to the 1st millennium&nbsp;CE, this site has artefacts such as burial pottery (dated 2100–1700&nbsp;BCE) and fragments of bronze and copper-base bangles. This technology suggested on-site casting from the beginning. The on-site casting supports the theory that bronze was first introduced in Southeast Asia from a different country.<ref name="White1995">{{Cite journal |last=White |first=J. C. |year=1995 |title=Incorporating Heterarchy into Theory on Socio-political Development: The Case from Southeast Asia |journal=Archeological Papers of the American Anthropological Association |volume=6 |issue=1 |pages=101–123 |citeseerx=10.1.1.522.1061 |doi=10.1525/ap3a.1995.6.1.101 |s2cid=129026022}}</ref> Some scholars believe that copper-based metallurgy was disseminated from northwest and central China south and southwest via areas such as [[Guangdong]] and [[Yunnan]] and finally into southeast Asia {{circa|1000&nbsp;BC|lk=no}}E.<ref name="Higham2011">{{Cite journal |last1=Higham |first1=C. |last2=Higham |first2=T. |last3=Ciarla |first3=R. |last4=Douka |first4=K. |last5=Kijngam |first5=A. |last6=Rispoli |first6=F. |year=2011 |title=The Origins of the Bronze Age of Southeast Asia |journal=Journal of World Prehistory |volume=24 |issue=4 |pages=227–274 |doi=10.1007/s10963-011-9054-6 |s2cid=162300712}}</ref> Archaeology also suggests that Bronze Age metallurgy may not have been as significant a catalyst in social stratification and warfare in Southeast Asia as in other regions, and that social distribution shifted away from chiefdoms to a [[heterarchical]] network.<ref name="White1995" /> Data analyses of sites such as Ban Lum Khao, Ban Na Di, Non-Nok Tha, Khok Phanom Di, and Nong Nor have consistently led researchers to conclude that there was no entrenched hierarchy.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=O'Reilly |first=D. J. W. |year=2003 |title=Further evidence of heterarchy in Bronze Age Thailand |journal=Current Anthropology |volume=44 |issue=2 |pages=300–306 |doi=10.1086/367973 |s2cid=145310194}}</ref>