The Prehistoric Culture and Society at Ban Chiang
Burial traditions of the prehistoric Ban Chiang people, which meant putting the entire body in the grave, made demographic archaeology easier than in periods where cremation had begun, such as Dvaravati, Sukhothai or Ayutthaya.
Therefore, even without written evidence, we have much better knowledge of those Ban Chiang people than we do of Ayutthayan people of the Ayutthayan period.
Demograghic archaeologists believe that Ban Chiang inhabitants moved in from somewhere in the upper northeastern region to the Ban Chiang mound some time around 5,000 years ago. Evidence found at other sites confirms that there were several similar contemporary settlements, among them Ban Na Di in Udon Thani province and Non Nok Tha in Khon Kaen province. These people tended to choose a mound near a creek, under 30 rai (12 acres) of land. They had a population of around 300 and were hunters who farmed and raised pigs and cows, and buffaloes for food and for labour.
Ban Chiang ancestors ate both raised and hunted animals. Aside from pigs, cows and buffaloes they ate fish, shell, turtles, chickens, civets, and even dogs of which evidence shows they were raised in the household, as part of their daily menu.
It is strange that prehistoric Ban Chiang people were on average taller than the modern Thai population. Men were between 162-172 centimetres in height and women 147-155. Archaeological study reveal that the early-age mortality rate of Ban Chiang infants was 17.3 percent of the entire population, which was very small compared to other prehistoric communities. Even in adolescence (10-15 years) the rate of death was still lower than at other sites. This shows the health and the adaptiveness of people appropriate to their environment.
Puberty among Ban Chiang youth was at 14-15 years, which reflects excellent health. At 17-18 years of age young Ban Chiang women were already mothers.
Nevertheless, the lifespan of a Ban Chiang person was 35-45 years. The most common diseases were tooth infections and thalassemia. Some had brain cancer. Very few people lived beyond 50 years of age.
What made Ban Chiang a comfortable and well-off village community was its knowledge and expertise in metalworking. Metal was more efficiently shaped than wood, bone, pottery or even stone into kitchen utensils, farm equipment or even weapons.
Village smiths were able to utilise bronze over 4,000 years ago and less than 1,000 years later were able to smelt and make high-quality metal utensils.
The question has often been asked: Is it true that Ban Chiang used bronze before China and the Middle East? Even today, no one can answer this question. What archaeometallurgists notice is that the concept of shape and usage of Ban Chiang bronze was definitely different from that of China.
At first bronze was used to make both jewellery, such as bracelets, rings and animal figurines, and weapons like spearheads, socketed axes and fishhooks, all the way to arrowheads.
Bronze is a tin and copper alloy (with perhaps some lead and other elements). Archaeometallurgists have analysed and found that when Ban Chiang people added an amount of tin, lead etc to the copper the effect upon the resulting bronze properties was significant. For instance, if there was a large amount of tin (over twenty per cent) the bronze had a light gold colour, was hard but brittle, and good for making jewellery. If there was a small amount of tin (less than ten per cent) the bronze had a gold colour, was hard and most hardy, and was often used for making weapons.
Moreover, time, temperature and method in cooling the bronze were also important. Archaeometallurgists found that one of the oldest bronze spearheads of Ban Chiang had an amazingly complex production method. It was only three percent tin, was moulded with a bivalve mould, and when cooled was reworked by hand and reheated until red, then slowly cooled to lessen the brittleness that might result from handworking. This shows the high skill of the bronzeworkers of Ban Chiang even at its early stage.
Another development in the bronzemaking process occurred around 2,500 BC. Bronzeworkers would add more than twenty per cent tin. The resulting bronze was very hard but very brittle, which was “remedied” by adapting from ironworking methods. The bronze was heated until red and then beaten to from details. When well-shaped it was reheated until red once more and immediately cooled in water. This complicated process created bronze with beautiful colour, endurance and hardiness, that was not brittle or prone to breaking, and that was the highest development in bronze.
When Ban Chiang smiths were able to smelt iron by 2,700-2,500 years ago, which was the greatest technological advancement of those smiths, bronze was used mainly for jewellery. Tin addition helped make the alloy more flexible when melted and more intricately moulded with complex moulds into astonishing patterns.
Archaeometallurgists believe that part of the copper used by Ban Chiang smiths was either imported from a copper mine near Phu Lon in Sangkhom district, Nong Khai province or from somewhere in Laos while tin probably had a large source in the high mountains west of the Chao Phraya River basin around Ratchaburi and Kanchanaburi provinces.
The advancement of late prehistoric metalwork made Ban Chiang and several communities in the Ban Chiang cultural group a large member of the network of metal jewellery and utensil producers of the region, resulting in economic, social and cultural changes that made it one of the most prominent village communities of the upper northeast region at that time.