This volume offers a baseline of information on what is known of earthenware across Southeast Asia and aims to provide new understandings of subjects including the origins of the prehistoric tripod vessels of the Malayan Peninsula and the role of earthenware from a kiln site in southern Thailand.

The rapid growth in Thai archaeology in the last decade has introduced areas of study that are virgin territory. The study of the ceramics from excavations and survey sites have been the author's responsibility. This volume, based on his thesis, provides the latest discussion of the pottery with special reference to the site at Ban Na Di.

Khok Charoen (Hill of Prosperity) is aneolithic burial ground in Central Thailand, excavated in the 1960s and 70s bythe Thai-British Archaeological Expedition, but because of the substantialAustralian contribution these excavations can rightly be called the firstAustralian venture into Southeast Asian archaeology. The site, dated to the latter half of thesecond and the beginning of the first millennium BC, consists of threecemeteries with a total of 65 burials, straddling a discontinuity caused byfloods, which greatly disturbed these burials and their finds, which include513 pots, but no bronze. The study of this pottery is the key to theunderstanding of the cultural and social history of the site, explainingkillings and grave robberies within a divided society. The aim of this book is to present, with thehelp of a great number of illustrations, an overall picture of this site at thejunction of Stone and Bronze.

The authors interweave text and colour illustrations to trace the development of early Thai societies. They show how the early hunter-gatherers of the inland forest and the coastal waters came into contact with the first rice farmers, who expanded south from the middle Yangzi Valley, bringing with them the early Mon language. It was in these village communities, such as Ban Chiang, that the first bronzes were cast. New research into the copper mining area and in Bronze Age cemetries provides an understanding of how bronze was used and how it influenced prehistoric societies. A major change took place in Thailand from about 500 BC, when iron came into use. Chiefdoms developed and trade opened up to ideas and goods from India and China. It was these Iron Age chiefs who laid the foundations for the civilization of Angkor and Dvaravati states which contribute to the origins of the modern kingdoms of Thailand.

Here, at last, is the massively updated and augmented second edition of this landmark encyclopedia. It contains approximately 1000 entries dealing in depth with the history of the scientific, technological and medical accomplishments of cultures outside of the United States and Europe. The entries consist of fully updated articles together with hundreds of entirely new topics. This unique reference work includes intercultural articles on broad topics such as mathematics and astronomy as well as thoughtful philosophical articles on concepts and ideas related to the study of non-Western Science, such as rationality, objectivity, and method. You’ll also find material on religion and science, East and West, and magic and science.