Carter, Alison Kyra
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Alison Carter is an anthropological archaeologist with an interest in the political economy and evolution of complex societies in Southeast Asia. She is currently Principal Investigator and Co-Director of P'teah Cambodia (ProjecT Excavating Ancient Households), a project investigating Pre-Angkorian, Angkorian, and Post-Angkorian residential spaces in Battambang Province. Other research interests include the archaeology of East and South Asia, materials analysis and LA‐ICP‐MS, craft technology and specialization, ritual and religion, trade and exchange, and bead studies.
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Item Open Access Building from the Ground Up: The Archaeology of Residential Spaces and Communities in Southeast Asia(Springer, 2022-01-27) Carter, Alison KyraDespite the ethnographic importance of the Southeast Asian house and household, an explicitly Southeast Asian “household archaeology” is still in its infancy. Nevertheless, archaeologists in Southeast Asia have undertaken excavations within habitation areas and residential spaces, identifying domestic debris, the partial remains of house structures, and activity areas. As a result, archaeologists of Southeast Asia have addressed many topics of relevance to those who use a household archaeology approach, including the identification and description of houses and household activities; the domestic economy; domestic ritual; diversity and variability both within houses as related to questions of identity, specifically gender and age, and between houses, especially as related to status; and identification of supra-household communities. In this review, I consider how archaeologists have addressed these themes using examples from a diverse set of geographic locations and time periods in mainland and island Southeast Asia. I conclude with suggestions for future research directions to continue building an archaeology of residential spaces and communities in Southeast Asia.Item Open Access The evolution of agro-urbanism: A case study from Angkor, Cambodia(Elsevier, 2021-09) Carter, Alison Kyra; Klassen, Sarah; Stark, Miriam T.; Polkinghorne, Martin; Heng, Piphal; Evans, Damian; Chhay, RachnaThe vast agro-urban settlements that developed in the humid tropics of Mesoamerica and Asia contained both elite civic-ceremonial spaces and sprawling metropolitan areas. Recent studies have suggested that both local autonomy and elite policies facilitated the development of these settlements; however, studies have been limited by a lack of detail in considering how, when, and why these factors contributed to the evolution of these sites. In this paper, we use a fine-grained diachronic analysis of Angkor’s landscape to identify both the state-level policies and infrastructure and bottom-up organization that spurred the growth of Angkor as the world’s most extensive pre-industrial settlement complex. This degree of diachronic detail is unique for the ancient world. We observe that Angkor’s low-density metropolitan area and higher-density civic-ceremonial center grew at different rates and independently of one another. While local historical factors contributed to these developments, we argue that future comparative studies might identify similar patterns.Item Open Access Diachronic modeling of the population within the medieval Greater Angkor Region settlement complex(American Association for the Advancement of Science, 2021-05-07) Klassen, Sarah; Evans, Damian H.; Ortman, Scott; Stark, Miriam T.; Loyless, Alyssa A.; Polkinghorne, Martin; Heng, Piphal; Hill, Michael; Wijker, Pelle; Niles-Weed, Jonathan; Marriner, Gary P.; Pottier, Christophe; Fletcher, Roland J.; Carter, Alison KyraAngkor is one of the world’s largest premodern settlement complexes (9th to 15th centuries CE), but to date, no comprehensive demographic study has been completed, and key aspects of its population and demographic history remain unknown. Here, we combine lidar, archaeological excavation data, radiocarbon dates, and machine learning algorithms to create maps that model the development of the city and its population growth through time. We conclude that the Greater Angkor Region was home to approximately 700,000 to 900,000 inhabitants at its apogee in the 13th century CE. This granular, diachronic, paleodemographic model of the Angkor complex can be applied to any ancient civilization.Item Open Access Angkor Borei and Protohistoric Trade Networks: A View from the Glass and Stone Bead Assemblage(University of Hawai'i Press, 2021) Carter, Alison Kyra; Dussubieux, Laure; Stark, Miriam T.; Gilg, H. AlbertAngkor Borei, Cambodia was an important urban center related to the early first millennium C.E. polity known as Funan. Excavations in the protohistoric period Vat Komnou Cemetery site uncovered over 1300 glass and stone beads, which are important material indicators of trade. In this article, we review data from earlier studies and add new previously unpublished data on glass and stone beads from this collection as well as previously unpublished glass compositional analyses from the nearby site of Oc Eo, Vietnam. Examinations of the glass beads highlight the presence of large quantities of high alumina mineral soda glass associated with Sri Lankan or South Indian bead production as well as smaller quantities of other glass types in circulation throughout Southeast Asia. Compositional and morphological studies of agate/carnelian beads show strong affinities with the Indian bead industry, while the garnet beads came from raw material sources in southern India. Overall, Angkor Borei's bead collection shows strong contacts with different regions of South Asia. Comparison with the bead assemblages of other contemporaneous sites demonstrate strong affinities with sites farther inland, such as Phum Snay and Prei Khmeng, Cambodia and Ban Non Wat, Thailand rather than other maritime coastal sites in Southeast Asia. We argue that the stone and glass beads at Angkor Borei are related to intensified interaction with South Asia and that elites at Angkor Borei used these exotic prestige goods to build alliances with sites farther inland forming an intraregional exchange network we call the Mekong Interaction Sphere.Item Open Access Temple occupation and the tempo of collapse at Angkor Wat, Cambodia(National Academy of Sciences, 2019-06-03) Stark, Miriam T.; Quintus, Seth; Zhuang, Yijie; Wang, Hong; Heng, Piphal; Chhay, Rachna; Carter, Alison KyraThe 9th–15th century Angkorian state was Southeast Asia’s greatest premodern empire and Angkor Wat in the World Heritage site of Angkor is one of its largest religious monuments. Here we use excavation and chronometric data from three field seasons at Angkor Wat to understand the decline and reorganization of the Angkorian Empire, which was a more protracted and complex process than historians imagined. Excavation data and Bayesian modeling on a corpus of 16 radiocarbon dates in particular demand a revised chronology for the Angkor Wat landscape. It was initially in use from the 11th century CE with subsequent habitation until the 13th century CE. Following this period, there is a gap in our dates, which we hypothesize signifies a change in the use of the occupation mounds during this period. However, Angkor Wat was never completely abandoned, as the dates suggest that the mounds were in use again in the late 14th–early 15th centuries until the 17th or 18th centuries CE. This break in dates points toward a reorganization of Angkor Wat’s enclosure space, but not during the historically recorded 15th century collapse. Our excavation data are consistent with multiple lines of evidence demonstrating the region’s continued ideological importance and residential use, even after the collapse and shift southward of the polity’s capital. We argue that fine-grained chronological analysis is critical to building local historical sequences and illustrate how such granularity adds nuance to how we interpret the tempo of organizational change before, during, and after the decline of Angkor.Item Open Access Urbanism and Residential Patterning in Angkor(Taylor and Francis, 2018-09-01) Heng, Piphal; Stark, Miriam T.; Chhay, Rachna; Evans, Damian; Carter, Alison KyraThe Khmer Empire (9th–15th centuries a.d.), centered on the Greater Angkor region, was the most extensive political entity in the history of mainland Southeast Asia. Stone temples constructed by Angkorian kings and elites were widely assumed to have been loci of ritual as well as habitation, though the latter has been poorly documented archaeologically. In this paper, we present the results of two field seasons of excavation at the temple site of Ta Prohm. Using LiDAR data to focus our excavations, we offer evidence for residential occupation within the temple enclosure from before the 11th century a.d. until the 14th century. A comparison with previous work exploring habitation areas within the Angkor Wat temple enclosure highlights similarities and differences between the two temples. We argue that temple habitation was a key component of the Angkorian urban system and that investigating this unique form of urbanism expands current comparative research on the diversity of ancient cities.Item Open Access Circular or Half-Moon Marks on Old Beads(Society of Bead Researchers, 2016-10) Carter, Alison KyraOver several years working in a bead store, and more recently studying ancient beads from Southeast Asia, I frequently saw beads that had circular or half-moon-shaped marks on their surface (Figure 1). Most of the beads were old, fairly large, and spherical. The source and meaning of these marks have generally puzzled bead scholars.Item Open Access Residential patterning at Angkor Wat(Cambridge University Press, 2015-12-07) Stark, Miriam T.; Evans, Damian; Rachna, Chhay; Piphal, Heng; Carter, Alison KyraConsiderable attention has been devoted to the architecture and art history of Cambodia's Angkor Wat temple in the last century. There has, however, been little research on the functions and internal organisation of the large rectangular enclosure surrounding the temple. Such enclosures have long been assumed to have been sacred precincts, or perhaps ‘temple-cities’: work exploring the archaeological patterning for habitation within them has been limited. The results of LiDAR survey and excavation have now revealed evidence for low-density residential occupation in these areas, possibly for those servicing the temple. Recent excavations within the enclosure challenge our traditional understanding of the social hierarchy of the Angkor Wat community and show that the temple precinct, bounded by moat and wall, may not have been exclusively the preserve of the wealthy or the priestly elite.Item Open Access Beads, Exchange Networks and Emerging Complexity: A Case Study from Cambodia and Thailand (500 BCE–CE 500)(Cambridge University Press, 2015-10-15) Carter, Alison KyraControl over the exchange of prestige goods is an important component of emerging socio-political complexity in many ancient societies. During the Iron Age period (500 BCE–CE 500), communities in mainland Southeast Asia were undergoing rapid socio-political changes, due in part to new interactions with societies from South Asia. As objects made from exotic raw materials and using complex technologies, stone and glass beads are one type of prestige object from South Asia that were exchanged widely across Southeast Asia. This study examines beads from 12 sites in Cambodia and Thailand. Morphological and compositional analyses using LA-ICP-MS resulted in the identification of different bead types that were circulated in distinct exchange networks. Initially, beads were exchanged within a pre-existing South China Sea network. However, as trade with South Asia intensified in the late Iron Age, exchange networks in Southeast Asia expanded, with an increase in the quantities of beads circulated. These results show the utility of studying beads as a means of examining trade and emerging socio-political complexity. Lastly, in considering evidence for control over the exchange of beads, I propose looking to an emerging state in the Mekong Delta.Item Open Access Introduction to the Special Issue: Papers from the Conference "Recent Advances in the Archaeology of East and Southeast Asia"(Open Journal Systems, 2015-01-02) Carter, Alison Kyra; Kim, Nam C.This special issue of the Journal of Indo-Pacific Prehistory Association presents some of the results of a small conference entitled “Recent Advances in the Archaeology of East and Southeast Asia.” The event was held in Madison, Wisconsin, and brought together a collection of scholars from the US and abroad. Organized by Nam Kim and Alison Carter, the conference was hosted at the University of Wisconsin-Madison (March 15-16, 2013), and was jointly sponsored by the Department of Anthropology, the Center for East Asian Studies, and the Center for Southeast Asian Studies.Item Open Access Analysis and comparison of glass beads from Ban Non Wat and Noen U-Loke(2012-01) Carter, Alison Kyra; Lankton, JamesItem Open Access Trade and Exchange Networks in Iron Age Cambodia: Preliminary Results from a Compositional Analysis of Glass Beads(2011) Carter, Alison KyraGlass and stone beads found at Iron Age period sites (500 BC – AD 500) in Southeast Asia are amongst the first signs for sustained trade and sociopolitical contact with South Asia. Because of this, they have become important artifacts for scholars wishing to better understand trade networks and sociopolitical development during this period. Using compositional analysis, scholars can identify the recipes used to make these glass beads and in some cases this can be tied back to specific places or time periods. Current research indicates there were multiple glass bead production centers across South and Southeast Asia during this period. However there has not yet been a comprehensive examination of glass beads from Iron Age sites in Cambodia. This paper aims to fill this gap by presenting the results from a compositional analysis of glass beads from six Iron Age sites in Cambodia. Using a virtually non-destructive compositional technique (LA-ICP MS), I was able to determine the presence of at least two glass bead-trading networks in Cambodia during the Iron Age.Item Open Access The Excavation of Iron Age Working Floors and Small-Scale Industry at Ban Non Wat, Thailand(UCL Press, 2010) Duke, Belinda J.; Chang, Nigel J.; Carter, Alison KyraThe prehistoric moat-mound site of Ban Non Wat (BNW) is located on the Khorat Plateau in Northeast Thailand (figure 1). Initially identified due to its Iron Age moats, BNW has provided a wealth of information about changing social complexity, based largely on the extensive number of graves recovered over the first seven seasons of excavation (Higham 2009). Occupation layers dating from the Neolithic (c. 1750 BC) through to the Iron Age (AD 500) allow for a deep view into the prehistory of Northeast Thailand (Higham and Higham 2009). This report details the discovery of Iron Age clay-lined working floors found in excavation squares V200 and W200 during the 2008-2009 and 2009-2010 field seasons, as part of the new and ongoing project at the site co-directed by Drs. Nigel Chang, Kate Domett, Amphan Kijngam, Warrachai Wiriyaromp and Prof. Bill Boyd. In this report we examine one hypothesis that argues these floors may be associated with small-scale metal and salt production at the site. This is an ongoing project and more evidence will be gathered during future fieldwork to further test this hypothesis.Item Open Access Item Open Access INAA of agate sources and artifacts from the Indus, Helmand, and Thailand regions(Proceedings of the Eurpoean Association of South Asian Archaeologists, 2008-01) Law, Randall; Carter, Alison Kyra; Bhan, Kuldeep; Malik, Arun; Glascock, Michael D.Agate was one of the ancient world’s premier prestige goods, especially the red-orange variety known as carnelian. The stone was utilized by and traded between societies from Africa to eastern Asia (Inizan 1993; Insollet al. 2004; Theunissen et al. 2000). In this paper, we present the results of a series of instrumental neutron activation analyses (INAA) of agate samples and artifacts from sources and/or sites in the Indus, Helmand, and Thailand regions. This study represents the beginning of a broad-scale, long-term project aimed at identifying Old World agate sources and the regional and inter-regional trade networks through which this important stone was exchanged in both raw and finished form.