An 8th-9th century AD iron smelting workshop near Saphim village, NW Lao PDR
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Published
Nov 9, 2021
Abstract
A rare example of an organised industrial workshop is reported, from the environs of the ethnic Lamet village of Saphim in Luang Namtha Province in NW Lao PDR. The archaeological site contains the remains of seven sub-circular furnaces in a distinct linear arrangement. Two furnaces were excavated, one of which was largely complete and provided evidence for a forced blast, multiple use, slag-tapping iron smelting operation. Six thermoluminesence dates derived from wall fragments provide a date range from 621±270 to 1181±170 AD, indicating that the workshop relates to production in the historic pre-European contact period. The organised layout of the furnaces is suggestive of either simultaneous production or a production sequence, rather than the distribution expected of chronologically superposed production within dating resolution limits. A multi-furnace workshop level of supply was probably in excess of local demand, and thus contemporary regional comparisons for social contexts of iron production and exchange networks are explored.
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References
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Backus C 1981, The Nan-chao Kingdom and T’ang China’s China’s Southwestern Frontier (Cambridge).
Charlton M F, Crew P, Rehren T and Shennan S 2010, ‘Explaining the evolution of ironmaking recipes – an example from northwest Wales’, Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 29, 352-367.
Coedés G 1968, The Indianised States of Southeast Asia (Canberra).
Colani M 1935, Mégaliths de Haut Laos (Ventiane and Paris).
Costin C L 1991, Craft specialisation: Issues in defining, documenting and explaining the organisation of production’, Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory 3, 1-56.
Goudineau Y and Lorrillard M (eds) 2008, Recherches nouvelles sur le Laos (Ventiane and Paris).
Harmand D 1876, ‘Voyage au Cambodge’, Bulletin de la Sociéte de Géographie, 337-367.
Hendrickson M 2010, ‘Historic routes to Angkor: development of the Khmer road system (ninth to thirteenth centuries AD) in mainland Southeast Asia’, Antiquity 84, 480-496.
Hendrickson M, Pryce T O and Sonnemann T in press, ‘Industries of Angkor Project: Preliminary investigation of iron production at Boeng Kroam, Preah Khan of Kompong Svay’, Siksacakr.
Higham C, Higham T, Ciarla R, Douka K, Kijngam A and Rispoli F 2011, ‘The origins of the Bronze Age of Southeast Asia’, Journal of World Prehistory 24, 227-274.
Hudson B 2006, ‘Iron in Myanmar’, Enchanting Myanmar 5, 6-9. Izikowitz K G 2001, Lamet: Hill peasants in French Indochina (Bangkok). 1st edn 1951.
Juleff G 2009, ‘Technology and evolution: a root and branch view of Asian iron from first-millennium BC Sri Lanka to Japanese steel’, World Archaeology 41, 557-577.
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Killick D 2008, ‘Book review — Metals and Mines: Studies in Archeometallurgy, edited by Susan La Niece, Duncan Hook, Paul Craddock’, Journal of Archaeological Science 35, 3044–3046.
Leroy S, Cohen S X, Verna C, Gratuze B, Téreygeol F, Fluzin P, Bertrand L and Dillmann P 2012, ‘Depiction of the medieval iron market in Ariège (France): Multidisciplinary analytical
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Pryce T O, Brauns M, Chang N, Pernicka E, Pollard M, Ramsey C, Rehren T, Souksavatdy V and Sayavongkhamdy T 2011, ‘Isotopic and technological variation in prehistoric primary Southeast Asian copper production’, Journal of Archaeological Science 38, 3309-3322.
Pryce T O and Natapintu S 2009, ‘Smelting iron from laterite: Technical possibility or ethnographic aberration?’ Asian Perspectives 48, 249-264.
Pryce T O, Pigott V C, Martinón-Torres M and Rehren T 2010, ‘Prehistoric Copper Production and Technological Reproduction in the Khao Wong Prachan Valley of Central Thailand’,
Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences 2, 237-264.
Pusch E 1995, ‘High temperature industries in the Late Bronze Age capital of Piramesse (Qantir): II. A quasi-industrial bronze factory installation, tools, and artifacts’, in F A Esmael (ed),
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Roux V 2003, ‘A dynamic systems framework for studying technological change: application to the emergence of the potter’s wheel in the southern Levant’, Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory 10, 1-30.
Shennan S J 1999, ‘Cost, benefit, and value in the organization of early European copper production’, Antiquity 73, 352-363.
Sprenger G 2005, ‘The way of the buffaloes: trade and sacrifice in northern Laos’, Ethnology 44, 291-312.
Sprenger G 2008, ‘Do the Rmeet have clans?’ in Y Goudineau and M Lorrillard (eds), New research on Laos (Ventiane and Paris), 559-578.
Sprenger G 2010, ‘From power to value: ranked titles in an egalitarian society, Laos’, Journal of Asian Studies 69, 403-425.
Stuart-Fox M 1997, A History of Laos (Cambridge).
Suchitta P 1992, ‘Early iron smelting technology in Thailand and its implications’, in I C Glover, P Suchitta, and J Villiers (eds), Early metallurgy, trade and urban centres in Thailand and Southeast Asia (Bangkok), 115-123.
Wagner D B 1993, Iron and Steel in Ancient China (Leiden).
White J C and Hamilton E G 2009, ‘The transmission of early bronze technology to Thailand: new perspectives’, Journal of World Prehistory 22, 357-397.
Wu J C 2007, ‘The mineral industry of Laos’, 2006 Minerals Yearbook (Reston, VA).
Backus C 1981, The Nan-chao Kingdom and T’ang China’s China’s Southwestern Frontier (Cambridge).
Charlton M F, Crew P, Rehren T and Shennan S 2010, ‘Explaining the evolution of ironmaking recipes – an example from northwest Wales’, Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 29, 352-367.
Coedés G 1968, The Indianised States of Southeast Asia (Canberra).
Colani M 1935, Mégaliths de Haut Laos (Ventiane and Paris).
Costin C L 1991, Craft specialisation: Issues in defining, documenting and explaining the organisation of production’, Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory 3, 1-56.
Goudineau Y and Lorrillard M (eds) 2008, Recherches nouvelles sur le Laos (Ventiane and Paris).
Harmand D 1876, ‘Voyage au Cambodge’, Bulletin de la Sociéte de Géographie, 337-367.
Hendrickson M 2010, ‘Historic routes to Angkor: development of the Khmer road system (ninth to thirteenth centuries AD) in mainland Southeast Asia’, Antiquity 84, 480-496.
Hendrickson M, Pryce T O and Sonnemann T in press, ‘Industries of Angkor Project: Preliminary investigation of iron production at Boeng Kroam, Preah Khan of Kompong Svay’, Siksacakr.
Higham C, Higham T, Ciarla R, Douka K, Kijngam A and Rispoli F 2011, ‘The origins of the Bronze Age of Southeast Asia’, Journal of World Prehistory 24, 227-274.
Hudson B 2006, ‘Iron in Myanmar’, Enchanting Myanmar 5, 6-9. Izikowitz K G 2001, Lamet: Hill peasants in French Indochina (Bangkok). 1st edn 1951.
Juleff G 2009, ‘Technology and evolution: a root and branch view of Asian iron from first-millennium BC Sri Lanka to Japanese steel’, World Archaeology 41, 557-577.
Källén A and Karlström A 1999, Lao Pako, a late prehistoric site on the Nam Ngum river in Laos (Oxford).
Killick D 2008, ‘Book review — Metals and Mines: Studies in Archeometallurgy, edited by Susan La Niece, Duncan Hook, Paul Craddock’, Journal of Archaeological Science 35, 3044–3046.
Leroy S, Cohen S X, Verna C, Gratuze B, Téreygeol F, Fluzin P, Bertrand L and Dillmann P 2012, ‘Depiction of the medieval iron market in Ariège (France): Multidisciplinary analytical
approach and first development of multivariate analyses’, Journal of Archaeological Science 39, 1080-1093.
Pryce T O, Brauns M, Chang N, Pernicka E, Pollard M, Ramsey C, Rehren T, Souksavatdy V and Sayavongkhamdy T 2011, ‘Isotopic and technological variation in prehistoric primary Southeast Asian copper production’, Journal of Archaeological Science 38, 3309-3322.
Pryce T O and Natapintu S 2009, ‘Smelting iron from laterite: Technical possibility or ethnographic aberration?’ Asian Perspectives 48, 249-264.
Pryce T O, Pigott V C, Martinón-Torres M and Rehren T 2010, ‘Prehistoric Copper Production and Technological Reproduction in the Khao Wong Prachan Valley of Central Thailand’,
Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences 2, 237-264.
Pusch E 1995, ‘High temperature industries in the Late Bronze Age capital of Piramesse (Qantir): II. A quasi-industrial bronze factory installation, tools, and artifacts’, in F A Esmael (ed),
Proceedings of the First International Conference on Egyptian Mining and Metallurgy and Conservation of Metallic Artifacts (Cairo), 121-132.
Roux V 2003, ‘A dynamic systems framework for studying technological change: application to the emergence of the potter’s wheel in the southern Levant’, Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory 10, 1-30.
Shennan S J 1999, ‘Cost, benefit, and value in the organization of early European copper production’, Antiquity 73, 352-363.
Sprenger G 2005, ‘The way of the buffaloes: trade and sacrifice in northern Laos’, Ethnology 44, 291-312.
Sprenger G 2008, ‘Do the Rmeet have clans?’ in Y Goudineau and M Lorrillard (eds), New research on Laos (Ventiane and Paris), 559-578.
Sprenger G 2010, ‘From power to value: ranked titles in an egalitarian society, Laos’, Journal of Asian Studies 69, 403-425.
Stuart-Fox M 1997, A History of Laos (Cambridge).
Suchitta P 1992, ‘Early iron smelting technology in Thailand and its implications’, in I C Glover, P Suchitta, and J Villiers (eds), Early metallurgy, trade and urban centres in Thailand and Southeast Asia (Bangkok), 115-123.
Wagner D B 1993, Iron and Steel in Ancient China (Leiden).
White J C and Hamilton E G 2009, ‘The transmission of early bronze technology to Thailand: new perspectives’, Journal of World Prehistory 22, 357-397.
Wu J C 2007, ‘The mineral industry of Laos’, 2006 Minerals Yearbook (Reston, VA).
How to Cite
Pryce, O., Chiemsisouraj, C., Zeitoun, V., & Forestier, H. (2021). An 8th-9th century AD iron smelting workshop near Saphim village, NW Lao PDR. Historical Metallurgy, 45(2), 81-89. https://www.hmsjournal.org/index.php/home/article/view/130
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How to Cite
Pryce, O., Chiemsisouraj, C., Zeitoun, V., & Forestier, H. (2021). An 8th-9th century AD iron smelting workshop near Saphim village, NW Lao PDR. Historical Metallurgy, 45(2), 81-89. https://www.hmsjournal.org/index.php/home/article/view/130