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Comment on dates from a resin-coated sherd from Spirit Cave, Thailand

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2015

Joyce C. White*
Affiliation:
University of Pennsylvania Museum, 3260 South Street, Philadelphia PA 19104-6324, USA

Extract

Part of the enormous importance of the Spirit Cave pottery lies in the early date (7500BP) implied by radiocarbon dates from charcoal associated with some of the sherds. This was challenged by Lampert et al. who directly dated one Spirit Cave sherd from its resin to 3000 BP (Antiquity 77: 126–133). But here Joyce White argues that the stratigraphic context and typology of the dated sherd do not provide a valid basis to support a revision of dating for the earliest sherds. A response from Lampert et al. follows.

Type
Debate
Copyright
Copyright © Antiquity Publications Ltd. 2004

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References

References

Gorman, C.F. 1969. Hoabinhian: A Pebble-tool Complex with Early Plant Associations in Southeast Asia, Science 163: 671–3.Google Scholar
Gorman, C.F. 1972. Excavations at Spirit Cave, North Thailand, Asian Perspectives (1970) 13: 79107.Google Scholar
Lampert, C., Glover, I.C. Hedges, R.E.M. Heron, C.P Higham, T.E.G. Stern, B. Shoocondej, R. & Thompson, G.B. 2003. Dating Resin Coating on Pottery: The Spirit Cave Early Ceramic Dates Revised, Antiquity 77:126133.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
White, J.C. 2001. [Unpublished letter to Cynthia Lampert dated March 10, 2001, giving provenience information on Lampert sherds A–T from the original Spirit Cave excavation records.]Google Scholar

References

Bellwood, P. 1999. Southeast Asia before History. In The Cambridge History of Southeast Asia: From Early Times to c.1500, Vol.1., Pt. 1. (ed. Tarling, N.): 55136. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Gorman, C.F. 1969. Hoabinhian: A Pebble-tool Complex with Early Plant Associations in Southeast Asia, Science 163: 671–3.Google Scholar
Gorman, C.F. 1972. Excavations at Spirit Cave, North Thailand, Asian Perspectives (1970) 13: 79107.Google Scholar
Higham, C. 1989. The Archaeology of Mainland Southeast Asia: From 10,000 B.C. to the Fall of Angkor, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Lampert, C., Glover, I.C. Hedges, R.E.M. Heron, C.P Higham, T.E.G. Stern, B. Shoocongdej, R. & Thompson, G.B. 2003. Dating Resin Coating on Pottery: The Spirit Cave Early Ceramic Dates Revised. Antiquity 77:126133.Google Scholar