Dissertation
Community Based Archaeology: Social Space, Plant Use, and Heterarchy in Thailand
Washington State University
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Washington State University
2023
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.7273/000005187
Abstract
Do local communities perceive their world hierarchically? Is there enough community-based archaeological research on space and plants in Thailand? Why is it important to apply community-based archaeology to look at temple spatial arrangement and psychoactive plant consumption? This dissertation examines how community-based research on Buddhist temple spaces and betel nuts chewing can offer another perspective on social and religious worldview, sociopolitical complexity, and the use of psychoactive plants in Thailand. This dissertation is a cumulative of three archaeological studies of sociopolitical spaces of Buddhist temples and residue analysis of dental calculus. The first study explores the space syntax analytical methods and uses them to study the temple spatial arrangement. I identified two spatial systems, conventional/correspondence (a hierarchical form of space) and nonconventional/noncorrespondence (a non-hierarchical form of space), suggesting diverse social and communal activities were practiced at the temples where they were seen not only as a sacred space but also a commonplace. The second study integrates the Geographical Information System (GIS) analyses to look at 49 temples. I highlight social heterarchy as a concept for interpreting the spatial network, relationships, and interactions to shed light on the social worldviews and sociopolitical complexity. Both space syntax and GIS analyses suggest the complex relationship and interaction between various historical Chiang Saen social groups within temple spaces that can be seen as heterarchy (more common) practicing along with hierarchy (more restricted) from the 13th to 17th century. Finally, for the third study, I conducted residue analysis to extract arecoline, a biochemical compound, from the dental calculus from six human remains buried at Nong Ratchawat c. 4,000 years ago. Result from one individual suggests that the betel nut plants might have been used and consumed for various purposes. From this study, it can also say that the plants were commonly used in Southeast Asia around 4,000 years ago. Throughout, I demonstrated the innovative ways of applying various methods, analyses, and data to highlight the community-based research and demonstrate how vital the communal/heterarchical point of view on spatial movement, social interaction, and plant use was among the local communities in Thailand.
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Details
- Title
- Community Based Archaeology
- Creators
- Piyawit Moonkham
- Contributors
- Shannon ST Tushingham (Advisor)Andrew I. AID Duff (Committee Member)Julia JC Cassaniti (Committee Member)Colin CG Grier (Committee Member)Anna AK Källén (Committee Member)
- Awarding Institution
- Washington State University
- Academic Unit
- Anthropology, Department of
- Theses and Dissertations
- Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Washington State University
- Publisher
- Washington State University
- Number of pages
- 262
- Identifiers
- 99901019635701842
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Dissertation