Late Prehistoric funerary archaeology of the central Myanmar region (Burma)
Author: Pradier, Baptiste
Under the direction of: Valentine Roux
Paris Nanterre University
Texte français
Keywords: Archaeology, Myanmar (Burma), Archaeothanatology, Myanmar, Southeast Asia.
Abstract
The late prehistoric societies of mainland Southeast Asia are known mainly through their funerary remains. This knowledge is largely fragmentary and has significant gaps. Myanmar, which represents the western part of the region, remains largely unknown.This thesis is based on new data obtained from five burial sites in central Myanmar that span a chronological interval from the Neolithic to the Historic period. These sites, excavated between 2014 and 2019 with the French Archaeological Mission to Myanmar (dir. T.O. Pryce), are the first to have been subjected to laboratory analysis of the bones. We have defined the biological identity of the Neolithic, Bronze Age and Iron Age burials, the burial practices they were granted and the relative chronology of these sites. An approach to the lifestyle and mobility of the buried was undertaken via classical methods and methods less often applied to these contexts, such as dental microwear texture analysis (DMTA) and strontium isotope studies. The biological parameters of these populations could be studied and compared with the bioarchaeological data available for continental Southeast Asia. The analysis of funerary recruitment allows us to approach a reality that is still unknown in the archaeological cultures of the region. Our results indicate that Myanmar presents a cultural sequence compatible with the available data, notably from Thailand. The centre of Myanmar, far from being isolated, is included in the sphere of cultural interaction of Southeast Asia and presents cultural and population links with the north of the region, Yunnan in particular. Investigating this latter avenue requires further studies.
