Prehistoric Copper Production and Exchange in Southeast Asia

A major lead isotope provenancing program reveals the extensive exchange of copper from the Khao Wong Prachan Valley (KWPV) in central Thailand to consumer sites like Ban Non Wat, while Vilabouly Complex copper was distributed southward to Ban Chiang. This study highlights the critical role of copper production and consumption behaviors in reinforcing social networks essential for regional technology transfer during the later Holocene in Mainland Southeast Asia. Archaeological evidence from Phu Lon (northeastern Thailand), KWPV, and Sepon (central Laos) demonstrates significant mining and smelting activities dating back to the late second millennium BC and beyond. The research synthesizes chaînes opératoires—sequences of operations in metalworking—to trace the origins and movement of copper across the region.

Pigott, V. C., & Pryce, T. O. (2022). Prehistoric Copper Production and Exchange in Southeast Asia. The Oxford Handbook of Early Southeast Asia, 431–457. https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199355358.013.24