Integrating the Angkorian Empire: political–ritual economies and ceramic provenance in the Eastern Mekong

Title
Integrating the Angkorian Empire: political–ritual economies and ceramic provenance in the Eastern Mekong
Publication Date
2026-09
Author(s)
Heng, Piphal
Stark, Miriam T
Kealhofer, Lisa
Grave, Peter
( author )
OrcID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5076-2386
Email: pgrave@une.edu.au
UNE Id une-id:pgrave
Type of document
Journal Article
Language
en
Entity Type
Publication
Publisher
Academic Press
Place of publication
United States of America
DOI
10.1016/j.jaa.2026.101777
UNE publication id
une:1959.11/74865
Abstract

Angkorian stoneware ceramics were a portable repertoire of Angkorian imperial culture –alongside temples, statuary, inscriptions, roads, reservoirs, and ritual practices. They are uniquely informative for studying imperial integration: they are both ubiquitous within the Angkorian empire’s cultural footprint (9th–15th centuries CE), and traceable to well-documented kiln complexes in Cambodia and northeast Thailand. Complementing epigraphic and architectural evidence, this study uses Neutron Activation Analysis to match 184 provincial sherds from Thala Borivat (Stung Treng) and Sambor (Kratie) to established kiln-reference groups, using provenance as an archaeological proxy for connectivity, corridor use, and uneven provincial access. Results show contrasting distributions: Sambor is dominated by gray and white wares from Angkor and Cheung Ek, consistent with downstream Mekong corridors, whereas Thala Borivat shows stronger inputs from Angkor and northeast Thailand, consistent with overland-to-river transshipment. These corridor-structured contrasts point to state-assisted distribution through multiple routes of imperial infrastructures, alongside locally mediated consumption and differentiation in wealth and ritual/political status among regional centers.

Link
Citation
Journal of Anthropological Archaeology, v.83, p. 1-18
ISSN
1090-2686
0278-4165
Start page
1
End page
18

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