The Settlement Chronology in the Eastern Region of Phnom Dongrek Range

Abstract

This research is an archaeological field and documentation survey, regarding settlement chronology, across an area adjacent to the eastern part of the Phnom Dongrek Range in Sisaket resulting in the discovery of 38 ancient communities, in both the prehistoric and historical periods. Among the newly discovered communities most can be classified as prehistoric sites in Iron Age, Chenla period, Dvaravati period, Khmer period, Lan Xang period, and the Rattanakosin period. With respect to site function, it can be seen that some locations were mainly occupied as a single purpose, for example, either living or religious purposes, whereas some sites were used for both living and religious purposes. In historical period, the data also suggests that a single function of the site, based on its religious purpose, was dominant by comparing with those other function patterns. Furthermore, the data also illustrates that the highland area was used mainly as a single function habitation area, whereas the same pattern cannot be found in the historical period through sub-cultural phases. It is found that, in the historic era, lowland areas were more favourable than highland areas as settlement locations, especially in the Khmer period. The data indicates that the number of communities in lowland areas was considerably larger than in highland areas. Different factors, for example, religion, population increase, cultivation requirement, were potentially associated with such settlement pattern changing overtime from prehistoric to historic periods respectively.