Fragments of Glass Bangles from Krek 52/62 and Their Implications for the Dating of the Mimotien Culture

Abstract

Until recently the Mimotien complex of southeast Cambodia and adjacent Viet Nam was dated to the Neolithic. The artifact assemblages of circular earthworks with outer walls and inner ditches consisted only of ceramic and stone artifacts: absolute dating of the organic temper of the pottery did not yield reliable results. Other organic material and metal artifacts have not been preserved due to the acidity of the red tropical soil with a pH value of less than 4. In 1998 and 2000, fragments of five glass bangles were discovered in the upper part of the excavation but well within the occupational layer of the earthwork Krek 52/62. The chemical composition of the translucent green bracelets (with triangular to house-shaped cross sections) points to an origin of the glass in India or South Viet Nam, respectively. High alumina content prevented intensive weathering. Glass is introduced in Southeast Asia in the second half of the first millennium B.C. Parallel finds of green to blue translucent glass bracelets with triangular to house-shaped cross sections from Viet Nam, Thailand, and the Philippines date to the second half of the first millennium B.C. The glass bangles from Krek 52/62 indicate a date of at least the terminal phase of the Mimotien complex to 500 B.C. ot even younger. KEYWORDS: Cambodia, circular earthworks, Mimotien, early glass, Neolithic, Iron Age.