Monumentality in the Mekong Delta: Luminescence Dating and Implications

Abstract

Brick monuments are one hallmark of emergent political complexity across much of mainland Southeast Asia during the first millennium AD. They first appeared in association with Indic statuary, large nucleated settlements, and the region's earliest states. Chronometric research in the Mekong delta on the earthen and brick wall that surrounds Angkor Borei (southern Cambodia) provides some of the earliest secure dates for brick architecture in the region. This paper presents preliminary results of the dating program at Angkor Borei and examines the utility of luminescence techniques for dating historic period monuments across mainland Southeast Asia.