User:Mp3frog/Lang Rongrien, Thailand

Lang Rongrien is a rock shelter and Hoabinhian habitation site in the upland region of the Krabi province in southwestern Thailand. The site is of the Pleistocene, early Holocene archaeological time frame. Excavations at the site began in 1974, and primary research was headed by Douglas Anderson. Though this rock shelter site is not as large as some others, it is archaeologically rich in it's findings. Some of the sediment at the site was disturbed by soil collections, but not enough to have ruined the more impressive archaeological finds. The site is located within the Krabi River Valley, in a somewhat hard to reach area that can only be accessed from a steep trail below the rock shelter, or a narrow ridge that approaches the rock shelter from the north. Radiocarbon dating at the site has put the evidence from between 39,000 and 28,000 years ago.

Habitation
Hoabinhian habitation sites are most often found in rock shelters, and are found all across southeast Asia. The hoabinhian hunter-gatherers who lived at the Lang Rongrien rock shelter used the site as a temporary habitation site, inhabited on a seasonal basis. There are multiple generations of inhabitance at Lang Rongrien. The oldest use for the rock shelter was as a campground for hunters in the late pleistocene epoch. In the early holocene epoch the rock shelter was also used for habitation. The last time the site was inhabited about 4000 years ago it was used again as a campground, but was also used as a grave site. All of these distinct periods of habitation at the rock shelter contain periods of time in-between when no one seemingly inhabited the site at all.

Cultural Deposit Layers
The excavated areas of the Lang Rongrien rock shelter have been divided into 10 different stratigraphic layers, or cultural deposit layers, that tell archaeologists what was happening there and when. The 10th and lowest cultural deposit layer does not contain any artifacts. The 8th and 9th layers are similar to each other, with charcoal remains, stone artifacts and flakes, and animal bones that are scattered about among these layers. Those artifacts are also seen in concentrated areas around campfires. The 7th layer is comprised entirely of limestone that is broken apart. Archaeologists have concluded that this is because of some kind of geological process, though what exactly is unclear. The most likely answer is that the roof of the cave collapsed, leaving this layer of limestone. The 5th and 6th layers are also similar to each other. They are characterized by an abundance of hearths built on the floor of the cave, which are then surrounded by ash, charcoal bits, rocks that have been cracked because of fire, animal remains, stone artifacts and other artifacts that suggest the area was inhabited by humans. The upper most layers of the rock shelter contain much of what the lower layers also contain: charcoal bits, food remains, and stone artifacts. However, the most distinct findings from these layers are 4 hoabinhian burials and grave goods that go with those burials.

Dating
The dating at Lang Rongrien was done by radiocarbon dating pieces of charcoal that come from the stratigraphic layers. The oldest pieces of charcoal found in the lower most layers where human habitation is seen have been dated to around 39,000 years ago. A piece of charcoal found in the 7th layer has been dated to almost 45,000 years ago, but this is likely because it came from the roof fall, and does not indicate anything about human habitation at this site. Charcoal pieces from the upper layers have been dated to about 9,000 years ago. The most recent dates from the site come from pieces of pottery found with the burial goods, and are placed at an age of 3,000 to 5,000 years ago.