The Journal of the Siam Society Vol. LXXXVI, Part 1-2 ... - Khamkoo

The ethnoarchaeology of Southeast Asian coastal sites
Figure 10 View of stones in storage around the post of a house structure.
6. As supports for posts, piles or vessels.
7. As bathing or scrubbing stones.
When the various Chaw Lay sites were
mapped and recorded, counts of stones were
made and their spatial distribution noted. A
number of generalizations can be made from
this study concerning stone behaviour in this
context. First! y, stones of all types are most
commonly found in association with structures;
in particular they exhibit a strong spatial affinity
for house posts (Figure 9 and 1 0).
The second strongest association is between
stones and fires , because of their use as vessel
supports. When found in association with
activity areas, including shell mounds, stones in
the ethnographic context are either in use or
temporarily in storage for future use. Finally,
when associated with secondary midden
deposits, stones are either around the edge of
the midden where they function as retainers or
discarded in the midden as broken debris.
Fires are another part of the minimalist Chaw
Lay material cu lture, the remains of which occur
all over Chaw Lay sites and persist into the
archaeological record. Like more conventional
artefacts they can be grouped and typed and
form diagnostic features of Chaw Lay life. Like
stones and boats they can be made portable.
Types of fires recorded are set out in Table 2.
Certain generalizations were observed
concerning fire behaviour in the Chaw Lay
context:
Table 1 presents the statistical relationship between stone and house post occurrence at
settlements
Number found within O.Sm of a post
Tukay
Rawai
Sa pam
Laem La
233 out of a total of 338 =
317 out of a total of 433 =
32 out of a total of 40 =
17 out of a total of 23 =
69%
73%
80%
74%
Journal of the Siam Society, Vol. 86, Parts I & 2
145