Matrilocality during the prehistoric transition to agriculture in Thailand?

Bentley, R.A.; Pietrusewsky, M.; Douglas, M.T.; Atkinson, T.C.

doi:10.1017/s0003598x00115005

Matrilocality during the prehistoric transition to agriculture in Thailand?

Bentley, R.A.; Pietrusewsky, M.; Douglas, M.T.; Atkinson, T.C.

Authors

R.A. Bentley

M. Pietrusewsky

M.T. Douglas

T.C. Atkinson

Abstract

Stable isotopes in teeth are providing important correlations between ancient people and the geographical location of their childhood homes. In an exciting new application, the authors measured the varying signatures of strontium, oxygen and carbon isotopes in the teeth of a sequence of people buried in Thailand during the period of the introduction and intensification of agriculture. Preliminary results point to the arrival of immigrant men, followed by a change in the relationship between the sexes: the women grow up on local food, the men have access to more widespread resources. This perhaps implies a matrilocal system, where forager men raised elsewhere marry into farming communities. It provides a likely antithesis to the social consequences of introducing agriculture into central Europe.

Citation

Bentley, R., Pietrusewsky, M., Douglas, M., & Atkinson, T. (2005). Matrilocality during the prehistoric transition to agriculture in Thailand?. Antiquity, 79(306), 865-881. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0003598x00115005

Journal Article Type	Article
Publication Date	Dec 1, 2005
Deposit Date	Oct 15, 2009
Publicly Available Date	Jun 17, 2011
Journal	Antiquity
Print ISSN	0003-598X
Electronic ISSN	1745-1744
Publisher	Cambridge University Press
Peer Reviewed	Peer Reviewed
Volume	79
Issue	306
Pages	865-881
DOI	https://doi.org/10.1017/s0003598x00115005
Keywords	Southeast Asia, Neolithic agriculture, Marital residence, Strontium isotope analysis, Oxygen isotope analysis.
Publisher URL	http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract?fromPage=online&aid=9508475&fulltextType=RA&fileId=S0003598X00115005