gems, archaeology, archaeogemology, Southeast Asia, Thailand, Malaysia, Cambodia, Burma

Khlong Thom, Krabi province, is located about 240 kilometres south of the Isthmus of Kra. The site is now about 20 kilometres inland from the western coast, and connected to the Andaman Sea by the Khlong Thom river. It was in an ideal location for an entrepôt engaged both in sea-borne trade and specialist manufacturing activities. Khao Sam Kaeo is in Chumphon province, on the eastern coast of the Kra Isthmus region. According to the chronology established by the Thai-French excavations based on radiocarbon dates, the major period of activity at the site can be dated between the fourth and rst centuries BCE, nevertheless some activity appears to have also taken place in the early centuries CE (Bellina-Pryce & Praon 2008; Glover & Bellina 2011; Bellina et al., this volume). The excavations brought to light an astounding array of nds, among them Chinese ceramic fragments dating from the Han period (206 BCE to 220 CE) (Peronnet 2013), large amounts of Indian pottery fragments (Bouvet 2006 and 2011) as well as other imports from India, indicating the status of the site in the trade networks of the period.The site of Tha Chana in Surat Thani province, about 100 kilometres south of Khao Sam Kaeo, is likewise situated on the east coast. This site has been heavily looted and only brie y surveyed by archaeologists, therefore very little is known about it (Amara et al. 1987: 350). The evidence of waste material from the manufacture of stone and glass beads suggests that one of the activities at the site was bead-making; some of the beads can be compared with those from Khao Sam Kaeo and Phu Khao Thong. The nds from the site also include sherds of Han period pottery (Peronnet 2013) and Indian Fine Wares (Bouvet 2012: 307-308). In addition, fragments of at least seven glass vessels of a type known from Han period tombs in the Gulf of Tonkin region (Borell 2011: 62, n. 37) were also found at Tha Chana, which support a dating of the early phase of the site that covers at least the rst century BCE and the early centuries CE.Archaeological investigations have been carried out at Phu Khao Thong, Ranong province on the western coast of the peninsula, only since 2005. Their preliminary results already point to an identi cation of this site and the group of neighbouring sites including Bang Kluai Nok as an important coastal trading station in a period covering the last two centuries BCE to the early centuries CE. These sites yielded abundant nds of Indian ceramics, among them “rouletted ware,” as well as fragments of Han period Chinese ceramics. They are thought to be connected to the western end of transpeninsular routes crossing the Isthmus (Boonyarit 2011; Bellina et al., this volume).Lastly, the site of U Thong, Suphan Buri province, in central Thailand is a major urban centre of the later Dvāravatī culture. It also yielded archaeological evidence of earlier phases, as well as nds that parallel those from Oc Eo from the rst centuries CE. It is an inland site1 but was well connected to the trading networks, and appears to have been an important place already in the early historic period (Phasook 2004 and 2009)