Oct. 26, 2007 As archaeologists in the last half century have
set about reconstructing the prehistory of Southeast Asia, data
from one country—centrally located Laos—was conspicuously
missing. Little archaeology has occurred in Laos since before
World War II, and beginning in the mid-1970s, Laos shut its
doors completely to outside researchers. International scholars
had to content themselves with information from excavation and
survey work mostly from neighboring Thailand. That scenario is
beginning to shift—and new data, as well as new collaborative
relationships—may forever change our perspective on an area that
was once considered a “backwater region” of human civilization.
Dr. Joyce White, Senior Research Scientist at the University of
Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology and Director
of the Museum’s Ban Chiang, Thailand project, has long believed
that the key to understanding the early prehistory of the entire
region lay in Laos, especially northern Laos, along the middle
portion of the g