MONUMENTALITY IN THE MEKONG DELTA: LUMINESCENCE DATING AND IMPLICATIONS

Brick monuments are one hallmark of emergent political complexity across much of mainland Southeast Asia dur-ing the first millennium AD. They first appeared in asso-ciation with Indic statuary, large nucleated settlements, and the region's earliest states. Chronometric research in the Mekong delta on the earthen and brick wall that sur-rounds Angkor Borei (southern Cambodia) provides some of the earliest secure dates for brick architecture in the region. This paper presents preliminary results of the dating program at Angkor Borei and examines the utility of luminescence techniques for dating historic period monuments across mainland Southeast Asia. Being Earth and the Word, the brick is a goddess: ‘To thee, O Goddess, Brick, let us sacrifice with oblation