Social Status and Its Relationship to Non-specific Stress at Late Iron Age Non Ban Jak, Northeast Thailand

Abstract

The rise of social inequality is a key development in human history and is linked to deteriorating health. These associated health impacts are poorly understood for Iron Age (420 B.C.-A.D. 500) northeast Thailand. To clarify this issue we investigate whether social status differences influence non-specific stress at the site of Non Ban Jak (A.D. 300-800), which comprises two separate burial mounds. These mounds are thought to represent the neighborhoods of two distinct social groups at the site. Quantitative analyses were used to explore differences in grave goods among the adults of Non Ban Jak (N = 47). Long bone lengths, ages at death, and linear enamel hypoplasia (LEH) were examined to explore differences in non-specific stress on the basis of age, sex, burial mound, and mortuary phase. Results demonstrated that older adults of both sexes, males of all ages, and west mound individuals received greater grave good quantities and may therefore have been of higher social status. West mound individuals were taller and had a lower prevalence of LEH compared to those from the east mound. Although female LEH prevalence and mortality were reduced relative to males, decreasing stature over time and high neonatal mortality indicated greater female stress. Lower-status individuals may therefore have suffered increased stress relative to those of higher status. Artifactual and epigraphic evidence supports the suggestion of sex- and class-based status differences at Non Ban Jak, legitimized and perpetuated through the adoption of residential burial and new religious ideologies.