Integrating the Angkorian Empire: political–ritual economies and ceramic provenance in the Eastern Mekong

Angkorian stoneware ceramics were a portable repertoire of Angkorian imperial culture –alongside temples, statuary, inscriptions, roads, reservoirs, and ritual practices. They are uniquely informative for studying imperial integration: they are both ubiquitous within the Angkorian empire’s cultural footprint (9th–15th centuries CE), and traceable to well-documented kiln complexes in Cambodia and northeast Thailand. Complementing epigraphic and architectural evidence, this study uses Neutron Activation Analysis to match 184 provincial sherds from Thala Borivat (Stung Treng) and Sambor (Kratie) to established kiln-reference groups, using provenance as an archaeological proxy for connectivity, corridor use, and uneven provincial access. Results show contrasting distributions: Sambor is dominated by gray and white wares from Angkor and Cheung Ek, consistent with downstream Mekong corridors, whereas Thala Borivat shows stronger inputs from Angkor and northeast Thailand, consistent with overland-to-river transshipment. These corridor-structured contrasts point to state-assisted distribution through multiple routes of imperial infrastructures, alongside locally mediated consumption and differentiation in wealth and ritual/political status among regional centers.