Iron and cloth across the Bay of Bengal: New data from Tha Kae, central Thailand

An important group of spindlewhorls found at Tha Kae in Thailand carries traces suggesting the use of iron spindles, and includes an unusual type of whorl shaped like a door knob. The author explores the implied contacts reaching into south China, but is also able to add a probable link with India in the early first millennium AD, well in advance of the better known Dvaravati period (sixth-thirteenth centuries AD).