"...the University of Pennsylvania is expanding their study of the Ban Chiang Culture to include Mekong sites going back 10,000 years. "
The Ban Chiang Culture will have some more suprises.
Wasn't it in a Ban Chiang site that the oldest bronze smeltering in the world was found?
Yes. There has been some controversy as the dating was contested by the Chinese and French (believed the bronze had "sifted down" from more recent graves into older graves also contested dating procedure). The bronze was used mostly for decorative and farming implements. There is not much sign of warfare until the Iron Age (500 BC) and the culture fades out around 200 AD with the Indianized Cultures and the Khmer gaining the upper hand. The Vietnamese are depoliticizing their studies so we should soon know more about the Dong Son culture and its relationships with other surrounding areas. It is a remarkable culture going back to the neolithic and had very early bronze casting such that the Dong Son drums have never been equaled.