RECENT MANI SETTLEMENTS IN SATUN PROVINCE, SOUTHERN THAILAND Gerd Albrecht* and Johannes Moser** Abstract The Mani people are hunter-gatherers living in the western part of peninsular Thailand, north of the Malaysian border. During field campaigns in 1995 and 1996 the occupation of ten rock shelters and nine forest camps were recorded. All these belong to the present-day system of up to one hundred different living sites, inhabited by Mani groups during one year in the forested region of Trang, Satun and Phatthalung Provinces. Most of the camps studied could be assigned to a specific Mani group, and it was even possible to tell individual housing habits apart. Beside documentation of the camps, the authors were able to construct kinship structures for 179 persons, belonging to six generations for the Mani. In addition, four prehistoric sites, related to the Hoabinhian and/ or the Neolithic, were discovered. Research on the Manil Bernatzik (1962). Significant information on Mani life has recently published by Suwat The Mani are the northernmost group of the Thonghom (1995) with the help of the Trang Semang, or Orang Asli, of the forest areas of provincial authorities. These publications are the Thai-Malaysian Peninsula. The dense, and the main source of data on the Mani groups of previously well preserved, forests of Trang, southern Thailand. Satun and Phatthalung provinces were, and Today, the Mani number just over 140 indeed still are, the home for hunter-gatherer individuals, nearly the same number as 60 years groups of the Mani (mani, meaning 'we people', ago, as recorded by Bernatzik. They live in a is the term they use to name themselves, as virtually inaccessible area of large limestone opposed to hami, meaning 'the others' used for karst outcrops, comprising steep cliffs, narrow Thai and other communities). Until the start of valleys, and small basins. These unapproachable intensive logging which began only twelve years land formations are one of the reasons that the ago Mani life was relatively unaffected by Mani have been able to sustain their traditional outside communities. forest lifestyle, despite the presence of large The first written record of the Mani is found farming communities in the vicinity. in the writings of King Rama V, who visited Numerous caves and rock shelters in the them in 1907. In the 1920s, the renowned karst towers serve as habitation sites for the Austrian ethnologist, Paul Schebesta, whose Mani groups. As sedimentary traps, the caves main scientific work was on the Semang of Malaya (Schebesta 1952,1954 & 1957), met a • Faculty of Archaeology, Royal University of Fine small band of Mani in Phatthalung Province Arts, Phnom Penh, Cambodia (Schebesta 1925). The Mani of Satun Province •• Institut flir Ur- und Frtihgeschichte, Universitiit were also visited by the ethnologist Hugo Tiibingen, Germany. Journal of the Siam Society, Vol. 86, Parts 1 & 2 161 Gerd Albrecht and Johannes Moser have accumulated substantial soil deposits, plantations. Those who have money are containing the remains of sub-recent beginning to learn about consumer society and settlements and prehistoric occupation. The becoming dependant upon wages and the goods first excavations at Sakai Cave, Trang they provide. Province in 1991 (Figure 1, site 21) exposed For ethnographic research, there is but hunter-gatherer occupation as far back as limited time to record data on Mani society 10,000 BP, as well as neolithic burials before it loses all recognizable connection with (Pookajorn 1991; Albrecht et al. 1994). its ancient lifestyle. It is recognition of this time constraint, that the Tiibingen/Bangkok joint The Mani today venture was initiated immediately following the establishment of co-operation between the Mani society is undergoing radical change from universities ofTiibingen and Silpakorn. In 1993 ever-increasing contact with the Thai population initial research was conducted in Trang province over the last ten years. Since the disappearance and then in Satun province. This field work of the guerrilla groups of the 1970s-80s, the determined that the most promising area, that traditional settlement area of the Mani has been least disturbed, was located at the convergence heavily disturbed by the intensification of of three provinces: Trang, Satun and logging and rubber plantations making greater Phatthalung. Research indicated that further contact with outside groups inevitable. investigations would be most profitably Development in the upper Langu River region concentrated in this area. ran relatively smoothly up to the early 1990s. In 1993, the Bueng group of Mani were relatively The fieldwork2 undisturbed, living a typical forest lifestyle. Traditional camps and indigenous tools were Following earlier ethno-archaeological still in use; contacts with farmers were restricted fieldwork in the mountain area of Trang province to work as labourers on the winter rice harvest. (Pookajorn 1991; Albrecht et al. 1994) and in Although proclaimed as a Thai National the upper Langu River Area in Satun Province Park, there appears to be no halting the (Albrecht 1994), field campaigns were carried progressive destruction of the rain forest in this out in the forest of northeastern Satun province, region because of powerful economical from 23rd February to 22nd March 1995, and interests. Nutrition has recently become a major from the 27th January to 8th February 1996. problem; with the forest and its wildlife which These latest investigations centred on the had sustained them disappearing, the Mani are occupied and recently abandoned camps of the forced to spend more time working in the fields, Mani (Sakai) in this region. or living from public welfare such as at Nam Seven occupied rock shelters and six forest Tok Mae Taeng near the Phatthalung dam. camps were carefully recorded and mapped. Although there is still wild honey to be found, Several other living ~as in rock shelters and in the Mani, excepting the L6 group in the the forest were also noted and sketched. All southeast of Satun Province, are obliged to sell these occupations are part of a system of up to it cheaply to farmers rather than using it as a one hundred different living sites currently nutritional supplement. inhabited by Mani groups during a single year From February 1995, and even more in 1996, spread through the forested region of Trang, significant changes were observed. The former Satun and Phatthalung provinces (Figure 1). large band had split into several smaller units, Most of the camps studied could be assigned to whose leadership had been taken over by men, a specific Mani group. the presence of a male leader being more Since detailed topographical maps were not acceptable to Thai society. In a few years, there available orientation and mapping in this rugged will be no space left for these forest dwellers. wilderness was made possible by the use of the The Mani are being forced to change their global positioning system3• The co-ordinates traditional way of life, and are beginning to noted after the site names are given regardless work as labourers on the local farms and of their divergence from existing maps. 162 Journal of the Siam Society, Vol. 86, Parts 1 & 2 ~ 1:: I Key to numbered sites 3 ~ ~ I I 1 La Yuang Pueng s. ·j 2 Tam Jet Kot I C'.!"' A\. c-..mi'OCblwher--- 3 Tam Jet Kot II s· Ao.. ~alellloCIM :3 ... ....,._ 4 Tam Na Daeng ~ ~ "'~ ~ 5 'Kwaan' forest camp - .... ;:s 1;;• -- "' 6 Tam 'Sap' .. 9 ~ < 7 Kai KiMa =:!. ?!- 8 Tong Nong Nien 00 "' 9' 9 Tam Nong Nien "'~ '"C 10 KaoNam Ta :3 ~ ;:s "'..... 11 TamHoi "'o:.' ;;;· !<? 12 Tam Yao N ~ 13 Tam Koop (sediment ~ trap) ;:s "tl 14 Qu'ham Mo Biyae C:l <: 15 La Dschaem ;;;· ~ 16 La Sawaang ~ ~ 17 Tam Kleo I 1:: 18 PaPon s. 19 Nam Tok Mae Taeng 3"' ~ 20 Kuan Din Dam ~ 21 Sakai Cave s:;:s 1:).. ...... Figure 1 Map of research area 0'1 ~ Gerd Albrecht and Johannes Moser LEGEND ® BAMBOO TWEEZERS ® DART CONTAINER AND/OR BLOWPIPE ® ENAMEL BOWL @ BAMBOO WATER CONTAINER © TIED UP BUNDLE ® OTHER REMAINS @ REMAINS OF BLOWPIPE AND/OR DART FABRICATION ® CLOTH RAG ® ANIMAL BONE REMAINS FIRE PLACE FOR COOKING I WARMING @ WOVEN BASKET •5 UNIT No. ® HUMAN HAIR COOKING STANDS FOR BAMBOO TUBES ® KNIFE OR PART OF IT ~ BAMBOO SLEEPING PLATFORM (Q METAWC SPOON c~~:) PROJECTION OF PALM LEAVES SHELTER ® BAMBOO MUG @ft LAYERS OF DRY LEAVES ® HONEYCOMB ... ," .......! ROCK OVERHANGING @ COCONUT BOWL Ill SHELTER OF PALM LEAVES ® AWL ROCKPAINTINGS/WOODENGRA~NGS ® SHELLS AND/OR SNAILS 1110* ENTRANCE OF SHELTER, MAX. HEIGHT ® BAMBOO COOKING TUBE ~ TREE ® BAMBOO CONTAINER t!lf1J'fo- UMESTONE ROCK I STALACTITE Figure 2 Key for following plans of rock shelter and forest camp sites In the following text, only camps of known given by Kleo Boonrung, a local farmer, who Mani groups are described. When possible, the employed this Mani group during the rice harvest. names of the inhabitants of each camp are given, The site was occupied from late 1993 to early together with the number allotted to them in the 1994. Nine groups of sleeping platforms were Mani genealogy in Tables 1 and 2. identified at the entrance of the cave. These groups only approximate to family units. The sites Unit 3 could be recognized as the place of the old woman Bueng (3l. Until1994, she was the La Yuan Pueng-07° 04' 50" N; 99° 56' 11'' kepala, the head of this entire group (Schebesta E, (Figure 1, Site 1) 1925: 24 ). After 1994 the group split into smaller This rock shelter was first examined in 1994, units. Bueng's platform is the only full length has been published (Albrecht 1994) and is listed one. All other sleeping platforms served only for here to complete the information. The most the upper parts of the body, with a layer ofleaves recent occupation of this site was from late lower down, as preserved in units 2 and 8.