ABSTRACT
Most of the major rivers of Myanmar flow from north to the south; about a million years ago this was probably also the case with the Samon, which would have joined the Sittaung to drain south. The Samon sites are located along the east to west streams feeding into the Samon, with clusters in the northern, central and southern parts of the short valley. The Pyimana-Lewe cluster spans the present geographical gap between the north bound Samon and the south flowing Sittaung, thus supporting the case for earlier connection of the Samon region to the Andaman Sea. In assessing the cultural sequence and regional connections of the Bronze-iron and early Buddhist eras in Myanmar, it is important to underline that while archaeological exploration at Halin dates to the early twentieth century ce that the first systematic excavations were carried out in the 1970s.
