SEAArch – The Southeast Asian Archaeology Newsblog

An exhibition showcasing the ancient history and heritage of Sumatra is on show at the National Museum in Jakarta, before going to the Netherlands and the Asian Civilisations Museum next year. It looks like something I’m definitely going to catch at the ACM!

photo credit: Marc Veraart

Nat’l Museum displays ancient Sumatran heritages
Jakarta Post, 8 June 2009
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At the Khanh Hoa Museum in Vietnam, another exhibition opens showcasing artefacts recovered from six shipwrecks found in Vietnamese waters.

Ancient artifacts on display at Nha Trang sea festival
VOV News, 09 June 2009
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Budding archaeologists in Singapore might look no further than in your very own storeroom! Catch Archaeologist Lim Chen Sian this Saturday at the Singapore National Library about the Archaeology of Your Family. Register at this website.

Date/Time: Saturday Jul 4, 2:00pm – 4:00pm
Venue: The Plaza in National Library Building

Remember that moth eaten battered suitcase that used to sit under the bed? How about that ceramic dish with tacky floral prints? Recall that toothpaste did not always come in a tube? Was toothpaste the preferred oral cleaning agent in the first place? Strange as it may seem, but in a relatively short period of a decade or quarter century has removed much from the living memory, yet there are many when prompted who will still vividly recall the not so distance past.

Join archaeologist Lim Chen Sian as he takes you on a trail of discovering artifacts, the past and lost memories of your own family! Grandmother’s Storeroom is a fun filled workshop for the anyone (particular the parent and child) to explore and uncover their own family history through the artifacts found beneath the dust in the family (or Grandmother’s) storeroom. Archaeology isn’t just for crusty old fogies poking about in dirt, be enthralled as you investigate the odd curios and bits found within your own home!

Workshop includes a slide lecture on archaeological research, archaeological recording sheets, “Storeroom Archaeology Booklet”, instructor’s demonstration kits/trunks.

It’s truly a rojak edition of rojak – I can’t find a theme to string all these posts through! We’ve got a little bit of stolen gold (photographs, that is), broken pagodas, evolutionists and a bit of twittering.

photo credit: avlxyz
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IS PM Abhisit trying to pull a fast one? He announces that a delay in the official registration of the Preah Vihear temple will give Cambodia and Thailand time to resolve their conflict. Conveniently, the Unesco committee says that the formal registration of the site is to be pushed to next February because it has yet to finish matters at its end. But it sounds like Thailand is implicitly claiming that they have somehow caused the delay to happen – a move probably designed to placate the feelings that have run high over the matter and save face for not having their protest heard in Seville last week. Of course, I could just be reading too much into this short piece of news.

Thai PM says delayed Preah Vihear temple World Heritage Site registration could solve problems
MCOT, 30 June 2009
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Thailand announces ongoing fact-finding programmes to propose five new sites into Unesco’s World Heritage Site list by next year. Among the sites are the ancient cities of Chiang Saen and Suvannakhomkham, which shares Laotian territory; the Lanna kingdom in the north, as well as the Srivijaya-Nakhon Si Tammarat cultural route.

photo credit: The Wandering Angel

Ministry to seek heritage status for ancient cities
The Nation, 4 June 2009
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The oldest gate in the city of Hanoi, the O Quan Chong built in 1749, is to receive a long-overdue restoration with the help of a hefty grant from the United States.

US helps preserve Hanoi’s Ancient Gate
Nhan Dan, 03 June 2009
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