A Buddhist and a Hindu statue, both from different dates, have been excavated from the Dong Nai province in Vietnam. [...]
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International law enforcement agencies are meeting in Siem Reap to discuss ways to combat the illicit trade in stolen Cambodian antiquities [...] The art of inscribing text on leaves used by monks in Cambodia is in danger of being lost as the sole monk with the skill takes a two-year break without finding any successor. The Cambodian version of the art is not old – only about 100 years old – but similar ancient traditions are found elsewhere in the region, for instance by the Cham in South Vietnam (see related story at the end of the post). I wonder if there’s a regional tradition of writing texts on leaves.Further south in Bali and Java there are copies of king-lists written on palm leaves. It occurs to me that the Malay word “buku” is a corruption of the English word “book”, but ancient texts surely existed before European contact. Today, virtually all textual sources of ancient Southeast Asia is based on carved inscriptions on stone. However, I would not be surprised if this region had a rich textual culture based on leaf-books such as the ones mentioned here. [...] Hobbits! Hobbits! and more Hobbits! is the theme for this week’s Wednesday Rojak, which is not surprising since last week saw the release of a paper supporting the hobbit-is-not-human camp by describing the wrist bones of homo floresiensis as primitive, descending from an earlier hominin offshoot. [...] A conference discussing the latest developments in the study of the Mon people, who now populate the area between Myanmar and Thailand, will take place at Chulalongkorn University from October 11 to 13. This article highlights some of the major papers that will be presented in the conference. [...] Finds from a 19th century shipwreck were recovered off the coast of Ha Tinh province. The finds were mainly Chinese ceramics and were donated to the provincial museum. The story doesn’t say much else. [...] Newsweek magazine features an interview with Matthew Tocheri, one of the investigators behind the Hobbit wrist study. [...] And finally, the abstract of the homo floresiensis wrist study from Science Magazine. Subscription required for full access. [...] The proof is all in the wrist! Dr Matthew Tocheri, the lead researcher in the Hobbit wrist study explains why the wrist is the most compelling proof that our Flores hobbit is really a new species. But will this be the last we hear of the issue? I doubt it. [...] Here’s a news piece about the wrist study which sums up the news quite nicely in layman terms. There’s also a dissenting opinion about the study that’s also food for thought. [...] |
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