SEAArch - The Southeast Asian Archaeology Newsblog

13 September 2007 (Bangkok Post) - Bangkok Post carries an interview with Thai archaeologist and anthropologist Srisakra Vallibhotama. I’m no expert in Thai history and archaeology, so I find it interesting of the article’s mention about how he’s challenging the notion of Thai history starting with the Dvaravati kingdom (instead of Sukhothai), and more interestingly his rejection of the theory that Sukohthai was colonised by the Khmers. Of both issues I am unfamiliar with, although I suspect that politics and nationalism is involved somewhere. Would any informed reader like to shed light on the situation?

Champion of Cultural Diversity
As defiant as ever, scholar Srisakra Vallibhotama talks about how his life and work are helping change the landscape of Thai history
Sanitsuda Ekachai

Nearly a decade after his retirement, scholar Srisakra Vallibhotama is still a man of action with a spirit of defiance who considers himself a “master of time”.

At 69, Thailand’s leading anthropologist and archaeologist is still as busy as ever travelling, exploring, writing, editing, teaching - and questioning racist nationalism - to empower people across the country by reconnecting them with their cultural roots.

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Gale Sieveking was an archaeologist who worked in Malaya from the 1950s and onwards. He is best known for his excavation of Gua Cha in Kelantan, where over 30 humain remains have been found, buried in two distinct time frames, the Hoabinhian and the Neolithic. This tribute was published in the Newsletter of the Society of Antiquarians in London. Special thanks to Dr Ian Glover for this bit of news.

Memories of Gale Sieveking (1925–2007)

The call, in the last issue of Salon, for further reminiscences concerning our late Fellow Gale Sieveking produced a fruitful bounty of information. Since Gale played such an important part in the development of archaeology as a discipline and in our understanding of prehistory, these valuable insights into his life and work are worth recording in full.

Our Fellow Ann Sieveking has generously provided a copy of the address that she gave at her late husband’s funeral. We are also very grateful to our Fellows Juliet Clutton-Brock, Michael Thompson, Michael Kerney and Phil Harding for their accounts of the lasting impression that Gale made on them, and to Professor Rory Mortimore, now Head of Civil Engineering and Geology at the University of Brighton, who provides an account of Gale’s ability to build multi-disciplinary teams around the study of flints and prehistoric technology.

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