SEAArch – The Southeast Asian Archaeology Newsblog

The Earth Times reports that the Middle Mekong Archaeological Project has discovered the first instance of a secondary burial in Laos. Read detail accounts of the recent fieldwork in Laos on the MMAP blog.

Secondary Burial from Tham An Mah. Image from the MMAP blog.

Iron Age discovery uncovers prehistoric burial customs in Laos
The Earth Times, 22 January 2009
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It’s not often you hear archaeology news from Laos, no thanks in part because of the language barrier. But interested readers might be pleased to read about the ongoing work by the Middle Mekong Archaeological Project team, where Amy Ellsworth, Digital Media Developer of the University of Pennsylvania Museum is blogging about the excavations at Tham An Mah. (Thanks to Dr Joyce White from the University of Pennsylvania for the link.)

This week’s rojak features the dying tradition of gong tuning in Vietnam, and a case of stolen tradition in a spat between Indonesia and Malaysia. And a special treat for those who missed the Hobbit Symposium earlier this year.

photo credit: roktobaren
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Two ancient capitals are named sister cities, following an agreement signed by Myanmar and Laos. Founded around the 8th century, Luang Prabang is a World Heritage Site that was the royal capital of the kingdom with the same name. Bagan was founded in the 9th century but did not become the capital of the Burmese empire until the turn of the firt millenium. It is not a World Heritage Site because the military junta decided to muck up a lot of the restoration work on the many ancient structures that dot the landscape. The agreement to be sister cities is aimed at increasing tourist numbers.

photo credit: poida.smith

photo credit: amsfrank

Bagan, Luang Prabang named sister cities
Myanmar Times & Business Review, 1-7 June 2009
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100 Buddha statues have been reported stolen from temples in the World Heritage Site of Luang Prabang, fuelled by the trade in antiquities.

photo credit: amsfrank

Buddha statues steal away in Luang Prabang
Vientiane Times, via Asiaone, 07 May 2009
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Indian Imprints, a documentary series tracing the influence of Indian culture and religion in Southeast Asia is set to receive a second series after the success of its first run. You can read about the filmmakers’ reflection of the Ramayana n Southeast Asia here. The first series looked at Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos and Indonesia. The proposed second series hopes to extend the focus to more Southeast Asian countries such as Myanmar. Makes me wonder if they’ll touch on Malaysia (and all the baggage that encompasses).

New documentary tracks Indian footprints in southeast Asia
The Hindu, 18 April 2009
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This looks like a step in the right direction: the Centre for Khmer Studies ave started work on creating a network for archaeologists in Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos to work together, and more importantly generate inter-regional research projects operating under the same methodology. As a region, I think the archaeological traditions in each country are still very much limited by modern national borders – one of the most evident is the way in which each country’s archaeological timeline differs from each other.

Much more has to go by way of building bridges and relationships between countries. One of the difficulties I’ve seen is the way some countries can be quite parochial about the direction of archaeology takes – partly because of political and nationalistic overtones that may arise, but also sometimes from a perceived “territorial” claim over a particular field of study. Other barriers include recent past histories (like how we’ve seen between Thailand and Cambodia over Preah Vihear), or even something as simple as the language barrier.

It’ll be interesting to see, over the next few years, how this project by the Centre for Khmer Studies sheds light on the archaeology of the inland routes from the Tonle Sap to the South China Sea. More interesting is the see how a model for inter-regional collaboration might be achieved through this project.

Tracking Asia’s ‘ancient highways’
Phnom Penh Post, 22 January 2008
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