photo credit: TheDarkThing Southeast Asia

Popular Archaeology – Southern Vietnam: [...]]]> A few months ago, I received a book by Nguyen Thi Hau and Le Thanh Hai about the archaeology of Southern Vietnam (Nam Bo, of French Cochinchina). The book  is aimed at introducing the reader to the archaeology of the region by describing sites, geography and artefacts found there.

Popular Archaeology – Southern Vietnam: From theory to experimental
Available here (contact site directly)

The book is divided into five parts. The first part introduces the topic at hand and the authors’ background and theoretical direction. Dr. Nguyen Thi Hau’s archaeological work is heavily influenced by developmental anthropology, ethnography and community development, and the book aims to contextualise Southern Vietnam in the archaeological map. In that sense, the book seems to be a collection of essays along a similar theme rather than a complex argument to a point. To qualify, this review is based on the English-language text of the book as I don’t read Vietnamese.

Part 2 talks about fieldwork and other concepts in archaeology, based on Dr. Nguyen’s experience in the field. She includes fieldwork notes from various trips in the field and on various topics, such as a trip to the Guimet Museum or a description an ancient house in Binh Dong Province. These notes cover more contemporary topics, while a separate section talks specifically about the more well-known artefacts from Southe Vietnam, such as the double-headed ling ling-o found in Cần GiÆ¡Ì€ and the pottery from Oc Eo.

Part 3 delves deeper into the archaeological material of Southern Vietnam, themed around ‘time’, ‘space’ and ‘perspectives’. Using sites in this region, this chapter introduces the reader to archaeological concepts of periodisation, categories of archaeological material, and the discussion of archaeology as anthropology and history. Specific topics touched on include the prevalence of jar burials in this region as well as Southeast Asia, descriptions of the Sa Hyunh and Dong Nai culture, and premodern cities in Southern Vietnam.

The archaeological past is tied back to the ethnographic present in part 4 of the book, and in this section the authors discuss the relevance of archaeology to social identity as a region and nation. This part contains reflections on the role of cultural heritage in a large, general sense, and well as reflections of conservation on specific sites such as Oc Eo and the Thang Long Citadel (which is not in the south, but in Hanoi; but has a powerful place in the identity of Vietnam). The book ends with an invitation for further research to be done in the area to help advance the understanding of the archaeology of South Vietnam.

As I mentioned earlier, most of the book is written in Vietnamese, and so I was unable to read much of the book. However, it’s clear from the English text that the book hopes to open up the archaeological past of Southern Vietnam to the general reader. If you’re interested in getting a copy of the book, it may be a little hard to come by outside of Vietnam although the authors tell me that you can contact the people here about buying a copy. (It doesn’t have a store portal where you can buy the book directly, you will have to contact the site owners through the ‘contact’ button).

Archaeologist Véronique Degroot has explored the correlations between temple distribution, natural surroundings and architectural design in Central Java (Indonesia). The [...]]]> Candi, Space and Landscape by Véronique Degroot discusses the relationship between the physical and religious landscape. The press release can be found after the jump, and more information (including ordering) can be found here.

Archaeologist Véronique Degroot has explored the correlations between temple distribution, natural surroundings and architectural design in Central Java (Indonesia). The aim was to understand how Central Javanese people structured the space around them, and how a religious landscape was developed. The results of her research have now been published in the book Candi, Space and Landscape.

Central Javanese temples were not built anywhere and anyhow. On the contrary: their positions within the landscape and their architectural designs were determined by socio-cultural, religious and economic factors. This book explores the correlations between temple distribution, natural surroundings and architectural design to explain how Central Javanese people structured the space around them, and how the religious landscape thus created developed.

Besides questions related to territory and landscape, this book analyzes the structure of the built space and its possible relations with conceptualized space, showing the influence of imported Indian concepts, as well as their limits. Going off the beaten track, this study explores the hundreds of small sites that scatter the landscape of Central Java. It is also one of very few studies to apply the methods of spatial archaeology to Central Javanese temples and the first in almost one century to present a descriptive inventory of the remains of this region.

From 2010 onwards the series Mededelingen van het Rijksmuseum voor Volkenkunde will be published by Sidestone Press in co-operation with the Dutch National Museum of Ethnology. This series consists of scientific studies on subjects related to the museum. Volume 38, Candi, Space and Landscape is available now.

Candi, Space and Landscape. A study on the distribution, orientation and spatial organization of Central Javanese temple remains
Author: V.M.Y. Degroot
Category: Anthropology, Archaeology of Indonesia / Asia
ISBN: 978-90-8890-039-6
Form: Paperback
No. pages: 512
Prize: € 49,95 (Incl. VAT, excl. shipping)

More Information:
Sidestone Press
www.sidestone.nl/rmv
info(at)sidestone.nl

photo credit: Jeremy Burgin

Angkor Thom Time, 09 September 2009

As you stand atop elephant terrace and gaze east [...]]]> Time Magazine features an article on Zhou Daguan, the Yuan Dynasty official who visited Angkor in the late 13th century and penned his report entitled A Record of Cambodia: The Land and Its People.

photo credit: Jeremy Burgin

Angkor Thom
Time, 09 September 2009

As you stand atop elephant terrace and gaze east across the Royal Square of Angkor Thom — the last capital of the Khmer empire that dominated Southeast Asia for some 600 years until the Siamese sacked the city for good in 1431 — you feel a bit like Shelley’s traveler, standing before Ozymandias’ half-sunk, shattered visage. All around are lifeless things — retaining walls of blotchy laterite, and sandstone temples that speak little of Angkor’s former grandeur and its golden spires. There’s no hint of the regal festivals that once took place right here, viewed from this same vantage by mighty kings beneath parasols of red silk. But there is an eyewitness report of life at the gilded Angkor court. In fact, it is the only one: Zhou Daguan’s A Record of Cambodia: The Land and Its People.

Archaeology in Vietnam is quite vibrant – just take a look at this site and see how much archaeology news comes out of Vietnam. Besides the news, however, it’s quite hard [...]]]> Champa and the Archaeology of My Son (Vietnam)
Edited by Andrew Hardy, Mauro Cucarzi and Patrizia Zolese
NUS Press, ISBN: 978-9971-69-451-7
Available at Amazon.com

Archaeology in Vietnam is quite vibrant – just take a look at this site and see how much archaeology news comes out of Vietnam. Besides the news, however, it’s quite hard to find any literature about the archaeology of Vietnam in English because most of the literature is in Vietnamese. Which is why Champa and the Archaeology of My Son (Vietnam) is quite refreshing. This volume, hopefully the first of many, presents the results of a joint Italian and Vietnamese team working at My Son and about Champa in general.

If you asked anybody a hundred years ago what the most famous archaeological ruins in Southeast Asia was, you’d be told that it was the sanctuary of My Son, in the central Quang Nam province of Vietnam. The My Son Sanctuary is a complex of brick tower structures dating to the 7th – 11th centuries. The temples are linked to the Cham, an Austronesian ethnic group centred around the southern part of Vietnam and parts of Cambodia. My Son’s preeminence changed quickly with the “discovery” of Angkor, when the research efforts of the EFEO in particular were channeled towards Cambodia in the early part of the 20th century. Fading into obscurity, My Son was to suffer further indignity by bombing by American forces during the American War, in an attempt to flush out combatants who had entrenched themselves in the ruins. Despite its tragic history, the temple complex was recognized as a World Heritage Site in 1999 – in no small part due to the effort of the Polish team who worked to restore the site a decade earlier.

The book is divided into three rough sections; an extended introduction provides the background and history of archaeological research in Champa, starting with the French excavations of the early 20th century, the Polish-Vietnamese restoration of My Son after the American war, and the current Italian-Vietnamese endeavour to document and preserve the site. The second section (Part 1) covers the history of Champa and the anthropology of the Cham people, while the final section (Part 2) specifically addresses the new discoveries of the last 10 years, such as the study of construction techniques employed used for the temples, and also a thermo-luminescence dating of the brick material.

I particularly enjoyed Rie Nakamura’s contribution about the cosmology and ethnicity of the Ninh Thuan Province’s Cham people. Champa and the Archaeology of My Son (Vietnam) makes a valuable contribution to knowledge and understanding about the Cham and archaeology of Vietnam.

043005 Early Southeast Asia: Selected Essays. Wolters, O. W.; Craig J. Reynolds (ed.). Us. 2008. 236pp. pb. $65.00 (This collection of previously published [...]]]> A selection of archaeology-related books, new to the catalogue of Select Books, a specialised publisher and retailer of books pertaining to Southeast Asia. For ordering info, please visit the Select Books website.

043005
Early Southeast Asia: Selected Essays. Wolters, O. W.; Craig J. Reynolds (ed.). Us. 2008. 236pp. pb. $65.00 (This collection of previously published essays on early Southeast Asia is introduced by an overview of Oliver Wolters’ (1915-2000) life and career. From 1938-1957 he was in the (colonial) Malayan Civil Service and from 1958 in academia in London and at Cornell where his ground-breaking research and teaching on early Southast Asia became legendary. The eleven essays are grouped as: Southeast Asia as a Region; the Long Durée of Malay history; Mainland Mandalas; and Vietnamese Historiography and Literature.)

042395
Armies Of Angkor, The: Military Structure And Weaponry Of The Khmers. Jacq-Hergoualc’h, Michel; Michael Smithies (trans). Th. 2007. 178pp. hc. $73.00 (The Khmers of the 12th and 13th centuries are best remembered by the magnificent monuments that they left the world – the ruins of Angkor Wat, the Bayon and Banteay Chmar and other relics at Siem Reap. As well as being visionary architects and builders, they were by far the most formidable fighting force of Southeast Asia, and much of their fabled wealth was generated directly from the spoils of their conquests. Translated from the French author’s 1979 study, this book draws on depictions of warfare found on the stone relief of the monuments mentioned above to reconstruct a vivid image of the Khmer armed forces, both land and naval, to give readers insight into its organisation, technology, weaponry and strategies, and other aspects of Khmer life, such as clothing and textile patterns, hairstyles and body ornaments. With black-and-white illustrations, bibliography and index.)

043501
Beauty In Asia: 200 BCE To Today. Krishnan, Gauri Parimoo. Sg. 2007. 64pp. pb. $12.84 (This neat summary catalogue accompanied the 2007 exhibition, Beauty in Asia, 200 BCE to Today, at the Asian Civilisations Museum, Singapore. An essay “What is beauty? What is beauty in Asia? Is there beauty in the grotesque?” introduces inset pictures of a selection of the exhibits. These are grouped as: Ideal Beauty; the Quest for Beauty; Celebration of Beauty; and Spiritual Beauty. With full list of exhibits and bibliography.)

043032
Catalogue Of The Chinese Style Ceramics Of Majapahit: Tentative Inventory. Dupoizat, Marie-France; N Harkantiningsih. Fr. 2007. 111pp. pb. $92.00 (This illustrated catalogue lists and discusses imported Chinese-style ceramics found at the Trowulan archaeological site near 13th to 16th-century Majapahit capital in East Java. The various types and origins of the fragments indicate the importance of the trade with China. Thai and Vietnamese fragments are also identified. With map, colour illustrations, identification details, and bibliography.)

The gilded kingdom The Nation, 03 February 2008