SEAArch - The Southeast Asian Archaeology Newsblog

European Association of Southeast Asian Archaeologists (EurASEAA)
12th International Conference
Leiden , the Netherlands
1 - 5 September 2008

Second Announcement
Call for Papers

We invite papers on all aspects of Southeast Asian archaeology, including art history, epigraphy, and numismatics. Papers on China and India that closely relate to Southeast Asian themes, may also be presented by agreement and if time permits.

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A 13th century shipwreck laden with Song Dynasty porcelain was recovered from the depths of the South China Sea last week - ships like these were common in the international trade that plied the maritime silk route between China and West Asia, and they all moved through Southeast Asia.

Sunken Merchant Boat Raised from the Sea
Xinhua, 22 Dec 2007

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In conjunction with The Nalanda Trail exhibition at the Asian Civilisations Museum, there’s going to be a conference on Buddhist interactions and practices in Southeast Asia and Asia. Check out our special feature on the Nalanda exhibition here.

Buddhism in India, China and Southeast Asia — Interaction and Practice
19 - 20 Jan 2008
9.00 a.m to 6.00 p.m.
Ngee Ann Auditorium, Asian Civilisations Museum

The two-day conference will focus on the spread of Buddhism with special reference to the role of Nalanda as a centre of learning, in conjunction with the exhibition titled — On the Nalanda Trail: Buddhism in India, China and Southeast Asia. Through this conference, interconnections between India, China and Southeast Asia will be explored and re-examined. Papers highlight new findings or interpretations of Buddhist art, architecture, history and literature in India, Central Asia, China and Southeast Asia. A part of the conference will be devoted to examining aspects of Buddhist way of life including worship and monasticism in various countries of Asia. Topics such as the multidimensional and multicultural significance of Amaravati, Nalanda and Srivijaya; the iconography of paintings at Kizil and Xinjiang in Central Asial; and the Chinese assimilation of Avalokiteshvara into Guanyin will be discussed.
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When it comes to tracing the movements and migrations of prehistoric communities across Southeast Asia, the Bellwood model stands out as one of the leading theories - humans moved Southwest China, humans moved from Philippines to island Southeast Asia and the pacific islands, and also southward to mainland Southeast Asia. The ANU Reporter presents this report that build on this migration thesis to detect and trace the emergence of agricultural societies dating as far back as 5,000 years in Southeast Asia.

Unearthing ancient Asia
ANU Reporter Spring 2007
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No, I haven’t forgotten about our weekly salad mix of Southeast Asia - it’s just been a quiet two weeks with only these two stories to offer:

• Greg Laden, blogging about peer-reviewed research, posts something on the recent PNAS article about Taiwanese nephrite (jade) showing up all over ancient Southeast Asia. Check out the map to get an idea of the distribution.
• Kunta Yuni reflects on the recent furore over Malaysia stealing Indonesia’s cultural heritage by transposing the argument to food.

In this series of weekly rojaks (published on Wednesdays) I’ll feature other sites in the blogosphere that are of related to archaeology in Southeast Asia. Got a recommendation for the next Wednesday rojak? Email me!

Related Books:
- Burnished Beauty. The Art of Stone in Early Southeast Asia by C. J. Frape
- Early History (The Encyclopedia of Malaysia) by Nik Hassan Shuhaimi Nik Abdul Rahman (Ed)
- Ancient History (The Indonesian Heritage Series) by Indonesian Heritage

20 November 2007 (National Geographic News) - National Geographic’s story on the chemical tracing of jade artefacts from Southeast Asia. It’s interesting to note that while the jade came mainly from a single source, they were worked outside of Taiwan. And despite their wide dispersal to Philippines, Vietnam and to a large part of Southeast Asia they were worked into two distinct styles, implying some sort of specialised tradition.

Jade Earrings Reveal Ancient S.E. Asian Trade Route
by Carolyn Barry

Jade jewelry found near ancient burial sites across Southeast Asia has revealed one of the largest marine trading networks of prehistoric times, a new study says.

Mineral analysis shows that most of nearly 150 sampled artifacts dated as far back as 3000 B.C. can be traced back to a single site in Taiwan (see map), about 190 miles (120 kilometers) off the coast of mainland China.

This indicates that the small island supplied much of Southeast Asia with a unique variety of the semiprecious stone via a 1,800-mile (3,000-kilometer) trade route around the South China Sea.

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20 November 2007 (ABC News in Science, Reuters) - A new study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences reveals the existence of an extensive interaction network involving Taiwanese jade (nephrite) as far back as 5,000 years ago. The jade artefacts turn up in Taiwan, Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia and the Philippines (where it is known locally as lingling-o). Using a newly-developed process to analyse the jade, the study found that 116 out of the 144 artefacts came from the same source in Taiwan. The predominant source of jade in Taiwan, coupled with the distribution of the jade artefacts throughout Southeast Asia and their relative uniformity of the artefact types, leads to the conclusion that there must have been an extensive degree of interaction between different Southeast Asian populations, even across the sea. What’s left now is to uncover the technique used to create the jade artefacts. Experimental archaeology, anyone?

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