SEAArch – The Southeast Asian Archaeology Newsblog

Readers in Singapore might be interested in Dr Arlo Griffith’s talk next week on the epigrahy of Champa.

New Light on the Ancient Records of Campa (Vietnam)
by Dr Arlo Griffiths
26 February, 7.00 – 8.30 pm
Asian Civilisations Museum
RSVP Required – details here
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Readers in Singapore may be interested in a public lecture by Dr John Miksic of the National University of Singapore on Southeast Asian Ceramics. For readers who might not be able to attend the lecture, you may want to purchase Dr Miksic’s latest book, Southeast Asian Ceramics.

Ceramics for the Archaeologist: Recent Advances in Understanding Pottery in Southeast Asian History
Venue: Asian Civilisations Museum, Singapore
Date: 28 January 2010
Time: 7.30 – 8.30 pm

Folks in Singapore interested about the wealth of archaeological treasures found in the water of Southeast Asia might be interested in Dr Flecker’s talk at NUS on Tuesday.

Assorted Treasures: A Millennium of Shipwreck Artifacts and the Stories they Tell
Tuesday, 01 Dec 2009, 4.00pm – 6.00pm
Seminar Room II, Institute of Southeast Asian Studies
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The Archaeology of Buddhist Sumatra
Date: 22 October 2009
Time: 4 – 6 pm
Venue: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Seminar Room II
Registration Required: Email Betty (betty@iseas.edu.sg) by 21 Oct 2009
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Dr Moore’s presentation “Public Art and the Shwedagon in the 19-20th century” might be of interest to readers of this blog. The roundtable on Asian Art History is happening TOMORROW (29 September 2009) at the Asia Research Institute at the National University of Singapore. Details and registration here.

Asian Art History Roundtable
Public Art and the Shwedagon in the 19-20th century (Dr Elizabeth Moore)
Date: Tuesday, 29 Sep 2009
Time: 4 – 5.30pm
Venue: ARI Seminar Room, Tower Block Level 10, National University of Singapore @ BTC
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The maritime trade has played an integral role in Southeast Asia from ancient times, and so it’s no surprise that there are a lot of maritime museums popping up in Southeast Asia today. Dr Stephen Davies will be making a presentation this Wednesday (30 Sep 2009) on Maritime Museums at the Nalanda-Sriwijaya Centre at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies at the National University of Singapore. More details here.

Maritime Museums? Who needs them?

Date: Wednesday. 30 September
Time: 4 – 6 pm
Venue: Seminar Room, ISEAS

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Archaeological exploration in the past decade has revealed a new Bronze-iron Age culture in central Myanmar. As most finds are located along the Samon River valley, they have become known as the Samon culture. Principally mortuary goods, many of the artifacts are unique and not found outside Myanmar. Other objects, however, parallel bronzes of the elaborate Shizhaishan Dian cultures of Yunnan. These include Heger I cowrie-drum containers and decorated mouth organs. Potential links are also seen in recent Shizhaishan excavation of headless burials and Samon headless bronze ‘mother-goddess’ figures used to decorate coffins as well as disarticulated inhumations found in both Samon and Dian cultures. There are few radiocarbon results for the Samon culture (circa 600 BCE-400 CE) but most predate the early centuries CE. This lecture will examine the origins of bronze production in the Myanmar-Yunnan cultural sphere.

More details and registration here.