• This week in Southeast Asian Archaeology: Prambanan gets some renewed attention, Phimai Black pottery surfaces at Mun Bon Dam, and I’m taking a short break next week.⠀
⠀
The featured stories look at the new Indonesia–India conservation project at Prambanan, focusing on the temple complex’s ruined perwara shrines, and a striking Late Prehistoric find in northeast Thailand: a remarkably complete Phimai Black vessel discovered as water levels fell at Mun Bon Dam.⠀
⠀
Temples, pottery, reservoirs, and a little scheduled rest. Back again on 27 July.⠀
⠀
Read this week’s newsletter: [link in bio]⠀
⠀
#SoutheastAsianArchaeology #Archaeology #Heritage #Prambanan #Thailand #Indonesia #Cambodia #Vietnam #CulturalHeritage #Substack
  • Gold rings, bronze drums, ancient burials, and better ethics in bioarchaeology — this week’s Southeast Asian Archaeology newsletter is a two-week catch-up edition.⠀
⠀
The lead story comes from Don Yai Thong in Phetchaburi, Thailand, where excavations have revealed gold ornaments, bronze drums, burials, beads, pottery and more. One newly reported gold signet ring bears Brahmi script, raising interesting questions about status, ritual and long-distance connections in the region.⠀
⠀
Also featured: a new paper on ethical collaboration when working with human remains in Southeast Asia — a timely reminder that care, respect, training, authorship and local authority are all part of good archaeological practice.⠀
⠀
Read the latest issue through the link in bio.
  • Cobbles, Caves and Committees 🪨⛰️📜⠀
⠀
This week’s Southeast Asian Archaeology newsletter moves from UNESCO heritage diplomacy to synchrotron science in Malaysia’s Nenggiri Valley, and then back into deep time with Early Palaeolithic cobble tools from Cambodia’s Mekong terraces.⠀
⠀
Cover image: Wat Phra Mahathat, Nakhon Si Thammarat — because temple towers do improve most things.⠀
⠀
Read the latest issue at the link in bio.⠀
⠀
#SoutheastAsianArchaeology #Archaeology #Heritage #Cambodia #Malaysia #UNESCO #WatPhraMahathat #NakhonSiThammarat #CulturalHeritage
  • This week in Southeast Asian Archaeology: broken pots, painted hands, and returning relics.⠀
⠀
The main story is a new paper on Angkorian ceramics from Thala Borivat and Sambor, showing how Angkor’s eastern Mekong provinces were connected through roads, rivers, rapids and local choices — not one neat supply chain.⠀
⠀
Also featured: Tham Pha Mue in Laos opens to visitors, a site I studied and helped document; Cambodia welcomes the return of three sculptures from the US; plus updates from Bujang Valley, Mỹ Sơn and Bagan.⠀
⠀
Read this week’s issue: https://bit.ly/3QjsdVO ⠀
⠀
#SoutheastAsianArchaeology #Angkor #Cambodia #Laos #RockArt #Archaeology #Heritage #Mekong
  • Boats, pots, and prehistoric know-how this week at Southeast Asian Archaeology.⠀
⠀
In the new newsletter:⠀
🛶 outrigger boat motifs in Sulawesi rock art⠀
🏺 new perspectives on pottery in Timor-Leste⠀
👑 the restored Nguyen Dynasty throne⠀
🎟️ falling ticket sales at Angkor⠀
⚖️ a new book on archaeology and Philippine law⠀
⠀
#Archaeology #SoutheastAsia #Heritage #RockArt #TimorLeste #Indonesia
  • Brunei’s archaeology does not get nearly enough attention.⠀
⠀
For this bonus post, I’m looking at Kota Batu Archaeological Park, the site of Brunei’s old capital. It is not a spectacular ruin in the usual sense — no towering temples, no monumental gateways — but its fragments tell a fascinating story: tombs, ceramics, sandstone pillar bases, river defences, house posts, imported wares, and traces of a working port city.⠀
⠀
Kota Batu shows Brunei not as a quiet corner of Southeast Asian archaeology, but as part of the maritime world that linked Borneo with China, Vietnam, Thailand, the Philippines and beyond.
  • This week’s Southeast Asian Archaeology newsletter is about movement, adaptation, and why archaeology is rarely as tidy as we pretend.⠀
⠀
Inside:⠀
🏹 a new review of bow-and-arrow evidence from India to Oceania⠀
🪙 a study of how Roman materials were filtered and remade in Southeast Asia⠀
🌊 new work on maritime links between Angkor and China during the megadrought period⠀
⠀
Also this week: Angkor palace waterworks, the Cẩm An shipwreck, and the reopening of Phimai National Museum.⠀
⠀
Link in bio / https://bit.ly/4dV88wS ⠀
#SoutheastAsianArchaeology #Archaeology #Heritage #Angkor #Vietnam #Thailand #Cambodia #AncientTrade #MaritimeArchaeology
  • New this week in Southeast Asian Archaeology: the Plain of Jars, trade beads, burial rituals, Philippine obsidian, coastal watchtowers, public archaeology, and a museum rethink of the galleon trade.⠀
⠀
The lead story is a new paper from Laos, where one huge jar at Site 75 contained the remains of at least 37 people and hints at a long, careful mortuary tradition. From there, the issue moves across the region, with a particularly strong run of stories from the Philippines on exchange networks, local histories, and the stories archaeology tells in public.⠀
⠀
Jars, beads, boats, and the occasional inconvenient fact. https://bit.ly/3RqKWyW ⠀
⠀
#SoutheastAsianArchaeology #Archaeology #Heritage #Laos #Philippines #Museums #PublicHistory
  • This week: Đồng Dương, ancient Champa, broken bricks, border temples, Buddhist architecture on the move, and a reminder that archaeology is rarely just about the past.⠀
⠀
Link in bio / read here: https://bit.ly/4ePHSpL ⠀
⠀
#SoutheastAsianArchaeology #DongDuong #Champa #Vietnam #Cambodia #Thailand #Myanmar #Archaeology #Heritage
  • This week in Southeast Asian Archaeology: a remarkable burial find in Phetchaburi, an old perahu under review in Kelantan, and the Po Nagar festival in Vietnam as a case of living heritage in action. ⠀
⠀
https://bit.ly/48PAeI5 ⠀
⠀
#archaeology #southeastAsia #southeastasianarchaeology
Thursday, July 23, 2026
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Cham inscriptions and Cham manuscripts: A legacy of development

3 April 2007
in Cambodia, Vietnam
Tags: Cham (people)Cham (script)Champa (kingdoms)documentary heritageepigraphyinscriptionMohamed Effendy bin Abdul Hamid (person)Pallava Grantha ScriptSanskrit (language)stelesymposiumtalks / presentationsVo Canh Stele
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Cham inscriptions and Cham manuscripts: A legacy of developmentSpeaker: Mohamed Effendy bin Abdul Hamid
Date/Time: Sat 14 Apr 07, 2.30 – 4.30pm
Venue: National Library (Singapore), 100 Victoria Street, Possibility Room, Level 5The Vo Canh Stele is one of the earliest Sanskrit inscriptions found in Southeast Asia, in the vicinity of the kingdom of Champa, Vietnam. The inscription, dated to be from the fourth century, records the donation made by a King belonging to the family of Sri Mara. The significance of this inscription was that it was one of the earliest examples of the Pallava script being used in Southeast Asia by a Malay-like polity, Kerajaan Champa.

This seminar will highlight the localization of Sanskrit by the Cham people by contrasting it to other Cham inscriptions and the writing found in the Cham manuscripts. This will highlight that although the Cham language and writing show significant borrowings from other cultures, it actually enhanced the development of the Cham language.

Admission is FREE and no registration is required.

About the Speaker:
Mohamed Effendy bin Abdul Hamid is a postgraduate student in the National University of Singapore, Southeast Asia Studies Programme. His interest in Champa’s history began in the year 2000 and has been awarded a research grant in 2005 by National University of Singapore’s Graduate research programme to conduct fieldwork research in Cham communities in Vietnam and Cambodia. Mohamed Effendy has also participated and attended in several international conferences and symposiums such as “New scholarship on Champa”, 5-6 August 2004. He co-presented a paper with Research Associate Mr Pritam Singh on “The Muslims of Indochina: Islam, Ethnicity and Religious Education” and a paper “Cham Manuscripts and the Possibility of a Second Champa Kingdom” at the 19th International Association of Historians of Asia (IAHA) 2006 in the Philippines.

Related Books:
– The Art of Champa by J. Hubert

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Comments 9

  1. akshat says:
    19 years ago

    u dont have pictures or images

  2. noelbynature says:
    19 years ago

    You might want to contact Mr Effendy for images.

  3. vijay says:
    19 years ago

    Dear Mr Effendy

    Very much interested in your works. we are looking for some contacts for below article. do llet us know if you have any information on below

    http://vietnamnews.vnagency.com.vn/2004-02/28/Columns/Kaleidoscope.htm

    Old leaves tell tales

    It is estimated that the villages of Cham ethnic people in central Viet Nam are preserving around 60,000 ancient documents that remain mostly unknown to the world.

    Most of these documents are written in Sanskrit on buong, the leaves of a type of palm tree that grows in central Viet Nam. Sanskrit is an ancient Hindu and classical literary language of India now lost to today’s Cham people.

    However, one Cham teacher is determined to unlock his people’s secrets. Tinh has mastered Sanskrit to decipher the Mystery of the Leaves and as a teacher, has free access to the ancient documents considered by the Cham as something akin to a family heirloom.

    Tinh has discovered the leaves contain a treasure of tales, legends, historic events, poems, songs and rituals. “They are handed down from generations to generations,” explains Tinh.

    “People keep them with great care without knowing entirely their meaning. If some documents happened to decay, people will cast the dust into nature. That is why it is not easy to collect these buong leaf documents.”

    The young buong leaf was first cut in equal lengths and then dried for one day under the sun. The Cham people used a sharp stick to write on them.

    When they finished, they coated some unknown powder on the leaves to make the writings indelible. A buong leaf can hold four lines of Sanskrit.

    Tinh has thousands of these ancient and mysterious Cham documents, some in their original condition, some copied by him.

    He says, “It’s a great honour for me to shed some light into the Chams’ fabulous spiritual heritage.” — VNS

  4. Huong Nguyen says:
    19 years ago

    Do you have contact information of this Cham teacher? Thanks.
    Huong Nguyen

  5. Nhuong Tu says:
    18 years ago

    Hi everyone.

    My name is Nhuong Tu. A Cham who live in central Viet Nam. I am interested in the introduction of Islam into the kingdom of Champa. Does any one know a good source?

    Thanks for your help.
    Nhuong Tu

  6. noelbynature says:
    18 years ago

    Hi Nhong Tu,

    for starters, you might want to read Anthony Reid’s Southeast Asia in the Age of Commerce, which covers the spread of religions throughout Southeast Asia as a result of trade in from the 15th to 17th century. I remember reading about the spread of Islam to the Cham there.

  7. H. R. Banerjee says:
    18 years ago

    Dear Mr. Effendy,
    I shall be grateful if I can have some smaple-scripts of Champa Sanskrit.

  8. PROF. VIJAYA KUMAR BABU, AVADHANULA says:
    18 years ago

    Dear Scholar,
    Good Day to You. Anbout me …

    After completing my 12-years schooling [English, Second Language (Telugu-my mother tongue), Engineering Mathematics, Biological and Physical Sciences, History and Geography-1967], I did my B.A.(Sanskrit/History/Telugu–1974), M.A. (English Language and Literature–1978), B.L.I.Sc. (Library and Information Science–1978), Diploma (German Language-1980), M.A. (Ancient Indian History, Culture and Archaeology-1980), M.Phil. (Archaeology-1984), Ph.D. (Temple Studies-1992). Since July 1968, till June 1981, I have been working as Junior and Senior Office Assistant in the Osmania University Service, looking after Academic, Accounts and Administrative subjects. In June 1981, I have joined as Assistant Professor in the Department of Ancient Indian history, Culture and Archaeology, Osmania University, and presently am the Professor. After completing 13 years of Service as Administrative, Academic and Accounts Assistant, and 28 years as Professor in AIHC&A., as per the existing Service Rules in the Government of Andhra Pradesh and the Osmania University, am due to retire on 28 Feb 2009. Since 1981, I have been Teaching and Guiding Students for their UG, PG and Research (M.Phil. /Ph.D.) degrees on different aspects of Ancient Indian History, Culture and Archaeology; with special emphasis on Andhra History and Culture. I have authored 10 books, both in English and vernacular Telugu; participated and presented more than 50 research articles, on Art History, Epigraphy, Iconography, Numismatics, Buddhism, Jainism, Vedism, Religion, Philosophy, Museology and Tourism in the Seminars/ Conferences held, within and outside India. I have visited UK, South and South East Asian Countries and delivered Guest/ Extension Lectures on Pan Indian Cultural Studies at the Universities, Museums and Institutes of Higher Learning and Research. Presently am working on Sanskrit Inscriptions of South East Asia. Chanced I would like to share my knowledge with Students, Colleagues and Professors on Cultures and Civilizations, knowledge of which, in the present IT world, is becoming a nightmare.

    Now, may I request you to kindly help me in the present project of Sanskrit Inscriptions of South East Asia-A
    Study.

    Being optimist I await your brisk reply.
    I remain,
    Professionally yours,

    Professor Vijaya Kumar Babu, Avadhanula,
    Professor,
    Department of Ancient Indian History, Culture and Archaeology,
    Osmania University, Hyderabad-500 007, AP, INDIA.
    (Res. # 12-13-633, Nagarjuna Nagar, Tarnaka, Hyderabad-500 017, INDIA)
    (Phones-Land: +0091-40-65176840; Mob: +0091-9866100512, 9866100747)
    (E-mail: avadhanulavkbabu@yahoo.co.in)

  9. Luigi Fulk says:
    16 years ago

    Interesting post! I have bookedmarked this page for future reference. Looking for more interesting articles next time!

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