• Brunei’s archaeology does not get nearly enough attention.⠀
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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.⠀
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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.
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🏹 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⠀
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Link in bio / https://bit.ly/4dV88wS ⠀
#SoutheastAsianArchaeology #Archaeology #Heritage #Angkor #Vietnam #Thailand #Cambodia #AncientTrade #MaritimeArchaeology
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Jars, beads, boats, and the occasional inconvenient fact. https://bit.ly/3RqKWyW ⠀
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  • The Ayala Museum’s Gold of Ancestors exhibition showcases over a thousand gold objects, many originating from Butuan and the Surigao Treasure and generally dated to the 10th–13th centuries CE. These pieces demonstrate the Philippines’ participation in extensive regional trade networks and the high level of craftsmanship achieved before Spanish colonisation.

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Have you been to the National Museum in Manila? What are your favourite pieces?

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Peeling back layers of prehistory in Battambang

19 March 2018
in Cambodia
Tags: Battambang (province)jewelleryLaang Spean (site)
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via Phnom Penh Post, 16 March 2018:

When the man passed away, he had not yet reached 50.

He belonged to a tribe that had settled near the Sangker River in Battambang province, likely cultivating the fields and raising animals. On the side, they hunted for boars, and even turtles, one of which would be laid in his grave to accompany him to his next life. Alongside pottery, jewellery and bangles, he would survive in fossilised form until thousands of years later when he would be discovered by a team of archaeologists in Cambodia.

One of these archaeologists is Heng Sophady, deputy director general for Cultural Heritage at the Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts, who has devoted his life to uncovering Cambodia’s ancient past. For almost 10 years, he and his French-Cambodian team have been digging in Laang Spean cave in Battambang’s Ratanak Mondol district, making discoveries like the man’s grave, which provide evidence of the earliest known civilisations in Cambodia.

Source: Peeling back layers of prehistory in Battambang

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Comments 1

  1. Kate Michell says:
    8 years ago

    Dear Sir

    I’m a freelance picture researcher working on a book entitled An Illustrated History of Cambodia, by Philip Coggan. I am interested in using a picture of Laang Spean, such as the one that appears in this article. Would you be able to share a hi-res version of this with me for this purpose and let me know who to credit?

    Kind regards,

    Kate Michell

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