• 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.⠀
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Temples, pottery, reservoirs, and a little scheduled rest. Back again on 27 July.⠀
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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.⠀
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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.⠀
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Cover image: Wat Phra Mahathat, Nakhon Si Thammarat — because temple towers do improve most things.⠀
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Read the latest issue at the link in bio.⠀
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#SoutheastAsianArchaeology #Archaeology #Heritage #Cambodia #Malaysia #UNESCO #WatPhraMahathat #NakhonSiThammarat #CulturalHeritage
  • This week in Southeast Asian Archaeology: broken pots, painted hands, and returning relics.⠀
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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.⠀
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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.⠀
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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.⠀
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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.⠀
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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
Wednesday, July 22, 2026
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[Roundup] Dutch to return colonial treasures to Indonesia, Sri Lanka

8 July 2023
in Indonesia, Peripheral Southeast Asia
Tags: colonialismgoldLombok (island)NetherlandsrepatriationroundupSri Lanka
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Source: Getty Images / ArtNet 20230706

Source: Getty Images / ArtNet 20230706

via AFP/Jakarta Post, 06 July 2023 and other sources below: The Netherlands has decided to return hundreds of colonial-era artifacts, including the “Lombok treasure” and a gem-encrusted bronze cannon, to Indonesia and Sri Lanka, following recommendations by a government-appointed commission.

The commission was set up after a request by Indonesia for the return of some art pieces and natural history collections by its former colonial ruler the Netherlands.

Some of the items to be handed back include the so-called “Lombok treasure” of hundreds of golden and silver objects, looted by the Dutch colonial army after capturing the Cakranegara palace on Indonesia’s Lombok island in 1894.

Source: Dutch to return colonial treasures to Indonesia, Sri Lanka – Europe – The Jakarta Post

See also:

  • ‘A Historic Moment’: The Netherlands Is Repatriating Nearly 500 Cultural Artifacts to Indonesia and Sri Lanka | Artnet, 06 July 2023
  • Dutch museums to hand back looted treasures to former colonies | The Times, 06 July 2023
  • Netherlands to repatriate hundreds of looted artifacts to Bali | Al Maydeen, 06 July 2023
  • Netherlands to repatriate nearly 500 looted objects to Indonesia and Sri Lanka | The Art Newspaper, 06 July 2023
  • Netherlands to return art, artifacts looted from Indonesia during colonial period | Benar News, 06 July 2023
  • Netherlands to return treasures looted from Indonesia and Sri Lanka in colonial era | The Guardian, 06 July 2023
  • Netherlands to return 478 looted art pieces to Sri Lanka and Indonesia | NL Times, 06 July 2023
  • The Netherlands to return colonial collections to Sri Lanka and Indonesia | The Brussels Times, 06 July 2023
  • Dutch museums will return art and artifacts that were looted from Sri Lanka and Indonesia | AP News, 06 July 2023
  • Netherlands to return nearly 500 looted objects to Indonesia and Sri Lanka | CNN, 07 July 2023
  • Netherlands to return six Kandyan artefacts looted from SL | Daily Mirror, 07 July 2023
  • Netherlands to return treasures to Indonesia and Sri Lanka | BBC News, 07 July 2023
  • Netherlands to Return 478 Looted Objects to Indonesia and Sri Lanka | Hyperallergic, 08 July 2023
  • Rijksmuseum to return Colonial objects from its collection for the first time | Art Daily 09 July 2023
  • Netherlands gazettes repatriation of Dutch colonial artefacts to Sri Lanka | Sunday Observer, 09 July 2023

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