Archaeological Projects in Southeast Asia

Some researchers set up project websites or blogs when starting a new archaeological project. This page contain a list of project pages related to the archaeology of Southeast Asia. The project pages usually link to external sites that were active at the time of posting; sometimes websites may be temporarily down or may have reorganised their underlying architecture or have even closed down – in these cases the links may not be available. Unless stated, I have no connection with the organisations or entities in these links or control over their content. They are sorted alphabetically, but you should also explore the Organisations page for a larger list of organisations and institutions related to archaeology, or the Resources page which have links sorted by themes. If you have a link to suggest, please get in touch!

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• Angkor 360° – Virtual Angkor is a collaboration between archaeologists, historians and Virtual History specialists based in Australia, Cambodia and the United States.
• Angkor Research Program – An “international, multidisciplinary research programme interested in the decline of urbanism at Angkor”. The project is coordinated by the University of Sydney.
• Archaeological Projects in Cambodia – A list of past and current projects in the kingdom run by Alison Carter.
• The Ban Chiang Project – Hosted by the University of Pennsylvania, the Ban Chiang Project is a comprehensive website about Ban Chiang with the aims: “to introduce newcomers to the fascinating archaeological discoveries at Ban Chiang; and second, to keep our friends and colleagues informed on our progress”.
• Banda Islands Archaeology Website – An archaeology project in the Banda Islands in East Indonedia led by the University of Washington and Gadjah Mada University to uncover the archaeology of this region.
• Banda Islands Field School Blog – A blog run by the students and instructors attending an 8-week field school at the Banda Islands in early 2009.
• Cambodian Archaeological Lidar Initiative – Project website of the Lidar imaging programme.
• The Cultured Rainforest Project – is headed by the University of Cambridge to investigate the people of the Kelabit Highlands and their interactions with the forest in the present and past.
• Cultural Map of Thailand – Cultural mapping project developed by the Programme Management Unit for Area-based Development (PMU-A) under the Office of National Higher Education Science Research and Innovation Policy Council.
• Early Central Borneo Project – The Early Central Borneo Project is a collaborative research-community archaeology and heritage project investigating the prehistory of central Borneo. Facebook page.
• Gua Tambun Heritage Awareness Project – An interactive and collaborative platform that aims to promote public awareness and appreciation for Gua Tambun Prehistoric Rock Art, under the auspices of Centre for Global Archaeological Research (CGAR) affiliated to University Sains Malaysia (USM), Penang.
• Highland Archaeology Project in Pang Mapha District, Mea Hong Son Province Phase 2 – a multidisciplinary archaeological project investigating the different cultures from ancient times to present in in Northwest Thailand.
• HOPSea – The Human Origins Patrimony in Southeast Asia, a multinational collaboration between European and Southeast Asian partners.
• Ifugao Archaeological Project – A collaborative research program of the Save the Ifugao Terraces Movement, Inc., National Museum of the Philippines, Archaeological Studies Program-University of the Philippines, and the University of California, Los Angeles.
• IRAW@BAGAN – Project website for the Integrated Socio-Ecological History for Residential Patterning, Agricultural Practices, and Water Management at the Medieval Burmese Capital of Bagan, Myanmar.
• Lao-UNESCO Programme for “Safeguarding the Plain of Jars”
• LoRAP – The Italian Thai Lopburi Regional Archaeological Project, under the aegis of the International Association for Mediterranean and Oriental Studies and the Thai Fine Arts Department.
• MaP Fund – The mission of the MAP Fund is to promote and support the development, advancement of and research in maritime archaeology and the protection and investigation of underwater cultural heritage, including the publication and dissemination of research, with a focus on the Asia and the Pacific region, in particular Australia and the ASEAN countries. Facebook page.
• Mapping Philippine Material Culture – This digital humanities project is a visual inventory of Philippine objects dating to the mid-20th century which are in holdings of museums and private collections outside of the Philippines.
• Maritime Asia Heritage Survey – Research project by the University of Oxford and the Center for Southeast Asian Studies, Kyoto University
• Middle Mekong Archaeology Project – Directed by Dr Joyce White of the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, MMAP is the project site of a survey of a portion of the Mekong river in Laos.
• Mission Archéologique Française au Myanmar – Public page of the Mission Archéologique Française au Myanmar (“MAFM”), a collaboration between the French National Centre for Scientific Research and the Myanmar Ministry of Religious Affairs and Culture.
• Myanmar-Singapore Archaeology Training Project (MSATP) – Project site hosted under NUS Press, focusing on ceramics. In English and Burmese.

• The Niah Cave Project – An archaeological project by the University of Leicester.
• On Fire Archaeology – Experimental archaeological project replicating Angkorian kilns and ceramics.
• Origins of Angkor Archaeological Project – Directed by Professor Charles Higham, the Origins of Angkor project is a “multi-disciplinary research project being undertaken by the University of Otago Department of Anthropology and the Fine Arts Department of Thailand. The aim of the project is to assess the seminal aspects of the social, cultural and technological development in the Mun River valley of Northeast Thailand”.
• Papuan Past Project – The Papuan Past project combines archaeological and genomic approaches to explore the modalities of human population settlement and adaptation – biological, cultural and technical evolution – over the last 50 000 years.
• PEMSEA (Program for Early Modern Southeast Asia) – Project website for a collaboration between the University of California-Los Angeles, University of Hawaii-Manoa, and the University of Washington.
• Philippine Archaeology @ UCLA – Philippine archaeology projects run from the archaeology program at UCLA.
• Plain of Jars Archaeological Project – Lao/Australian archaeological research at the Plain of Jars, Xieng Khouang Province, Lao PDR. Led by the MoICT, ANU and Monash and funded by the ARC. Facebook page.
• The Ports and Harbours of Southeast Asia – Project analyzing the mechanisms upon which the shipping network of the Southeast Asian branch of the Maritime Silk Road developed from a regional to a trans-regional network where goods.
• Project Avenger – An archaeological project to identify World War II aircraft crash sites in Hong Kong.
• P’teah Cambodia – A archaeology project directed by Drs Miriam Stark and Alison Carter investigating the archaeology of households and non-elites in Cambodia.
• Public Archaeology at Fort Cornwallis – An initiative by the George Town Conservation and Development Corporation (GTCDC) and University Sains Malaysia (USM). Facebook page.
• Southeast Asian Archaeology Lab – Headed by Stephen Acabado at the Cotsen Institute of Archaeology at UCLA.
• SUNDASIA – Project exploring how prehistoric tropical communities adapted to cycles of coastal inundation over the last 60,000 years in northern Vietnam, and how these data can help inform models and responses to modern climate-induced rising seas in this region.
• Tanah Datar Archaeological Project – An excavation blog for the Tanah Datar Archaeological Project, running from 1 March – 8 April 2012, by Universitas Indonesia and the Frei Universität Berlin.
• Telling Stones – Megaliths on Sumatra – Research project by the Frei Universität Berlin studying megaliths in Sumatra and their social context.
• University of Oregon Southeast Asian Archaeology Lab – The Southeast Asian Archaeology lab dedicated to studying the archaeology of Southeast Asia, and especially the archaeology of the Angkorian civilization in Cambodia.
• Vietnam Maritime Archeology Project – To promote Underwater Cultural Heritage and Maritime Archeology in Vietnam. Facebook page.
• Wat Krachee Conservation Project – Joint project between Unesco Bangkok and the Fine Arts Department of Thailand to restore traditional wisdom for the preservation of traditional Thai architecture for the conservation of world heritage sites. Facebook page.

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