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- Convenors:
-
Michelle Eusebio
(University of Florida)
Amy Jordan (University of Washington)
Chung-Ching Shiung (Sun Yat-Sen University)
Vito Hernandez (University of the Philippines)
- Location:
- Amphi B2
- Start time:
- 7 July, 2015 at
Time zone: Europe/Paris
- Session slots:
- 3
Short Abstract:
This session will explore novel and contemporary approaches to interpreting the archaeological record of Southeast Asia, with emphasis on the analyses and interpretation of environmental and material culture remains.
Long Abstract:
This session will explore novel and contemporary approaches to interpreting the archaeological record of Southeast Asia. These approaches can range from the analyses of space and time at various scales, to the identification of foodways, or the quotidian use of material culture. Rather than focus on SEA Archaeology's usual inquiries into origins, migrations, transitions, and exchange, it pays special attention to exploring the remains of lived life in the archaeological record. This session will also accept papers that explore how our findings are relevant to the communities we work with and contemporary decision making. These papers can be any of the following themes: the habitus or chaîne opératoire of crafts, foodways, and lifeways; the exploration of identity or ethnogenesis via environmental and material culture remains; relational approaches to interpreting objects and micro- or macro-landscapes; archaeologically visible solutions to sustainability and resilience in unpredictable environments; and archaeology as a conduit between the past and the future.
Note: There will be an introduction at the beginning.
Accepted papers:
Session 1Paper short abstract:
Megaliths have been significant features in the landscape of upland central Borneo for more than 2000 years and played important roles in beliefs and cultural practices. This paper examines the changing roles of megaliths in the region in light of historical events and social changes over the years.
Paper long abstract:
The highland region of central Borneo is home to a unique megalithic tradition consisting of the construction of stone mounds, standing stones, stone burial jars, dolmens and boulders covered with carved symbols. In addition, other types of landscape modifications in the highlands of central Borneo include the construction of ditches, ridge cuttings and crocodile-shaped earthen effigies. Archaeological and ethnographic research among the local indigenous populations (the Kelabit, the Lun Bawang and other related groups) in the region suggest a long-term history of land use that may extend back several millennia, and a megalithic tradition that may began more than 2,000 years ago and continued up to the mid-20th century. Beginning the early 20th century, and especially after the second World War, the highlands of central Borneo have experienced several historical changes that have rapidly affected the practice of various aspects of the indigenous groups' traditional culture. By focusing on the megalithic tradition of the central highlands of Borneo, this paper aims to examine the changing roles of monuments in the lives of the local population. Specific questions to be addressed are how the perceptions of monuments have changed over the years, and how new meanings of the monumental landscape are created.
Paper short abstract:
The 15th to 17th Century AD Jar and Coffin Burials of the Cardamom Mountains, which now number ten sites throughout the Cardamom massif, reveal Highland mortuary practices of a people far removed from the influences of the late to post-Angkor culture of the lowlands.
Paper long abstract:
The 15th to 17th Century AD Jar and Coffin Burials of the Cardamom Mountains, which now number ten sites throughout the Cardamom massif, reveal Highland mortuary practices of a people far removed from the influences of the late to post-Angkor culture of the lowlands (Beavan et al. 2015). The use of maritime trade-ware ceramics which are linked to the Koh S'Dech shipwreck and to the Mae Nam Noi / Singburi kilns of Ayutthaya (Beavan et al. 2012, Tep unpublished data, Grave et al unpublished data) and other trade items such as glass beads, and simple metal rings point to previously unknown trade connections between highlanders and multiple trade sources (Carter et al., in press). Bioarchaeological information from the skeletal analyses reveal ancient diet and population origins. We have also found the first biological evidence of probable scurvy in Southeast Asia (Halcrow et al. 2014) as well as examples of the cultural practice of dental ablation in the Late to post-Angkor period. These findings have shed light on the previously unknown life ways of a highland culture in the 15th to 17th centuries, and contribute to our understanding of lesser- known aspects of the Cambodian archaeological record.
Refs:
Beavan et al.2012. https://seasianceramics.asia.si.edu/resiurces/essay.asp?id= 218
Beavan et al. 2015. Radiocarbon, 57(1):1-17
Carter AK, Dussubieux L, Beavan N. In Press. Archaeometry
Halcrow et al. 2014.Int. J. Paleopathology 5:63-71.
Paper short abstract:
This paper explores the archaeology of an ilihan in northern Mindanao, Philippines. Ilihan translates to a ‘natural fortress’ and historical accounts often describe it in terms of its defensive properties. This study though looks at other possible uses of the site based on excavations in 2014.
Paper long abstract:
This paper explores the archaeology of an ilihan in Misamis Oriental, Mindanao, Philippines. In various Philippine languages, ili or ilihan roughly translates to a raised 'natural fortress'. Historical accounts usually describe the ilihan in terms of its defensive properties. This investigation though looks at other possible uses and human activities in a particular ilihan in the town of Initao. Ethnographic interviews and archaeological material culture gives further insights into living in this site. Excavations in 2014 yielded various animal remains, tradeware pottery, shell ornaments and lithics that provide a glimpse into such lifeways.
Paper short abstract:
Gatbuca is a small pottery community in the town of Calumpit, Bulacan, Central Luzon Island, Philippines. Using ethnoarchaeology as a research strategy, this study will show that gender is an integral component of the chaine operatoire of pottery making in Gatbuca.
Paper long abstract:
Gatbuca is a small pottery community in the town of Calumpit, Bulacan, Central Luzon Island, Philippines. There are 67 full time and active potters in the village where they make utilitarian ceramic vessels such as cooking pots, pots for melting gold, pot covers, and flower pots. Using ethnoarchaeology as a research strategy, this study will show that gender is an integral component of the chaine operatoire of pottery making in Gatbuca and that pottery making is a complex process that entails the participation of both genders. From the acquisition, procurement and preparation of raw materials (clay, river sand temper, clay slip and fuel) and to forming and firing the vessels, the gender of the doer dictates who will perform the operation sequence. This study will also demonstrate that the vessel form or type, the size of the pottery and the forming technique (such as paddle and anvil, potter's wheel, slab building technique) used in making the pottery is associated with the gender of the potter. Moreover, the study will ascertain that the gender of the teacher and the apprentice is also a factor in learning how to make pots in Gatbuca. It will show that girls formally and informally learn primarily from their mothers while boys acquire their pottery making skills primarily from their fathers.
Paper short abstract:
This paper seeks to address how cuisine and community were possibly experienced by inhabitants at four settlement sites in southern Vietnam during the Neolithic and Metal Age through technofunctional and organic residue analyses of pottery vessels to determine their use and food contents.
Paper long abstract:
Countries in Southeast Asia, such as Vietnam, Indonesia, and the Philippines, are renowned for their rich diversity of cuisines. The unique tastes and characteristic ingredients used to prepare their food make these cuisines popular throughout the world. Yet we know almost nothing about the early development and variation of these cuisines, which potentially have their origins more than 2000 years ago. In order to evaluate the development of popular contemporary cuisines across Southeast Asia, an understanding of the emergence of their ancient foodways is required. From the past to the present, many foodway activities from food acquisition to consumption are done as a community. Present-day cultural diversity and identity revolve around cuisine, which comprises the preparation and consumption of food. Some ethnographic studies have focused on how local Southeast Asian communities utilize pottery in food preparation and distribution. However, it is not clear how food items were prepared and served in conjunction with pottery that would allow for evaluating the importance of food in maintaining and promoting identity based on shared cuisine in prehistoric Southeast Asia. To address the question of how cuisine and community engagement were possibly experienced by the people living in southern Vietnam during the Neolithic and the Metal Age (3000 BC-AD 500), this study uses a combination of social theory, technofuntional analysis, and biomolecular approaches by analyzing pottery vessels from four settlement sites for technofunctional attributes and organic residues to determine their former usage and food contents.
Paper short abstract:
The pre-pottery levels of Gua Talimbue, Sulawesi produced 3.8 kg of clay oven fragments, including 1.6 kg decorated mainly with geometric motifs in the initial Holocene and linear motifs in the later Holocene. Long-term use of the ovens accounts for the effort spent on improving their appearance.
Paper long abstract:
The pre-pottery Holocene levels of the limestone cave of Gua Talimbue in Southeast Sulawesi, Indonesia produced 3.8 kilograms of baked clay fragments—the largest such collection in the world, to our knowledge. The fragments, which appear to derive from clay ovens, were found mainly in deposits characterised by rapid accumulation of sediment. This may be because the ovens were built partly above the cave-floor surface or because the occupants deliberately built up sediment to encase the ovens. More than one-third (1.6 kilograms) of the baked clay was decorated with patterns whose modal expression changed over time. The initial Holocene patterns were characterised by geometric motifs including fields of dots and translations of lunates and dashes on the ovens' rims. The later Holocene patterns were dominated by parallel and criss-crossing linear motifs associated with enhancing the appearance of the ovens' interior surface. Longevity of use of these clay ovens would account for the effort dedicated to improving their appearance with decorations, which offer a unique insight into the symbolic propensities of the pre-Neolithic inhabitants of Sulawesi.
Paper short abstract:
This paper attempts to interpret the socio-cultural and techno-economic meanings of pottery production and distribution in Banda and Tidore, two important spice trade centers in Maluku.
Paper long abstract:
Earthenware was produced and used locally in the Maluku Islands of eastern Indonesia at least since 3,500 years ago. We know little about the cultural meanings of local earthenware in this early period besides the Austronesian dispersal. However, the Malukan societies seemed to experience significant social, cultural, political, and economic changes in the 10th-16th century when the global spice trade for Malukan spices increased. Accordingly, some changes of earthenware production and distribution in two spice trade centers, Banda and Tidroe, happened and have been observed. By putting the analyzed data into the historical contexts, this paper intends to interpret the possible meanings of earthenware changes.
Paper short abstract:
Earthenware is common in Malukan sites, but few detailed studies of these assemblages exist. In this paper, I review the ceramics assemblages from three sites in the Banda Islands, Eastern Indonesia. The distribution of tempers and designs suggest differential access to long distance trade networks.
Paper long abstract:
In his 1544 voyage to Maluku, Galvao (Jacobs 1970:141) note residents "make little use of pots." Earthenware is ubiquitous in Metal Age Malukan sites, but few detailed studies of these assemblages have been presented in the literature. In this paper, I review the ceramics assemblages from three multi-component sites in the Banda Islands, Maluku Province, Indonesia. The assemblages range from Neolithic to early 20th Century. The distribution of tempers and designs suggest differential access to the long distance trade network based around the Banda Sea.
Paper short abstract:
This paper focuses on the colonial lives in the Manila area under early modern global history. By examining daily consumption in archaeological sites, especially Spanish Intramuros and Chinese Parián, this paper aims to develop a postcolonial viewpoint to rethink the colonialism in Spanish Manila.
Paper long abstract:
This paper seeks to elucidate the nature of power relationships between the Chinese, the Spaniards, and the indigenous Tagalog during the early Spanish colonial period (late 16th century to 17th century) in the Manila area by studying the archaeological evidence of consumption. The major ethnic groups of colonial Manila - the Spaniards, the indigenous Tagalog, and the Chinese - formed a specific urban landscape of the colony. The Spaniards lived in "Intramuros" (the Walled City), the Chinese were assigned to live in "Parián", and the Tagalog occupied the remaining area. Previous historical studies have constructed these three groups as parallel but distinct societies. However, such separations are problematic because they ignore the complexity of inter- and intra- group relationships within the colonial society. Following the arguments of Homi Bhabha, postcolonial theory treats colonialism as a creolization, a hybridity, or an entanglement of multi-cultures in multi-aspects. This ongoing archaeology project aims to reevaluate the power relationship in Manila through a consumption theory viewpoint. By re-contextualizing archaeological data (evidences of habitas of consumption) carefully in multiple scales, the consumptions of various materials of different groups would shed light on the agency of different categories of people under the structure of each colonial context. The preliminary analysis of excavated materials from sites in Manila area is showing that archaeology offers an alternative perspective of colonial history in Manila. This project will be an important reference with regards to interaction between the traditional oversea Chinese and Islamic networks and the incoming European networks.
Paper short abstract:
Flooding in two Philippine coastal settlements is recent and coincident to urban sprawl. Their landscapes evidence human adaptation to this socio-environmental phenomenon, and reflect negotiations between social values and place that explain declining resiliency to current extreme climate change.
Paper long abstract:
Flooding as reflected by its maritime archaeological landscapes is a natural Late Quaternary phenomenon in Luzon Island (Philippines). Geoarchaeology has recently demonstrated that late 19th century flooding in at least two archaeologically significant Luzon landscapes is associated if not brought about by urbanising settlements. Reclaimed and maintained waterways evidence this shift from a once dominantly natural landscape to a more recently dominant cultural landscape. These shifts in the late 19th century settlements of Luzon, particularly those explored in this presentation provide a picture of everyday life where people negotiate between their sense of place and their human need to develop. Perhaps these negotiations is the reason why there is a seeming lack of resilience to the current spate of flooding brought about by extreme climate change.
Paper short abstract:
This paper explores the problematic theoretical propositions within Southeast Asian archaeology with the aim of eventually elucidating a viable framework to approach the "remains of lived life" in the archaeological record of the region.
Paper long abstract:
The first half of this paper presents an overview of the theoretical landscape of SE Asian archaeology with an additional critique of the usual approaches to understanding cultural developments in the region. One of the key concerns is the non-correspondence of archaeological data with colonialist and ethnocentric theories and models. Attempts to solve the problem of non-correspondence in SE Asian archaeology is compounded by a general disciplinary concern with archaeology's uncertainty over interpretive strategies, its ambiguous identity (it is not firmly in the sciences or the humanities), and the further problems that exist with categories and concepts, archaeological reasoning and knowledge. Another issue that appears to be directly linked to one of this sessions themes of the "remains of lived life" is the notable lack of theorizing on how archaeological phenomena in SE Asia should relate to humans at the level of human agency or subjectivity. Accordingly, the second part of this paper aims to position SE Asian archaeology in dialogue with North American and British archaeology's attempt to place humans in the archaeological record using various social and anthropic theories. These are usually borrowed from the disciplines of sociology and philosophy and are popularly associated with the likes of Bourdieu and Giddens. The question will be raised as to whether they can add anything to the understanding of lived life in SE Asian archaeological record or would an 'indigenous' theoretical perspective be more beneficial, and perhaps, more ethical.