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- Convenors:
-
Aude Favereau
(Museum national d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris)
Alexandra De Leon (University of Illinois at Chicago)
- Location:
- Salle des Conférences bâtiment B
- Start time:
- 10 July, 2015 at
Time zone: Europe/Paris
- Session slots:
- 3
Short Abstract:
Historically, ceramic studies in Southeast Asia have tended to focus on specific regions rather than on connections between regions. This panel aims at investigating ceramics over social landscapes of varying scale, to look at connections within Mainland Southeast Asia, but also, with the Islands.
Long Abstract:
The ubiquitous pottery of Neolithic Southeast Asia and later archaeological periods reveal many aspects of social ideology and behaviour among both potters and consumers in ancient communities, from domestic uses to funerary rituals. At the same time, it can be used to infer trade and to highlight the nature of social interactions with other populations at larger inter-community and inter-regional scales. Historically, ceramic studies in Southeast Asia have tended to focus on specific regions and to emphasise a very localised scale of chronology-building, rather than investigating connections between regions and viewing ceramics as a common material medium for disseminating ideas about social valuation, power structures, and diverse forms of specialisation and exchange. In this session, we would like to invite scholars to examine ceramics and their spatial distributions over social landscapes of varying scale and to look at connections not only within Mainland Southeast Asia, but also, and in particular, with the Islands, in order to understand the relationships between both zones. The panel welcomes ceramic studies focused on disparate time periods and using diverse analytical techniques. The session also aims to gather papers in honour of Professor Wilhelm G. Solheim II, who pioneered expansive studies of archaeological ceramics in Mainland and Island Southeast Asia.
Accepted papers:
Session 1Paper short abstract:
Pottery assemblage from Liang Abu rock shelter (East Kalimantan, Indonesia) gives new data regarding the huge and yet poorly documented Indonesian part of Borneo Island. Based on this material, the stratigraphy will be discussed and the pottery integrated into ISEA Metal Age framework
Paper long abstract:
Since 2003, a French-Indonesian archaeological research project, coordinated by the National Center for Archaeology (Indonesia) and the University of Toulouse (France), has been developed in the karstic region of East Kalimantan (Indonesia) to investigate human occupation processes during prehistory. Within the context of debates about the population history of Island South-East Asia (ISEA) authors dealing with Neolithic or Metal Age periods usually mention this region as part of models of the diffusion of cultural complex from Taiwan and the Philippines and the Malay Peninsula. Actually, these assertions mostly rely on data from sites located in the Malaysian part of Borneo Island. More than half of its territory, the Kalimantan region, remains poorly documented and understood. Maps published in archaeological papers usually show nothing than a void for Kalimantan.
Such discussions lead us to expect that archaeological investigation of Kalimantan will provide new data that may lead to the reappraisal of the role of this region during Holocene prehistory and the associated cultural and population diffusion processes. Archaeological research in the Liang Abu rock shelter led to the discovery and analysis of a pottery assemblage including red-slipped, cord-marked and incised pottery sherds, radiocarbon dated to 1672±21 BP and 1524±22 BP.
The environmental settings in tropical karstic caves raise difficult taphonomical issues: we discuss the Liang Abu stratigraphy from insights given by the pottery materials. We also undertake a reappraisal of available data regarding on Borneo Island in order to integrate our findings in the ISEA Metal Age framework.
Paper short abstract:
This paper aims to explore the various forms of circulation of the so-called “Sa Huynh-Kalanay” type of pottery and to define whether they involved the movement of people, craftsmen, and/or artefacts, from 500 BC to AD 200.
Paper long abstract:
From 500 BC to AD 200, various archaeological artefacts, exchanged or imitated, provide evidence of multiple contacts in the South China Sea. Interactions in relation to ceramics are attested through significant similarities, which allow comparisons between the different communities in the South China Sea. This paper aims to explore the various forms of circulation of the so-called "Sa Huynh-Kalanay" type of pottery and to define whether they involved the movement of people, craftsmen, and/or artefacts. For this, a technological approach based on the anthropology of techniques is used to reconstruct the chaîne opératoire and thus characterize "traditions," or "ways of doing". The analysis is conducted at local and regional scales first (Thai-Malay peninsula), then at interregional scale (Vietnam and the Philippines). Comparison of the data reveals the possibility of assessing the technical and/or stylistic transfers between the different regions over time and space, aiding reconstruction of exchange routes that shaped the socio-political landscape of late prehistoric communities in the South China Sea.
Paper short abstract:
A particular indianized ceramic shape, the lid-lamp with central gripping hole found on coastal sites of early first millenium AD reflects a large distribution of pan-indianized patterns among local societies connected by long-distant sea trade.
Paper long abstract:
Current knowledge on material culture from the first indianized States of Southeast Asia has made remarkable progress since the mid-1990s. However the chrono-typology of ceramic remains unclear. On coastal sites of the first centuries AD, if the imported Indian wares are better known, it should be measured with the predominant local productions (sometimes Indianized) whose study is often neglected.
Ceramics corpus yielded from excavations inform us about the origin, modalities and periodicity of deep-sea trade with the Indian sub-continent. Some typo-morphological characteristics and indianized techniques constitute evidence of installing Indian merchant populations, which gradually blend in the indigenous background. Cosmopolitan Funan has known at an early date the introduction of Indian pottery techniques (potter's wheel, fine paste, firing in a controlled atmosphere). Its tangible culture reflects strong cultural exogenous influences and ceramic shapes such as the kendi and the lid-lamp with a central gripping hole are common on pre-Angkorian sites of the Mekong Delta. Outside of Funan, similar ceramic types were found on sites on the south coast of the Arabian Peninsula and the Horn of Africa, which refer to Indian assemblages.
The communication will focus on this type of lid-lamp. This particular shape reflects a coastal distribution over a large geographic area, of a pan-Indianized pattern between the second century BC and the third century AD, which could be marker of a precise region of Indian influence. Although still preliminary, the results of a comparative study of material from recent excavations in the different areas mentioned will be presented.
Paper short abstract:
Archaeology of Vietnam has demonstrated that since the first centuries AD, Oc Eo residents (Southern Vietnam) had relationship with the Roman traders; many artifacts bearing Han style (Chinese) were present in the Sa Huynh culture (Central Vietnam) and large areas on the islands of Southeast Asia.
Paper long abstract:
The archaeological evidences of Truong Sa and Islam ceramic pieces at Cu Lao Cham Island (Hoi An, Quang Nam) in 1991 showed that from the 9th century, Vietnamese ceramics were present in the international ceramics trade exchange market. Along with the rapid development of ceramics production industry from the 14th century, Vietnam has rapidly become the ceramics exporting country in market context along with China. The participation in international trade flows on the sea has created new page and further confirmed the position of Vietnam in the Asian region.
The abundant growing quantity of Vietnamese ceramics discovered in the shipwreck relics such as Rang Kwian (Thailand), Hoi An (Vietnam), Pandanan (Philippines) tells us that the 14th century was prologue period, the 15th century was the peak period and the 17th century was the heyday of the Asian trade system. Despite of the late presence, Vietnamese ceramics made important and active contributions in international trading activities, especially for South East Asia market.
Through archaeological evidences, combined with written data sources, the article focuses its study on the position of Vietnam in the system of international maritime trade in the medieval period. It simultaneously refers to the role of Vietnam in the ceramics road on the sea in the 14th -17th centuries. In the international context of ceramics trade exchange on the sea, the longstanding relationship of cultural exchange between Vietnam and other countries in the region now has more favorable conditions and new developments.
Key words: Vietnamese ceramics, maritime trade, market, international.
Paper short abstract:
This paper will focus on the consumption of ceramics and the ceramic trade network between Cambodia and overseas after Angkor period. By considering the unearthed ceramics found from royal capital Longvek-Udong area, reconstruct the some aspects of society and trade network after Angkor.
Paper long abstract:
The purpose of this paper is to reconstruct the consumption of ceramics and the ceramic trade between Cambodia and overseas after Angkor period to Colonial period. This study has two perspectives: one is the study on the domestic and internal society and the other is the study about the international trade network after Angkor period.
Based on the result of the 10-years archaeological research project by Nara National Research Institute for Cultural Properties, Japan and Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts, Cambodia, investigate the consumption and distribution of ceramics in the royal capital Longvek-Udong area especially Wat Beng Khnar and Ponhea Leu.
Wat Beng Khnar is the modern Theravada Buddhist Temple where the ritual deposit was excavated from underneath of the main vihara. The artifacts from the ritual deposit includes nearly 100 ceramics in complete shape with other artifacts: bronze, silver, iron, glass and more than 1500 bronze coins. The ceramics are mainly Chinese and Japanese wares. Ponhea Leu is said to be the site of foreign settlement during post-Angkor period. The unearthed ceramics from Ponhea Leu show the wide variety of imported ceramics: Chinese, Japanese, Vietnamese and European wares.
By analyzing the assemblage of these artifacts, I will mention the consumption and distribution of ceramics in the royal capital area after Angkor period. Finally, this paper approaches the ceramic trade network by Cambodia and overseas.
Paper short abstract:
There are no clear indicators for directional influence in the early pottery assemblages of Island Southeast Asia and the Marianas. Focusing our attention primarily on assemblages in the Northern Philippines and the Marianas, we revisit Solheim’s ideas regarding social complexity and connectedness.
Paper long abstract:
In the 1950s, Wilheim G. Solheim II developed seminal ideas about the interrelatedness of pottery sites in Island Southeast Asia (ISEA) through the detailed analysis of pottery assemblages in the Philippines and Vietnam. We examine the broad affinities of early pottery types found throughout ISEA and its links to the Marianas. We demonstrate that contrary to recent arguments, there is no clear evidence for a directional influence from the Northern Philippines to the Marianas in the dating results, nor is there any clear evidence for directional influence in pottery characteristics. From around 3500BP pottery is abruptly introduced across a broad swathe of ISEA and the Pacific. The significance of early dates in the Marianas lies not in ancestral relationships and directional dispersal, but is the fact that the large ocean distances necessary to reach the Marianas speak to the possibility of contact and social relationships not hitherto considered in relation to this time. If peoples had ocean going technology capable of reaching the Marianas, there is no a priori reason to assume that within ISEA they would have dispersed only via sequential, short-range steps: We need to question the very assumption of directionality. Rather, the pottery speaks to broadly defined relationships across ISEA and the Marianas stemming from a common influence, which is interpreted very differently in individual pottery sites and regions. The underlying social and cultural mechanisms remain to be elucidated, but the ideas that underlie Solheim's concept of the Nusantao may be worth revisiting in light of this analysis.
Paper short abstract:
This paper presents a proposed research plan to utilize mortuary remains, examine similarities and variation in burial styles, pottery composition, trade goods and mortuary landscape features to investigate social formations and social relations of Metal Age societies in Island Southeast Asia.
Paper long abstract:
The practice of burying the dead in urns is widespread in Island Southeast Asia beginning around the early first millennium BC until the mid- to late-first millennium AD. For example, several jar burial sites are found across the islands of Taiwan, Borneo, Indonesia, Philippines and Vietnam. While there are several site-specific studies of mortuary finds from individual sites, there are very few empirical investigations of the communities that performed these intriguing mortuary practice, their social structures, and the relationships between these prehistoric island communities. This paper presents a proposed multi-scalar research plan to utilize mortuary remains and examine similarities and variation in mortuary styles, pottery composition, trade goods and mortuary landscape features to investigate how Metal Age societies may have structured social relations. It presents preliminary findings of micro-regional analysis of jar burial remains from the Bacong Region of central Philippines that will be expanded to include jar burial sites from the greater Philippine macro-region. The research findings query the notion that late prehistoric island societies were necessarily simplified hierarchical and politically centralizing antecedents to the more complex societies of the Early Historic period.
Paper short abstract:
Paper long abstract:
Indonesia is a haven for ocean shipping in the heyday of trade between regions in Central and East Asia, Indonesia's presence in the region between the two favorite track making maritime trade since the early centuries AD even until now. Evidence of past glories cruise shown with its many shipwrecks rest in the waters of Indonesia, among others, Intan Shipwreck, Batu Hitam Shipwreck, Pulau Buaya Shipwreck, until the last one was found in the sea off the Cirebon coast in 2005. A variety of commodities had been found and removed from the sunken ships and the most common commodities and favorite are the ceramics from China. This paper will discuss a variety of Chinese ceramics from the Shipwrecks, especially those found on Cirebon shipwreck (late 9th to the 10th century) and other shipwrecks from the same period. The aim is to see the relationship between the form and variations of ceramic findings as a ship cargo, and their distribution and presence in archaeological sites on the Island of Sumatra, as well as its relevance to people's behavior and environmental conditions at the site in the heyday of the sea trade in the late 9-10 AD (Srivijaya period).
Paper short abstract:
This research aims to discuss regional ceramic industries of the Red River from the 14th to 16th centuries. It explores further Southeast cross-border linkage along the Red River with the ceramic production of northern Vietnam.
Paper long abstract:
This research aims to discuss regional ceramic industries of the Red River from the 14th to 16th centuries. Basing on the author's previous study on the development of Chinese Yunnan blue-and-white, this project explores further Southeast cross-border linkage along the Red River with the ceramic production of northern Vietnam. I will critically review the most updated archaeological evidences of production of Yunnan ceramic and Vietnamese ceramics.
The relationship between Chinese Yunnan and Vietnamese blue-and-white wares will be explored as they shared many similar features on style, manufacture technology and materials. The discussion will be based on the studies of approximate chronological order on both sides. This is to provide another perspective of regional ceramic development in addition to the only mainstream effects of Chinese Jiangxi Jingdezhen blue-and-white porcelain in the past studies. A regional ceramic production of the Red River will be taken into account as the main production centers in both cases are located in the Red River.
Paper short abstract:
Bang Kong Kiln was the early kiln site near Roluos in Angkor, Cambodia. This paper aims to discuss the cultural formation processes, product characteristics of Bang Kong Kiln and its connection with China (if any).
Paper long abstract:
Since the Khmer ceramic industries has been considered as the earliest production centre in Southeast Asia during the pre-modern period, in particular glazed ceramics, several archaeological excavations on Khmer ceramic production centres have been conducted from 1990s to 2010s, such as Phnom Kulen, Tani, Sarsey, Khnar Po, Bang Kong, Torp Chey, Chong Samrong and Cheung Ek. The archaeological reports and research papers have been disseminated or published, and ceramic studies between the cross-cultural exchange of Southeast Asia and China has become a hot topic among the researchers. Bang Kong Kiln was the early kiln site near Roluos in Angkor, Cambodia. In Roluos, the early temple Prei Monti were excavated Chinese Changsha ware dated from the ninth century by École française d'Extrême-Orient. It provided an important archaeological evidence for us to discuss whether Bang Kong Kiln production has any connection with China. This paper will discuss the following questions based on the new archaeological data on this important kiln site: First, what were the cultural formation processes of Bang Kong Kiln, from raw material acquisition, kiln building, ceramic manufacture and use and discard of the kiln and wasters? Second, what are the differences and similarities between the Khmer ceramic stylistic variations, ceramic production sequence and kiln technology of Bang Kong Kiln and other Khmer kilns during the Angkorian period? Finally, were any Chinese elements adopted by Bang Kong Kiln craftsmen?