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- Convenors:
-
Francis Allard
(Indiana University of Pennsylvania)
Aude Favereau (Museum national d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris)
- Location:
- Salle du Lesc F308 MAE
- Start time:
- 8 July, 2015 at
Time zone: Europe/Paris
- Session slots:
- 3
Short Abstract:
The wide distribution of China-related artefacts dating from c. 500 BC to 500 AD unearthed at sites in Southeast Asia has highlighted the existence of long-distance contact between China and Southeast Asia. This panel aims at understanding the networks and populations involved in this interaction.
Long Abstract:
This panel aims to generate a deeper understanding of the economic and cultural relations which linked China and Southeast Asia between the mid-1st millennium BC and mid-1st millennium AD, a period that witnessed the development of the so-called maritime Silk Route and the emergence of state societies and urbanism in Southeast Asia. Although there is evidence of contact between the two regions prior to this period, interaction had intensified by the middle of the first millennium BC, with goods, styles and ideas originating in China making their way to mainland – and, as is increasingly evident, island – Southeast Asia. Regardless of how Chinese goods reached local communities – whether through direct trade, the establishment of Chinese communities, or indirectly -, the recovery of ceramics, metal artefacts, glass, architectural objects and seals at Southeast Asian sites encourages us to consider the extent to which these goods may have played a role in local pathways of cultural development. Interestingly, although Chinese texts mention the importation of a number of exotic products from the southern seas, comparatively few goods and cultural traits of southern origin have been found in China. The archaeological study of contact between China and Southeast Asia during this period has been hampered by a dearth of relevant published data and scholarly interaction among archaeologists working in these many adjoining nations. This panel aims to bring together scholars familiar with the archaeology of relevant regions and able to contribute to the topic at hand through their identification and discussion of some of the many elements which moved along these routes and networks of interaction. The individual studies can approach the topic from a local or broader regional scale, and focus on any of a range of elements shared through contact (technology, style, function, people, or the artefacts themselves).
Accepted papers:
Session 1Pierre Baptiste (Musée Guimet)
Paper short abstract:
The aim of this paper is to dismantle the nationalist vision which prevailed in the study of the bronze drums unearthed in North Vietnam or South China and to try to link their iconography to specific traditions.
Paper long abstract:
Since their discovery and study in late 19th century, the bronze drums unearthed in North Vietnam or South China have been studied from different points of view, many of which linked to a nationalist vision. While Vietnamese archaeologists and historians consider these objects as the parangon of the pre-Chinese Dong Son culture, Chinese specialists tend to locate their birth and rise in nowadays Yunnan province. In the last 50 years, many books and studies, published on either sides of the border, developed many convincing ways of arguing in this matter. A close study of the decoration of some of the most ancient examples, bearing depictions of human beings, architectures, musical instruments and ritualistic scenes helps to understand their relationship not only with Southeast Asian culture - as it was convincingly done long time ago by Victor Goloubew or Louis Bezacier - but also with some aspects of original and ancient Chinese iconography.
Mariko Yamagata (Kanazawa University)
Paper short abstract:
This paper focuses on Han-related artifacts unearthed in central and southern Vietnam, assigned to the period from the Iron Age to the emergence of early state societies. Reviewing the date, distribution and diversity of these artifacts, the socio-political significance of Han influence is examined.
Paper long abstract:
This paper focuses on Han-related artifacts unearthed at several archaeological sites in central and southern Vietnam, assigned to the period from the Iron Age to the emergence of early state societies. After 111 BC when northern Vietnam, the homeland of the Dong Son culture had been annexed to Western Han, the cultural influence of Han gradually spread southwards. The large-scale uprising led by the Trung sisters that took place in AD 40, suppressed by a prominent Eastern Han general of Ma Yuan, seriously impacted upon the society of the Dong Son culture, and inevitably that of the Sa Huynh culture located further south. Both these cultures had declined by the end of the 1st century AD, and the early polities such as Linyi and Funan developed through the 2nd and the 3rd centuries. Although both are well-known as "Indianized" states, the Han influence seems to have been crucial, especially in Linyi before the Indian influence became outstanding.
The diverse range of Han-related artifacts associated with Iron Age burials includes bronze mirrors, coins and iron instruments, and that found in walled citadels of Linyi includes Han style stamped ware and roof tiles. In this paper, these artifacts are reorganized chronologically, and the distribution of artifacts is reviewed based on the chronological framework. Then, aiming to clarify the socio-political significance of Han-related materials, the process of assimilation and localization of Han influence is examined, taking into account the interaction between the local society and the population moved from the north.
Brigitte Borell
Paper short abstract:
The paper attempts to provide new insights about the mutual exchange along the maritime routes between Southeast Asia and China focusing on a few selected types of artefacts from the Han period (206 BCE – 220 CE) and from the Eastern Jin period (317 – 420 CE).
Paper long abstract:
When evaluating the finds of certain artefacts to demonstrate contacts it is important to keep in mind the fragmentary character and general limitations of archaeological evidence. The artefacts of non-perishable materials found in archaeological excavations offer just a glimpse into the world of tangible goods that were exchanged since they represent just a small section of them. The paper presents selected types of artefacts that travelled along the maritime routes between Southeast Asia and China. It attempts to contextualise them in order to gain some new insights into this mutual exchange. Discussion will focus on some objects found in Vietnam and in southern Thailand in the Isthmus of Kra region dating from the Han period (206 BCE - 220 CE) and some objects found in tombs in Jiangsu Province, China, dating from the Eastern Jin period (317 - 420 CE).
Michele Demandt (Sun Yat-sen University)
Paper short abstract:
This paper will address the southern road construction projects of the Qin and Han Dynasties as described in the Chinese historical chronicles, and how these correlate with archaeological finds of trade goods, cemeteries, urban sites and workshops in the Lingnan region in southern China and North Vietnam.
Paper long abstract:
Starting from 500 BC and continuing during the Qin and Han dynasties more intense contacts between North Vietnam and Central China can be observed through an increase of Central Plains' bronzes and ceramics, as well as the adoption of Chinese cultural and technological ideas. These interactions were facilitated by the construction of new road networks running through the Lingnan region, comprising of Guangxi and Guangdong Province in Southern China, into Bac Bo or North Vietnam. Despite the critical role of "the Lingnan - Bac Bo region" in early interregional contacts between China and Southeast Asia, it has been greatly neglected in archaeological research. This paper attempts to fill some of these blanks by discussing the extensive road networks, and especially the "New Lingnan Roads", which were initiated by Qin Shi Huang, and further developed by the rulers of the Han dynasty. In addition it will consider how these road networks correlate with the archaeological reality of trade goods, cemeteries, workshops and urban sites found in the Lingnan - Bac Bo region. Through the combined study of historical and archaeological materials the trade and communication channels between China and Southeast Asia can be recreated, and light can be thrown on how transported goods and ideas were affected and "filtered" by regional processes as well as the sinicization policies of the Qin and Han Dynasties.
Weiyan Wei
Paper short abstract:
This paper examines the bronze thaps (bucket-shaped bronze vessels) unearthed in Bac Bo and Lingnan regions during the Qing and Han Dynasties (221BC-220AD), and investigates their ceremonial exchange and specific uses.
Paper long abstract:
This paper examines the bronze thaps (bucket-shaped bronze vessels) unearthed in Bac Bo and Lingnan regions. The bronze thaps were mainly distributed along the waterways of Red River, Ma River, Ca River, Pearl River and their tributaries. The elaborate decoration and the same deposition context as bronze drums indicated that the bronze thap was one kind of high prestige items. The use of bronze thaps probably indicates emulation and competition in the emergence of local elites. The sufficient evidence suggested that the bronze thaps were used as exquisite coffins or valuable mortuary objects by Dong Son communities in Bac Bo region, while they were only treated as exotic and precious burial goods by the King of Southern Yue (Nanyue 南越) and his supporters in lingnan region. Based on analysis of function and style it's suggested that the bronze thaps in Lingnan region were probably of Bac Bo origin. With goods movement the idea of use of thaps within funerary sphere flowed soon in large scale throughout Lingnan region. It's supposed that the bronze thaps were copied by ceramics, added to local funerary pottery assemblages, and used by both elites and commoners in Lingnan region. The differences of use and treatment of bronze thaps may due to diverse local traditions between Bac Bo and Lingnan regions. Such discussions not only yield information about early exchange in regional scale, but also provide some insights into the interaction between Dong Son communities and the kingdom of Southern Yue.
Kanji Tawara (Nagasaki International University)
Paper short abstract:
This paper re-examines that the classification and chronology to specimens of later half of Heger I type bronze drums in East and Southeast Asia.
Paper long abstract:
Han tombs of Jiaozhi and Jiuzhen Provinces bear some specific characteristics, if compared to those found in south China.While the distribution of Han tombs could represent the Han political border, it looks consistent with the distribution of bronze drums of the indigenous Dong Son Culture. This paper re-examines that the classification and chronology to specimens of later half of Heger I type bronze drums in East and Southeast Asia. Result of the analysis is summarized below:
Period I: Type II-1a (including group I), the late 3rd century B.C. to the early 2nd century B.C.; Period II: Type II-1b, II-2a (including type II-1a, II-2b), the early to the late 2nd century B.C.; Period III: Type II-1c, III-1 types (including II-2b, II-1b), the 1st century B.C. to the early 1st century A.D.; Period IV: Type III-2a, the late 1st century A.D. to the 3rd century A.D.; Period V: Type III-2b, III-2c, after the 3rd -4th centuries A.D.
Francis Allard (Indiana University of Pennsylvania)
Paper short abstract:
The talk reviews the evidence for goods and ideas of southeast Asian or western origins in the 2nd century BCE kingdom of Nanyue in southeast China. I t also argues for the limited impact in Nanyue society of such exotic goods and ideas, which likely traveled along the ‘Southern Maritime Route’.
Paper long abstract:
This presentation focuses on the Nanyue Kingdom, a second century BCE polity centered in Lingnan in southeast China (present-day provinces of Guangdong and Guangxi). Evidence recovered from Nanyue tombs represents the earliest clear indication in southeast China of contact with southeast Asia and regions further west along what has been called the 'Southern Maritime Route'. Such evidence consists of objects and materials found in the tomb of Zhao Mo (the second king of Nanyue), as well as a few elite tombs in the Guangzhou area and in Guangxi: frankincense, antelope and elephant tusks, ceramic copies of rhinoceros horns and elephant tusks, gold buttons and other small objects made of various materials (agate, amber, glass, gold). Two other well-known objects - a jade rhyton and a silver 'box' - display stylistic similarities with west Asian or Aegean forms, although the routes of transmission (and transformation) are in this case less clear. Of particular interest are a number of intriguing architectural elements at the Nanyue Palace, which some have identified as building techniques with western origins. This presentation reviews the textual and archaeological evidence for contact between the Nanyue kingdom and southern and western regions. It also argues that in contrast to what the visual impact of these exotic elements may at first suggest, their restricted spatial and social distribution point instead to a limited impact on Nanyue society.