Paper short abstract:

The nomad oral tradition allow us to discover places of regrouping, forgotten history of lost people, places of exchange whith merchants and their stories, rituals and social practices tell us something about the edification of nations.

Paper long abstract:

Sea-Gypsies of the Mergui Archipelago have a millenary knowledge which could help archeologists. Anthropologists and linguists can trace their origins up to the Riau Archipelago, an original center and a mixture of social choices. Langkawi had been a second step for an assembly. The last meeting place, still active, is in Phuket, Thailand where Moken, Moklen, Urak Lawoi mixed. Thus exists local « powerful » places for nomads where they rediscover a common origin. And they are a good source of information for archeologists.

Nomads know the historical exchange places, shipwrecks, the forgotten wars, slavery. Even if it is difficult to date those events, it suffices to cross-check their oral literature with the history of the « others ». For instance Moken splitted in two groups, Moken and Moklen, the last ones being temple slaves (Nakhon Sri Thammarat). They have a lot to tell and could be infomants. Coming back on the west coast they stay in the mangrove littoral while the Moken colonized the Mergui Archipelago.

And it is not by chance if the Sea Nomads call themselves Kalah, name of Golden Peninsula, and nor it is by chance that they often live near what archeologists call "port-entrepôts". But to decode this knowledge one must know them, their language and understand the historical metaphor in order to contextualize the historical events. They represent history of the interstices.