S01 NEW DIRECTIONS IN SOUTHEAST ASIAN ARCHAEOLOGY (GENERAL SESSION)
17 June 2019, Ballroom 2, 1330-1700 hours
18 June 2019, Ballroom 2, 0830-1200 hours
Convener: Stephen Acabado
acabado@ucla.edu
Archaeological findings in the last two decades have forced the rethinking of dominant historical narratives in Southeast Asia. Since archaeology frames its investigation through materially based inquiry, the discipline is able to provide a more nuanced understanding of the dynamism of history. In this panel, we bring together a group of archaeologists whose research findings have contributed to the critiquing of dominant historical narratives and current archaeological models. Discussions focus on methodological and methodological aspects of the contemporary practice of archaeology that provide a broader treatment of archaeological processes. Papers in this panel include themes that touch on the peopling of island Southeast Asia and the Pacific, climatic fluctuations, Early Modern Period, and indigenous responses to colonialism.
Block 1: 17 June 2019, 1330-1500 hrs
Sites in the Cebuan Parian: an environmental history
John A. Peterson
University of San Carlos
japeterson@fulbrightmail.org
Archie Tiauzon
Maria Kottermair
Cebu City has been the site of notable archaeological investigations since the 1970s with considerable data on the late prehistorical to early Spanish occupancy. Findings from two recent projects, at the Jesuit House and the Casa Gorordo Annex archaeological projects, provide a firm chronostratigraphic history of this changing landscape just before, at contact, and in the early years of Spanish colonial impact. Dating results, faunal records, and a diversity of artifacts demonstrate a robust and sustainable life way that was ineradicably altered and degraded by the intrusion of foreign cultures in the Visayas. The pantaloon at the edge of the frontier settlement was the host of shoreline habitation and diverse aquatic practices including fish corrals, mollusk culture, freshwater fishing before the marsh was filled and drained for the development of the Parian district in Cebu City.
The Two-World Problem: the Language of Archaeology in Southeast Asia
Noel Hidalgo Tan
SEAMEO SPAFA
noel@seameo-spafa.org
Archaeological knowledge in Southeast Asia exists in two worlds: English and the local, Southeast Asian, languages. The dominance of English as the language of trade and science is both a post-colonial/post-war legacy as well as a convenient tool for internationalization; and the erudition of archaeology in the local languages of Southeast Asia reaches a much smaller audience which may find their perspectives and understanding of the past devalued or ignored. Most scholars are unable to traverse this gap between worlds and these linguistic differences can have profound implications on how archaeology is understood, perceived and experienced. How can some of the resultant problems of the Two-World Problem be addressed?
Decolonizing the Past, Empowering the Future: Communities and archaeology
Stephen Acabado
UCLA
noel@seameo-spafa.org
Marlon Martin
SITMo
marlon.martin12@yahoo.com
National historical narratives generally leave out local histories of groups who are in the periphery of society. This is accentuated in colonized settings where colonial powers promote the narratives of dominant cultures, which soon become national meta-narratives. In the case of the Philippines, peoples who were on the fringes of colonialism were described as remnants of the past, and thus, exotizicing their cultures. These descriptions became the basis of their identity. We argue that to empower marginalized peoples, vigorous community engagement can and will provide venues for learning and unlearning histories. In this paper, we present how recent archaeological data force the rethinking of history and subsequently empowering descendant communities to take control of their history and heritage. We take the position that simply engaging indigenous stakeholder as contributors to research is inadequate. Rather, we should strive to develop partnerships, which means that stakeholders are co-developers or co-investigators of research projects.
Ang mga Santo sa Simbahan: Religious Iconography and the Archaeology of the Present in Camarines Sur, Bicol, Philippines
Madeleine Yakal
University of California, Los Angeles
madeleineyakal@gmail.com
For over three hundred years, Spain colonized the Philippines under the domineering figures of the crown and the cross. Dominant historical narratives assert that Filipinos, like many other colonized peoples, resisted colonialism through either fighting or retreating. These simplified models often fail to acknowledge the agency of colonized peoples, and the ways in which local traditions were maintained through time. Lowland Philippine polities did gradually join the Spanish Church, but in the Bicol region, Filipinos converted to Catholicism quite rapidly and established some of the earliest Catholic churches in the archipelago. Bicolano religiosity persisted over the years, most notably through devotion to Catholic icons of saints. This use of religious iconography suggests a unique response to the Spanish presence, in which Bicolanos co-opted colonialism by using Catholic conversion, instead of resistance, to maintain their identity through religious practices. Recent archaeological excavations have confirmed that Catholic churches in Camarines Sur, Bicol, were utilized by locals both before and during Spanish occupation. I contend that local Catholic icons of saints, and the energy-intensive process of maintaining devotion to them, reflect pre-Spanish Bicol identities and practices. To explore these concepts, I propose to expand archaeological methods and look not just at the past, but also the present: By analyzing the use of physical spaces, such as the churches that are homes to these beloved icons, we can explore how abstract places of identity, culture, and tradition are created and sustained through time. These transformations across religious landscapes illustrate both the potency of ritual habit, and the complex relationships between peoples within the early modern period, that in turn contribute to decolonizing methodologies.
Southeast Asian Archaeology’s Third Wave, Subversion and the Empirical Record
Miriam Stark
University of Hawai'i at Manoa
miriams@hawaii.edu
Southeast Asian archaeology is a rather young field whose official launch began with the establishment of the Far-Eastern Prehistory Association in 1929. A small group of Euroamerican archaeologists formalized the field during the three F.E.P.A. meetings before the Second World War, and resumed activities in 1953 to establish what is now the Indo-Pacific Prehistory Association. Since 1929, Southeast Asian Archaeology has experienced several “waves” of scholars and ideas. Most 1st wave SEA archaeologists were amateurs, Indologists/Sinologists whose worldviews served European colonial regimes, or trained earth scientists. Southeast Asia’s 2nd wave of archaeologists came of age in the 1960s and fall into one of two approaches (following Trigger 1984): (1) British-trained colonialist archaeologists, most of whom brought Eurocentric frameworks to the SEA archaeological record; and (2) US-trained imperialist archaeologists whose shared conviction in SEA’s independent history was productive, but whose scientistic approach proved reductionist. Like their predecessors, they loved Southeast Asia, developed deep relationships with the region and with Southeast Asians: as colleagues, as friends, and as spouses. Southeast Asia’s 3rd wave of archaeologists, who benefited from foundational work by their predecessors, came of age in the early 1990s. This generation – our generation -- engages regularly with SEA-based archaeologists in research and publication, makes opportunities to bring SEA-based colleagues to international fora, uses cutting-edge approaches to conduct research with broad relevance, and routinely promote SEA archaeology to a global archaeological audience. Yet despite our best intentions, SEA archaeology’s face to the world remains largely western: few Southeast Asian voices and perspectives net the attention of their western counterparts, and few interpretive frameworks effectively articulate local histories with global understandings. How can we change this situation? This session’s papers challenge current models of social and historical change by privileging Southeast Asia’s archaeological record, and offer new approaches to understanding Southeast Asia’s past.
Block 2: 17 June 2019, 1530-1700 hrs
The Transition from the Middle to the Late Neolithic in the Yilan Flood Plain, Northeast Taiwan (ca. 4,200 ~2,400 BP.)~ case studies from the TTW and the WS sites | 台灣東北宜蘭平原新石器中期至晚期的轉變
Chih-hua Chiang
Department of Anthropology, National Taiwan University
chihhua@ntu.edu.tw
This paper tries to employ the “assemblage” theory to understand the transition from the so- called the “Middle” to the “Late” Neolithic period in the Yilan Plain, Northeast Taiwan (ca. 4,200~3,700 B.P.) with a specific focus on analysing the materials excavated from two sites, the Tatsuwei (abbreviated as TTW) and the Wansan sites (abbreviated as WS). The differences between the two sites can be clearly discerned from the comparisons of the settlement locations, tools associated with subsistence activities, production and use of nephrite objects, lithic and ceramic resources utilized, ornaments people used to adorn themselves, styles of daily articles they preferred, and the way they interacted with the landscapes. Previous research has attributed the cause of the variations to the environmental change. However, I propose to think of these two communities as two assemblages and treat the peoples, things, environments, ideas and practices as components. Through the analysis of these two sites, it can be argued that not only new components emerged, but also the different components had been reorganized through time. Accordingly, I argue that the TTW people were not forced to move to new places or abandon their homeland immediately. Instead, it was a long process of interactions between the environment, people and things that gradually generated new ways of conducting their daily lives, new ways of interacting with each other and new relationships with the landscapes.
Historical and Urban Archaeology in Singapore: The National Gallery of Singapore Investigation and its Implications
Lim Chen Sian
Nalanda-Sriwijaya Centre Archaeology Unit, ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute, Singapore
lim_chen_sian@iseas.edu.sg
Increasingly the archaeology of a highly urbanized city district is no longer an uncommon affair. Cities are often built upon predecessor settlements, and archaeological remains are paradoxically the consequences of development and redevelopment of a site – remnants from the unceasing cycle of demolition, rebuilding and construction. The National Gallery of Singapore was the transformation of two pre-Second World War colonial period municipal institutions into an art museum, where the redevelopment provided archaeologists the opportunity to investigate the site. While successfully mitigating the destruction of part of the archaeological record, the excavation opened up new approaches to the reporting, dissemination, exhibiting, processing and care for the finds. This paper explores the dynamics between the developers, heritage agencies, and the role of archaeology in understanding urban Singapore’s past.
Philippine origin and dispersal of Polynesian chickens indicated by mitochondrial DNA
Michael Herrera
Archaeological Studies Program, University of the Philippines
michaelcat2000@yahoo.com
The initial colonisation of the Pacific was one of the last great human migrations. It is possible to reconstruct the origin of, and routes used by, the ancestors of the Polynesians by studying the genetics of the many commensal and domestic species they transported from Asia across Oceania. However, the distribution of genetic diversity of the most diverse and ubiquitous of these animals, the chicken, remains unclear within the regions encompassing the places of origin and possible early routes of human movement. Here, we describe the phylogeography of a unique group of mitochondrial lineages belonging to haplogroup D found only in chickens from Hainan, the Philippines and Oceania. We find that the ancestor of this lineage, previously described from both ancient and modern chickens in Oceania, likely developed in the northern Philippines between 3061-6329 years ago. Our discovery of the ancestral mtDNA source of chickens represents the first genetic evidence from a domestic animal that supports the linguistic evidence for a Philippines-Oceania Austronesian expansion model.
Zebu: A possible living example of communication between South Asia, Indo-China Peninsula and Southwest China
Zining Zou
firefoxzzn130@live.com
Zebu (Bos indicus) is a species or subspecies of domestic cattle, usually characterized by fatty humps on their shoulders and large dewlaps. Their image appeared on Bronze ware of Dian Culture in the 4th century BC (Yunnan Province, Southwest China) as an important part of decorations. Unlike the central plains area of China, the style of animal theme decorations Bronze ware from Dian Culture is famous for figurative and realistic. And basic statistical analysis suggested that the people of Dian Culture tend to use the image of Zebu as decorations than any other animal. According to genetic studies (mtDNA and haplotype), Zebu originated in South Asia and probably spread from southwest China to its north, and Yunnan presumably is the earliest region to introduced Zebu in China. Moreover, in the northeast Thailand rock art of Zebu which was contemporary with Ban Chiang Culture is found, and the unique ladder-shaped stone axes from Neolithic Age of Myanmar which are similar to those found near the border of southwest China, both suggest there are possibilities of mutual communication. To date, although the time and route of introduction are not certain, Zebu still could be a possible living example of communication, at least in material, between South Asia, Indo-China Peninsula, and Southwest China.
Preliminary study of worked bones form Lujingcun Site, a late Neolithic site in Guangdong Province, South China
Chong YUSun Yat-sen University
yuchong3@mail.sysu.edu.cn
Zooarchaeological research in China has previously focused on mammal remains as in many places around the world. However, zooarchaeological study in south China is relatively very rare, let alone worked bone. This might be partly due to the lack of current research interest and acidic soil, both resulting in poor preservation and sample collection. Materials from Lujingcun site provide a good opportunity for us to have a closer look at not only the pattern of exploitation of mammal, shell and fish, but also the details of worked bones, which is the first attempt in the studied area.
Block 3: 18 June 2019, 0830-1000 hrs
Preliminary Study of Molluscs Remains at the National Gallery Site, Singapore
Michael Ng
ISEAS -Yusof Ishak Institute
michael_ng@iseas.edu.sg
Molluscs are common faunal remains at the National Gallery Site (NGS) throughout the various historic stratigraphic layers (Lim, 2017). Although, the presence of these remains represents part of the natural landscape of the coastal area near the site, they also represent human interaction with their environment. However, further research is required to determine whether the archaeological mollusc remains at NGS and other proximate sites were intentionally harvested or naturally deposited. Thus, if they were collected, where were these mollusc sources and what was the purpose of collecting them? Were they exclusively food items? What proportion did they form of the diets? What were the nutritional values? Did they use them for other functions such as ornaments or currency?
In Singapore, there have been no studies conducted to examine how people in the past interacted with their natural environment; how they made use of the natural resources - in this particular case, molluscs. Therefore, this paper will seek to address the questions above by identifying, creating a typology and examining the different types of mollusks at the site, the amount and densities of the remains. Through the study of mollusc remains from the NGS, additional perspectives can be provided to help understand particular past human activities in Singapore such as the role molluscs played in peoples’ diets, or, possible environmental fluctuations that may be a result of natural or anthropogenic causes (Renfrew and Bahn, 2015).
Reference:
Lim, Chen Sian. 2017. “Preliminary Report on Archaeological Investigations the National Gallery Singapore”. In Nalanda – Sriwijaya Centre Archaeology Unit Archaeology Report Series No 5.
Renfrew, Colin. and Bahn, Paul. 2015. Archaeology: Theories, Methods and Practice. London: Thames and Hudson.
Development of Image Analysis Software for Archeological Applications
Woo Sik Yoo
WaferMasters, Inc.
woosik.yoo@wafermasters.com
Kitaek Kang
WaferMasters, Inc., USA
kitaek.kang@wafermasters.com
Jung Gon Kim
WaferMasters, Inc., USA
junggon.kim@wafermasters.com
Yong Hwa Jung
National Institute of Maritime Cultural Heritage, Korea
A large quantity of various still and video images are generated in archeological sites and research labs for record keeping, dimensional analysis, color analysis, conservation environmental evaluation etc. Variety of image capturing devices are used in the archeological fields and labs. Besides conventional still camera and camcorders, many different types of image and video images using different sources (different wavelength ranges) such as infrared (IR), ultraviolet (UV), X-ray, Terahertz (THz), ultrasound (US) are used in practice. For metal detection, change of inductance across the scan area is mapped and saved as image files. Every image capturing devices provides its own software for image saving and very primitive analysis functions. Still images and video images are saved in many different sizes and formats. Thus, most images are still analyzed manually using a number of different image editing software.
None existence of universal software for image-based dimensional analysis, quantitative color analysis and statistical analysis prevents efficient utilization of image data in archeological studies. Due to the difficulties in image analysis and the labor-intensive nature of the task, only a very small fraction of image data is ever utilized. It is important to develop user friendly image processing software to promote efficient utilization of image data. For these reasons, it would be beneficial to develop equipment-independent and user friendly, unified image processing software which can support various digital image formats (such as BMP, JPG, PNG, GIF, TIF, DM3, MOV, MP4, AVI, WMV etc.).
In this paper, a newly developed image capturing device-independent, user friendly, unified image processing software (PicMan from WaferMasters, Inc.) is introduced, along with a few digital image examples from archaeological studies.
Bronze drums of South East Asia, a shared culture from 500 BCE up to now - Protection and Awareness urgent priorities
Jacques de Guerny
jdeguerny@live.fr
Covering all present South East Asian nations (apart Philippines, except discoveries to come), Bronze Drums were probably the first main cultural common tool to then animist people, serving either basic needs or cosmos quests. Sometimes forgotten, the present accelerated race of their discoveries by chance, buried or wrecked, attest of their numeric importance (about 3000 early pieces are already documented) as well as is revived their beauty making them “Humanity’s treasures”, to be urgently protected and studied as such at corporate levels. Needs: To be cared by Seameo Spafa (in connection with Unesco and others) and to be proposed by the author during the General Session:
PROTECTION:
Bronze Drums are nowadays looted, the majority of the discoveries are “black-marketed” abroad: specific protective regulations must be created and controlled.
AWARENESS:
1°/ Organize educative campaigns to know and respect bronze drums not sufficiently known at people levels.
2°/ Promote national bronze drums researches and studies to be hopefully published at corporate levels.
Block 4: 18 June 2019, 1030-1200 hrs
The Many Aspects of Style: The Decorated Earthenware from National Gallery Singapore Site
Aaron Kao
ISEAS - Yusof Ishak Institute
aaron_kao@iseas.edu.sg
The nature of this research serves as an expansion from the paper presented in SPAFACON 2016 (Kao 2018). In the preceding research, an earthenware stylistic pattern was identified by examining its decorations, and how they were made. Results showed that consumers in 14th century Singapore subscribed to a wide variety of iconography that not only originated from antiquity, but also extensive spatial, and material distribution throughout many parts of Southeast Asia.
However the results only represented some of the aesthetic qualities of style, and limited as such. Pottery style is multi-dimensional (Rice 2015: 388-410), and this paper hopes to explore the following avenues: 1) communicative function (visual information) 2) production technology (the way it was made) 3) traditional constraints (established practices) versus the distinct extreme of an individual potter’s choice (artistic expression?). To add nuances into the stylistic typology, macroscopic examination (via USB microscope) of the ceramic fabrics provided a more in depth characterisation of the highly varied earthenware assemblage. This process involved different aspects such as granulometry, type of inclusions, grain angularity, sorting, and proportion. Rim morphology and decorative type-variations were also documented.
Preliminary examination suggested that a common pottery type was supplemented by a unique variety of products possessing disimilar fabric traits. What could this mean? Experimental test bricks, and pottery made from highly plastic clay recovered from a nearby paleo-river bank suggested that Sungei (river) Bras Basah, adjacent to the 14th century settlement, could have been a source of raw material for local potters - its fired qualities appeared similar to the common pottery type. Results could provide clues about ancient pottery industry, and aid with future archaeological prospection.
The main objective of this research was to design a baseline for more detailed anaylsis in the future such as thin section ceramic petrography, and compositional analysis for intra-site, and inter-site comparison, and for research to move beyond artefactual description to explore issues such as contact, trade, and diffusion of people, and ideas in pre-modern Singapore, and the wider links within maritime Southeast Asia.
References:
Kao, A(2018) The Decorated Earthenware from National Art Gallery Site Singapore. In: NH Tan (ed.) Advancing Southeast Asian Archaeology 2016. Bangkok: SEAMEO SPAFA Regional Centre for Archaeology and Fine Arts, 130-144.
Rice, PM (2015) Pottery analysis (second edition). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Pattern On Chu Dau (Vietnam) And Sawankhalok (Thailand) Ceramics
Pham Ngoc Uyen
History Museum in Hochiminh City
ngocuyen109@gmail.com
Hoang Anh Tuan
History Museum in Hochiminh City
hoanganhtuan1964@gmail.com
Purpose
The report studies the relationship between the pattern of Chu Dau and Sawankhalok ceramics under the approach of culturology. Although they are influenced by Chinese ceramics, they still have unique characteristics on how to express patterns based on the foundation of indigenous culture and Southeast Asia.
Methodology
The report applies the theory of poly-system, cultural exchange and acculturation. A transcultural approach to understand cultural interference is a must in the history of development in general and in particular ceramic patterns.
Results
Cultural exchanges in general and ceramic art in particular are indispensable in the development process of the countries. Hence, it is inevitable that there will be similarities in technology and decoration of ceramics. However, on the native culture, the similarity has been modified to create ceramic separate traditions.
Conclusion
The pattern itself has a spiritual effect on its creator. It is the spiritual universe that is the symbol behind it and inside it. So when research needs to put it in the space environment. Space itself, space in architecture and more widely is the space of society that created it.
Key words: pattern, cultural exchange, influence, Chu Dau, Sawankhalok
The Paradigm of the Sacred Mountain Designs in Southeast Asian Culture | กระบวนทัศน์การออกแบบภูเขาศักดิ์สิทธิ์ในวัฒนธรรมเอเชียตะวันออกเฉียงใต้
Dr. Rasita Sin-ek-iem
Independent Scholar & Adjunct Lecturer at Thammasat University
492 Sukhumvit 65, Wattana District, Bangkok 10110, THAILAND
rasita49@hotmail.com
A study on the paradigm of sacred mountain designs in Southeast Asia culture by using history of architecture research methodology is aim for providing further understanding in a paradigm of designing sacred mountains in Southeast Asia culture and creating those knowledge as intangible cultural heritage. The hypothesis is that the belief of sacred mountains clearly appeared in Southeast Asia culture in terms of natural mountains and architectural mountains.
The result of studying on the paradigm of sacred mountain designs in Southeast Asia culture can be presented in
(1) Mount Meru, centre of Hindu and Buddhist cosmology
(2) Mount Kailasa, resident of God Shiva
(3) God worship, Animism of Mountain and the Great Nature Power
(4) Volcanoes; The Great Natural Power
(5) The City Centre Sacred Mountain, according to Vastusastra belief in Hindu and Mahathat Chedi in Buddhism
(6) Lingabhavarta
(7) Sacred Mountain in Literature
(8) Sacred Mountain in Ceremony
(9) From Mythical Sacred Mountain to its Replica
(10) Sacred Mountain, The Resident of the King on the Mountain
All of this knowledge is considered to be a collection of ecological spirituality knowledge of the geographical environment or ecology of the mountains and architectural designs as sacred mountains in Southeast Asia culture through Indian Philosophy, Indian literature; Ramayana and Mahabharta Epics, Hindu and Buddhist cosmology, Vastusastra, together with local belief, especially gods or spirits of the mountain, in order to create the sacredness of landscape or the sacred space in Southeast Asia culture.
Keywords: sacred mountain; paradigm; architectural heritage; southeast asia culture
Salt-Making and Prehistoric Shell Middens in the Straits of Melaka
Foo Shu TiengResearch Officer, Archaeology Unit, Nalanda-Sriwijaya Centre
ISEAS - Yusof Ishak Institute
stfoo82@gmail.com,stfoo@iseas.edu.sg
According to Kawashima (2012), in the 1970s, a Japanese researcher named Goto had proposed that during the Jomon period in Japan, salt production might have replaced dried shellfish as an exchange item, leading to the disappearance of large shell mounds. Did the rise in salt-making industries similarly cause a decline in the use of shell middens in the Straits of Melaka? This paper reviews the available evidence and highlights the gaps for further research.
Cited: Kawashima, Takamune. (2012). Reconsideration of the Use of Salt in the Jōmon Period. Inter Faculty 3. https://journal.hass.tsukuba.ac.jp/interfaculty/article/view/54/120
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