Southeast Asian Archaeology

Multidisciplinary evidence indicates that the Austroasiatic (AA) language family is the earliest known language in Mainland Southeast Asia (MSEA), dating back to the Neolithic. Yet, the genomic formation and structure of MSEA AA groups remain understudied. Here, we generate genome-wide data for seven AA-speaking and two Sino-Tibetan-speaking populations from Thailand/Laos/ Myanmar, which together with published data comprises the largest AA genome-wide dataset to date. We find substantial genetic heterogeneity across both geographic regions and linguistic branches, with the greatest observed in Northern Mon-Khmer highland groups. Analyses with ancient DNA data indicate that northern AA groups exhibit higher East Asian ancestry linking to Iron Age northern Thailand/Cambodia, whereas southern AA groups display additional South Asian ancestry and affinities with Neolithic Laos/Vietnam. Notably, the South Asian-related ancestry is detectable in Neolithic MSEA. Overall, both isolation and contact have together shaped the pronounced genetic heterogeneity observed across linguistic branches of MSEA AA groups.

Identification of the origins of maritime-traded porcelain, though key to unravelling ancient production and trade dynamics, remains challenging. The authors present a pioneering micro-provenance analysis of Dehua-style porcelain from the late-twelfthcentury Nanhai I shipwreck, recovered from the South China Sea. By pinpointing the origins of porcelain subtypes, including those bearing ink inscriptions, this study provides greater nuance in understanding spatial patterns of production and the impact of buyer/seller choice in maritime trade. The findings further highlight the effectiveness of portable x-ray fluorescence as a high-precision provenancing analysis and offer insights into porcelain production timelines in southeast China.

Drawing on recent archaeological and historical research, this book presents the fascinating developments in the archaeology of prehistoric societies of mainland Southeast Asia. Empires of the Southern Ocean offers a sweeping and authoritative account of the emergence, expansion, and transformation of early state-level societies across the regions that today encompass Myanmar, Malaysia, Indonesia, Cambodia, Thailand, and Vietnam. Spanning from the late prehistoric period to the mid-15th century, the book traces the dynamic rise of polities that shaped Southeast Asia's early urban and political landscapes, including the Pyu and Pagan in Myanmar; the entrepôt settlements of peninsular Malaysia; Srivijaya, Sanjaya, and Majapahit in Indonesia; Funan, Chenla, and Angkor in Cambodia; Dvaravati in Thailand; and Linyi, Champa, and Ðai Viet in Vietnam. Drawing on the most current archaeological, epigraphic, and paleoenvironmental research, the book challenges outdated, India-centric narratives and instead presents a nuanced understanding of Southeast Asia's indigenous political developments, cross-cultural exchanges, and technological innovations. It highlights the region’s participation in long-distance trade networks across the Indian Ocean and South China Sea, and examines the role of religion, writing systems, and monumental architecture in legitimizing early power structures. The volume includes a chapter on models of political development theory, critically examining how concepts such as heterarchy, segmentary states, and mandala systems apply—or fail to apply—to the Southeast Asian context. This theoretical grounding informs the subsequent case studies, offering readers a framework for understanding the diverse pathways to complexity taken by early Southeast Asian polities. Combining detailed regional studies with broader comparative insights, Empires of the Southern Ocean is essential reading for anyone interested in the complex trajectories of early state formation in Southeast Asia and the interconnected histories of the ancient world.

Sumatra has long been recognized as a pivotal crossroads for trade in the Indian Ocean, with evidence of this activity dating back to the late first millennium when the Srivijaya regional polity emerged. The predominant hypothesis regarding this trade is that upland areas supplied forest products to lowland centers, which functioned as international trading marketplaces. These marketplaces received imported materials, some of which were exchanged with upland groups. However, evidence of this trade is still poorly supported by archaeological materials. This paper presents the first comprehensive study of glass beads from Sumatra via laser ablation-inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS) to determine the elemental compositions of the beads. The study encompasses a wide range of sites from upland and lowland areas and various temporal periods, extending from prehistoric to early historic times in Southern Sumatra, Jambi, and South Sumatra Province. The study provides not only improved chronologies, but also data on upland–lowland exchanges that definitively show the upland megalithic sites are not prehistoric, but rather contemporary with Srivijaya. Furthermore, it provides data on the pre-Srivijayan port-settlements and the regional networks in which they were involved, thanks to the presence of certain types of glass, including Mediterranean glass.

Skeletal remains from mummies of the Egyptian Collection of the National Museum of Brazil, damaged by fire in 2018, were analysed by vibrational spectroscopy (infra-red, Raman and inelastic neutron scattering). Four different mummies were probed, including one from the Roman period which was one among eight worldwide. The present data delivered the burning conditions to which the mummies were subjected and allowed us to determine the extent of the heat-induced effects and the way they
were impacted by the mummification process. Some of the mummies were found to have been subjected to different temperatures, depending on the location of the bone fragment in the skeleton. Several contaminants were identified; both compounds used during mummification (including salts and pigments) and construction materials from the building collapse. The results enabled us to characterise the mummified skeletal remains recovered after the fire and are expected to help establish the most suitable preservation methods.

The Myanmar (Burmese) ethical ideal of the "Five Benefactors" the Buddha, the Dhamma (Teaching), the Sangha (Monastic Community), Parents, and Teachers has been imagined, materialized, and sustained through Buddhist art from the Pagan/Bagan era (11th-13th centuries) to the present. While Burmese Buddhist devotion is often described through the triad of the Triple Gem (Buddha, Dhamma, Sangha), the expanded constellation that includes Parents and Teachers anchors religious aspiration to everyday relational ethics and social reproduction. I argue that Myanmar Buddhist art across architecture, sculpture, mural painting, manuscripts, ritual objects, and epigraphy functions as a visual pedagogy that renders gratitude (katannū), reciprocity (patiññā), and meritmaking (dāna) not only intelligible but habitual. Through close reading of representative works and settings, Bagan murals and donor portraits, Shwedagon's layered iconography, Kuthodaw's "stone Tipiṭaka," parabaik (folding manuscripts), and modern votive objects, the article shows how the Five Benefactors operate as an aesthetic grammar: they order space, cue ritual behaviors, and align lay household virtues with monastic ideals. This grammar connects big efforts like monarchy, communal patronage, and nation-building to small acts of giving and learning.

[EN] - ENGLISH:
Selamat Mimpi! Here it comes, the long-promised book of dreams as a supplementary of our studies on the loin looms of Flores and the surrounding islands in eastern Indonesia. The most important tools that are necessary for the preparation, warping, tying the patterns and setting up the warp for Ikat are presented here. T-reels (for warping the warp), the Ikat frame (for tying the patterns), the tensioning frame (for controlling and setting up the warp) and also an alternative method to set-up the warp on a temporarily externally-tensioned loin loom are presented, including a stretching frame (for stretching the warp). Smaller alternatives to the tension frame aren‘t listed in this sketch book.

A variety of drawings illustrate in short strokes the necessary steps to prepare an Ikat textile. The drawings are described in Indonesian and English and extended by a few photos by Sabine Wunderlin & Willemijn de Jong, which show Mama Ango preparing an Ikat warp and weaving on her traditional loin loom on Flores.

The sketch-book is dedicated to Mama Ango in Nggela in the Ende-region of Central Flores in eastern Indonesia, who guided us through the dream. But also a heartfelt thank you to all the other weavers on Flores.

!!!!ATTENTION: The download-file was slightly corrupted, again. two pages were missing the English textphrase and a drawing.  Now it seems fine, but please check it! We apologize for these complications.
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[ID] - BAHASA INDONESIA:
Selamat Mimpi! Inilah dia, buku mimpi yang telah lama dijanjikan sebagai pelengkap studi kita tentang alat tenun pinggang di Flores dan pulau-pulau sekitarnya di Indonesia bagian timur.

Alat-alat terpenting yang diperlukan untuk persiapan, pemasangan lungsin, pengikatan pola, dan pengaturan lungsin untuk tenun Ikat disajikan di sini. T-reel/T ganda (untuk memasang lungsin), bingkai Ikat (untuk mengikat pola), bingkai penegang (untuk mengontrol dan mengatur lungsin), dan juga metode alternatif untuk mengatur lungsin pada alat tenun pinggang yang sementara ditegangkan secara eksternal disajikan, termasuk bingkai peregang (untuk meregangkan lungsin). Alternatif yang lebih kecil untuk bingkai penegang tidak tercantum dalam buku sketsa ini.

Berbagai gambar mengilustrasikan secara singkat langkah-langkah yang diperlukan untuk mempersiapkan tekstil Ikat. Gambar-gambar tersebut dijelaskan dalam bahasa Indonesia dan Inggris dan dilengkapi dengan beberapa foto karya Sabine Wunderlin & Willemijn de Jong, yang menunjukkan Mama Ango sedang mempersiapkan lungsin Ikat dan menenun di alat tenun pinggang tradisionalnya di Flores.

Buku sketsa ini didedikasikan untuk Mama Ango di desa Nggela, kabupaten Ende, Flores Tengah, Indonesia bagian timur, yang telah membimbing kami dalam mewujudkan mimpi ini. Namun juga ucapan terima kasih yang tulus kepada semua penenun lainnya di Flores.

!!!!PERHATIAN: File unduhan sedikit rusak lagi. Dua halaman kehilangan teks bahasa Inggris dan sebuah gambar. Sekarang tampaknya sudah baik, tetapi mohon periksa kembali! Kami mohon maaf atas ketidaknyamanan ini.

This article explores the logic of “fast merit” within the ruling military command structure in contemporary Myanmar: the belief that karmic debt accrued through the perpetration of abuses by the state can be ritually overwritten by Theravāda Buddhist merit-making. Military leaders have for generations gambled on a political theology combining Theravāda Buddhism with political paranoia and Burmese supernaturalism. It is both a belief system and political ideology that runs on a transactional metaphysical economy wherein spectacular acts of merit serve to karmically counterbalance the military’s use of coercion, state violence, and even mass atrocity against the Burmese people. This militarised Buddhism is part of the military’s broader strategy to employ sacred heritage to legitimate claims to power while suspending Burmese society in pliable political
uncertainty. Agnes Horvath’s interpretation of the Gnostic fool reveals such ideological
overproduction as sacred theatre meant to conjure political and moral coherence amid a void of any real meaning. Four case studies illustrate the cosmic gamble at the core of the belief system: that the karmic universe may be fooled into acquiescence.

This paper highlights the lost civilizations and sacred sites that reflect Myanmar's rich history and culture. It has been the site of numerous archaeological discoveries that have contributed significantly to understanding its past civilizations. Myanmar is famous for its ancient pagodas, temples, cities, and sacred sites. Myanmar's archaeological heritage is critical to Southeast Asia's cultural landscape. These discoveries shed light on the ancient civilizations that once flourished, serving as a foundation for preserving the region's cultural heritage. The intersection of sacred sites and lost civilizations in Myanmar has shaped its identity, informed its present, and influenced the future trajectory of cultural heritage management.

The age of mass media, AI, machine learning and LLMs (large language models) has considerably diminished concepts of an original visual language in painting and related visual arts. If we regard the visual language as conveying values across humanity, what then does this erosion speak of in civilisation? In representation, what are artists creating and what are audiences looking at inside the artwork? How can we elucidate human values, and understand the nexus of historical depth, the problematisation of geopolitical identities and aesthetics all at once in 'art'? Referencing examples of contemporary Southeast Asian artists in painting and image making, this presentation suggests a relationship of space in the visual field to consciousness-consciousness, as the wellspring of values. This hopefully facilitates new ontological refraction in an increasingly volatile, cultural environment. How can Southeast Asian art speak to its region and not only itself. How can it rationalise the global environment at a breaking point? How can it generate empathy and care, that we might learn to become human again?

This article examines the divergence between the Sulalatus Salatin (Sejarah Melayu) and the Hikayat Hang Tuah in their treatment of the Taming Sari episode. It argues that the absence of this narrative in the earlier court chronicle, combined with its elaboration in the later epic tradition, reflects not a simple contradiction between historical fact and literary invention, but a broader process of narrative transformation. By situating the Taming Sari episode within comparative epic traditions and Southeast Asian literary culture, this study suggests that the duel functions as a symbolic structure rather than a record of historical occurrence. The analysis further explores how post-Malacca literary production reconfigured courtly memory through heroic amplification, performative traditions, and transregional narrative motifs.

Pleistocene water crossings, long thought to be an innovation of Homo sapiens, may extend beyond our species to encompass Middle and Early Pleistocene Homo. However, it remains unclear how water crossings differed among hominin populations, the extent to which Homo sapiens are uniquely flexible in these adaptive behaviors, and how the tempo and scale of water crossings played out in different regions. I apply the adaptive flexibility hypothesis, derived from cognitive ecology, to model the global data and address these questions. Water-crossing behaviors appear to have emerged among different regional hominin populations in similar ecologies, initially representing nonstrategic range expansion. However, an increasing readiness to form connections with novel environments allowed some H. sapiens populations to eventually push water crossings to new extremes, moving out of sight of land, making return crossings to maintain social ties and build viable founder populations, and dramatica...

The lotus pattern is an important motif in ancient Chinese decorative art, and its evolution is both continuous and diverse, which reflects a variety of artistic styles and cultural characteristics. In the study of ancient dyeing and weaving pattern history, few people have summarized the artistic characteristics of the lotus pattern, nor have they interpreted the transcultural exchange from multiple research perspectives. Therefore, an in⁃depth analysis of the lotus pattern in ancient Chinese textiles can help enrich the study of ancient dyeing and weaving art history.

We use the iconography and comparative approach, sorting out development process of lotus patterns in textiles in different periods based on archaeological findings and domestic and foreign museum collections. The results indicate that the “four⁃leaf” style with its own local development was developed for the early Chinese decorative lotus patterns based on the “cross⁃shaped” structure. The style had wide range of applications and gradually stylized structure, reflecting the ancient Chinese cosmic consciousness and ancient people's creation concept by integrating the “four directions” concept of space. Under the influence of foreign cultures along the Silk Road, there were three types of lotus patterns: “trapezoidal lotus”, “scroll grass lotus” and “bird stepping on lotus” in the textiles from the Northern Dynasty to the Tang Dynasty, which borrowed from the elements of ancient Greek and Roman architecture, and characteristics of Gandhara Buddha statues, and also absorbed the composition elements of textiles in Central Asia and West Asia. The “lotus transformation” pattern reflects Buddhist thought of life and its integration with local secular culture. This is precisely the result of balance among foreign religious beliefs, aesthetic interests and the local social psychology in the exchange. From the perspective of outward spread of the Chinese lotus archetype, the “Baoxiang lotus” pattern in textiles in Shosoin of Japan shows the exchange of the textile art between China and Japan during the Tang Dynasty. In the historical context of Eurasia in the 13th - 14th centuries, the Chinese lotus was spread to the Islamic region, and developed into the “Iranian Chinoiserie” of the “dripping water⁃shaped” pattern. During the European Renaissance, the “pomegranate⁃shaped lotus” pattern in textiles reflected the transcultural spread of the Chinese lotus archetype. Through cross⁃regional and transcultural diffusion and interaction, the Chinese lotus archetype became popular and innovative, with the patterns being constantly enriched, either slowly departing from natural forms or compounding multiple images. Eventually, it developed unique decorative art style.

We systematical and deeply analyze the different types of lotus patterns in ancient Chinese textiles, and explore the fusion and mutual reference of the Silk Road from the perspective of multicultural integration. In future research, we can expand the selection of existing textile objects and regional and cultural space, increase the comparison of artistic images of other carriers, and further explore the evolution law of lotus patterns, so as to make the research content more complete.

Key words: textile pattern; lotus pattern; Silk Road; multicultural integration; transcultural exchange

In this paper, we reconsider the relationship between continuity and change in archaeology by arguing that material continuities do not necessarily imply conservatism or resistance to change but function as precondition for transformation. Drawing on Deleuze and Guattari's notion of thought as a 'play of forms', we conceptualize architecture as an active medium of sense-making, through which societies reframe novelty within familiar epistemic traditions. We examine two case studies: proliferation of compound coresidential enclosures (CCE) in the Central Andes and adoption of the vihara in Angkorian Cambodia. Though often interpreted as ruptures or external impositions, both forms drew upon existing religious and political traditions, making new social projects legible. Over time, these architectures reorganized social relations and became central to emerging formations: Andean ayllus and Khmer Theravada Buddhism. By reframing continuity as a resource for sense-making rather than conservatism, we argue that transformation emerges through creative reworking of tradition, situating thought-inaction at the core of historical change.

This paper provides a phonological and phonetic description of a variety of the Khang language spoken in Nam Mu village, Phinh Sang commune, Tuan Giao district, Dien Bien province (and also Son La, Dien Bien, Lai Chau provinces). It is an under-described Palaungic language of Vietnam. The language is largely monosyllabic and has a complex tonal system. An appendix of over 900 lexical items is included.

This article examines on the research field of (Maritime Relations Between South Asia and Southeast Asia) which is one of the extensive research fields associated with inter-regional,socio-cultural history, socio-economic history, political history between these regions in the Indian Ocean.
From the Pre-World War II era till date,this field was enriched by scholarly developments across various socio-cultural, socio-economic, political as well as other aspects. But due to limitations of existing scholarship, there is a gap in this field regarding clear understanding about the role of maritime relations in shaping the temple monuments of pre-modern Southeast Asia. This article addressed the issue by elucidating about role of maritime relations in evolution of temple monuments emphasizing on architectural as well as cultural features using the method of Comparative Historical Analysis. The article demonstrated it's appropriateness based on the respective issue by providing clear as well as systematic empirical evidences. However the research study is limited to a select number of temple monuments in region of Southeast Asia based on the research scope of this article. To conclude although these research outcomes do not claim to be extensive but these findings provide illustrative empirical evidences depicting broader trends in the historiography of maritime relations between South Asia and Southeast Asia.

The slow unfurling of two millennia of Vietnam’s history has woven an
extraordinarily rich and heterogeneous cultural tapestry. The warp was set
by Bronze Age sinicized lowlanders who settled the Red River Valley in the
far north. The weft was progressively threaded after this technologically
advanced people stopped a Chinese fleet and declared its sovereignty in a
tenth century Buddhist state that would eventually expand southwards to
dominate the long  established and artistically advanced Hindu, Buddhist
then Islamic culture of multiple ethnic Cam coastal settlements. Finally,
in the eighteenth century, the Nguyễn Dynasty reached and absorbed the
ancient Khmer-Camic ‘Óc Eo’ culture of the Delta of the Mekong River
in the south and cut long, hand-dug canals linking the rivers to turn it into
a tropical rice bowl. A century later in the 1850s the French colonisers built
a road network to fully exploit  the agriculture.

Stone statues have been produced from prehistoric times to the modern period across southeastern Inner Mongolia and western Liaoning. Their creation was largely motivated by religious factors, particularly ancestral veneration and beliefs concerning the afterlife. However, scholarly investigation remains difficult because many of these statues have
been destroyed or lack inscriptions.
Among such remains, the three stone statues discovered at the Yangjun Ritual Site (羊羊群庙遺址, Yangjunmiao Site) in Xilingol League, Inner Mongolia, contain several clues that allow for broader interpretations than those typically associated with ordinary stone statues. Based on the formal characteristics of the statues, historical records, and the
regional stone-statue tradition, this study argues that the statues excavated from the Yangjun Ritual Site are more closely connected to the Yuan aristocrat Yantie Muer (燕铁木儿) rather than to the Yuan imperial family. It further examines the relationship between the Yangjun Ritual Site and the Yuanshangdu Site, as well as the cultural attributes reflected in these materials.
Current scholarship generally dates these statues to approximately 700–800 years ago and interprets them as being related to the Yuanshangdu Site (元上都遺址), located about 40 kilometers away in a straight line, thereby situating them within the cultural sphere of the Central Plains. Others, however, propose a Turkic affiliation or interpret them as reflecting influences from Siberian regions. All of these interpretations overlook the fact that stone statues have been produced in this region since the Hongshan cultural period several millennia earlier. The Yangjun statues appear to represent the development of a local cultural tradition that absorbed and transformed external influences.
In sum, the Yangjun Ritual Site is more likely to reflect the cultural tradition of northern steppe groups rather than that of the Central Plains, and attempts to associate the site directly with Yuanshangdu are difficult to support.

王力在1948年出版的《汉越语研究》中，将越南语中的汉语借词分为三层：古汉越语、汉越语与“汉语越化”。他及不少越南学者认为，“汉语越化”源于汉越语词在越南语内部“再越南化一次”，但并未说明其发生动因与具体机制。
本文依据若干关键历史音系线索：（1）汉—越语言接触与声调形成；（2）古汉越语与汉越语之间的声调交替，即上声（源自*-ʔ）与去声（源自*-s）互换，以及（开音节）平声与去声互换；（3）倍半音节词 (sesquisyllables）次要音节脱落与重音节起首音段的擦化，重新检视王力所列“汉语越化”127词。结果显示，其中89词实属古汉越语层；其余39词亦更可能属于古汉越语，可由其他历史音系特征加以解释，拟另文详论。基于上述证据，本文认为“汉语越化”作为独立层次的术语与概念不宜继续使用。

In The Study of Chinese Loanwords in Vietnamese (汉越语研究,1948), Wang Li categorized these loanwords into three layers: Old Sino-Vietnamese words (OSV), Sino-Vietnamese words (SV), Vietnamized Sino-Vietnamese words (VSV). He and Vietnamese researchers believed VSV resulted from the subsequent native changes of SV. However, they did not explain how or why these words were nativized. Based on key historical-phonological characteristics: (i) Contact between Chinese and Vietnamese and their tonogenesis; (ii) Alternating of tones between the OSV and SV periods, including shangsheng (B tone; previous *-ʔ) shifting to qusheng (C tone; previous *-s), qusheng shifting to shangsheng, pingsheng (A tone) shifting to qusheng (C tone); (iii) The loss of presyllables and spirantization of intervocalic segment of sesquisyllables; we have found 89 out of WL's proposed 128 VSV words are Old Sino-Vietnamese words. They did not result from continuous changes inside Vietnamese but from changes in Chinese before they were borrowed. The remaining 39 words are also OSV words which can be explained by other historical phonological characteristics that hopefully will be presented in another article. That is why the term and concept of VSV should no longer be used. (The article is written in Vietnamese.).

In this chapter I will examine what a ‘tradition’ consists of, using ethnographic examples. My main focus is the weaving cultures of Southeast Asia, which I will compare with the traditions of Tibetan Buddhism, in order to show how widespread key features and processes are. Traditions are amalgams of parts, including conservative elements that change very slowly, and aspects that change more quickly: I will illustrate this by teasing apart some of the components and describing their evolution over time, looking in particular at how inventions and innovations arise and spread. Consideration of both slow-changing and the fast-changing aspects are essential to understanding how traditions have evolved.
Both traditional weaving and Buddhist sects have at their core a kernel of knowledge that is passed on from generation to generation. Both possess lineages that are resolvable by different methods: in the case of Buddhist sects these lineages are directly accessible via historical records, while in the case of weaving there are few historical accounts and other methods must be used, amongst which I will focus on the use of long-lived aspects of material culture (such as weaving looms) to trace the histories of craft traditions. I will argue that both weaving traditions and religious orders have ‘technologies’ at their core and that, despite a huge difference in content, they have evolved in broadly similar ways.

This article discusses the history of the toponym of Sungai Penuh, a city in the highland of Jambi Province. It was legitimised in 2008, but its toponym has been used for more than 300 years. The use of this toponym is related to its community and could describe the change in its landscape. This research employs a qualitative approach and historical methodology. This research started collecting data through a literature review and a survey. Primary data in this research are manuscripts, colonial archives, and archaeological data. An archaeological landscape perspective is employed to interpret the change of landscape and its relation to the use of toponym. As a result, the toponym of Sungai Penuh was inspired by the natural resource. The traditional system has supported the preservation of this toponym, although it has different meanings for each context. The use of this toponym described the change of landscape from the traditional dusun of Kerinci society to the modern colonial city.

Sometimes years of mulling over an inscription are necessary before a sense of its purport and significance emerge. Although only twelve stanzas long, written in the short anuṣṭubh metre and in not particularly elaborate Sanskrit, K. 1418 still baffles me. But there is a point when no improvements to the text and no further ideas about its interpretation seem likely to present themselves. That moment may be now, and so it seems worth passing on to others, in the form of this article, an account of what I have been able to understand and what remains most doubtful. As I shall explain below (in the annotation to st. 6), K. 1418 was composed or commissioned by an administrative officer of the reign of Īśānavarman I called Vidyācandra who was, it seems, given authority over all administrators (tantrādhyaḳsa) of meritorious foundations (puṇya) to the South of a certain Gambhīreśvara temple. Taken together with a statement in another seventh-century inscription of the same reign (K. 482, st. 2) that appears to speak of an officer with authority to the East of a Gambhīreśvara temple, this suggests that Īśānavarman I's realm might have been divided into administrative zones to the North, South, East, and West of Gambhīreśvara. There are of course several problems with this tentative hypothesis, not the least of which is that there may have been more than one Khmer shrine to Śiva under the name Gambhīreśvara. There seems, however, to have been one very significant one from early times, since Bhavavarman I appears to refer to a Gambhīreśvara as the focus of his realm (K. 53, st. 5, discussed below). Whether or not this Gambhīreśvara was the Gambhīreśvara of Ak Yum, the pre-Angkorian temple now largely submerged within the embankment of the Western Baray in the Angkor Archeological Park, is unclear.

In celebrating the 50 th volume of The South East Asian Review, it is essential to acknowledge the foundational and enduring contribution of Professor Sachchidanand Sahai. As the founder-editor of the journal, established in 1976 alongside the late Dr. Sudha Verma, Prof. Sahai has shaped The South East Asian Review into a premier interdisciplinary forum for scholarship on the cultural, historical and intellectual interconnections between South and Southeast Asia. For nearly five decades, his vision has guided the journal's mission to disseminate knowledge on shared heritage across anthropology, archaeology, history and the humanities. A distinguished epigraphist and scholar of Southeast Asian civilisations, Prof. Sahai's own research has illuminated overlooked aspects of regional cultural traditions and his scholarly publications have deepened global understanding of Indic influence in Southeast Asian history. His leadership has ensured rigorous standards and broad intellectual engagement, making The South East Asian Review a vital platform for diverse voices in the field. His distinguished career, marked by service as the Bualuang ASEAN Chair Professor at Thammasat University, Bangkok, Thailand and as an Advisor to the Apsara Authority, Siem Reap, Cambodia and numerous honours, including the Padma Shri, reflects his lifelong commitment to advancing scholarship on Asian cultural heritage.

The World Heritage site of Angkor in Cambodia which flourished between the 9th and 15th centuries is famed for its many beautiful stone temples including the renowned complex of Angkor Wat. But the stone structures we see today are only the ‘religious skeleton’ of what was once and thriving Southeast Asian metropolis.1 Fluctuations of a tropical climate have largely erased the many thousands of wooden residences that made up the living city of Angkor. First among the perished wooden buildings of Angkor was the Royal Palace within the walled urban enclosure of Angkor Thom. To reconstruct a digital model of the Royal Palace that corresponds to an authentic vision of 13th-century Cambodia and takes into account uncertainty in our current state of knowledge, studies must first consult the considerable literature of history, architecture, cartography, and archaeology of the site of Angkor. Existing visualisations have had limited success in communicating a realistic Angkor, disadvantaged...

Buddhism, originating in the sixth century BCE in India under Gautama Siddharta, not only emerged as a transformative religious and philosophical system but also functioned as a conduit for cultural exchange and diplomacy across Asia. Rooted in principles such as the Four Noble Truths, the Middle Path, and the Bodhisattva ideal, Buddhism gained prominence through royal patronage from Indian dynasties including the Mauryas, Shungas, and Guptas, which facilitated the construction of stupas, monasteries, and educational centres like Nalanda. Ancient travelers and scholars, notably Fa Hien, Sung Yun, and Xuanzang, documented these developments while transmitting Buddhist texts, relics, and art to China, Southeast Asia, and Central Asia, highlighting the religion's role in fostering interregional connections. The diffusion of Buddhist iconography, literature, and practices across kingdoms illustrates its capacity to unify diverse cultures while encouraging intellectual and artistic growth. The paper also briefly examines contemporary manifestations, including Buddhist tourism and global summits, reflecting enduring influence. This study aims to explore Buddhism as both a spiritual tradition and a bridge connecting ancient India to the wider world.

Kushinagar is one of the most significant Buddhist pilgrimage centres, renowned as the place where Gautama Buddha attained Mahaparinirvana. This study examines the archaeological and religious remains of Kushinagar to understand its historical development and enduring spiritual importance. Literary sources such as the Mahāparinibbāna Sutta provide detailed accounts of the events associated with the Buddha's final days, which are strongly supported by archaeological findings at the site. Excavations have revealed important structures, including the Mahaparinirvana Temple, Nirvana Stupa, and Ramabhar Stupa, along with monasteries, sculptures, and artefacts such as seals, coins, and terracotta objects. These remains indicate continuous religious activity from the Mauryan to the Gupta periods and beyond. The contributions of rulers like Ashoka further enhanced the site's prominence as a centre of Buddhist worship and pilgrimage. The study highlights the close relationship between literary traditions and material evidence, demonstrating that Kushinagar functioned as a major religious centre for centuries. Today, it continues to attract.

The cultural history of Bangladesh reflects a complex process of civilizational interaction, religious transformation, linguistic development, and political change over more than five millennia. Located in the fertile delta of the Ganges-Brahmaputra river system, the Bengal region served as a meeting point for indigenous traditions, South Asian civilizations, Islamic cultural influences, and modern global ideas. This paper analyzes the evolution of Bangladeshi culture from early riverine settlements to the emergence of a modern nation-state in 1971. By examining archaeological evidence, historical records, linguistic evolution, and socio-political movements, the study demonstrates that the cultural identity of Bangladesh developed through continuous synthesis of diverse traditions. The paper argues that language, religion, and geography have been the three primary drivers shaping the cultural continuity of the Bengali people.

This article examines the Tru Bieu, the pillar gateways of village communal houses (Dinh) in Hue, Vietnam, as a distinctive vernacular threshold type within the broader East Asian architectural landscape. Based on field surveys of 64 Dinh (including 58 four-pillar gateways), the study integrates morphometric measurement, statistical and overlay analyses, decorative motif classification, and semi-structured interviews with nine master artisans. The findings demonstrate a recurrent yet adaptable proportional module where central pillars consistently exceed the height of lateral ones by approximately 7% (h1/h2 = 1.075), and lateral spans are closely calibrated to the main span (B = 0.9A), and elevations converge on a tripartite base:body:capital ratio of roughly 1:4:3. Quantitative matrices of motif frequency further reveal a rule-based pattern of decorative organization that differentiates axial from peripheral roles, with dragon imagery and paired inscriptions concentrated on the central Tru Bieu and floral or plain fields prevailing on lateral pillars. Artisan testimonies confirm that these rules are transmitted through embodied craft knowledge rather than written prescriptions. Comparative discussion with Vietnamese regional variants and Chinese Paifang/Japanese Torii clarifies the typological autonomy of Hue's roofless and communally oriented gateway, and provides an evidencebased framework for documentation, conservation, and contemporary design reference.

This article is a comprehensive review of extant literature on Palu’e traditional textiles, and aims to facilitate future identification and description by supplementing the existing literature with errata, reference to documentation research, and photos. In particular this article highlights the uncertainties and misidentifications from confusion over the two prevalent women’s tubular skirt types wua wela and witi mata in the previously sole authoritative and grounded source, and a misreading of that author’s commentary on a thin yellow-orange strip present on some cloths of women. Two fringe design types from the publications are identified and featured among this article’s photos, including a variant of witi mata used as the major image reference for wua wela in the authoritative source. The discussion reveals a nuanced picture of the supposed conservatism of Palu’e weavers, that is susceptible to change and differentiated within the traditional design formats that they preserve.

Johannes Beltz. «Engaged Curation Challenges, Experiences, and Potentials from a Museum Exhibition About Jainism», in: Engaged Jainism. Critical and Constructive Studies of Jain Social Engagement, New York: SUNY 2026, pp. 91-112.

This chapter explores the concept of "engaged curation" through the lens of a museum exhibition about Jainism held at the Museum Rietberg in Zürich, Switzerland, from 2022 to 2023. It discusses the challenges and strategies involved in curating the exhibition "Being Jain," which aimed to present Jain art and culture to a largely non-Jain audience in Switzerland. The exhibition combined historical Jain artworks with contemporary photographs, interviews, and films to illustrate how Jains in India use similar objects in their daily practice. The curatorial team collaborated with Jains from around the world, including the Swiss Jain diaspora, to showcase the diversity within the Jain community.

The chapter highlights five strategic decisions made for the exhibition:

1 Combining the past with the present by juxtaposing historical artworks with contemporary media.
2 Collaborating with Jains globally to avoid sectarianism and present diverse perspectives.
3 Focusing on the relevance of Jain ethics for contemporary society, particularly themes of renunciation and nonviolence.
4 Making the exhibition a participatory project, engaging audiences through interactive elements like "And You? The Game of Questions".
5 Addressing the challenges of presenting a minority religion in a non-Jain setting and making it relevant to local audiences.

The chapter also discusses the role of the Swiss Jain community, their participation in the exhibition, and the broader implications of engaged curation in the context of global challenges and ethical considerations.

The relationships of the Austroasiatic languages are being studied using a graphical analysis method, and a graphical model has been constructed for them. A map correspondence was found for this model in the Three Lakes region, the same location where the Sino-Tibetan and Nostratic languages began to develop.

In this study, we adopt the form Tay Mương, following the quốc ngữ script of Vietnamese. The element Tay corresponds to Tai, the autonym commonly used by Southwestern Tai language communities in Vietnam, while Mương serves as a specific identifier for this subgroup. We have chosen not to use the spelling Mường in this context, as it may cause confusion with the ethnonym Mường, which designates a distinct ethnic group whose language belongs to the Vietic branch.

We present a framework for dynamical quantum error correction that adapts stabilizer codes based on an estimated non-Markovian noise process. The framework consists of five components, each proven under stated assumptions. First, auxiliary probe qubits provide offline estimation of the process tensor with sample complexity bounds (Theorem 1). Second, a conditional probability model derived from the process tensor captures full temporal correlations and is computed using tensor network contractions (Lemma 2). Third, an offline synthesis algorithm constructs a library of adapted codes by greedy search over an explicit gate library, with a depth constraint that guarantees distance preservation without NP-hard verification (Lemma 3). Fourth, a fast online feedback loop uses a syndrome classifier and a tensor network decoder to correct errors, with total latency below 1 µs under optimistic hardware assumptions. Fifth, we prove a fault-tolerance threshold theorem (Theorem 4) showing that the logical error rate per round scales as C p ⌊d min /2⌋ for physical error rates p below a threshold p th , with explicit constants derived for the [[5,1,3]] code. All parameters are operationally defined and can be determined from experimental data using the methods described. The analysis identifies key bottlenecks-exponential tomography scaling, unverifiable spatial assumptions, intractable coherent penalty computation for large codes-that must be overcome for practical implementation. This work provides a foundation for exploiting non-Markovian noise correlations in fault-tolerant quantum computing.

This article argues that the Meluhha network, the sustained commercial axis connecting Sumerian Mesopotamia and the Indus Valley Civilisation between approximately 3000 and 1800 BCE, constitutes the missing mechanism in current accounts of Bronze Age connectivity and Indo-European linguistic dispersal.

Drawing on five converging bodies of evidence, namely ancient DNA and isotopic data, material culture, Ur III cuneiform archives, metrological vocabulary, and Dardic linguistic substrata, the article demonstrates that the network involved not episodic luxury exchange but the long-term settlement of South Asian diaspora communities within Mesopotamian cities, the transfer of administrative technologies including sealing systems and weight standards, and sustained multilingual contact sufficient to produce traceable lexical borrowing across language families. The distribution of the metrological term māna across Akkadian, Vedic Sanskrit, and Mycenaean Greek is examined as a signature loanword whose trajectory maps the geographic extent of the network.

The substratal evidence of retroflex consonantism in the Dardic languages of the Hindu Kush is advanced as proof that the commercial corridor traversed a linguistically continuous zone rather than an empty terrain. The article concludes that the Meluhha network is not an alternative to the steppe dispersal model of Indo-European origins but its necessary urban and commercial complement, and that its recovery requires the kind of convergent, multidisciplinary analysis that has hitherto been impeded by the disciplinary isolation of Sumerology, South Asian archaeology, and Indo-European linguistics from one another.

The Nariphon, a legendary fruit-bearing tree rooted in Thai Buddhist tradition, has emerged as a significant motif in Thai cultural expression. This investigation explores the development and importance of Nariphon imagery by tracing its journey from South Asian origins to assimilation into Thai Buddhist cosmology and subsequent modern
interpretations. Through the application of iconographic analysis, historical inquiry, and comparative methodologies, this study illuminates Nariphon's function of communicating Buddhist precepts concerning desire, impermanence, and spiritual
discipline across various artistic media. Illustrative examples include the Add MS 27370 manuscript (1824), the 1842 Lawka-koon-char Burmese manuscript, mural paintings at Wat Ban Lan and Wat Sanuan Wari in Isan, and Phaptawan Suwannakudt's Nariphon series. These artifacts exemplify Nariphon's versatility as an instructional tool. This research examines Nariphon's incorporation into Thai temple architecture and its evolution into contemporary religious artifacts.
Suwannakudt's portrayal of the Nariphon as an allegory of young women’s commodification addresses present-day societal issues. This investigation enhances the comprehension of Nariphon's depiction of Thai artistic tradition by connecting ancient mythology with contemporary social commentary. The continuous reinterpretation and adaptation of this motif underline its enduring relevance in Thai cultural discourse and expression, engaging with fundamental Buddhist principles of impermanence, attachment, and spiritual growth while mirroring shifting artistic trends and cultural norms.