The Archaeology Unit (AU) was formed in 2010 and inaugurated by H.E. President S R Nathan in August 2011. Prof. John Miksic was the first Head of the Archaeology Unit between July 2011 to June 2014.
The AU pursues projects designed to foster collaborative research in the archaeology of civilization in Southeast Asia, and its links with its neighbors in Asia. It is a part of the Temasek History Research Centre at ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute. The AU conducts excavations in Singapore, concentrating on the material culture of the period from 1300 to 1600, but also maintains an interest in the lives of Singapore’s inhabitants during the colonial period of the 19th and early 20th centuries. The AU also collaborates with institutions in the Asia and Pacific regions to conduct research and training, and to disseminate published and unpublished reports on archaeological research.
Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/user/archaeologyunit
ACTIVITIES
2016
Exhibitions (related to AU Projects)
Archaeology Unit Gallery
The Archaeology Unit Gallery at the ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Library showcases the work of the Archaeology Unit (AU) in Singapore and Cambodia. Artefacts from Singapore include those from excavations at Fort Canning Hill, Empress Place, Adam Park, the National Gallery Singapore and the Cathedral of the Good Shepherd. From ceramics dating back to the Temasek period to a British WWII ammunition box and anti-malaria pill containers from the Imperial Japanese army, the Gallery seeks to underline the rich history and heritage of the city-state.
The AU also conducted the Archaeological Field School, which has been held in Cambodia and Singapore since 2013. This is part of AU’s efforts to explore cross-border and trade networks in the region. Excavation sites in Cambodia include the Torp Chey (c. 12-15th centuries) and Cheung Ek kilns (c. 5-13th centuries); the Phnom Kulen Royal Residence (c. 9th century) and Sema stone religious sites (c. 8-9th centuries); and Koh Ker (c. 10th century), one of the capital cities of the Khmer Empire.
The Gallery is open to the public during library hours.
2014
Exhibitions (related to AU Projects)
- “Archaeology in Singapore: 30 Years of Uncovering the Past” (28 Oct 2014 – 10 Aug 2015) (National Museum of Singapore)
- Bukit Brown: Documenting New Horizons of Knowledge (19 Jul 2014 – 31 Jan 2015) (National Library of Singapore; Ang Mo Kio Public Library; Jurong Regional Library; Choa Chu Kang Public Library; Toa Payoh Public Library)
Public Lectures
- “Digging the Urban Landscape” by Mr. Frank Meddens and Mr. Lim Chen Sian (26th December, 2014, National Museum of Singapore)
Workshops
- “Archiving Archaeological Materials” (25th November, 2014, National Museum of Singapore)
2013
Public Lectures
- “Ancient Fansur, Aceh’s ‘Atlantis’: The Case for Lhok Pancu” by Dr. E. Edwards McKinnon (3rd May, 2013, Institute of Southeast Asian Studies)
- “Research at the Cheung Ek Archaeological Site” by Mr. Phon Kaseka (17th June, 2013, Institute of Southeast Asian Studies)
- “Settlement Archaeology of Late 14th to 17th Century in West Sumatra” by Dr. Mai Lin Tjoa-Bonatz (24th June, 2013, Institute of Southeast Asian Studies)
- “What did Raffles See in Singapore?” by Mr. Lim Chen Sian (2nd February, 2013, National Library)
- “Presenting Portraiture Series: Chasing the Wild Goose” (21 March 2013, NUS Museum)
- “A Brief History of Singapore Archaeology, 1984-2013” by Dr. John Miksic (5th November, 2013, National Museum of Singapore)
- “Potsherds, Texts, and Singapore’s Role in Southeast Asian Maritime Culture” by Dr. John Miksic (19th December, 2013, National Library)
Symposiums
- Co-sponsored “Patterns of Early Asian Urbanism” Conference (11-13 November, 2013, National Museum of Antiquities, Leiden, The Netherlands)
Training
- Nalanda-Sriwijaya Centre Archaeological Field School (2013 cohort)
Conferences
- Co-sponsored a four-week underwater archaeology fieldwork program at the Clarence (1850) shipwreck for Southeast Asian Archaeologists at Port Phillip Bay, Australia in 2012.
2012
Public Lectures
- “Pots and How They Are Made in Southeast Asia” by Dr. Leedom Lefferts (Asian Civilisations Museum Fellow), 13th April, 2012
- “Same Same, but Different: The Rock Art of Southeast Asia” by Noel Hidalgo Tan (PhD. Candidate, Australia National University), 31st August, 2012
- “Guerilla Archaeologists and the Singapore Story” (part 1, part 2 – courtesy of NUS Museum) by A/P John Miksic (12th April, 2012, NUS Museum)
- “The Malay World and Singapore: Archaeological Perspectives” by A/P John Miksic (28th April, 2012, National Museum of Singapore)
- “Perspectives on pre-colonial Singapore geography” by Dr. John Miksic (28th September, 2012, National Library)
- “Singapore Before Raffles” by Dr. John Miksic (20th October, 2012, Archifest Pavilion)
- “Raffles, Archaeology, and the British in Indonesia” by A/P John Miksic (24th November, 2012, National Library)
- “Ceramics in Myanmar: Unexplored Territory” by Dr. John Miksic and Dr. Goh Geok Yian (6th December, 2012, Southeast Asian Ceramic Society)
Symposiums
- “Southeast Asian Underwater Archaeology” (31st May, 2012, Institute of Southeast Asian Studies)
Training
- Nalanda-Sriwijaya Centre Field School of Archaeology (2012 cohort, Institute of Southeast Asian Studies)
2011
Symposiums
- Co-sponsored the “Ancient Silk Trade Routes: Cross Cultural Exchange and Legacy in Southeast Asia” Symposium at Singapore Management University (27-28 October, 2011)
ISEAS and the Singapore APEC Study Centre organised a seminar on “Growth in a Challenging and Diverse Landscape: Asia and the Pacific” on Thursday, 18 June 2015.
- Withered Maritime Southeast Asia?
- Do Young People Know ASEAN?
- AEC as an Economic Strategic Project
- Timor-Leste’s ASEAN Membership Application
The Southeast Asian Archaeology Repository of Knowledge (SEA-ARK)
About
This resource page disseminates published and unpublished reports pertinent to the pursuit of Southeast Asian Archaeology. This includes:
(1) Rare, unpublished, and/or out of print research materials;
(2) Papers and/or research publications when given explicit permission by the authors;
(3) The translations of research summaries originally written in a Southeast Asian language into English.
Current Online Distribution
Nalanda and Sriwijaya stand as two key icons of intra-Asian connections and interactions through time.
Latest Publications
Current / Ongoing Projects
Indonesia
- Banten Lama (2012-present)
Singapore
- Bukit Brown Documentation Project (2012-present)
- Empress Place (2015)
- National Art Gallery (2009-present)
Past Projects
Cambodia (in collaboration with APSARA Authority)
- Banteay, Phnom Kulen (2014)
- Don Meas and Pream Kre, Phnom Kulen (2015)
- Torp Chey (2011-2012)
- Foo, Shu Tieng. (2012) “Archaeologists Discover Southeast Asia’s Largest Ancient Kiln Site at Torp Chey.” International Institute of Asian Studies Newsletter 60 (Summer), pp. 44. (1.35MB PDF article only)
Singapore
- Adam Park (2010-2011)
- Fort Canning Spice Garden (2010)
- Ulu Pandan (2011)
- Victoria Concert Hall (2010-2011)
Series Editor: Derek Heng
Past Editors: Tansen Sen (Baruch College, City University of New York) and Geoff Wade (Australian National University)
We welcome submissions of proposals that meet the criteria of this series. Should you wish to send in a proposal, please contact the Series Editor at: derek.heng@yale-nus.edu.sg.
- Traces of the Ramayana and Mahabharata in Javanese and Malay Literature, edited by Ding Choo Ming and Willem van der Molen
- Records, Recoveries, Remnants and Inter-Asian Interconnections: Decoding Cultural Heritage, edited by Anjana Sharma
2017
- Bagan and the World: Early Myanmar and Its Global Connections, edited by Goh Geok Yian, John N Miksic, and Michael Aung-Thwin
- Spirits and Ships: Cultural Transfers in Early Monsoon Asia, edited by Andrea Acri, Roger Blench, and Alexandra Landmann
2016
- Esoteric Buddhism in Mediaeval Maritime Asia: Networks of Masters, Texts, Icons, edited by Andrea Acri
- Indian and Chinese Immigrant Communities: Comparative Perspectives, edited by Jayati Bhattacharya and Coonoor Kripalani
2015
- Buddhist Dynamics in Premodern and Early Modern Southeast Asia, edited by Christian Lammerts
- Imperial China and Its Southern Neighbours, edited by Victor H Mair and Liam Kelley
- China and Beyond in the Mediaeval Period: Cultural Crossings and Inter-Regional Connections, edited by Dorothy C Wong and Gustav Heldt
- A 14th Century Malay Code of Laws: The Nitisarasamuccaya, by Uli Kozok
2014
- Buddhism Across Asia: Networks of Material, Intellectual and Cultural Exchange, volume 1, edited by Tansen Sen
- Trails of Bronze Drums Across Early Southeast Asia: Exchange Routes and Connected Cultural Spheres, by Ambra Calo
2013
- Of Palm Wine, Women and War: The Mongolian Naval Expedition to Java in the 13th Century, by David Bade
- Literary Migrations: Traditional Chinese Fiction in Asia (17th-20th Centuries), edited by Claudine Salmon
- Offshore Asia: Maritime Interactions in Eastern Asia before Steamships, edited by Fujita Kayoko, Momoki Shiro and Anthony Reid
- Buddhism and Islam on the Silk Road, by Johan Elverskog
- The Tongking Gulf Through History, edited by Nola Cooke, Li Tana and James A Anderson
- The Royal Hunt in Eurasian History, by Thomas T Allsen
- Ethnic Identity in Tang China, by Marc S Abramson
- Eurasian Influences on Yuan China, edited by Morris Rossabi
- The Sea, Identity and History: From the Bay of Bengal to the South China Sea, edited by Satish Chandra and Himanshu Prabha Ray
- Early Southeast Asia Viewed from India: An Anthology of Articles from the Journal of the Greater India Society, edited by Kwa Chong-Guan
- Asian Redux: Conceptualizing a Region for Our Times, edited by Prasenjit Duara
2012
- Anthony Reid and the Study of the Southeast Asian Past, edited by Geoff Wade and Li Tana
- Portuguese and Luso-Asian Legacies in Southeast Asia, 1511-2011, vol. 2: Culture and Identity in the Luso-Asian World, edited by Laura Jarnagin
- Sino-Malay Trade and Diplomacy from the Tenth through the Fourteenth Century, by Derek Heng
- Tradition and Archaeology: Early Maritime Contacts in the Indian Ocean, edited by Himanshu Prabha Ray and Jean-Francois Salles
- Civilizations in Embrace: The Spread of Ideas and the Transformation of Power: India and Southeast Asia in the Classical Age, by Amitav Acharya
- India and China: Interactions through Buddhism and Diplomacy A Collection of Essays by Professor Prabodh Chandra Bagchi, compiled by Bangwei Wang, Tansen Sen
2011
- Early Interactions between South and Southeast Asia: Reflections on Cross-Cultural Exchange, edited by Pierre-Yves Manguin, A. Mani and Geoff Wade
- Hardships and Downfall of Buddhism in India, by Giovanni Verardi
- Portuguese and Luso-Asian Legacies in Southeast Asia, 1511-2011, vol. 1: The Making of the Luso-Asian World: Intricacies of Engagement, edited by Laura Jarnagin
2010
- Preserving Cultural Identity through Education: The Schools of the Chinese Community in Calcutta, India, by Zhang Xin
2009
- Nagapattinam to Suvarnadwipa: Reflections on the Chola Naval Expeditions to Southeast Asia, edited by Hermann Kulke, K. Kesavapany and Vijay Sakhuja
The Nalanda-Sriwijaya Centre at the ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute, Singapore, pursues research on historical interactions among Asian societies and civilisations. It serves as a forum for comprehensive study of the ways in which Asian polities and societies have interacted over time through religious, cultural, and economic exchanges and diasporic networks. The Centre also offers innovative strategies for examining the manifestations of hybridity, convergence and mutual learning in a globalising Asia. It sees the following as it main aims:
1. To develop the ‘Nalanda idea’ of building for contemporary Asia an appreciation of Asian achievements and mutual learning, as exemplified by the cosmopolitan Buddhist centre of learning in Nalanda, as well as the ‘Sriwijaya idea’ of Southeast Asia as a place of mediation and linkages among the great civilisations.
2. To encourage and develop skills needed to understand the civilisations of Asia and their interrelationships.
3. To build regional research capacities and infrastructure for the study of the historical interactions among the civilisations and societies of Asia.
Mount Penanggunan, East, Java, Indonesia (Credit: Hadi Sidomulyo)
Quicklinks: Overview | News | Previous Cohorts: 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2013, 2012
The NSC Field School began in 2012 with support from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Singapore). The NSC Field School aims to increase knowledge of the meaningful interactions between Asian countries, with particular attention to intra-Asian engagement in the last two millennia, and create a community of East Asia Summit (EAS) scholars. The NSC Field School intentions will enhance practical skills; expand professional networks; and strengthen partnerships during the process of experiential learning.
Between 2012 and 2017 the NSC Field Schools were conducted in Cambodia and Singapore, and in 2018 the NSC Field School was conducted in East Java, Indonesia, and Singapore. Institutions within the EAS that have collaborated in this project in Cambodia include the Royal University of Fine Arts (RUFA); the Authority for the Protection and Management of Angkor and the Region of Siem Reap (APSARA Authority); the National Authority for Preah Vihear (NAPV); the Royal Academy of Cambodia; Sydney University; Pusat Penelitian Arkeologi Nasional (ARKENAS; National Centre for Archaeological Research), Indonesia; Ubaya Penanggungan Centre (UPC) and the Australian National University.
The 18 East Asia Summit countries are: Australia, Brunei, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar (Burma), New Zealand, the Philippines, Russia, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand, the United States, and Vietnam.
State Formation and Social Formation in Southeast Asia
While significant scholarship has been published on the nature and development of the nation-state in Southeast Asia, as well as the issues and dynamics of social groups in the region in the contemporary era, relatively few historical studies have been carried out to develop paradigms of state and social formation in pre-modern and early modern Southeast Asia apart from the ones that had been developed in the 1970s and early 1980s.
Under this project, the centre is interested in looking at the formation of port-cities and port polities in Maritime Southeast Asia; the various modes of urban genesis and forms; the notions and nature of political centres; and the evolving nature and parameters of regional geo-politics in Maritime Southeast Asia.
Archaeological Research
One of NSC’s current endeavours under this theme is the Archaeology Unit’s Phnom Kulen project. Phnom Kulen, believed to be the site of early urbanization of Angkor, marks the foundation of a polity in a form and magnitude unprecedented in premodern Southeast Asia. This project explores the settlement patterns and urban evolution in the highlands of Northwest Cambodia.
Economic Interaction within Southeast Asia, and between Southeast Asia, the Indian Ocean Littoral and the South China Sea Littoral
Economic interaction has, throughout history, been a fundamental force driving the history of Maritime Southeast Asia. This interaction includes trade or commercial exchanges, fiscal policies and currency systems, natural and value-added or manufactured products and production processes and material cultures. Equally important are the natural and man-made resources and the environmental and geographical contexts from which they have been drawn.
NSC aims to produce more detailed studies of the aforementioned aspects of economic interaction that are under-represented in the current corpus of secondary literature. This would include the development of approaches within which historical data on trade goods may be interpreted, framed and/or analysed. Additionally, the generation of usable data would be an important scholarly endeavour to further our understanding of this critical aspect of Southeast Asian history.
Archaeological Research
Noteworthy archaeological activities under this theme include the multi-year projects on the economic interaction at Banten Lama, a thriving 17th century trading port settlement in West Java, where enormous quantities of trade ceramics from China, Japan, Europe and Southeast Asia are recovered. Banten at its height was the largest city in the Indonesian archipelago, and its economic reach overwhelmed Batavia. The archaeological excavations at Banten investigate the socio-political interactions between the disparate foreign entities (such as the Dutch East Indies Company, British East Indies Company, Chinese merchants) and the local communities.
Pertinent to any understanding of societies and states located within such a communicatively dynamic region as Maritime Asia is the development and nature of culture and identity, and their evolution over time. The dialectic between trans-regional cultural phenomena, such as the spread of Hinduism, Buddhism and Islam, or the adoption and use of such high languages as Sanskrit and Pali, on the one hand, versus the generation of indigenous cultural markers, co-existence of local languages and cultural hybridisation on the other, deserves significant attention, not least because much of the issues pertaining to ethnic and cultural diversity in contemporary Southeast Asia have their roots in the pre-modern era. The processes and parameters of cultural negotiation and construction also have significant echoes through time.
Four key areas that the centre is keen to further research on are: religion; art history and visual culture; diaspora and migration; and language and literature.
Archaeological Research
Manifestations of culture and identity in early Southeast Asian societies exist in both the textual and non-textual traditions. However, in Southeast Asia, the recorded past are often embedded in non-textual traditions, and are instead frequently readily accessible in the extant material culture, ceramics in particular. Southeast Asians, in fact, were among the first people in the world to implement high-fired ceramic technology.
In Vietnam, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, and Myanmar, kilns indicative of a high degree of technical prowess have been found. Southeast Asian potters were obviously aware of Chinese technology in this field, but it is important to note that each region of Southeast Asia developed its own form of kiln construction and styles of products in accordance with local needs and tastes. The study of early ceramic technology provides excellent opportunities for studying the interaction of local, regional, and long-distance communication, technology, and artistic accomplishments.
Note that while NSC recognizes the role of archaeology in providing a unique dimension in interpreting cultures through the material record, the centre also welcomes research proposals that examine both the tangible and intangible elements of beliefs, behaviours, and customs of Southeast Asian societies.
The Centre will create a digital repository that will help preserve, store and disseminate knowledge pertinent to research on pre-modern Southeast Asian and intra-Asian interactions. While the purview of this effort will be centred on the three key research themes identified above, their use is envisaged to extend beyond that scope, to include applications to scholarship on the Indian Ocean Littoral and the South China Sea Littoral.
NSC is developing two databases: archaeological and textual. The archaeological database will contain a collection of artefacts recovered from Temasik-period (c. 14th century) sites in Singapore, while the textual database will hold primary textual data from NSC’s research projects particularly those that involve substantial works on transliteration and translations.