This book attempts to evaluate the role of the Malay Peninsula as a crossroads in the great wave of commercial relationships along the maritime Silk Road from the first centuries of the Christian era to the 14th century. Through these exchanges, representatives of all the civilizations of Asia entered into contact along its shores. They left in this place a part of themselves, as can be seen in the great stylistic diversity of the religious and commercial artefacts which have been found in the area. These artefacts have been analysed and categorized afresh in the light of more precise information provided in Chinese texts concerning the nature of the political entities developing at the time: often dynamic city states or more modest chiefdoms.

This volume comprises a selection of essays by scholars from a variety of disciplines that discuss the exchange relationship between Africa and the wider Indian Ocean world (IOW), a macro-region running from East Africa to China, from early times to about 1300 CE. The rationale for regarding this macro-region as a “world” is the central significance of the monsoon system which facilitated the early emergence of long-distance trans-IOW maritime exchange of commodities, peoples, plants, animals, technologies and ideas.

Written for researchers, university lecturers and advanced undergraduate and postgraduate students in all fields of archaeological and anthropological study, this collection features new research from different excavation sites around Indonesia together with pioneering expert analysis. Groundbreaking new theories on early colonization feature alongside a thorough and up-to-date examination of field methods and techniques, and valuable insight into human development in Indonesia and beyond. Focused on Java and Sulawesi, these research findings highlight important recent advances in quaternary research. Results from a cave excavation in Southern Java provide a much-needed long-term palaeoclimatic record, based on a lowland pollen sequence from Central Java, while the contributions from South Sulawesi include a pioneering archaeobotanical analysis, a new hypothesis on the earliest human colonisation of this island, and an attempt to reconstruct preceramic human biological population affinities. In addition, the little-known archaeology of the tiny island of Roti is presented and discussed here, with particular attention on prehistoric survival in an impoverished island environment.

Beliefs about the origin of the Earth and the men, animals, plants, and various topographical features seem to survive with greater persistence than any other trait of primitive culture. These beliefs lie at the base of nearly all religions, and the myths in which the beliefs are preserved are the foundation of literature. Therefore, the preservation and study of origin myths are of much importance in the reconstruction of the history of humanity, which is the chief aim of anthropology.
The peoples of the Philippines have rich and varied mythology, yet little has been explored, but which will one day command much attention. Among the Christianized peoples of the plains, the myths are preserved chiefly as folk tales, but in the mountains, their recitation and preservation are a real and living part of the people's daily religious life. Very few of these myths are written; the great majority are preserved by oral tradition. Bizarrely, this region's Mythology seems connected to various other world mythologies, in some cases almost identical.

Until recent years, it has been believed that all ancient records written in the syllabic alphabets which the Filipinos possessed at the time of the Spanish conquest had been lost.

Ancient Southeast Asia provides readers with a much needed synthesis of the latest discoveries and research in the archaeology of the region, presenting the evolution of complex societies in Southeast Asia from the protohistoric period, beginning around 500BC, to the arrival of British and Dutch colonists in 1600. Well-illustrated throughout, this comprehensive account explores the factors which established Southeast Asia as an area of unique cultural fusion. Miksic and Goh explore how the local population exploited the abundant resources available, developing maritime transport routes which resulted in economic and cultural wealth, including some of the most elaborate art styles and monumental complexes ever constructed. The book’s broad geographical and temporal coverage, including a chapter on the natural environment, provides readers with the context needed to understand this staggeringly diverse region. It utilizes French, Dutch, Chinese, Malay-Indonesian and Burmese sources and synthesizes interdisciplinary theoretical perspectives and data from archaeology, history and art history. Offering key opportunities for comparative research with other centres of early socio-economic complexity, Ancient Southeast Asia establishes the area’s importance in world history.

Using the archaeological record, O'Reilly traces the rise of the state in Southeast Asia in a general synthesis.

"This book brings together both recent scholarship and classic studies to explore the place of technology in the making of Southeast Asia. By bringing together research that touches on technology with more or less emphasis, from a wide variety of scholars and scholarly approaches it is possible to both understand the richness of material that is already available and to see where areas for further research are needed. The result is a good primer both on the history of technology and the history more generally of this region"--

This comprehensive history provides a fresh interpretation of Southeast Asia from 100 to 1500, when major social and economic developments foundational to modern societies took place on the mainland (Burma, Thailand, Cambodia, and Vietnam) and the island world (Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines). Incorporating the latest archeological evidence and international scholarship, Kenneth R. Hall enlarges upon prior histories of early Southeast Asia that did not venture beyond 1400, extending the study of the region to the Portuguese seizure of Melaka in 1511. Written for a wide audience of non-specialists, the book will be essential reading for all those interested in Asian and world history.