Southeast Asia

From Prehistory to History

Peter Bellwood, Dr Ian Glover, Peter Bellwood, Dr Ian Glover

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2023
• Print ISBN:
  9780415391177
• eBook ISBN:
  9781000940084
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: Archaeology
• Index: History

This comprehensive and absorbing book traces the cultural history of Southeast Asia from prehistoric (especially Neolithic, Bronze-Iron age) times through to the major Hindu and Buddhist civilizations, to around AD 1300. Southeast Asia has recently attracted archaeological attention as the locus for the first recorded sea crossings; as the region of origin for the Austronesian population dispersal across the Pacific from Neolithic times; as an arena for the development of archaeologically-rich Neolithic, and metal using communities, especially in Thailand and Vietnam, and as the backdrop for several unique and strikingly monumental Indic civilizations, such as the Khmer civilization centred around Angkor. Southeast Asia is invaluable to anyone interested in the full history of the region.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Frontmatter
• Contents
• List of plates
• List of illustrations
• List of tables
• List of contributors
• Foreword
• Introduction
• 1 Southeast Asia: foundations for an archaeological history
• 2 The origins and dispersals of agricultural communities in Southeast Asia
• 3 Mainland Southeast Asia from the Neolithic to the Iron age
• 4 The archaeology of early contact with India and the Mediterranean World, from the fourth century BC to the fourth century AD
• 5 Pre-Angkorian and Angkorian Cambodia
• 6 The archaeology of the early Buddhist kingdoms of Thailand
• 7 The archaeology of Burma (Myanmar) from the Neolithic to Pagan
• 8 Northern Vietnam from the Neolithic to the Han period
• 9 The coastal states of Champa
• 10 The classical cultures of Indonesia
• 11 The archaeology of the Philippine Archipelago
• 12 The archaeology of early maritime polities of Southeast Asia
• 13 Indigenous traditions and exogenous influences in the early history of Peninsular Malaysia
• 14 Retrospect and prospect
• Index