Asian Perspectives, 2022 - Volume 61, Number 1 (Spring)
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Item Errata(2022-06-28)Item Coastal Shrines and Transnational Maritime Networks Across India and Southeast Asia. Himanshu Prabha Ray. London and New York: Routledge, 2021. 255 pp., 24 illustrations, bibliography, index. Hardback US $160, ISBN 978-1-138-36567-4; eBook US $34, ISBN 978-0-429-28523-3.(2022-06-28) Manguin, Pierre-YvesItem “You Don’t Have to Live Like a Refugee”: New Insights on the Defensive, Economic, and Ritual Functions of a Fortified Pā on Ua Huka, Marquesas Islands(2022-06-28) Molle, Guillaume; Marolleau, VincentIn Central-East Polynesia (CEP), development of warfare remains poorly documented except for the fortified villages of Rapa iti. In the Marquesas islands, previous research briefly reported the existence of defensive structures, especially some fortified pā, in areas usually qualified as ‘marginal’. However, no site has yet been investigated in depth. In 2015, within the context of the larger Ua Huka project, we documented the pā of Mahaki, located between 700 and 800 m in altitude, and known in local oral traditions as a fortified refuge site for the Hokatu community during periods of conflicts.We recorded various categories of archaeological remains, the interpretations of which revealed a complex occupation of this area combining economic, defensive, and ritual functions. We argue that increasing inter-community violence and environmental pressure drove the progressive occupation of the high plateau. This study sheds new light on the Marquesan pā and their integration into the territories of the ‘enata chiefdoms.Item Hirten im Himalaya – Prähistorische Mumien im Höhlengrab Mebrak 63 (Mustang/Nepal). Angela Simons, ed., Michaela Butler, trans. Heidelberg: Propylaeum, 2020. Archäologische sp. Berichte vol. 31. Open-access eBook, https://doi.org/ 10.11588/propylaeum.596, ISBN 978-3-948465-12-4.(2022-06-28) Aldenderfer, MarkItem Patterns of Mortuary Practice over Millennia in Southern Vanuatu, South Melanesia(2022-06-28) Valentin, Roderique; Zinger, Wanda; Fenwick, Alison; Bedford, Stuart; Flexner, James; Willie, Edson; Kuautonga, TakarongaBurial practices provide a window into cultural practices, beliefs, and cross-cultural contacts through time. Southern Vanuatu’s history begins with an initial Lapita colonization 3000 B.P., followed by Polynesian contacts after roughly 1000 years ago, and European encounters starting almost 250 years ago. Using a combination of re-analyzed legacy data from archaeological excavations in the 1960s and recent excavations, this article provides a synthesis of southern Vanuatu mortuary practices using an anthropologie de terrain (field anthropology) approach and new 14C dates. The earliest preserved burials from the region date to 1270 B.P., with subsequent transformations and continuities through the nineteenth century. Burials are present in sub-surface and surface contexts, in flexed and extended positions, with some showing evidence of having been wrapped in perishable flexible containers and others of post-depositional manipulation. Many of the burials feature ornaments of shell and stone. Transformations and continuities of burial practice in southern Vanuatu reflect complex histories of interaction within and beyond the region.Item Early Metal Age Settlement at the Site of Palemba, Kalumpang, Karama Valley, West Sulawesi(2022-06-28) AnggraeniThis article is about the Early Metal Age in Sulawesi, a little known period for this region. The research is based on the 2013 excavations undertaken at Palemba, a site rediscovered after being neglected for 80 years. A well-preserved occupation layer dominated by distinctive pottery sherds with ribbed patterns produced by carved paddle impressions is dated to the Early Metal Age (ca. cal. A.D. 300). With the sherds were imported beads, fragments of iron, fiber or cloth production tools, and a stone pavement which was cut by later placement of jar burials. One of these jars contained a flexed burial of a child, a type of burial never previously found in the Karama valley. Contemporary sites closer to the river mouth are badly disturbed, so Palemba provides important evidence for inland Karama valley occupation after the decline of early Neolithic settlements.