Asian Perspectives, 2021 - Volume 60, Number 1 (Spring)
Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://hdl.handle.net/10125/108166
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Item type: Item , In Memoriam: REMEMBERING ANNE PIKE-TAY (10 JUNE 1956 – 16 APRIL 2020)(2021-05-28) Peterson, Veronica; Burke, Ariane; Katz, Heidi; Lin, Minghao; Cosgrove, Richard; Garvey, JillianItem type: Item , In Memoriam: A Tribute to Sarah M. Nelson(2021-05-28) Barnes, Gina L; Ikawa-Smith, Fumiko; Linduff, Katheryn M.Item type: Item , Item type: Item , Item type: Item , Item type: Item , Lene Kici Cave Art: Possible Symbolic Evidence Associated with Palaeolithic Human Occupation in Timor-Leste(2021-05-28) Garcia_Diez, Marcos; Standish, Chrisopher D; Oliviera, Nuno Vasco; O'Connor, SueHand stencils are the oldest manifestations of Palaeolithic cave art. Recent archaeological field research in the Tutuala region of Timor-Leste has documented new archaeological sites at the Lene Kici caves that include Palaeolithic hand motifs and other nonfigurative motifs including a disk, dots, a triangle, and possible other geometric shapes. This study characterizes the production techniques, shapes, composition, and spatial locations of these motifs. Based on the available information and regional context, a Pleistocene chronology is considered highly probable. The context of the hand stencils suggests they were not occasional motifs; rather, they seem to have dominated the early graphic repertoire of the earliest settler groups in Southeast Asia and the islands of Wallacea.Item type: Item , Item type: Item , Gendered Households and Ceramic Assemblage Formation in the Mariana Islands, Western Pacific from Pacific Region Experience(2021-05-28) Miller, Jacy M; Moore, Darlene R; Bayman, James MThe archaeological investigation of gendered labor is vital for interpreting households in the Mariana Islands because Spanish documentary accounts are largely silent regarding their spatial organization. Preliminary analyses of excavated materials from a household on the island of Guam revealed that it comprised two adjacent buildings (latte) that were economically integrated and within which craft activities by women and men were spatially segregated. More detailed analyses of ceramic assemblages confirm that household labor was gendered in other respects. Women prepared and stored food in large ceramic vessels at the building where they also conducted craftwork, whereas men consumed food from smaller serving vessels at the adjacent building where they crafted. This household arrangement illustrates gender complementarity in a matrilineal society that also exhibited aspects of a gender hierarchy wherein women had significant power during the Late Latte and early Spanish Contact periods (ca. A.D. 1500–1700Item type: Item , To Eat or Not to Eat? Animals and Categorical Fluidity in Shang Society(2021-05-28) Jeffe, Yitzchak; Campbell, RoderickIn Shang scholarship, animals have frequently been understood in terms of religion. Animals are viewed as powerful totemic symbols of clans or fantastic vehicles connecting shamans to the spirit realm, or the central components of ritual sacrifice. Such discourses take modern Western ontological assumptions concerning human– animal and religious-secular distinctions for granted, however. Incorporating new textual and archaeological data, as well as theoretical advances made in related disciplines, we examine the consumption of animals to shed new light on the nature of Shang being, society, and animality. A wide theoretical stance is taken to untangle some of the underlying assumptions that have governed research on the Shang. The Shang world that emerges was characterized by a fluid sense of being. Some creatures were especially mutable and so assumed many functions in Shang society, from prized companions to offerings and food sources. Our findings call into question the reification of religion and ritual as spheres of action fundamentally separate from daily activities, as has often been implicitly assumed by Shang scholars. We argue that divination and offerings to the spirits and the dead were important practices of the general social economy of the Shang.Item type: Item , Two Traditions: A Comparison of Roof Tile Manufacture and Usage in Angkor and China(2021-05-28) Wong, Wai Yee Sharon; Ea, Darith; Chhay, Rachna; Tan, Boun SuyThe production of Khmer roof tiles underwent dramatic technical and stylistic changes during the pre-Angkorian (ca. C.E. 500–802) and Angkorian (C.E. 802–1431) periods. It has long been assumed that the regional expansion of Khmer political power and its intensive interregional trade and interactions with China during the Angkorian period were crucial factors in this transformation. This article presents the first integrated study on the production sequence and usage of Khmer roof tiles in Angkor (Cambodia) and its provincial centers in Northeast Thailand. Furthermore, it evaluates the extent to which the Khmer people made technological and social choices as they embraced new ceramic manufacturing technologies. Combining archaeological excavation findings with comparative analyses of two regions, this study argues that the contact the Khmer had with China motivated Khmer to begin roof tile production for elite residences and temples. The subsequent Khmer local architectural tradition is defined by distinctive production techniques of Khmer roof tiles and ancient ranking systems for roof tile usage in the greater Angkorian region. This article makes important observations about the specific choices that were made in the process of emulating the roof tile tradition. Roof tile manufacture and usage were ways for Khmer rulers to establish the legitimacy of their polities in mainland Southeast Asia.Item type: Item , A New Technological Analysis of Hoabinhian Stone Artifacts from Vietnam and its Implications for Cultural Homogeneity and Variability between Mainland Southeast Asia and South China(2021-05-28) Li, Yinghua; Lam, Thi My Dung; Hong Son, Dang; Li, Fajun; Forestier, Hubert; Zhou, Yuduan; Chen, Peng; Wang, Liiwei; He, Chengpo; Liang, TingtingThe cultural or technological variability and homogeneity of lithic industries during the transition from the Late Pleistocene to the Holocene in mainland Southeast Asia (SEA) and South China have yet to be clearly deciphered. Using typology as the main method and criterion for comparing lithic industries has failed to reveal either the character of lithic industries or their homogeneity and variability on a regional scale. This article presents a new technological analysis of Hoabinhian stone artifacts preserved in the Museum of Anthropology at the University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Vietnam National University, Hanoi and compares it with a typical Hoabinhian techno-complex from Laang Spean Cave in Cambodia and a representative cobble-tool industry from Luobidong on Hainan Island, South China. The comparisons suggest that remarkable differences in operational sequence existed not only between South China and the Hoabinhian of SEA, but also between different Hoabinhian assemblages of SEA. This study thus represents an important step forward for deciphering the homogeneity and variability of lithic industries on the larger regional scale of SEA and South China.Item type: Item , Understanding Storage Pits: An Ethno-Archaeological Study of Underground Grain Storage in Coastal Odisha, India(2021-05-28) Ansari. ShahidaPreservation of grain has been a matter of concern for humankind through time. Various types of grain storage facilities are reported from archaeological sites in India, the earliest being from the Neolithic period. Most of these are in the form of pits, which are diverse in style and fashioning. In general, archaeological pits are classified as storage pits, pit silos, dwelling pits, and garbage pits on the basis of morphology, size, and content. To understand the functional use of pits requires not only archaeological acumen in the field and scientific study in a lab but a thorough understanding of existing practices of pit construction and use. Ethnoarchaeological research in a country like India, where many such traditions are still practiced, plays a vital role in identifying grain storage pits. Ethnographically, the most popular storage methods in India are above ground, including various kinds of easily transported bamboo containers, bags, baskets, wooden and tin boxes, storage pots, jars, and clay bins. One of the few places where underground storage facilities (pits) remain in use is in the Ganjam district of Odisha. This article documents the process of underground grain storage in this district and attempts to interpret archaeological evidence for pit storage in other parts of India.Item type: Item , Addressing Tensions between Colonial and Post-Colonial Histories: Modeling Hawaiian Fort Pā‘ula‘ula/Russian Fort Elizabeth, Kaua‘i Island, Hawai‘i(2021-05-28) Molodin, Aleksander V.; Mills, Peter R.We address interpretive challenges at multicultural sites by presenting a digital reconstruction of a fort built in 1816 on Kaua‘i Island known as “Pā‘ula‘ula” or “Hīpō” in Hawaiian texts and as “Fort Elizabeth” in Russian texts. Based on archival documents, maps, photographs, and archaeological research, we create diachronic 3D models to illustrate the cultural complexities behind the site’s formation. The results of the study provide more public visibility to this poorly understood National Historic Landmark. The 3D models are intended to foster community-based engagement with academic research by providing representations of the fort and surrounding cultural landscape as it changed over time; they would also assist people in better estimating what would be necessary to design and complete a full-scale restoration of the fort.Item type: Item , Angkor Borei and Protohistoric Trade Networks: A View from the Glass and Stone Bead Assemblage(2021-05-28) Carter, Alison Kyra; Dussubieux, Laure; Stark, Miriam T.; Gilg, H. AlbertAngkor Borei, Cambodia was an important urban center related to the early first millennium C.E. polity known as Funan. Excavations in the protohistoric period Vat Komnou Cemetery site uncovered over 1300 glass and stone beads, which are important material indicators of trade. In this article, we review data from earlier studies and add new previously unpublished data on glass and stone beads from this collection as well as previously unpublished glass compositional analyses from the nearby site of Oc Eo, Vietnam. Examinations of the glass beads highlight the presence of large quantities of high alumina mineral soda glass associated with Sri Lankan or South Indian bead production as well as smaller quantities of other glass types in circulation throughout Southeast Asia. Compositional and morphological studies of agate/carnelian beads show strong affinities with the Indian bead industry, while the garnet beads came from raw material sources in southern India. Overall, Angkor Borei’s bead collection shows strong contacts with different regions of South Asia. Comparison with the bead assemblages of other contemporaneous sites demonstrate strong affinities with sites farther inland, such as Phum Snay and Prei Khmeng, Cambodia and Ban Non Wat, Thailand rather than other maritime coastal sites in Southeast Asia. We argue that the stone and glass beads at Angkor Borei are related to intensified interaction with South Asia and that elites at Angkor Borei used these exotic prestige goods to build alliances with sites farther inland forming an intraregional exchange network we call the Mekong Interaction Sphere.Item type: Item , Editor's Note(2021-05-28) Allard, Francis; Bellina-Price, Berenice; Field, Julie; Demandt, MicheleItem type: Item , Table of Contents(2021-05-28)Item type: Item , Covers 1-4(2021-05-28)