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Pre-Angkor civilisation site
MALAYSIAN archaeologists on Thursday said they had discovered the main site of an ancient kingdom that predates the Angkor temples of Cambodia and could be the oldest civilisation in the region."The region" being Malaysia. Mon-Khmer civilization dates to maybe a hundred years after the time of Asoka (300 BC)... Archaeological team leader Professor Mokhtar Saidin said the find, which could lead to a rewriting of history books on the region, was made in two palm oil plantations in northern Kedah state last month. The most well-known of the Khmer states was "Funan" -- so called because we have the accounts of the country in the Chinese History of Chin. The name is cognate -- a Chinese pronunciation -- of todays' Cambodian phnom, which means "mountain." It's dated from archaeology from around 60 BC to 550 AD. Similar Buddhist kingdoms where flourishing throughout Southeast Asia at the same time, notably in Java, Bali and Sumatra. The rulers were Vedic Hindus -- the flavor of Hinduism that was in vogue before the caste system really took hold -- and there were court Brahmins and such. Written records are in Sanskrit. The populace seems to have practiced an early version of Greater Vehicle Buddhism, mixed with local animist customs and folk Hinduism -- Hanuman stories and such. Lakshmi (Lady Luck) was a favorite, as was Parvati, and there were shrines devoted to lingams and yonis. Funan's cultural (not political) sway covered most of present-day southern Vietnam to at least the upper reaches of the Malay peninsula. Today's Cambodian, Thai, Lao, and Burman cultures are rooted in the later Khmer kingdoms that produced Angkor Wat. These in their turn are rooted in the Funan kingdoms. The Burman culture, I believe, has more Mon influence. The Thais and Laos, as they migrated from South China, absorbed most the the resident Khmers and the related forest tribes. The Burmans, coming from the other direction, absorbed the Mons and the forest tribes, but not as thoroughly. He said buildings found at the site indicate it was part of the ancient Hindu kingdom of Bujang which existed in the area some time in the third century AD, predating the Angkor civilisation of Cambodia which flourished from the 12th to 14th centuries. I said that. Bujang wasn't the big city, as far as pre-Angkor civilizations go. The Angkor-era kings (at least eight of whom were named "Jayavarman" (Protege of Victory) and one Jaya Paramesvaravarman) and the Java kings that built Borobadur were the big time. You can still see milestones they laid down for the roads they built. 'We have dated artifacts from what we belive are an administration building and an iron smelter to 1,700 BP (years before present) which sets the Bujang civilisation between the third and fourth century AD,' he told AFP. 'We have only one date so far so we can say it is one of the earliest civilisations in the region but with more dates we will be able to verify whether it is the oldest civilisation in the region,' he added. It's not, unless your definition of "the region" doesn't include anything but Malaysia. But the remains of the peripheral Mon principalities are pretty rare, which is its significance. Malaysia at the time was pretty primitive in most places. It was peopled by folks related to Australian aborigines, who survive today in the Sakai tribes. The Malays are later arrivals, of Melanesian stock, coming by way of Indonesia. They're cut off from the Indianized Southeast Asian cultural strain by their conversion to Islam. The Malay sultans used to hop on their elephants and stage Sakai hunts on the weekends. I'd just like to add that much of Malaysia is still "pretty primitive" in many places, especially the island of Borneo. Peninsular Malaysia is very cosmopolitan in comparison to the Malay section of Borneo. Mr Mokhtar said the iron smelter was a surprise find as it showed that such an early civilisation was already quite advanced technologically. 'We have 30 more mounds at the site that have to be excavated and we are hoping to also find the port area for the kingdom as it was near the sea,' he added. The Mon people were related to the Khmer -- the language group is called "Mon-Khmer" -- and migrated first west, then south. Burmese is a member of the Tibeto-Burman language group. Most of the hill and forest tribes speak languages that fall into one or the other group. 'This will give us a clue to how the civilisation was trading and influenced by China and India, who would have been the two main powers back then to have influenced development in this region.' Much, much more India than China. There were occasional Chinese travelers, who recorded their expeditions, and probably a lot more traders who didn't, but the civilization and the bulk of the trade came from India. Curiously, there have also been Roman coins found at Funan archeological sites, and a few at the later Oc Eo (Chinese Chan la) sites -- Oc Eo and Champa being the immediate successors to Funan. At one point Funan and the young kingdom of Champa attacked the Chinese territory of Tonkin, present-day northern Vietnam. Malaysian archaeologists last month also announced the discovery of stone tools they believe are more than 1.8 million years old and the earliest evidence of human ancestors in South-east Asia. The stone hand-axes were discovered last year in the historical site of Lenggong in northern Perak state, embedded in a type of rock formed by meteorites. That has nothing whatsoever to do with the principality or kingdom of Bujang. [The above not guaranteed 100 percent accurate, since it was written off the top of my head.] Posted by: Fred 2009-03-06 |
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