Societies Of Padang Lawas Mid Ninth Thirteenth Century Ce

This book is a proceeding from a number of papers presented in The International Symposium on Austronesian Diaspora on 18th to 23rd July 2016 at Nusa Dua, Bali, which was held by The National Research Centre of Archaeology in cooperation with The Directorate of Cultural Heritage and Museums. The symposium is the second event with regard to the Austronesian studies since the first symposium held eleven years ago by the Indonesian Institute of Sciences in cooperation with the International Centre for Prehistoric and Austronesia Study (ICPAS) in Solo on 28th June to 1st July 2005 with a theme of “the Dispersal of the Austronesian and the Ethno-geneses of People in the Indonesia Archipelago’’ that was attended by experts from eleven countries. The studies on Austronesia are very interesting to discuss because Austronesia is a language family, which covers about 1200 languages spoken by populations that inhabit more than half the globe, from Madagascar in the west to Easter Island (Pacific Area) in the east and from Taiwan-Micronesia in the north to New Zealand in the south. Austronesia is a language family, which dispersed before the Western colonization in many places in the world. The Austronesian dispersal in very vast islands area is a huge phenomenon in the history of humankind. Groups of Austronesian-speaking people had emerged in ca. 7000- 6000 BP in Taiwan before they migrated in 5000 BP to many places in the world, bringing with them the Neolithic Culture, characterized by sedentary, agricultural societies with animal domestication. The Austronesian-speaking people are distinguished by Southern Mongoloid Race, which had the ability to adapt to various types of natural environment that enabled them to develop through space and time. The varied geographic environment where they lived, as well as intensive interactions with the outside world, had created cultural diversities. The population of the Austronesian speakers is more than 380 million people and the Indonesian Archipelago is where most of them develop. Indonesia also holds a key position in understanding the Austronesians. For this reason, the Austronesian studies are crucial in the attempt to understand the Indonesian societies in relation to their current cultural roots, history, and ethno-genesis. This book discusses six sessions in the symposium. The first session is the prologue; the second is the keynote paper, which is Austronesia: an overview; the third is Diaspora and Inter-regional Connection; the fourth is Regional highlight; the fifth is Harimau Cave: Research Progress; while the sixth session is the epilogue, which is a synthesis of 37 papers. We hope that this book will inspire more researchers to study Austronesia, a field of never ending research in Indonesia.

For the last century and a half, the name of Padang Lawas, in the present province of North Sumatra, Indonesia, has been associated with a number of isolated Hindu-Buddhist remains located in the interior of the island. These remains are all the more remarkable because they form the largest Indianised archaeological complex known so far in the northern half of Sumatra, This book follows the recently published volume on archaeological researches conducted at the Si Pamutung site from 2006 until 2010. Its two main purposes are ?rstly to present and reappraise all the available sources for the ancient history of the region and, secondly, to provide an initial synthesis of the history of Padang Lawas between the mid-ninth and the end of the thirteenth century CE. As no comprehensive inventory of sculptures and other artefacts reported since the mid nineteenth century had been published, the ?rst chapter attempts to ?ll this gap by providing descriptions of Z64 items. lt is followed by four systematic studies on dozens of these items, whether stone or bronze artefacts, Furthermore, the thirteen ancient inscriptions from Padang Lawas are systematically reinvestigated or are deciphered for the ?rst time. To this epigraphic study is associated a historical study on the indigenous writing system. Two chapters present on the one hand the main results of recent archaeological research conducted in two other sites of the Barumun River Basin and, on the other a panorama of archaeological data on the Mandailing-Natal region situated west of Padang Lawas, in order to get a comprehensive and updated overview of the knowledge currently available of the area between both coasts of this part of Sumatra. In addition, the epigraphic study on Padang Lawas is supplemented with a reappraisal of inscriptions from Mt Sorik Merapi in this Mandailing-Natal region, and inscriptions from the site of Muara Takus on the banks of the upper reaches of the Kampar River.

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As a continent lying to the east of Europe, Asia has been malleable to different spatial and temporal imaginations and politics. Recent scholarship has highlighted how the seemingly self-contained regional configurations of West and Central Asia, South and Southeast Asia, and East Asia carved by the Area Studies paradigm reflect changing (geo)political and economic interests than historical or cultural roots. This volume advances the question as to what Asia is, and as to whether there existed one or many Asia(s). It seeks to explore Asian societies as interconnected formations through trajectories/networks of circulation of people, ideas, and objects in the longue durée. Moving beyond the divides of Area Studies scholarship and the arbitrary borders set by late colonial empires and the rise of post-colonial nation-states, this volume maps critically the configuration of contact zones in which mobile bodies, minds, and cultures interact to foster new images, identities, and imaginations of Asia.