Some Southeast Asian history from 1000-500BC

Plain of Jars site in Laos

This is a post about Southeast Asian history from 1000-500BC. I am not an expert on this time period at all and there is much that is still unknown and being discovered by archaeologists, but the broad outlines of what I will describe here will hopefully be mostly correct. The dates presented here will be very broad estimates and may well be wildly off. This is a time before writing in this part of the world so the main sources will be entirely archaeological but I may make some references to later myths and legends.

For the purposes of this blog, Southeast Asia will be held to comprise the lands of Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia, the Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei, the archipelago of Indonesia and East Timor. There are strong reasons for including Taiwan and southern China within the remit of this piece, but these will be covered elsewhere I think.

From a linguistic perspective, the mainland of Southeast Asia was probably populated by speakers of Proto-Austroasiatic languages, which would later diverge to form language groups such as the Khmer and Vietic languages. The speakers of Austronesia languages had begun their epic migrations that would see their language family stretch from Madagascar to Easter Island. Other languages such as Tai languages group or the Lolo-Burmese portion of Sino-Tibetan were not yet much spoken in the region, as the speakers of these languages came in later migrations to the region. Agriculture had spread to nearly every part of Southeast Asia and bronze working was well known on the mainland, although it had perhaps not spread out to the island archipelagos of Indonesia and the Philippines just yet.

Plain of Jars site in Laos

At the beginning of this period, around the century of the 1000’s BC the Đồng Đậu culture in Vietnam had been replaced by the Gò Mun culture and the Dong Son culture. Further to the south of the Red River basin, in central and southern Vietnam, the Sa Huỳnh culture was beginning.

The Dong Son culture was a Bronze Age culture centred on the Red River Delta in Vietnam. They had used wet-rice agriculture to feed their people. Later Vietnamese chronicles speak of a semi-legendary Van Lang Dynasty that ruled the region around this time and far earlier. It is likely that the Van Lang are legendary, at least around this period. But it is also possible that in the following centuries that there was a kingdom called Van Lang. If this kingdom did exist, it was said to have an important citadel at Cổ Loa, where there is indeed a record of ancient settlement. As I say, I don’t want to credit the legends of the Van Lang too much, but I would not consider them entirely without foundation either.

Distribution of Dong Son drums

The Sa Huỳnh culture further to the south was another Bronze Age culture. This was situated closer to the northern shores of the Mekong Delta. They maintained an extensive trade network and seem to have had trade contacts with the Philippine Archipelago in later centuries, particularly trading for jade, which was precious throughout much of East Asia.

Around the century of the 800’s BC the Gò Mun culture seems to have come to an end. This was a culture in what is now northern Vietnam and either the people of the Gò Mun culture were conquered or assimilated into the Dong Son culture, or the material goods and cultural patterns of the Dong Son culture were perceived as superior and thus adopted by the Gò Mun culture.

Also around this time, the Xieng Khouang Plateau in Laos saw a trading society. This is interesting as it shows that trading networks were spreading into the interior regions, whereas the Sa Huỳnh and Dong Son appear to have been trading by sea.

Around the century of the 700’s BC wet rice cultivation had spread to the Indonesian Archipelago. Or more accurately, it had spread to certain areas thereof, particularly Java.

Dong Son drum

By around the century of the 600’s BC the Dong Son culture began to produce very finely worked drums in bronze. These drums were used by the chieftains and leaders of the Dong Son society and some very large drums have been found at their citadels and fortified sites. But many of these drums were also traded and many of them have found their way to other regions around Southeast Asia, where they were traded or given as gifts to high status individuals across the region.

Around the century of the 500's BC ironworking was beginning to be seen in Mandalay in what is now Burma. Iron-working had now begun to spread throughout much of the region, particularly the regions now referred to as Thailand, Laos and Cambodia. It is probable that iron-working was known in what is now the country of Vietnam, but considering that bronze-working was held in such high esteem by the cultures there, it may have delayed the onset of the Iron Age.

In what is now Laos, it is probable that the site known as the Plain of Jars began to be used. The Plain of Jars is an area on the Xieng Khouang Plateau that contains some enigmatic monuments. Great stone jars were placed across the plains. The jars were probably once lidded, but few lids survive. These megaliths, for they are carved out of single large stones, are not easy to date, as stone cannot be carbon-dated. It is suspected that these are connected in some ways with the trade routes through the region, but we cannot tell exactly who built the jars on the Plain of Jars, or why. They are perhaps one of the most fascinating megalithic sites in the world.

And thus the period draws to a close, with the beginning of the Iron Age in Southeast Asia, the long-distance Sa Huỳnh trading network, the elaborate bronze drums for the elites of the Dong Son, and the Plain of Jars for reasons that no one yet knows.

Dong Son drums

Related Blog Posts:
Some Southeast Asian history from 4000-2000BC
Some Southeast Asian history from 2000-1000BC
Some Southeast Asian history from 1000-500BC
The Plain of Jars

Some Southeast Asian history from 2000-1000BC

Reconstruction of a hunter from the archaeological site
of Ban Chiang in present-day Thailand

This is a post about Southeast Asian history from 2000-1000BC. I am not an expert on this time period at all and there is much that is still unknown and being discovered by archaeologists, but the broad outlines of what I will describe here will hopefully be mostly correct. The dates presented here will be very broad estimates and may well be wildly off. This is a time before writing in this part of the world so the main sources will be entirely archaeological but I may make some references to later myths and legends.

For the purposes of this blog, Southeast Asia will be held to comprise the lands of Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia, the Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei, the archipelago of Indonesia and East Timor. There are strong reasons for including Taiwan and southern China within the remit of this piece, but these will be covered elsewhere I think.

Axe, seen from different angles, from Samrong Sen
in present-day Cambodia

From a linguistic perspective, the mainland of Southeast Asia was probably populated by speakers of Proto-Austroasiatic languages, which would later diverge to form language groups such as the Khmer and Vietic languages. The speakers of Austronesia languages were situated in the island of Taiwan at this point in history and had not yet begun their epic migrations that would see their language family stretch from Madagascar to Easter Island. Other languages such as Tai languages group or the Lolo-Burmese portion of Sino-Tibetan were not yet much spoken in the region, as the speakers of these languages came in later migrations to the region.

Later Vietnamese writers of history identified a legendary dynasty beginning around 2800BC. This is extremely ancient and there is no real evidence to support this. The dynasty was referred to as the Hong Bang dynasty and was supposed to have ruled in what is now northern Vietnam, near the Red River Delta. This dynasty reigned over a kingdom that was supposedly called Van Lang. It should be noted that the history of Vietnam, while undoubtedly ancient, was also affected by a number of destructive wars fought with the Chinese, which seems to have destroyed a certain amount of records. As this dynasty is only really referred to by later writers from the 15th Century AD and there is no archaeological evidence for it, we should probably relegate this kingdom to the realms of legend. However, it would be correct to state that the Red River Delta would be important to the later history of the region.

Vase from different angles, from Samrong Sen in
Cambodia

Around the year 2000, regular trade contacts begin to appear between Taiwan and the Philippines. Both island groups spoke mostly Austronesian languages at this point and may have shared vaguely similar cultures. The mainland cultures in China prized jade highly and the Taiwanese islanders also became enamoured of the beautiful stone. Jade items began to be traded between the islands of the Philippines and Taiwan. In some ways this high status good had similarities to the lapis lazuli trade in the Middle East at that time. It is one of the earliest well-defined trade routes in the region.

During this period, we can be certain that wet-rice agriculture and millet farming had been introduced to areas such as Laos and northern Thailand.

In northern Vietnam the Phung Nguyen culture began to flourish. Here as well, we begin to see definite evidence of farming in a recognisable fashion. In southern Thailand the Khok Phanom Di site began to be occupied. It comprises a series of burials near habitations from the late Neolithic to the Early Bronze Age. The inhabitants of Khok Phanom Di may not have been full agriculturalists at the beginning of the settlement however, as they seem to have eaten a great deal of fish, suggesting a more hunter-gatherer lifestyle.

Around this period, the Hoabinhian stone tools begin to disappear from the archaeological record of Southeast Asia. Quite simply the older Mesolithic tools were beginning to be replaced by more sophisticated stone tools as more and more of the region became used for agriculture.

Around the century of the 1900’s BC the shell middens of Lal-lo and Gattaran, in what is now known as the Philippines, began to be used. These were situated along the Cagayan River banks, on the northern island of Luzon. The shell middens hold discarded seafood shells and other remnants of a culture. Effectively they are rubbish heaps, but archaeologically significant rubbish heaps. These people were probably Austronesian speakers but despite the existence of the middens, there is not much that can be said about this, save that these people seem to have participated in the jade trade at that time.

Reconstruction of woman painting pottery at Ban
Chiang in Thailand. This style of pottery probably
dates from the next millennium however

There is little that can be said about the next few centuries, save for the fact that agriculture became ever more widespread. Around the century of the 1500’s BC bronze smelting was in evidence at the site of Nyaunggan in what is currently Myanmar. The technology of working with bronze was probably introduced from outside the region but the dates are rather confused. The site of Ban Chiang in present-day Thailand seems to show bronze-working around this time. The Ban Chiang site is sometimes dated much earlier, but this appears to have been in error and most sources now suggest that bronze working only began in Ban Chiang around the mid-2nd millennium BC.

The Cambodian site of Samrong Sen shows evidence of bronze working around this time. The fact that the lands now referred to as Cambodia have no copper deposits suggest that the copper was imported from outside the region, thus inferring some form of trade networks.

Around this time, in the area of the Red River region in what is now northern Vietnam, the Phung Nguyen culture came to an end. The Dong Dau culture took its place. These names are only archaeological designations, as the two cultures are only differentiated by different types of pottery markings.

Dong Son Vase from Vietnam,
probably dates from the next
millennium however

Little can be said for the next few centuries, save that in the region of northern Vietnam the Go Mun culture emerged, perhaps around 1100-1000BC. Again, this was a very similar culture to the Dong Dau culture, but which had a greater variety of tools and artefacts surviving from it.

By the ending of the period, around the century of the 1000’s BC the Dong Dau culture in Vietnam had been replaced by the Go Mun culture and the Dong Son culture. Further to the south of the Red River basin, in central and southern Vietnam, the Sa Huynh culture was beginning. Both the Sa Huynh and Dong Son are rather interesting cultures but will be dealt with in future blogs.

At the beginning of this time period in Southeast Asia agriculture was only partially adopted across the region and bronze-working, if it was known, was rather limited. By the end of the millennium agriculture had spread to nearly every part of Southeast Asia and bronze working was well known on the mainland, although it had perhaps not spread out to the island archipelagos of Indonesia and the Philippines just yet.

Related Blog Posts:
Some Southeast Asian history from 4000-2000BC
Some Southeast Asian history from 2000-1000BC
Some Southeast Asian history from 1000-500BC