Ancient Kedah Kingdom: Interpretations Based on Archaeological Studies

The importance of Gupta-period sculpture to the art of South Asia, Southeast Asia, and East Asia has been stressed by many scholars for over a century. The Gupta Period is roughly the fourth-sixth centuries during which the Gupta dynasty controlled much of north India. The Gupta-period artistic style was fairly consistent and emphasised an idealised naturalism that has been praised for its artistic excellence. It is also seen to have relationships with some of the earliest art that developed in Southeast Asia. My paper outlines how these relationships can be defined. It places the Gupta-related art into the context of other Indian art, of Sri Lankan art, of Chinese art, and then each of these with Southeast Asian art. It aims to question several of the standard scholarly assumptions made in regard to the relationship of Gupta-period and Southeast Asian art. WHAT IS GUPTA-PERIOD ART? The Gupta dynasty began rule in 320, reached its political zenith around 400, and was losing its strength a century later, by around 500. There is very little art that can be attributed to the fourth century, during the initial decades of Gupta political growth. Indeed there is little art in north India that can be placed in this century, following the end of the Kushan dynastic control and the rise of the Guptas. The Guptas themselves appear not to have been patrons of sculpture or temples, as we have no sculpture and only a few temple remains that were patronized by them. Their interest in visual arts seems limited to coins, with their gold coins reaching a high level of artistic excellence. Members of the Vakataka dynasty, linked through marriage with the Guptas, were, on the other hand, major patrons of both Hindu and Buddhist sculpture and temples. The Buddhist cave temples at Ajanta were done under the Vakatakas in the second half of the fifth century. By the middle of the sixth century we can say the Gupta-period style of art is ending, and during the seventh-century, sculpture in north India will become transformed into a much more formalised, flattened, and conceptual style.

Abstrak- Berbagai prinsip dan tradisi arsitektur klasik India telah dikumpulkan dan dilestarikan dalam kajian yang dikenal sebagai Vāstuśāstra. Cabang keilmuan klasik India ini merupakan perwujudan arsitektural dari nilai-nilai Hindu ideal, dan karena itulah ide-ide di dalamnya memiliki pengaruh signifikan terhadap arsitektur keagamaan dalam wilayah budaya India Raya yang mencapai Pulau Jawa kuno. Pengaruh India dapat dikenali dalam desain candi Hindu di Jawa era Dinasti Śailendra meskipun terdapat sejumlah elemen arsitektural yang tidak ditemukan dalam vāstuśāstra. Namun, berbeda dengan agama Hindu yang memiliki kajian vāstuśāstra, agama Buddha tidak memiliki kajian seperti vāstuśāstra ataupun kuil Buddha yang berdiri sendiri sehingga, sumber yang dipakai sebagai panduan dalam membangun bangunan arsitektur Buddha dipertanyakan dalam Candi Buddha di Indonesia, khususnya Candi Buddha di Jawa Tengah era Mataram Kuno Dinasti Śailendra. Meskipun ajaran Buddha dan beberapa bagian dalam kajian vāstuśāstra diketahui turut berperan dalam pembangunan Candi Buddha di Indonesia, seberapa jauh aliran Buddha dan vāstuśāstra India diterapkan dalam candi sulit untuk diamati, mengingat tidak adanya kajian khusus dan referensi kuil Buddha yang berdiri sendiri untuk membangun Candi Buddha, dan narasumbernya yang sudah tidak ada. Dengan mencari informasi mengenai teori arsitektur ajaran-ajaran Buddha yang masuk ke Indonesia dan mengidentifikasi serta membandingkan bagian-bagian vāstuśāstra yang relevan, maka dapat terlihat elemen arsitektural apa saja yang merupakan bagian dari konsep ajaran Buddha tertentu serta yang merupakan bagian dari kajian vāstuśāstra. Dalam penelitian, metode deskriptif dan pendekatan kualitatif digunakan oleh penulis. Penulis berfokus pada sosok dan ornamen serta tata massa dan ruang. Penelitian ini mengumpulkan dan membandingkan berbagai bagian vāstuśāstra yang relevan serta beberapa konsep ajaran Buddha untuk dibandingkan dengan data dari duabelas sampel candi era Mataram Kuno Dinasti Śailendra. Perbandingan oleh penulis menunjukkan sejumlah hasil. Pertama, terdapat penerapan konsep mahāyāna, vajrayāna, dan kitab mānasāra pada elemen sosok, ornamen, tata massa, dan ruang candi Buddha di Jawa Tengah. Namun begitu, sejumlah detil arsitektural dari elemen-elemen tersebut memiliki perbedaan yang kentara dengan penuturan dalam vāstuśāstra. Sebagai contoh, beberapa penempatan Kala-Makara yang tidak mengikuti kitab mānasāra. Kedua, dengan adanya penerapan konsep mānasāra pada candi Buddha di Jawa Tengah membuktikan bahwa adanya pengaruh Hindu dikarenakan hubungan harmonis antara Buddha dan Hindu pada jaman tersebut. Ketiga, kuil Buddha free-standing pertama adalah Candi Batujaya 5/Blandongan (abad 2-3 M dan 7-10 M) karena kuil Mahabodhi di India baru dibangun seperti yang kita lihat sekarang pada restorasi fase 6 (tahun 700-800 M/abad 8 M).

Application of microwave heating techniques to the detoxification of contaminated soils

In the 16th and 17th centuries, Faifo (Hoi An, Quang Nam province) emerged as one of the busiest international trading ports in Southeast Asia in general and in Vietnam in particular. At the same time, in Europe, Portugal and its formidable navy discovered a new maritime route to Asia. Using this knowledge, the Portuguese became one of the first Western states to explore this part of the world and laid the foundation for trade and missionary activities in a number of different countries and locations there. Among them, Faifo (in Vietnam) was a notable example. In fact, for almost a century (from the second half of the 16th century to the middle of the 17th century), the Portuguese had established business relationships and played an important role in trading activities in Faifo. Meanwhile, the Portuguese Crown strongly supported the Jesuit priests, aiding them in becoming the first Catholic missionary force based in Vietnam, thereby allowing for the introduction and spread of Christianity in Faifo as well as in other locations around Cochinchina. However, at the end of the 17th century, for a number of different factors, Portugal gradually lost its important role in trading and missionary activities in the port of Faifo. This article examines the Portuguese commercial and missionary activities in Faifo in the 16th and 17th centuries. It also aims to make a specific contribution to clarifying the relationship of exchange between Vietnam and Portugal in the 16th and 17th centuries.

The ancient Pyu of Burma. Volume one. Early Pyu cities in a man-made landscape. By Janice Stargardt. pp. xxix, 416, 135 figs. 16 pl., 3 aerial photographs of sites and 3 associated archaeological maps in pocket. Cambridge, Publications on Ancient Civilisations in South East Asia (PACSEA) in association with the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies (ISEAS) Singapore, 1990. £47.00 (cloth), £27.00 (paperback). - Volume 2 Issue 1

چکیده هنر جواهر سازی در کنار هنرهای دیگر دوره هخامنشیان نمایانگر شکوه و عظمت امپراطوری کورش کبیر و جانشینانش بود.نقوش و نمادهای منقور بر جواهرات و زیورآلات دوره هخامنشیان، در واقع نموداری از پیشینه ی باورها و اعتقادات کهن ایران باستان است که در قالب هنر عصر هخامنشیان خلاصه می شود.کاربرد این مفاهیم نمادین در هنر جواهر سازی این دوره، متاثر از عناصر فرهنگی، دین، مذهب و اساطیر ادوار قبل و نیز تأثیر پذیری از مناطق همجوار امپراطوری هخامنشیان است. هدف از این پژوهش شناخت و مطالعه ی برخی از نمادها و مفاهیم اساطیری است که به صورت برجسته در هنر جواهر سازی و زیورالات دوره هخامنشی به کار رفته است.در این مقاله با بررسی نقوش منقور بر نمونه هایی از این آثار مانند دست بندها، گردن بندها و گوشواره ها در موزه بریتانیا، مهیو، بوستون و لوور، مشخص گردید که بازتاب باورها و اعتقادات در قالب مفاهیم نمادین در هنر آن دوره به ویژه هنر جواهر سازی به روشنی دیده می شود.شاهد این ادعا نقوش و مفاهیم نمادینی است که به کرات در آثار هنری هخامنشیان می توان دید، از جمله استفاده از شیر- دال(گریفین) که یک موجود ترکیبی است در دستبند یا بازوبند، نمایش فروهر در قالب گردنبند و همچنین استفاده از خدای بس در گوشواره و آویزهای تزیینی است.

Human occupation and geomorphological evolution of the Thessaloniki Plain (Greece) since mid Holocene

The present study evolved out of an attempt to explore the mechanisms involved in the transformation of a social practice and its spatial context from one cultural, technological and architectural system to another in a given geographical area in classical antiquity. The practice chosen was that of the bath, the two main and overlapping cultural traditions were the Greek and the Roman and the two technological traditions are termed in the present study 'before' and 'after' the hypocaust. The geographical area covered in the study is that of modern Greece with a more detailed analysis of the Peloponnese. Chapter 1 presents the description and classification of the different bathing traditions which appeared in the Greek territory before the 6th century BC, when the first relevant evidence becomes present in the archaeological record. The evolution of bath architecture in Italy, the main characteristics of the Roman bathing tradition, the spatial configuration of the bath in the Roman culture and finally the different kinds of typological classifications used by scholars are described in Chapter 2. In Chapter 3 the two basic bathing traditions which appear in Greece in classical antiquity are analyzed following the classification scheme which was described in the introductory chapter. The final chapter looks at the key issues of the Hellenization of the Roman bathing tradition, the Romanization of the bathing traditions of the Greek world and the long term evolution of the bath in antiquity are readdressed in the light of the present research.

Indian architecture progressed time to time with the assimilation of many influences that occurs as a result of India's global discourse with other regions of the world throughout its millennia-old past. The architecture of India is rooted back in its ancient civilization, culture and religion. Architectural methods practiced in India are a result of examination and implementation of its established building traditions and outside cultural interactions. The traditional Vastu Shastra remains influential in throughout India's architectural styles during the contemporary era. Dravidian architecture is an architectural idiom in Hindu temple architecture that emerged in the southern part of the Indian subcontinent or South India, reaching its final form by the sixteenth century. It consists predominantly of Hindu temples where the feature is the high gopura or gatehouse and large temples. All the majority of structures are located in the Southern Indian states of Karnataka, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala and Tamil Nadu. Various kingdoms and empires which ruled south India such as the Cholas, the Chera, the Kakatiyas, the Pandyas, the Pallavas, the Gangas, the Rashtrakutas, the Chalukyas, the Hoysalas, and Vijayanagara Empire among others have made substantial contribution to the evolution of Dravidian architecture. This style of architecture can also be found in parts of North India of Teli ka Mandir Gwalior, Bhitargaon Baitala Deula, Bhubaneshwar, Northeastern and central Sri Lanka also, having unique features of architectural styles in India.

Malaria has had a major impact on the life and economies of affected populations since antiquity. Ancient Assyrian, Chinese and Indian religious and medical texts made references to intermittent and seasonal fevers. Hippocrates in 500Bc first described the clinical features of malaria and some of its complication. Association of fever with stagnant water and swamps, led to the drainage of such waters by the Greeks and Romans in the 4th, 5th and 6th century BC. In the early 17th century, the “Peruvian Bark” or Jesuits Powder” was discovered to be of value in the treatment of certain fevers. The tree was later to be named cinchona from which quinine was extracted in 1820. Such fever was known as the agues in England, in Italy as mal'aria and in France as Palludisme due to their association with the fetid air of marshlands. Malaria was an effective obstacle to the colonization of the African heartland by the European Powers in the 16-19th centuries; till quinine chemoprophylaxis was introduced in 1850. Significant progress was made in the understanding of malaria with the description by Laveran of malaria parasites in blood film in 1880. Ronald Ross in 1891 demonstrated the development of malaria parasites in mosquitoes. Patrick Mansion in a series by field experiments confirmed the transmission of malaria by the bite of Anopheles mosquitoes in 1900. The worldwide distribution of malaria peaked by the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th country. Apart from the tropics and subtropics, it was common in the temperate lands including the USA, Europe, Northern Eurasia and Asia. In the early part of the 20th century larvicidal and natural methods were engaged to control vector breeding. The ravages of malaria during the World Wars, and the scarcity of quinine stimulated research into discovery of synthetic antimalarials. This resulted in the introduction of pamaquine in 1924 (Germany), mepecrine 1930 (Germany), chloroquine1934 (Germany), proguanil 1944 (England) amodioquine 1946, primaquine 1950 and pyrimethamine in 1952 (USA). DDT, (dichlorodiphenyl –trichloroethane ) with residual insecticidal action was discovered in Switzerland in late 1940 raising great hopes for the prospect of global malaria eradication. In 1957 the world health organization launched the Global Malaria Eradication Campaign. The programming went on for the next 15 year with excellent results in North America, Europe, Former USSR, part of Asia and Australia. The result in tropical countries was less dramatic. Malaria continues to be a major cause of human morbidity and mortality. It is the world's largest killer of all parasitic diseases and a major public health problem. Although malaria has been eradicated in most temperate zones, it still affects 40% of the world population living in endemic zones of the tropics and subtropics namely; Central and South America, Hispaniola, Sub-Saharan Africa, the Indian subcontinent, South East Asia, Middle East and Oceania [Fig. 1]. Current malaria facts and figures are daunting: worldwide, 2.4 million people are at risk of malaria, with 300 to 500 million people affected annually. Malaria results in 1 to 3 million deaths annually with 90% of the deaths occurring in sub-Saharan Africa. Most of the deaths are of under 5-year old children. In Africa, malaria is the leading cause of under 5 mortality as it kills an African child every 30seconds. It makes up 10% of the disease burden, contributing 30% to 50% of inpatient admissions and 50% of outpatient consultation. Malaria accounts for 40% of public health expenditure and reduces the annual GDP by 1-4%. Key Words: malaria, severe disease, resistance Orient Journal of Medicine Vol.16(2) 2004: 38-58

Dogs originated more than 14,000 BP, but the location(s) where they first arose is uncertain. The earliest archeological evidence of ancient dogs was discovered in Europe and the Middle East, some 5-7 millennia before that from Southeast Asia. However, mitochondrial DNA analyses suggest that most modern dogs derive from Southeast Asia, which has fueled the controversial hypothesis that dog domestication originated in this region despite the lack of supporting archeological evidence. We propose and investigate with Y chromosomes an alternative hypothesis for the proximate origins of dogs from Southeast Asia--a massive Neolithic expansion of dogs from this region that largely replaced more primitive dogs to the west and north. Previous attempts to test matrilineal findings with independent patrilineal markers have lacked the necessary genealogical resolution and mutation rate estimates. Here, we used Y chromosome genotypes, composed of 29 single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNPs) and 5 single tandem repeats (STRs), from 338 Australian dingoes, New Guinea singing dogs, and village dogs from Island Southeast Asia, along with modern European breed dogs, to estimate the evolutionary mutation rates of Y chromosome STRs based on calibration to the independently known age of the dingo population. Dingoes exhibited a unique haplogroup characterized by a single distinguishing SNP mutation and 14 STR haplotypes. The age of the European haplogroup was estimated to be only 1.7 times older than that of the dingo population, suggesting an origin during the Neolithic rather than the Paleolithic (as predicted by the Southeast Asian origins hypothesis). We hypothesize that isolation of Neolithic dogs from wolves in Southeast Asia was a key step accelerating their phenotypic transformation, enhancing their value in trade and as cargo, and enabling them to rapidly expand and replace more primitive dogs to the West. Our findings also suggest that dingoes could have arrived in Australia directly from Taiwan, independently of later dispersals of dogs through Thailand to Island Southeast Asia.

According to Tamil inscriptions in Sri Lanka, we can get to know some information on trade relations between Sri Lanka and South India. In this study, the information on the trade relations between Sri Lanka and South India in the Tamil inscriptions found in Sri Lanka is studied investigative. This study was conducted under the research problem of, what information is contained in Sri Lankan Tamil inscriptions about the trade relationship between Sri Lanka and South India. And this aimed to obtain information on the economic connection between Sri Lanka and South India through Tamil inscriptions found in Sri Lanka. This whole research depends on the readings of Tamil inscriptions found in Sri Lanka. Hence, this could be categorized as desktop research and conducted as qualitative research. To collect data, I used library and museum studies under the secondary data collection method and later analyzed them. In this study, I got data from Tamil inscriptions found in the Anuradhapura, Kalutara, and Kurunegala districts and, the Sinhala inscription of Queen Lilawathi. Those inscriptions mention some South Indian trade corporations, that have been involved in foreign trade in Sri Lanka such as Ainnurruvar, and Nanadeshi. Weerakoti and Nanadeshi, which can be trusted as Ainnurruvar trade corporation and its affiliates, also appear to have been involved in foreign trade. The inscriptions state that the trading companies built and sponsored Buddhist and Hindu temples in the country. There were trade cities in Sri Lanka that were associated with trade corporations in Real-time and also tax collection was associated with those corporations. It can be concluded that during the Polonnaruwa period, South Indian trade corporations were active in Sri Lanka and Sri Lanka remained an economic hub.

Excavations at Non Nok Tha, in Northeast Thailand in 1965-1968 revealed for the first time in Southeast Asia, a stratigraphic transition from the Neolithic into the Bronze Age. Based on conventional charcoal radiocarbon determinations, early reports identified fourth millennium bronze casting. The proposed length of the prehistoric sequence, and the division of the Neolithic to Bronze age mortuary sequence into at least 11 phases, has stimulated a series of social interpretations all of which have in common, a social order based on ascriptive ranking into at least two groups which saw increased hierarchical divisions emerge with the initial Bronze Age. This paper presents the results of a new dating initiative, based on the ultrafiltration of human bones. The results indicate that the initial Neolithic occupation took place during the 14th century BC. The earliest Bronze Age has been placed in the 10th centuries BC. These dates are virtually identical with those obtained for the sites of Ban Chiang and Ban Non Wat. Compared with the elite early Bronze Age graves of Ban Non Wat, Non Nok Tha burials display little evidence for significant divisions in society.

Archaeological and historical studies, conducted since 1950, allow us to trace a hypothetical demographic framework in which three crises attributed by scholars to unfavourable social-economic situations or to war aggression, can be observed. The comparison with volcanological studies highlights the occurrence during the crisis of volcanic events that can affect the local anthropic history. The first crisis occurred in 4th millennium BC involved all the Aeolian Islands and in particular Contrada Diana the main Neolithic site of Lipari. During the Diana Spatarella facies are documented the reduction of the coastal settlement of Contrada Diana, the choice to inhabit the Rocca del Castello, and the settlements development on areas protected from the volcanic activity. These facts support the hypothesis that Contrada Diana could be exposed to the effects of the tsunami waves caused by Sciara del Fuoco collapse of Stromboli, and indirectly to the eruptions of Gran Cratere of Vulcano that also caused problems to the sailors travelling from mainland to Lipari and back. The second crisis located between 9th and 6th century BC could be similarly caused by the effects of the strong eruptive phase occurred 2.9 ka at Vulcano and the tsunami produced by another sector collapse occurred at the end of the Neostromboli. As during the first crisis, even the navigation from mainland to Lipari will have been involved making difficult this destination. The third crisis is happened in the historical period between 6th and 11th century with a possible peak during the eruption of Monte Pilato occurred in 776 AD in the NE sector of the Lipari.

This paper reviews the existing hypotheses concerning the cultural shift from the Ancient Cult (AC) to the Birdman Cult (BC) that occurred on Easter Island (Rapa Nui) during the last millennium and introduces a holistic new hypothesis called CLAFS (Climate-Landscape-Anthropogenic Feedbacks and Synergies), which considers a variety of potential drivers of cultural change and their interactions. The CLAFS hypothesis can be tested with future paleoecological studies on new sedimentary sequences such as the new continuous and coherent record encompassing the last millennium from Rano Kao (KAO08-03) using a combination of pollen, non-pollen palynomorphs (NPP), charcoal, and fecal lipid analyses, at decadal to multidecadal resolution. The Kao record should be compared with other continuous records of the last millennium available for the two other freshwater bodies of the island, Rano Aroi and Rano Raraku, to obtain an island-wide perspective of spatio-temporal deforestation patterns in relation to climatic shifts and human activities. The CLAFS hypothesis predicts that the shift from the AC to the BC was associated with the drying out and deforestation of Rano Raraku (the center of the AC) by ~1,570 CE, followed by human migration to Rano Kao (the social center of the BC), where freshwater and forests were still available. Under the CLAFS scenario, this migration would have occurred by ~1,600 CE. Findings to the contrary would require modification and refinement, or outright rejection, of the CLAFS hypothesis and the consideration of alternate hypotheses compatible with new paleoecological evidence. Regardless the final results, archeological evidence will be required to link climatic and ecological events with cultural developments. © 2018 Rull, Montoya, Seco, Cañellas-Boltà, Giralt, Margalef, Pla-Rabes, D'Andrea, Bradley and Sáez.