Why have there been no major expeditions to southeast asia? I’ve always wondered why my home region was never a centre of native civilisation, while India and China were home to millions of findings. I know that there must have been some activity there, but I think they were obscured by the rising sea levels that drowned most of southern southeast asia, forming the islands of Indonesia and Philippines. Can anyone help explain the history of this area to me?
Besides the flooding, another reason might be the generally very humid climate and soil. It doesn’t preserve archaological remains very well.
There must have been something, though. Human remains there go back at least a million years, including Pithecanthropus (now called Homo erectus).
I know that the climate of the area is horrible for preserving artifacts, but are there any findings that at least illustrate the lives of the prehistoric people, such as the waves of migrations, the origins of the people, and how it ties to the Austronesian spectrum?
Here’s volume 11 of the Southeast Asian Archeology International Newsletter. (I’m not sure where volumes 1-10 are). That has articles about textile manufacture in Stone Age Laos, and archeological finds from prehistoric Vietnam. There’s also reference to dissertations about the health of prehistoric Thais, and pottery in prehistoric Thailand.
You might want to look at other work by the researchers.
Sorry…here it is.
I think I’ve already seen that link, but thanks anyway. What I want to know is a very detailed description of the polynesian migration, and southeast asian civilisation before India and China’s influence.
I’m not familiar with any on-line sources for what you’re seeking, but the bibliography for chapters 15, 16, and 17 in Jared Diamond’s Guns, Germs, and Steel seem to have quite a few references to the sort of thing you are asking.
(A book that he mentions more than once is Man on the Rim: The Peopling of the Pacific by Alan Thorne and Robert Raymond (North Ryde: Angus and Robertson, 1989).)