State formation in early maritime Southeast Asia; A consideration of the theories and the data

Beads, social change and interaction between India and South-east Asia

“…The South-east Asian communities acquiring these codified ornaments also shared a set of other prestigious goods, such as Dong Son drums, the Sa Huynh ornaments and bronze knobbed ware. My hypothesis is that common status markers were used as a means of legitimisation by different South-east Asian trading communities and this could account for the cultural similarities these communities shared in more recent historical periods, a phenomenon that some scholars qualified as 'trading network culture' (Wolters 1999;Manguin 2000;Wisseman Christie 1990).…”

Development of maritime Trade Polities and diffusion of the “South China Sea Sphere of Interaction pan-regional culture”: The Khao Sek excavations and industries' studies contribution

“…Several historians of maritime polities hypothesised that these socio-political configurations crystallised during the Late Prehistoric Period (Andaya, 2008;Manguin, 2000Manguin, , 2004Wisseman Christie, 1995). However, research on Metal Age port-polities' organisation remains scarcely explored, leaving these assumptions to be grounded.…”

“…However, research on Metal Age port-polities' organisation remains scarcely explored, leaving these assumptions to be grounded. Besides the seminal works of J. Wisseman Christie and Leong Sau Heng's (Wisseman Christie, 1984/5, Wisseman Christie, 1990, Wisseman Christie, 1995Leong Sau Heng, 1990), the social and political organisation of prehistoric trading-polities' has barely been investigated in Southeast Asia, lagging behind scholarship on early centuries CE mainland early polities such as Oc Eo and Angkor Borei in the Mekong delta part of the Funan polity (Bourdonneau, 2010;Manguin and Khai, 2000;Manguin, 2004;Stark, 2006), Go Cam of the polity of Linyi and Tra Kieu the ancient capital of Champa in Central Vietnam (Yamagata and Glover, 1994;Yamagata, 1997Yamagata, , 2007. This is due to the dearth of excavation of settlements (hence ports-of-trade) and to the unappealingly poor remains they often leave in maritime settings (Junker, 2006).…”

“…To fully characterise the political structures of incipient states, it would be necessary to document and then compare several polities of similar and distinct ranks. It has been suggested that during the last centuries BCE, Late Prehistoric producer-trading incipient states in peninsular Malaysia and Sumatra may already have been involved in the exploitation and distribution of local resources for regional demand (Miksic, 1979: 255;Wisseman Christie, 1995;Manguin, 2002). Wisseman Christie thus proposed that Metal Age Malaysian peninsular lowland polities had already established relationships with upstream groups exploiting gold in exchange for lowland products during the last centuries BCE and the very early centuries CE (Wisseman Christie, 1990).…”

“…One possibility is that Khao Sek may have been created by Khao Sam Kaeo as an outpost to control the Langsuan river-system for its own benefice. Alternatively, it is possible also that regional first millennium exchange led to the development of small lowland polities at the mouths of the most significant river systems (Wisseman Christie, 1995) and that at some point during the 4th-3rd c. BCE some of these formerly autonomous coastal polities temporarily confederated under the authority of a leading one, possibly Khao Sam Kaeo. Such a confederation may have been the result of Khao Sam Kaeo's polity' ambition to expand and make his polity into a central place able to collect and trade all regionally-produced goods.…”