Lia Genovese

Cultural policies in Southeast Asia are as diverse as the multitude of ethnic groups in the region. With the exception of Thailand, until the Second World War, Southeast Asia consisted of protectorates or colonies, controlled by Britain, France and the Netherlands, with the Philippines under US influence. For the most part, research schools and contemporary cultural heritage practices in these countries have their roots in colonial times. Although Thailand escaped direct colonisation, European influence seeped in through the demarcation of border lands claimed by France and Britain. This essay discusses research institutions and cultural heritage policies in Southeast Asia by reference to colonial legacies in relation to non-colonised Thailand

Cultural policies in Southeast Asia are as diverse as the multitude of ethnic groups in the region. With the exception of Thailand, until the Second World War, Southeast Asia consisted of protectorates or colonies, controlled by Britain, France and the Netherlands, with the Philippines under US influence. For the most part, research schools and contemporary cultural heritage practices in these countries have their roots in colonial times. Although Thailand escaped direct colonisation, European influence seeped in through the demarcation of border lands claimed by France and Britain. This essay discusses research institutions and cultural heritage policies in Southeast Asia by reference to colonial legacies in relation to non-colonised Thailand

Katherine Routledge and Madeleine Colani, two pioneering European archaeologists, were born in August 1866. Routledge's groundbreaking study of the Easter Island moai was made possible by her family's vast wealth, while Colani's tenacity overcame humble beginnings, and a childhood marred by war, to triumph academically and secure scientific missions to the Plain of Jars in Laos. A century ago, perseverance and commitment allowed these women to create their own legacies through challenging archaeological explorations in the autumn of their lives. Both women defied male authority and refused to conform to gender expectations, but met with unequal success in the personal sphere. The year that international prehistorians saluted Colani as one of their own, Routledge met a lonely death in a mental institution. This article discusses their scholarship, the environment in which they operated and the value of their respective legacies.

This research report summarises ongoing fieldwork at the Plain of Jars in Laos and details megalithic artefacts in newly-discovered sites populated with jars fashioned from a variety of rocks. With two exceptions, the jars at these remote sites are in single digits and are not accompanied by plain or decorated stone discs, used as burial markers or for commemorative purposes. The sites’ isolated location bears implications for the geographical reach of the Plain of Jars by widening our understanding of this megalithic tradition in Mainland Southeast Asia.

This paper stems from data collected during fieldwork in the Laotian provinces of Xieng Khouang and Luang Prabang and in Malaysia’s Sabah province. It compares and contrasts the stone jars of Laos and the menhirs of Sabah, with particular focus on the supernatural qualities ascribed to stone. Jars and menhirs are expressions of a wider megalithic art, the former sculpted from a single boulder and the latter generally set vertically into the ground, plain and undecorated. Shape does not impact the stone’s perceived unearthly powers, whose spirit can manifest itself as easily from a jar as from a menhir. The relatively young age of the Sabah menhirs, estimated at 300 years, has been instrumental in assembling testimonies about their functions and ways in which communities interact with, and react to, their perceived paranormal qualities. The date of the Laotian jars is Iron Age. Keywords : Plain of Jars, Laos, megaliths, Iron Age, Sabah, menhirs, stone, spirits Abstrak Kertas kerja in...

This article traces the process to inscribe Lao PDR’s Plain of Jars as
a World Heritage (WH) Property, from a Tentative Listing in 1992 to the official inscription in 2019. After discussing the criteria for proposing eleven archaeological sites from a total inventory of 100 sites, and the Advisory Bodies’ evaluation, the article will summarise future challenges inherent in a WH listing, from increased visitation to tourism-led development. Local involvement and village contracts will be essential for day-to-day maintenance, as will protection through national
and international instruments to preserve a property’s outstanding universal value on which this prestigious accolade is granted.

This research report summarises ongoing fieldwork at the Plain of Jars in Laos and details megalithic artefacts in newly-discovered sites populated with jars fashioned from a variety of rocks. With two exceptions, the jars at these remote sites are in single digits and are not accompanied by plain or decorated stone discs, used as burial markers or for commemorative purposes. The sites' isolated location bears implications for the geographical reach of the Plain of Jars by widening our understanding of this megalithic tradition in Mainland Southeast Asia.

The stone jars of Laos have been silent witnesses to countless historical events, suffering incursions late in the 19th century at the hands of defeated Yunnanese marauders, erroneously identified as ‘Haw’, who extorted taxes and “terrorized inhabitants”. More recently, opposing factions vied for control of the Plain of Jars during the Vietnam war, resulting in a sandstone jar flown to the USA as a gift to the American people from Gen. Vang Pao, leader of the Hmong army, as testimony of his authority in briefly regaining control of Xieng Khouang in April 1970.

On 6 July 2019, at the 43rd Meeting of the World Heritage Committee, the Megalithic Jar Sites of Xieng Khouang were inscribed on UNESCO’s List of World Heritage Monuments in the Cultural Sites category (https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1587). This is the third World Heritage listing for Laos, following inscriptions in 2001 for Vat Phou (https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/481) and in 1995 for the Town of Luang Prabang (https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/479).

To be inscribed on the World Heritage List, sites must be of outstanding universal value (OUV) and meet at least one out of 10 selection criteria. The criteria (http://whc.unesco.org/en/criteria) are regularly revised by the World Heritage (WH) Committee to reflect the evolution of the World Heritage concept itself.

This paper stems from data collected during fieldwork in the Laotian provinces of Xieng Khouang and Luang Prabang and in Malaysia's Sabah province. It compares and contrasts the stone jars of Laos and the menhirs of Sabah, with particular focus on the supernatural qualities ascribed to stone. Jars and menhirs are expressions of a wider megalithic art, the former sculpted from a single boulder and the latter generally set vertically into the ground, plain and undecorated. Shape does not impact the stone's perceived unearthly powers, whose spirit can manifest itself as easily from a jar as from a menhir. The relatively young age of the Sabah menhirs, estimated at 300 years, has been instrumental in assembling testimonies about their functions and ways in which communities interact with, and react to, their perceived paranormal qualities. The date of the Laotian jars is Iron Age.

Keywords: Plain of Jars, Laos, megaliths, Iron Age, Sabah, menhirs, stone, spirits

(SEMANGAT BATU, DARI PEDALAMAN LAOS KE SABAH, MALAYSIA)

Abstrak

Kertas kerja ini merupakan sebahagian daripada data yang dikumpul melalui kerja lapangan di daerah Xieng Khouang dan Luang Prabang, Laos, dan di Sabah, Malaysia. Kajian ini membandingkan dan membezakan antara guci batu Laos dan menhir Sabah, terutamanya ciri-ciri ghaib yang diasosiasikan kepada batu tersebut. Guci batu dan menhir merupakan sebahagian daripada kebudayaan megalitik. Guci batu diukir daripada batu tunggal manakala menhir biasanya diletak berdiri tegak atas tanah tanpa hiasan pada permukaannya. Bentuk batu tidak mempengaruhi kuasa ghaibnya, memandangkan semangat atau roh boleh menunjukkan kekuasaannya sama ada dalam guci batu atau menhir. Pentarikhan menhir Sabah yang secara relatifnya muda, iaitu sekitar 300 tahun, memainkan peranan yang penting dalam mengkaji fungsi menhir, dan cara komuniti berinteraksi serta bertindak balas terhadap ciri-ciri ghaib yang dipercayai dimiliki oleh menhir. Guci batu Laos dipertarikhkan kepada Zaman Besi.

Kata kunci: Dataran Jars, Laos, guci batu megalitik, Sabah, menhir, batu, semangat

In 1929, a series of events steered the École française d’Extrême-Orient
(EFEO) to the study of Indochina’s prehistory and the Plain of Jars in
Laos. The EFEO was founded in December 1898 when Paul Doumer,
Governor General of Indochina, decided to establish a permanent
archaeological mission in Saigon. By his order, the Geological Survey
of Indochina (GSI) was also formed in Hanoi during his governorship.
For the next three decades, research at the EFEO centred on the study
and documentation of Asia’s languages and cultures, attracting talented
linguists and art historians, mostly from Metropolitan France. In the
late 1920s, Louis Finot, Victor Goloubew, P.V. van Stein Callenfels
and George Coedès each played a role in the transition to the study of
Indochina’s prehistory and the Plain of Jars of Laos, with Madeleine
Colani as a key player. This chapter recounts the EFEO’s involvement
in researching the prehistory of Indochina and the first archaeological
exploration to the Plain of Jars.

An opinion piece on the devastating consequences following the collapse of a saddle dam on 23 July 208 in the province of Attapeu, Champasak province, Lao PDR. The Xe Pian-Xe Nam Noy reservoirs collapsed, releasing billions of cubic feet of water. Over 6,000 people were evacuated to emergency shelters. The flood caused severe damage to private property and infrastructure. The dam collapse also affected villages downstream in Cambodia. Xe Pian-Xe Nam Noy hydropower project is financed by companies from South Korea (SK Engineering and Korea Western Power), Thailand’s Ratchaburi Electricity Generating Holding and the Lao government.

The Plain of Jars is a series of archaeological sites located in the Xieng Khouang and Luang Prabang Provinces of north Laos, populated with megaliths attributed to the late Iron Age of Southeast Asia. The thesis combines the historical study of this area in relation to the colonial institutions in Laos from 1893 to the early 1940s, with my new mapping of the jar sites based on extensive original documentation. The historical focus is the French archaeologist Madeleine Colani (1866-1943), author of a two-volume monograph on the Plain of Jars (Mégalithes du Haut-Laos, 1935). The events leading up to the first archaeological mission to the Plain of Jars in May 1931, led by Colani under the auspices of the École Française d'Extrême-Orient (EFEO), are analysed. Also addressed is academic interaction between Dutch researchers in Indonesia and their French counterparts in Indochina and how these exchanges led to the first Far-Eastern Prehistory Congress held in Hanoi in January 1932. Under-researched or undocumented aspects of jar form are discussed, together with a sequence of carving steps based on my observations at quarries and jar sites. An expanded site distribution is analysed in relation to sources of stone and historical routes. The thesis re-contextualizes Colani's work in her time and with new survey and production matter, redefines jar design and iconography, the spatial distribution of sites and their close relationship to the places and processes of manufacture. Regional comparisons are explored and discussed in relation to megaliths and material culture from archaeological sites in Mainland and Island Southeast Asia, and South Asia.

The misdemeanours of Southeast Asia’s “bad colonisers” are well documented, with some of their transgressions still subject to ongoing debate. More than a century after the French amateur archaeologist Ludovic Jammes claimed to have collected dozens of artefacts from Samrong Sen (one of the most important Bronze Age sites in Southeast Asia), the details and scope of his 1887 excavations remain unclear.

Other would-be archaeologists have become household names, but for the wrong reasons, as was the case with André Malraux. In December 1923, Malraux, his wife and an accomplice were caught in flagrante as they tried to smuggle several tons of Khmer bas-reliefs out of Cambodia, ostensibly to generate much-needed funds after suffering heavy losses on the stock market. Malraux was tried in Vietnam but never spent a day of his three-year sentence in jail. Instead, he morphed into a cultural authority in his native France, rising to become Minister for Cultural Affairs in President Charles de Gaulle’s government from 1959 to 1969.

'Water and Light' recounts two river journeys on the Cambodian Mekong, made by Groslier in 1929 and 1930. The English version is greatly expanded from the original French and includes annotations, hand-restored colourised images, additional images and supplemental materials, with appendix articles by Paul Boudet, Paul Cravath, Kent Davis and Solang Uk. It also includes the complete original French text of 'Eaux et lumières.'

The 2016 edition includes a foreword by Prof. Henri Copin, an original English translation of Groslier's 1931 original, 'Eaux et lumières' by Pedro Rodríguez, and is edited by Kent Davis.

This paper compares and contrasts the stone jars and standing stones of North Laos with other stone artefacts in South Asia and Island Southeast Asia. The Plain of Jars is a series of archaeological sites located in the Xieng Khouang and Luang Prabang Provinces of North Laos. To date, around 80 sites have been documented, populated with megaliths attributed to the Late Iron Age of Southeast Asia. Some of these sites were surveyed in 1931-1933 by Madeleine Colani. Her 1935 monograph Mégalithes du Haut-Laos (Megaliths of Upper Laos), remains a work of reference not only for the stone jars, but also for the standing stones of Hua Phan Province, which she surveyed in the early 1930s. Though megaliths have also been documented in India’s northeast region, as well as in Island Southeast Asia (Sumatra and Sulawesi), the Laotian jars are a unique development in terms of size and quantity. The terracotta burial urns of Sa Huynh in Vietnam are not megaliths but are discussed as part of the overall comparative analysis.

This paper explores three under-researched topics: jars carved with two apertures; lip rim styles and jars with reduced cavities. These features corroborate the status of the Plain of Jars as a unique megalithic development in Mainland Southeast Asia. Keywords: Plain of Jars, Laos, jars, discs, lip rims, Xieng Khouang, Madeleine Colani.

A Global Heritage Fund project, with lectures and field visits led by Dr. Lia Genovese. Overall management by Dr. Dan Thompson, former Senior Director of Projects, Programs and Publications at Global Heritage Fund (GHF). Simon Warrack, conservator with South Asian Conservation and Restoration Agency (SACRA), participated as a stone expert.

Phu Da Pho is part of the Plain of Jars and hosts jars and discs carved from sandstone. It is located in the under-researched district of Phou Khoun in Luang Prabang Province. Formerly known as San Hin Oume, in 1933 this site was surveyed by the French archaeologist Madeleine Colani, who recovered mouth-to-mouth pots, pottery fragments, iron knives, some charcoal and a 3.5kg block of sandstone used as lid for a ceramic pot.

The story is set in circa 1900. René van Landsberg, a young Dutchman, travels to Cirebon on Java’s north coast to join Alfred, his older brother, who has worked on the island for several years. Alfred resents his isolation from working in the countryside and longs for contact with Europeans in the city. He unleashes his pent-up anger towards the natives, spitting the frustration he had been “secreting for years”. Alfred sneers when René swears only to seek the company of “decent white women” and will not degrade himself by consorting with local beauties.

In 1902, Alfred Raquez published 'Pages Laotiennes', an account of his journey to Laos undertaken in 1900, in the company of Armand Tournier, Resident Superior for Laos. The truth about Raquez's true identity has been revealed only now, in this book edited and translated by William L. Gibson and Paul Bruthiaux and published by NIAS (Denmark). Doubts about Raquez’s true identity emerged shortly after his death in Marseille on 10 January 1907. Alfred Raquez was the alter ego of Joseph Gervais, a wanted man: “a lawyer from Lille who fled to the Orient in 1898 to avoid arrest and prosecution for fraud”.

This book starts by tracing the life of the late Preecha Noonsuk, from humble beginnings to an Ivy League university in the USA and a doctorate from Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok. The eventful journey is recounted by his son, Wannasarn Noonsuk, editor of this volume of essays.

'A Critical Study of Thailand’s Higher Education Reforms' analyses the complex relationship between globalization and education policymaking, with a critical evaluation of the influence exercised by Western models of higher education in the past 100 years, their implications into the present status of tertiary education in the kingdom and the numerous obstacles associated with their implementation.

In 'Peninsular Siam and its Neighborhoods', Wannasarn Noonsuk traces his late father’s life, from humble beginnings in Thailand’s southern province of Nakhon Si Thammarat, to an Ivy League university in the USA and a doctorate from Chulalongkorn University. The journey is recounted through essays and research articles by academics acquainted with the late Preecha Noonsuk and his work.

'The Lisu: Far from the Ruler', by award-winning journalist and historian Michele Zack, documents 30 years of globalisation for this hill-dwelling ethnic group whose name in China means “those who have come down from the roof of the world,” a possible reference to the eastern Tibetan plateau. Part I of the book traces the origins of the Lisu, their history into modern times, migration routes, identity and cultural fluidity, social organisation, symbolism and dispute resolution. Part II deals with aspects of gender roles, including courtship and bride-price negotiations, the household including division of labour, feasting, cosmic views and the economy, where Lisu women act as equal partners. The book ends with an overview that sketches the group’s presence in Thailand, Myanmar and China, where most of the 1.5 million Lisu live.

The Last Unicorn recounts a journey in February-March 2011 to locate and document the saola, one of Earth’s rarest creatures. The expedition, led by Bill Robichaud, also aimed at surveying its potential habitat and evaluating pressure from poaching. Robichaud, a field biologist with considerable experience of Southeast Asia, was accompanied by William deBuys, a prize-winning author and active conservationist, and by some Lao university students and local support members. The saola (Pseudoryx nghetinhensis) is the threatened sole species of a unique genus of bovids known to inhabit only nine provinces in the central chain of the Annamite Mountains that divide Vietnam and Laos.

Lia Genovese's review of 'Global Rectificatory Justice', by Göran Collste, Professor of Applied Ethics at Linköping University, Sweden, and President of Societas Ethica (European Society for Research in Ethics). The publication is built around the premise that the present global order, from the economy to governance, “mirrors colonialism”. It seeks answers to questions connected to the legacy of colonialism and its implications for a theory of global justice. It delves into the principle of rectificatory justice and what it requires to be enacted in practice. Prominent in the book is the notion that since the historical colonial era still shapes the global order, there is a strong case for global rectificatory justice to assess and make amends for the legacy of colonialism. The form of the relationship has changed, but not the substance. A challenging but rewarding read for anyone interested in this increasingly important branch of ethics or for those interested in colonialism and its legacy.

Sinxay: A great Lao epic. This modern-day retelling, by Peter Whittlesey and Baythong Sayouvin Whittlesey, is lavishly illustrated. An excellent epic tale for adults and children alike. In September 2016, Barack Obama, the first sitting US president to visit Laos, acknowledged that “In literature, like the epic of Sinxay, we see the values that define the people of Laos such as compassion, resilience and hope.” A great endorsement and a crowning glory for all the past and present scholars involved in making this great Lao tale known to a wider audience.

On 24 December 1923, André Malraux was detained in Phnom Penh, together with his bride Clara Goldschmidt and childhood friend Louis Chevasson, all three accused of stealing statues from Banteay Srei temple. Clara participated in the looting and was complicit in planning the operation with André, but escaped legal consequences. In July 1924, as André and Louis prepared to face justice in Indochina, Clara was free to return to France, through a combination of patriarchal mores and feminine ingenuity. Aside from Clara, two other unexplored characters played roles in the aftermath of the incident. Cambodia-born George Groslier, Director of the Phnom Penh Museum, instigated Malraux’s prosecution, while Henri Parmentier, head of archaeology at the École Française d’Extrême-Orient (EFEO), tried to suppress news of the theft. André was publicly lionised by Parmentier as a promising art historian but for Groslier he was another art thief intent on stealing Cambodia’s treasures. To date, the involvement of Goldschmidt, Groslier and Parmentier, in the planning or in the aftermath of the theft, has escaped in-depth analysis. This paper relies on primary sources released in recent years to shed light on their activities and motivations.

On 6 July 2019, in Baku, Azerbaijan, the Plain of Jars was inscribed as a World Heritage Monument: a unique testimony to a cultural tradition “which has disappeared”. For centuries, thousands of stone jars lay in splendid isolation, admired by villagers and the occasional European explorer. After the initial survey by Dr. Madeleine Colani in 1931-1933, only now we begin to understand the complexities of the 100 sites spread over Xieng Khouang and Luang Prabang provinces. Nowadays the jars are viewed as a unique megalithic manifestation in Mainland Southeast Asia, rather than vessels “made by angels to drink liquors from”. What are the future prospects for these mysterious creations and what is the level of preparedness for the increased tourist visits that follow a nomination?

In the annals of archaeology, Heinrich Schliemann, Katherine Routledge, Madeleine Colani and Howard Carter, to name a few, will be forever associated with pioneering work respectively in Troy, the Easter Island, the Plain of Jars and Egypt. Other would-be archaeologists have become household names for the wrong reasons. One of the best-known cases concerns Andrè Malraux, a young French intellectual arrested in Phnom Penh on 24 December 1923 as he attempted to smuggle out of Cambodia several tons of bas-reliefs looted from Banteay Srei and destined to collectors in America. Malraux was tried in Indochina but did not serve a single day of his three-year sentence and was free to return to France at the end of 1924. But why was Malraux arrested in 1923, the same year that the French colonial authorities authorised the sale of Khmer artefacts, under certain conditions? What lines of defence did Malraux use against the colonial powers he accused of neglecting Cambodia’s heritage? How did Malraux morph from youthful looter to Minister for Cultural Affairs under the presidency of Charles de Gaulle in France? In my talk I will address these questions.

Description/Abstract: This panel explores female archaeologists involved in research in Southeast Asia in the 19 th and 20 th centuries, to the present time. The panel also invites papers on museum practitioners operating in the region in the same period. Earlier examples involving female geologists would also be welcome. Comparative analyses are also welcome between female archaeologists in Southeast Asia and their female counterparts outside this region. Papers should explore perceptions, treatment, working conditions but also advantages and disadvantages of early and contemporary female diggers. Instances of seemingly incongruous behaviour would also make for interesting presentations. For example, how to rationalise the intrepid Gertrude Bell (1868-1926), pioneer of Iraqi archaeology and skilled political officer, with her role as honorary secretary of the British Women's Anti-Suffrage League? Proposals on other perceptions of females on fieldwork in Southeast Asia will also be considered. Interested parties should submit an Abstract (100-300 words) online for Session 03:

This panel explores the multitude of data emanating from current research at the Plain of Jars. Recent discoveries now place the Plain of Jars increasingly within Southeast Asia’s mainstream archaeology. Though some developments are relatively well documented, like the findings from a multi-year research project led by Lao and international researchers, some discoveries, particularly in iconography, remain undocumented. Participants in this panel will present their current and recent research in the archaeology and iconography of the Plain of Jars. We also invite papers on the recent World Heritage dossier for the Plain of Jars, submitted in the early part of 2018, as well as papers on regional comparisons.

Biographical entry for Madeleine Colani, the first archaeologist to carry out a comprehensive documentation of the Plain of Jars of Laos, in 1931-1933.  Particularly relevant now that the Plain of Jars has been awarded World Heritage status, in July 2019.