Explorations in Southeast Asian Studies A Journal of the Southeast Asian Studies Student Association Vol 1, No. 2 Fall 1997 Contents Article 1 Article 2 Article 3 ... Article 8 Indigenous Cambodian Archaeology Development, Motivations, and Directions Alexander L. Wesson Alexander L. Wesson is a graduate student in Anthropology at the University of Hawai'i, Manoa. Among his many research interests is the archaeology of Southeast Asia. Notes Introduction Each country has to maintain its own culture... if there is no culture, our country will disappear. Chheang Serei Vuthy A fresh wave of Khmer Background The majority of early archaeological investigations in Cambodia were conducted by the French, who occupied the country from 1863 to 1953. The "discovery" of magnificent Angkor Wat in 1850 initiated French archaeological interest in Cambodia, which was primarily concerned with the classic monumental structures of the historic period. The Ecole Francaise d'Extreme Orient, established in the late nineteenth century, began a period of intensified investigation of the physical remnants of the Khmer Empire. Colonial French cultural historians studied art, architecture, and inscriptions, generally addressing stylistic and symbolic issues in the valuable archaeological record provided by monumental architecture, statuary, and inscriptions. During the colonial period, prehistoric Southeast Asia was considered to have been a cultural backwater. Consequently, early colonial archaeology attributed the development of social complexity in Southeast Asia to the diffusion of traits from other regions, primarily India and China. | |
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