Ref ID:	23682
Ref Type:	Book Section
Authors:	Barram, Andrew Glover, Ian
Title:	Re-thinking Dvaravati
Date:	2008
Source:	From <i>Homo erectus</i> to the living traditions
Place of Publication:	Chiang Mai
Publisher:	European Association of Southeast Asian Archaeologists
Notes:	Choice of Papers from the 11th International Conference of the European Association of Southeast Asian Archaeologists, Bougon, 25th-29th September 2006.
Abstract:	The Dvaravati Culture is commonly regarded as the first historic culture of present-day Thailand and has been roughly dated, mainly by art historical comparisons with post-Gupta India, to circa AD 600-1000. There is also some very limited dating evidence from palaeography and occasional references in Chinese sources to support this. However, it is argued here that recent field excavations at early Indic-influenced sites in Cambodia, Vietnam and Indonesia show that Indian cultural influences were well established by the 5th century AD if not earlier and that a revision of the dates for the appearance of the Dvaravati Culture in Thailand, or even a re-appraisal of what comprises Dvaravati, is long overdue. A recent study by Andrew Barram of the stratigraphy of the Tha Muang mound at U-Thong excavated by Watson and Loofs in the 1960s, supported by a number of radiocarbon dates from the site in conjunction with earlier reported ones from Chansen, suggest that Indian cultural influences which are generally associated with Dvaravati Culture were already present in Western Thailand before the 5th century. More controlled excavation of Dvaravati sites backed by numerous selected dated samples is needed to provide a secure foundation for dating the beginning of the culture.
Date Created:	10/7/2008
Editors:	Pautreau, Jean-Pierre Coupey, Anne-Sophie Zeitoun, Valéry Rambault, Emma
Page Start:	175
Page End:	182