Abstract: |
Riverine archaeology in Southeast Asia is gravely underdeveloped. The Musi River has been a major artery of commerce for two thousand years. The local adaptation to the area’s swampy, flood-prone environment has been to live on stilt houses over water, on ships, and on rafts. This pattern of settlement presents special problems for archaeologists. It is likely that a major proportion of the area’s archaeological heritage lies on the riverbed. This source of archaeological data has never been systematically explored, and unless something is done urgently it will be lost forever.
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