Customer Reviews

Early Civilizations of Southeast Asia (Archaeology of Southeast Asia)

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The monograph by Dougald O'Reilly seems to be a nice contribution to historiography of Early Southeast Asia. It gives a vast picture of early historical developments of the region. It includes a reconsideration of state formation theories and re-examines different theories of `Indianization' of Southeast Asia.
O'Reilly holds that the well-known Southeast Asian polities of the first millennium C.E. but Chenla were chiefdoms. He believes they were `exclusionary' or `individualizing' that means monopolizing of sources of power by an individual. The `Indianization' of Southeast Asia passed through two main stages. During the first one which dates from the fourth century B.C.E. to the second century C.E., foreign artifacts such as glass and stone beads and Indian-style ceramics appeared in Southeast Asia. They serve as the tokens of symbolic power and possibility to obtain them through long-distance exchange. During the second period which covers the second - the fourth centuries C.E. the number of objects increased considerably but their diversity decreased. The adoption of Indian beliefs, art styles, writing, political and social concepts also took place during this epoch.
O'Reilly supposes that `the process of "globalization" began in the early centuries of the first millennium C.E. At this juncture of civilizations from North Asia, Southeast Asia, the Indian subcontinent, and the Mediterranean Basin became involved in a vast trade and exchange network' (p. 199).
I think, by the way, that the label of the monograph is misleading because it concerns the mainland Southeast Asia only. If you want to know how early Indonesian polities evolved this book gives you no data except some remarks on Srivijaya (pp. 59-61). Unfortunately, they also partially misleading. For example, O'Reilly writes that `in 683 C.E. the king [of Srivijaya] launched a military expedition upriver from Palembang' (p. 60). The available inscriptions, however, tell another story: In 682 the king undertook a campaign with twenty thousands men but we do not know where whereas the Kota Kapur inscription dated from 686 C.E. mentions an expedition against the land of Java but we do not know what land is meant there and how many people made up an army. What occurred in 683 C.E. is unknown.
I highly recommend the monograph by O'Reilly to anyone who studies the history of Southeast Asia. It will be very useful for investigation of political developments of the mainland.

This is a very informative book. I found it very helpful when writing uni essays for SE Asian archaeology, it is concise, referenced throughout (Thank you for this- another helpful aspect) and Dougald has utilized very good sources when writing it. Another thing I like about this book is the language- straight forward and easy to understand. Too often do I feel as though academics sit there right clicking words in Microsoft Word to find synonyms to embellish their texts- outcome: what are they trying to say?! I could not be more grateful for this- put it in the middle of your shelf and buy Charles Higham to sit next to it.

I am still using it (AGAIN- 3 years later), to assist me in writing an essay on Indian modernism.

Absolutely no doubts about this book.