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Beyond the Silk Road Metaphor: Transregional Maritime Exchange and Social Transformation in Iron Age Southeast Asia

  • Received : 2023.08.30
  • Accepted : 2023.10.31
  • Published : 2023.12.15
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Abstract

Over the past 30 years, intense archaeological research has revealed a great increase in regional and transregional object mobility across the South China Sea during its Iron Age (500 BCE to 500 CE). Some objects had moved from a long distance: intaglios, seals, fine ceramic, glass containers, and gold coins of Mediterranean origin; and large bronzes, mirrors, and lacquerware connected to central East Asia. This evidence has given rise to larger-scale explanations, among which the most prominent has been the growth of (maritime) Silk Road trade. Scholars are divided as to whether the Silk Road is a suitable concept, with some emphasizing its orientalist overtones and colonial baggage and others finding it useful for the investigation of interregional networks trading in silk and other commodities. This paper explores how productive the Silk Road concept or metaphor really is for understanding transregional connectivity and social change in Iron Age Southeast Asia.

Keywords

Acknowledgement

I wish to thank Tschung-Sun Kim and the participants of the Maritime Silk Road conference in Bangkok in September 2023. I also thank Maxim Korolkov and Brigitte Borell for helpful comments and suggestions. All errors and conclusions remain my own.

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