Intitulé du projet :

Sungai Jaong and the Sarawak river delta history (Malaysia)

Porteur de projet :

Daniel Perret

Etablissement porteur :

EFEO

Etablissements partenaires :

EPHE – CNRS

Axe de l’IRIS Etudes Globales ou projet transversal :

Projet transversal

Résumé du projet :

The purpose of the Sungai Jaong and Sarawak River Delta History Project is to revive interest in the ancient history of a region of Malaysia neglected by research for the last fifty years. Until 1966, archaeological investigations yielded indications of a great archaeological potential as regards ancient settlements apparently dated between the seventh and the fourteenth century CE. Unfortunately this research did not lead to a comprehensive publication. This project proposes to re-investigate this potential through surveys in the Sarawak River Delta and excavations in one of the identified settlement site, that is Sungai Jaong near Santubong. In fact, this site has just been selected by the Sarawak Museum Department to become the information center of the planned Santubong Archaeological Park in 2017. This means that the results of the project will be rapidly shown and made available to the public. This project, a cooperation between the University of Malaya (Kuala Lumpur), the École française d’Extrême-Orient in Malaysia, and the Sarawak Museum Department, will hopefully open new avenues within the framework of cooperation between France and Malaysia.

Durée du projet (pour les colloques, date de l’événement) :

Avril 2017 – Mars 2020 (36 mois)

 


Update, October 2017

 

 

The Sungai Jaong and Sarawak River Delta History Project is an archaeological and historical research project focused on coastal settlements located in the State of Sarawak, a Malaysian territory on Borneo Island. Conducted on the PSL side by the Ecole française d’Extrême-Orient with the collaboration of the CRCAO at the École Pratique des Hautes Etudes, the two Malaysian scientific partners are the Sarawak Museum Department in Kuching and the University of Malaya in Kuala Lumpur. The main aim of the project is to re-investigate the great archaeological potential of the region at the time the Sarawak Museum Department is embarking on an ambitious program, that includes the creation of the Santubong Archaeological Park and the building of completely new museum facilities in Kuching.

The last archaeological investigations conducted there more than 50 years ago led to the identification of several settlement sites and notably to the recovery of huge quantities of Chinese stoneware and porcelain shards, earthenware shards, as well as several tons of remains of a large-scale iron industry. Tom Harrisson, the head of the excavations at the time, claimed to have recorded more than a million artefacts. No less important was the recovery in 1961 of a small stone Buddha image, followed five years later by the discovery of the only ancient Hindu-Buddhist religious structure known so far in the State of Sarawak. Unfortunately, these 1947-1966 excavations were not carried out with the necessary care, and did not result in satisfactory and comprehensive publications. Therefore, the results of Harrisson’s researches need to be taken as a starting point of an in-depth, systematic, multi-disciplinary, and comprehensive research.

What is clear is that these finds attest to the intensity of various types of relations between the north coast of Sarawak, the China Sea, and very probably other regions of Southeast Asia. They raise numerous questions regarding the actors and networks in these relations, their motivations, technical skills, religious beliefs, and ways of life.

Located almost at the geographical centre of Southeast Asia, the Sarawak River Delta represents therefore a fascinating piece in the puzzle of inter-Asian relations in ancient times.

This project is a unique opportunity to widen the scope of the French-Malaysian scientific cooperation by introducing several fields of French expertise related to archaeology to local institutions, in a country where settlements dating between the fifth and the fifteenth century CE, remain largely understudied. Moreover, the creation of the Santubong Archaeological Park with its planned public facilities in situ will allow to quickly exhibit significant finds and give the opportunity for the visitors to directly observe the fieldwork activities.

Fieldwork is scheduled to start by the end of this year, followed by the first campaign of excavations sometime in the first semester next year after land acquisition by local authorities on two archaeological sites for the purpose of research and for the building of public facilities related to the archaeological park.

Two forms of output are projected: publications, including a collective volume in English to be published at the end of the project, and exhibitions at the information centre of the Santubong Archaeological Park and at the new museum in Kuching, the capital of the State of Sarawak.

2017-2020 (36 months)