Crossing boundaries learning from the

Crossing Boundaries - Learning from the Past to Build the Future: An Archaeological Collaboration between Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam Tran Ky Phuong © Regional Center for Social Science and Sustainable Development (RCSD) No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form without written permission from the author. This research report is a result of the visiting scholar and non-degree research fellowship programs supported by the Rockefeller Foundation. The programs facilitate opportunities for scholars, researchers and NGO workers in the region to broaden and deepen their conceptual understanding and analysis of issues relating to trans-border and cultural diversity, in the context of political and economic changes in the Mekong Region. The visiting scholar fellowship program provides an opportunity for regional scholars to research and write about issues related to sustainable development, cultural diversity and trans-border issues in the Mekong region, in a working environment at the Regional Center for Social Sciences and Sustainable Development (RCSD), Chiang Mai University, that is supportive and intellectually stimulating.

The non-degree research program is designed to accommodate mid-career regional researchers, NGO workers and members of the media, who wish to conduct research focusing on resource politics and cultural transformation in the Mekong Region. Copy Editor: Gary Morrison Photo: Tran Ky Phuong Design and Layout: Wajee Ruangphornwisut Published in January 2013 by: The Regional Center for Social Science and Sustainable Development (RCSD) Faculty of Social Sciences, Chiang Mai University 239 Huay Kaew Road, Tambon Suthep, Amphur Muang, Chiang Mai 50200 THAILAND Telephone: 66 (0) 5394 3595/6 Fascimile: 66 (0) 5389 3279 Email: rcsd@cmu.th Website: http://rcsd.th Contents Acknowledgements 7 1. Field Surveys and Interviews 11 3.1 Archaeological Finds in Northeast 13 Cambodia 4.2 Archaeological Finds in Southern Laos 23 4.3 Archaeological Finds from the Cham 40 Kingdom in Central Vietnam 5. Discussion 52 References 54 About the Author 57 4 List of Figures Fig.1 Map Showing the Field Research/Archaeological Areas 9 Concentrated along the Sekong, Sesan and Srepok Rivers Fig.1 The Brick Temple of Preah Ko 15 Fig.2 Map of Prasat Preah Thiet 15 Fig.3 Prasat Preah Thiet on the Sekong Riverbank in Stueng Treng 16 Fig.4 An Eighth Century Lintel from the Pre-Angkorian Period at 16 Prasat Preah Thiet Fig.5 An 8th Century Lintel - the so-called ‘Thalaborivat’ of Prasat 17 Brambounloveng Fig.6 Key Archaeological Sites along the Sekong and Mekong 18 Rivers in Stueng Treng Fig.7 Map of Badeum on the Sesan Riverbank 19 Fig.8 Map of Badeum 20 Fig.9 Artifacts Remaining at Badeum 20 Fig.10 Map Showing the Main Archaeological Sites in Attapue 24 Province Fig.11 Vat That Archaeological Site 24 Fig.12 Plan of Vat That and Vat Si Khun 25 Fig.13 Vat That and Vat Si Khun - on the Banks of the Sekhaman 25 River Fig.14 The Main Archaeological Sites in Xaisetha 26 Fig.15 Square Stone Pedestal from the Pre-Angkorian Period at 26 Vat That Fig.16 16th/17th Century Buddha Statues at Vat That 26 Fig.17 Temple Foundation Remains - Vat Si Khun 27 Fig.18 Buddhist Chakravatin Stone Carving at Vat Luong Kau 28 (from the 16th/17th centuries) Fig.19 Pre-Khmeng Style 8th Century Lintel at Vat Fang Deng 29 Fig.20 Brick Elephant at Vat Fang Deng 29 Fig.21 Broken Columns Found at Vat Fang Deng 29 Fig.22 Plan of Vat Ong Sen and Vat Nong Y Moung - including the 30 Network of Barays Fig.23 Pre-Khmeng Style Lintel from the 8th Century at Vat Ong Sen 31 Fig.24 Bricks, Stones and Laterites from an Ancient Temple at 32 Vat Ong Sen List of Figures 5 Fig.25 Doorjambs found in the Vicinity of Vat Ong Sen 32 Fig.26 Network of Barays Remaining at Vat Nong Y Moung 33 Fig.27 Laterite Foundation-base at Vat Xetthaphone 33 Fig.28 Member of the Kui/Souy Ethnic Group near Remains at Vat 34 Xetthaphon Fig.29 Moonstone at Vat Khum Kham 35 Fig.30 Waterspout at Vat Khum Kham 35 Fig.31 Doorjambs at Vat Khum Kham 35 Fig.32 Remains of a Religious Structure at Ban Soak/Sok 36 Fig.33 Architectural Remains along the Sekong River in the North of 36 Attapue Province, Laos Fig.34 An Elderly Lave Woman in Ban Takhum 37 Fig.35 A 7th Century Sandstone Carving of a Brahmanic Stele at Ban 38 Takhum, in Muong Sanxai Fig.36 Wooden Canoes on the Sekong River 39 Fig.37 Southern Part of the Sekong River in Muong Samansay 39 Fig.38 Architectural Remains of Nang Ka Dam, at Ban Nang Dzong, 39 Muong Lamam in Sekong Province Fig.39 A Communal House (roong) in a Bahnar Village in Kontum 40 Fig.40 A Bahnar Man in Kontum 40 Fig.41 Brick Foundations of a 3rd to 5th Century Temple Uncovered at 41 Bang Khleng Fig.42 Chinese Style Eave Tiles Found at Bang Khleng Site in 2010 41 th Fig.43 A 14 Century Siva Statue of Yang Mum (Museum of Champa 41 Sculpture, Danang) Fig.44 The 14th Century Brick Cham Temple of Yang Prong in Dak Lak 42 Province Fig.45 7th Century Cham Rock Inscriptions at a Katu Village in Tay 43 Giang (Muong Hien) District in Quang Nam Province Fig.46 A Katu Woman in Muong Kalum, Sekong Province, Laos 44 Fig.47 A Katu Traditional Communal House (guol) in Muong Thaten, 44 Sekong Province, Laos Fig.48 12th/13th Century Khmer Radiant Bodhisattva, found at Tra 45 Kieu in Quang Nam Province - Housed at the National Museum of Vietnamese History in Hanoi 6 Fig.49 Khmer Avalokitesvara from the 13th Century Found in Quang 46 Tri (Museum of Cham Sculpture, Danang) Fig.50 Khmer Statues Found near the Thach Han Estuary in Quang Tri.1 Map of Trade Routes Connecting the Main Ancient Political 49 and Commercial Centers in Mainland Southeast Asia.

Acknowledgements I would like to thank the Regional Center for Social Science and Sustainable Development (RCSD), at the Faculty of Social Sciences, Chiang Mai University, and also its Director, Dr. Chayan Vaddhanaphuti, for giving me the opportunity to carry out this research based on funding from the Rockefeller Foundation. I should also thank RCSD's adminis- tration personnel – and especially Ms. Chanida Puranapun, who took care of my project.

My thanks also go to Prof. Surasawasdi Sooksawasdi for the advice he gave me during my studies, and my colleagues - Phon Kasaka at the Royal Academy of Cambodia, and Thonglith Luongkhoth of the Division of Heritage and Archaeology at the Ministry of Culture and Information in Laos, for their contributions. I would also like to express thanks to my friend and colleague, Dr. Rie Nakamura, for her encouragement during my project, and Prof.

John Miksic for his friendly advice when setting it up. Tran Ky Phuong 1 Introduction This research is based on field work carried out by a research team in northeast Cambodia, southern Laos and central Vietnam, where a large number of Khmer and Cham- pa archaeological sites still remain. The goal of the research was to trace the interconnections between two important Southeast Asian civilizations - the Angkorian and Champa, proposing that interactions between these two empires greatly affected their growth and development, and also their decline. While previous studies have focused on the sea-routes that existed between Champa on the East Sea/ South China Sea coast in Central Vietnam, and Angkor on the shores of Tonle Sap lake in Cambodia, here I aim to explore the overland routes that once existed between these two empires.

Previous explorations by principal investigators have found that these civilizations were possibly con- nected by an infrastructure that included rivers, ports and paths/roads, with towns and villages located at important transportation nodes. Even as these routes wound over and through the mountains of the Annam Cordillera, much of their length was navigable based on year-round river travel. The research work carried out here tracked - archaeologically and ethnographically - the remains of these routes. Based upon landscape archaeology, the architectural sites recently found in Attapue Province in Laos, together with other archaeological sites found in northeast Cambodia (École Française d’Extrême-Orient et Ministère de la culture et des beaux-arts 2006), are convincing evidence of the existence of watershed and overland routes along the Mekong, Sekong and Sesan rivers, routes that connected northeast Cambodia with southern Laos and the Central Highlands of Vietnam during and after the eighth century AD.

Several muong (a socio-political unit akin to a state/ district/region) were built along the royal highways linking Introduction 9 the Khmer Empire and the Kingdom of Champa. This study, based on ethnological and archaeological surveys, hopes to provide new evidence regarding the existence of these overland trade routes, and puts forward practical suggestions for future research in this area.1 Map Showing the Field Research/Archaeological Areas Concentrated along the Sekong, Se San and Sre Pok Rivers (inside square). 2 Literature Review Much research work has been carried out into the rela- tionship between the Khmer Empire and the Kingdom of Champa, with most researchers believing the trade routes between these two kingdoms consisted of the key water- ways - the Mekong river and the East Sea (Ishizawa 2005: pp. Recently, some historians have started to re-examine this issue by discussing the war that took place between the Khmer King Jayavarman VII and the Kingdoms of Dai Viet and Champa, suggesting that Jayavarman VII wanted to occupy the ports in Champa in order to trade directly with China (Vickery, n.

107, and personal com- munications with the author at the CIEE Spring Course in Phnom Penh, 2009). The excursions of French explorers in the early twentieth century, especially those of August Pavie, as described in the book by Henri Maitre entitled Les Jungles Moï, Exploration et histoire des hinterlands moï du Cambodge, de la Cochin- chine, de l’Annam et du Laos’ in 1912, surveyed the territories covered by ethnic groups living along the lower sections of the Mekong river, as well as in the Central Highlands of Vietnam, and helped maintain the idea that barter exchange and interactions took place among ethnic groups in the area. In particular, recent historical/archaeological discoveries have helped develop further the idea of a link between the Angkor Empire and the Kingdom of Champa through the land routes connecting northeastern Cambodia (the present-day provinces of Stung Treng and Ratanakiri) with Laos (the provinces of Champasak, Attapue and Sekong) and the Central Highlands of Vietnam (the provinces of Dak Lak, Kontum and Gia Lai). It is this inter-regional route that has helped us to learn more about the tribal (clan) alliances that developed within the territory of the Khmer Empire, and that it was these ethnic groups that were key factors in the formation of connections in the area in relation to fields such as trade and military affairs.

3 Methodology To achieve the aims of the study, an ethno-archeology ap- proach was conducted using the following steps. Field Surveys and Interviews 3. The research team carried out surveys of the remarkable architectural relics to be found in Stueng Treng Province in northeast Cambodia, Attapue Province in southern Laos and also in Central Vietnam, including the networks of barays to be found there, as well as undertook surveys of the geographical landscapes and natural ecologi- cal environments in these areas. The team interviewed Katuic and Bahnaric people living in mountain villages along the Sekong river; especially the Katuic living in Muong Kalum and Muong Tha Ten villages in Sekong Province, and also in Tay Giang, Dong Giang and Nam Giang districts in Quang Nam Province.

The team also interviewed elders in Hat Ngao and Sanamsay villages in Attapue Province along the Sekong river - not far from the border between Laos and Cambodia. The team focused its interviews on the exchange of goods that took place in the past around the watersheds and the people's use of elephants to carry them, plus explored the close rela- tionships that existed between these ethnic groups.