Judy Ledgerwood’s research while affiliated with Northern Illinois University and other places

The Mekong Delta is famous as the hearth of one of the earliest civilizations in mainland Southeast Asia. Called "Funan" by visiting Chinese dignitaries, the lower Mekong Delta housed at least two urban centers by the third century A.D.: OC Eo in Viet Nam and Angkor Borei in Cambodia. Land-use practices found in and around Angkor Borei today are described and the relative antiquity of these practices is speculated upon. Dry-season flood-recession rice, the major land use in the area, is an ancient land-use system that, taking advantage of the fertile silt deposited by the annual floods, is both extremely productive and sustainable. Although we have no physical evidence of flood-recession rice in third-century Angkor Borei, there is no technical reason (soil fertility, water, technology, or labor) why it could not have formed the agricultural basis of this civilization. In fact, dry-season flood-recession rice not only may have formed the agricultural basis of Angkor Borei in the early historic period but also may have dictated the location of the city. Furthermore, it is hypothesized that the system of dry-season flood-recession agriculture was adopted elsewhere in the delta either in advance of or in congruence with other lower Mekong polities (e.g., Chenla and Angkor). If this hypothesis proves true, then dryseason flood-recession rice has played a much larger role in the early history and culture of the lower Mekong Delta than has been appreciated by students of the region. KEYWORDS: Southeast Asia, Cambodia, Mekong Delta, rice agriculture, floodrecession farming, Geographic Information Systems.

One of the earliest states in Southeast Asia arose in the Mekong Delta during or shortly after the first century A.D. Called "Funan" by Chinese travelers, this polity witnessed the emergence of many features of the ancient state: urbanization, political hierarchy, institutionalized religion, economic specialization, and writing. What we know so far about Funan comes primarily from documentary evidence, and largely from Chinese accounts. No archaeological research has been conducted on this state in Cambodia's Mekong Delta in several decades, and it is precisely this region that reputedly housed the capitals of Funan. Research concentrated on developments in southern Cambodia and on the Funan polity that is generally believed to have flourished from the first to sixth centuries A.D. A variety of data sources are now available to us-Chinese historical accounts, inscriptions, local oral traditions, and archaeological materials-that suggest the early Southeast Asian city was a unique mixture of ritual, economic, and political activity. This report focuses on a period that began in the early first millennium B.C. and ended shortly before the inception of Angkor (ninth century A.D.). We discuss results of the 1995 and 1996 field excavations and mapping/survey project, and describe future directions for the Lower Mekong Archaeological Project (LOMAP). KEYWORDS: Southeast Asia, Cambodia, early historic period, Funan, Angkor Borei, social complexity.

The East-West Center and the University of Hawai'i in 1994 joined the Royal University of Fine Arts, a division of the Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts, Kingdom of Cambodia, in a program to train graduates of the Royal University's Faculty of Archaeology. Three sets of students have spent an academic year in Hawai'i; two students are now classified graduate students at the University of Hawai'i. Training and research at the ancient city of Angkor Borei, in the upper Mekong Delta, have extended over three field seasons. The Ministry and the University of Hawai'i archaeological team continue training and research at Angkor Borei and at Neolithic sites in Kampong Cham Province. KEYWORDS: Southeast Asia, Cambodia, Angkor Borei, archaeology, field training.