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SEA Studies | Tambralinga in the Srivijayan Network: The Recent Excavation Results from Peninsular Thailand



Event Date 22 Apr 2019 (Mon), 12:00 PM - 01:30 PM
Venue HSS Seminar Room 7 (Location Map)
Organiser SoH SEA Studies cluster (Email : soh_comms@ntu.edu.sg )


Event Info

Tambralinga was an ancient kingdom in peninsular Thailand, with its heartland on the coastal lands of Nakhon Si Thammarat Province facing the Gulf of Siam.  It was mentioned as a destination for Indian merchants in the 3rd century CE and developed into the Nakhon Si Thammarat Kingdom in around the 13th century CE.  Side A of the famous Ligor Inscriptions recorded the presence of Srivijayan activity in this area in 775 CE, while Side B mentioned a king of the Sailendra Dynasty, who was likely the ruler of Srivijaya in the late 9th century CE.  Recently, the archaeological excavations around the Great Stupa of Nakhon Si Thammarat produced a new dataset and a series of thermoluminescense dates.  It can be hypothesized that the Great Stupa itself may have been originally constructed in the late 9th to 10th centuries under a Mahayana framework and with a “mandala” plan, comparable in some aspects to Borobudur, which was built a century earlier probably by the Sailendra Dynasty in central Java.   

 

Biodata

Dr. Wannasarn Noonsuk is Assistant Professor of Art History, Department of Art and Design, at California State University, Fresno.  He previously was Senior Specialist at SEAMEO SPAFA, and tenured lecturer and Head of the Archaeology Research Unit at Walailak University, Thailand.  He received his B.A. in Archaeology from Silpakorn University, M.A. in Anthropology from the University of Hawai’i, and Ph.D. in History of Art and Archaeology from Cornell University, under the scholarship from the King of Thailand.  Dr. Wannasarn was also awarded post-doctoral studies at the École Française d'Extrême-Orient (EFEO) in Paris, under the fellowship from the French Government.  He directed an excavation program in southern Thailand and published a number of books and articles related to early Southeast Asian trade, state formation, and social roles of art.   



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