Economic Exchange and Social Interaction in Southeast Asia

Download Economic Exchange and Social Interaction in Southeast Asia PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : University of Michigan Press
ISBN 13 : 0891480137
Total Pages : 337 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (914 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Economic Exchange and Social Interaction in Southeast Asia by : Karl Hutterer

Download or read book Economic Exchange and Social Interaction in Southeast Asia written by Karl Hutterer and published by University of Michigan Press. This book was released on 1978-01-01 with total page 337 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Economic behavior is governed by two major sets of boundary conditions: environmental and technological factors on the one hand, and conditions of social organization on the other hand. Indeed, social scientists are often particularly interested in the framework of exchange relationships: exchange of goods, services, personnel, and information. Economic exchanges lend concrete manifestations to social relations that themselves may transcend the economic realm and that otherwise are often difficult to trace. Yet in social science research in Southeast Asia, the area of economic studies has lagged behind, despite the great study potential represented by the tremendous diversity of its physical and human environment. Economic Exchange and Social Interaction in Southeast Asia attempts to take advantage of that opportunity. As a number of the contributions to this volume show, many if not most of the systems organized on very different levels of integration interact with each other. Taken as a whole, they provide evidence of the incredible diversity of economic and social systems that may be investigated in Southeast Asia.

Economic Exchange and Social Interaction in Southeast Asia

Download Economic Exchange and Social Interaction in Southeast Asia PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 337 pages
Book Rating : 4.:/5 (128 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Economic Exchange and Social Interaction in Southeast Asia by : Karl L. Hutterer

Download or read book Economic Exchange and Social Interaction in Southeast Asia written by Karl L. Hutterer and published by . This book was released on 2020 with total page 337 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Economic behavior is governed by two major sets of boundary conditions: environmental and technological factors on the one hand, and conditions of social organization on the other hand. Indeed, social scientists are often particularly interested in the framework of exchange relationships: exchange of goods, services, personnel, and information. Economic exchanges lend concrete manifestations to social relations that themselves may transcend the economic realm and that otherwise are often difficult to trace. Yet in social science research in Southeast Asia, the area of economic studies has lagged behind, despite the great study potential represented by the tremendous diversity of its physical and human environment. Economic Exchange and Social Interaction in Southeast Asia attempts to take advantage of that opportunity. As a number of the contributions to this volume show, many if not most of the systems organized on very different levels of integration interact with each other. Taken as a whole, they provide evidence of the incredible diversity of economic and social systems that may be investigated in Southeast Asia.

History, Culture, and Region in Southeast Asian Perspectives

Download History, Culture, and Region in Southeast Asian Perspectives PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Cornell University Press
ISBN 13 : 1501732609
Total Pages : 285 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (17 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis History, Culture, and Region in Southeast Asian Perspectives by : O. W. Wolters

Download or read book History, Culture, and Region in Southeast Asian Perspectives written by O. W. Wolters and published by Cornell University Press. This book was released on 2018-08-06 with total page 285 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A new edition of this classic study of mandala Southeast Asia. The revised book includes a substantial, retrospective postscript examining contemporary scholarship that has contributed to the understanding of Southeast Asian history since 1982.

Economic Exchange and Social Interaction in Southeast Asia

Download Economic Exchange and Social Interaction in Southeast Asia PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : University of Michigan Press
ISBN 13 : 0472901729
Total Pages : 337 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (729 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Economic Exchange and Social Interaction in Southeast Asia by : Karl Hutterer

Download or read book Economic Exchange and Social Interaction in Southeast Asia written by Karl Hutterer and published by University of Michigan Press. This book was released on 2020-08-06 with total page 337 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Economic behavior is governed by two major sets of boundary conditions: environmental and technological factors on the one hand, and conditions of social organization on the other hand. Indeed, social scientists are often particularly interested in the framework of exchange relationships: exchange of goods, services, personnel, and information. Economic exchanges lend concrete manifestations to social relations that themselves may transcend the economic realm and that otherwise are often difficult to trace. Yet in social science research in Southeast Asia, the area of economic studies has lagged behind, despite the great study potential represented by the tremendous diversity of its physical and human environment. Economic Exchange and Social Interaction in Southeast Asia attempts to take advantage of that opportunity. As a number of the contributions to this volume show, many if not most of the systems organized on very different levels of integration interact with each other. Taken as a whole, they provide evidence of the incredible diversity of economic and social systems that may be investigated in Southeast Asia.

Maritime Trade and State Development in Early Southeast Asia

Download Maritime Trade and State Development in Early Southeast Asia PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : University of Hawaii Press
ISBN 13 : 0824882083
Total Pages : 483 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (248 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Maritime Trade and State Development in Early Southeast Asia by : Kenneth R. Hall

Download or read book Maritime Trade and State Development in Early Southeast Asia written by Kenneth R. Hall and published by University of Hawaii Press. This book was released on 2019-03-31 with total page 483 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book brings something new in both dimension and detail to our understanding of Southeast Asia from the first to the fourteenth centuries. It puts Southeast Asia in the context of the international trade that stretched from Rome to China and draws upon a wide range of recent scholarship in history and the social sciences to redefine the role that this trade played in the evolution of the classical states of Southeast Asia. By examining the sources of Southeast Asia's classical era with the tools of modern economic history, the author shows that well-developed socioeconomic and political networks existed in Southeast Asia before significant foreign economic penetration took place. With the growth of interest in Southeast Asian commodities and the refocusing of the major East-West commercial routes through the region during the early centuries of the Christian era, internal conditions within Southeast Asia adjusted to accommodate increased external contacts. Hall takes the view that Southeast Asia's response to international trade was a reflection of preexisting patterns of trade and statecraft. In the forty years since Coede's monumental work The Indianized States of Southeast Asia was published, a great deal of archaeological and epigraphical work has been done and new interpretations advanced. By integrating new theoretical constructs, recent archaeological finds and interpretations, and his own informed reading and research, Kenneth R. Hall puts his historical narrative on a large canvas and treats areas not previously brought together for discussion along comparative lines. Like Coedes' work, his book will be important as a basic text for the teaching of early Southeast Asian history.

Southeast Asia

Download Southeast Asia PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 0429972695
Total Pages : 345 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (299 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Southeast Asia by : Donald G Mccloud

Download or read book Southeast Asia written by Donald G Mccloud and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2018-02-07 with total page 345 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Bridging the perceived gap between Southeast Asia's historical and contemporary situations, Donald McCloud focuses on continuities in the region's internal dynamics as well as its relationship to the greater global environment. The author challenges widely held views that diversity and fragmentation are the hallmarks of the region, identifying instead the commonalities that have bound the countries of Southeast Asia together through at least two millennia and have provided the basis for a unique regional dynamic. It has only been since World War II that Southeast Asians, long influenced by the global environment, have defined and developed their own institutions, social structures, and communities. Turning away from inadequate and unadaptable Western institutions, they have begun to create structures more in tune with their own historical experiences. Particularly in the political sphere, many of these new structures seemed to be straightforward military dictatorships. However, time has shown them to be more complex, and many unique organizational practices have developed that may presage more open political systems—if not democracies by strict Western definitions. With the expansion of regional cooperation through ASEAN and strong economic growth, confidence among Southeast Asian states has grown as well. The growing references to an "Asian way" of life have given verbal expression to a surge in neotraditional values and behavior that have always been part of the fabric of Asian life but that in the past were frowned upon as "nonwestern." This text traces the evolution of Southeast Asia and focuses for the first time on the neotraditional bases for contemporary, independent development of the region.

A History of Early Southeast Asia

Download A History of Early Southeast Asia PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
ISBN 13 : 0742567621
Total Pages : 400 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (425 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis A History of Early Southeast Asia by : Kenneth R. Hall

Download or read book A History of Early Southeast Asia written by Kenneth R. Hall and published by Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. This book was released on 2010-12-28 with total page 400 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This comprehensive history provides a fresh interpretation of Southeast Asia from 100 to 1500, when major social and economic developments foundational to modern societies took place on the mainland (Burma, Thailand, Cambodia, and Vietnam) and the island world (Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines). Incorporating the latest archeological evidence and international scholarship, Kenneth R. Hall enlarges upon prior histories of early Southeast Asia that did not venture beyond 1400, extending the study of the region to the Portuguese seizure of Melaka in 1511. Written for a wide audience of non-specialists, the book will be essential reading for all those interested in Asian and world history.

Southeast Asian Interconnections

Download Southeast Asian Interconnections PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
ISBN 13 : 1108903479
Total Pages : 92 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (89 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Southeast Asian Interconnections by : Derek Heng

Download or read book Southeast Asian Interconnections written by Derek Heng and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2023-01-05 with total page 92 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Since the late first millennium CE, Maritime Southeast Asia has been an inter-connected zone, with its societies and states maintaining economic and diplomatic relations with both China and Japan on the east, and the Indian Sub-Continent and Middle East on the west. This global connectedness was facilitated by merchant and shipping networks that originated from within and outside Southeast Asia, resulting in a trans-regional economy developing by the early second millennium CE. Sojourning populations began to appear in Maritime Southeast Asia, culminating in records of Chinese and Indian settlers in such places as Sumatra, Malay Peninsula and the Gulf of Siam by the mid-first millennium CE. At the same time, information of products that were harvested in Southeast Asia began to be appropriated by pockets of society in China, the India and the Middle East, resulting in the production of new knowledge and usages for these products in these markets.

Raiding, Trading, and Feasting

Download Raiding, Trading, and Feasting PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : University of Hawaii Press
ISBN 13 : 9780824820350
Total Pages : 500 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (23 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Raiding, Trading, and Feasting by : Laura L. Junker

Download or read book Raiding, Trading, and Feasting written by Laura L. Junker and published by University of Hawaii Press. This book was released on 1999-09-01 with total page 500 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: As early as the first millennium A.D., the Philippine archipelago formed the easternmost edge of a vast network of Chinese, Southeast Asian, Indian, and Arab traders. Items procured through maritime trade became key symbols of social prestige and political power for the Philippine chiefly elite. Raiding, Trading, and Feasting presents the first comprehensive analysis of how participation in this trade related to broader changes in the political economy of these Philippine island societies. By combining archaeological evidence with historical sources, Laura Junker is able to offer a more nuanced examination of the nature and evolution of Philippine maritime trading chiefdoms. Most importantly, she demonstrates that it is the dynamic interplay between investment in the maritime luxury goods trade and other evolving aspects of local political economies, rather than foreign contacts, that led to the cyclical coalescence of larger and more complex chiefdoms at various times in Philippine history. A broad spectrum of historical and ethnographic sources, ranging from tenth-century Chinese tributary trade records to turn-of-the-century accounts of chiefly "feasts of merit," highlights both the diversity and commonality in evolving chiefly economic strategies within the larger political landscape of the archipelago. The political ascendance of individual polities, the emergence of more complex forms of social ranking, and long-term changes in chiefly economies are materially documented through a synthesis of archaeological research at sites dating from the Metal Age (late first millennium B.C.) to the colonial period. The author draws on her archaeological fieldwork in the Tanjay River basin to investigate the long-term dynamics of chiefly political economy in a single region. Reaching beyond the Philippine archipelago, this study contributes to the larger anthropological debate concerning ecological and cultural factors that shape political economy in chiefdoms and early states. It attempts to address the question of why Philippine polities, like early historic kingdoms elsewhere in Southeast Asia, have a segmentary political structure in which political leaders are dependent on prestige goods exchanges, personal charisma, and ritual pageantry to maintain highly personalized power bases. Raiding, Trading, and Feasting is a volume of impressive scholarship and substantial scope unmatched in the anthropological and historical literature. It will be welcomed by Pacific and Asian historians and anthropologists and those interested in the theoretical issues of chiefdoms.

Handbook of East and Southeast Asian Archaeology

Download Handbook of East and Southeast Asian Archaeology PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Springer
ISBN 13 : 1493965212
Total Pages : 761 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (939 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Handbook of East and Southeast Asian Archaeology by : Junko Habu

Download or read book Handbook of East and Southeast Asian Archaeology written by Junko Habu and published by Springer. This book was released on 2017-12-08 with total page 761 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Handbook of East and Southeast Asian Archaeology focuses on the material culture and lifeways of the peoples of prehistoric and early historic East and Southeast Asia; their origins, behavior and identities as well as their biological, linguistic and cultural differences and commonalities. Emphasis is placed upon the interpretation of material culture to illuminate and explain social processes and relationships as well as behavior, technology, patterns and mechanisms of long-term change and chronology, in addition to the intellectual history of archaeology as a discipline in this diverse region. The Handbook augments archaeologically-focused chapters contributed by regional scholars by providing histories of research and intellectual traditions, and by maintaining a broadly comparative perspective. Archaeologically-derived data are emphasized with text-based documentary information, provided to complement interpretations of material culture. The Handbook is not restricted to art historical or purely descriptive perspectives; its geographical coverage includes the modern nation-states of China, Mongolia, Far Eastern Russia, North and South Korea, Japan, Taiwan, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, Burma, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines and East Timor.

Malay Kingship in Kedah

Download Malay Kingship in Kedah PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN 13 : 0739168428
Total Pages : 253 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (391 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Malay Kingship in Kedah by : Maziar Mozaffari Falarti

Download or read book Malay Kingship in Kedah written by Maziar Mozaffari Falarti and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2013 with total page 253 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The book probes and examines traditional sources of royal power and control, as well as indigenous socio-political systems in the Malay world. It is focused on the north-western Malaysian Sultanate of Kedah which is acknowledged as the oldest unbroken independent kingship line in the 'Malay and Islamic world' with 1,000 years of history. Little scholarly attention has been paid to its pre-modern history, society, religion, system of government and unique geographic situation, potentially controlling both land and sea lines of communication into the remainder of Southeast Asia. It will thus provide the first comprehensive treatment in English, or other languages, on Kedah's pre-modern and nineteenth century historiography and can provide a foundation for comparative studies of the various Malay states which is presently lacking. The proposed book also sheds much needed light on a range of important topics in Malay history including: Kedah and the northern Melaka Straits history, colonial expansion and rivalry, Southeast Asian history and politics, interregional migration and the influence of the sea peoples or orang laut, traditional Malay socio-political and economic life, Islamic influences and the course of Thai-Malay relations. The book attempts to offer a new understanding, not only of Kedah, but of the political and cultural development of the entire Malay world and of its relationships with the broader forces in both its continental and maritime settings. It argues that Kedah does not seem to follow, and in fact, often seems to contradict what has been commonly been accepted as the "typical model" of the traditional Malay state. Thus it concludes that the ruling dynasty has historically exploited a wide range of unique environmental conditions, local traditions, global spiritual trends and economic forces to preserve and strengthen its political position.

Borneo Studies in History, Society and Culture

Download Borneo Studies in History, Society and Culture PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Springer
ISBN 13 : 9811006725
Total Pages : 619 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (11 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Borneo Studies in History, Society and Culture by : Victor T. King

Download or read book Borneo Studies in History, Society and Culture written by Victor T. King and published by Springer. This book was released on 2016-08-12 with total page 619 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This edited book is the first major review of what has been achieved in Borneo Studies to date. Chapters in this book situate research on Borneo within the general disciplinary fields of the social sciences, with the weight of attention devoted to anthropological research and related fields such as development studies, gender studies, environmental studies, social policy studies and cultural studies. Some of the chapters in this book are extended versions of presentations at the Borneo Research Council’s international conference hosted by Universiti Brunei Darussalam in June 2012 and a Borneo Studies workshop organised in Brunei in 2012. The volume examines some of the major debates and controversies in Borneo Studies, including those which have served to connect post-war research on Borneo to wider scholarship. It also assesses some of the more recent contributions and interests of locally based researchers in universities and other institutions in Borneo itself. The major strength of the book is the inclusion of a substantial amount of research undertaken by scholars working and teaching within the Southeast Asian region. In particular there is an examination of research materials published in the vernacular, notably the outpouring of work published in Indonesian by the Institut Dayakologi in Pontianak. In doing so, the book also addresses the urgent matters which have not received the attention they deserve, specifically subjects, themes and issues that have already been covered but require further contemplation, elaboration and research, and the scope for disciplinary and multidisciplinary collaboration in Borneo Studies. The book is a valuable resource and reference work for students and researchers interested in social science scholarship on Borneo, and for those with wider interests in Indonesia and Malaysia, and in the Southeast Asian region.

The Oxford Handbook of the Archaeology and Anthropology of Hunter-gatherers

Download The Oxford Handbook of the Archaeology and Anthropology of Hunter-gatherers PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN 13 : 0199551227
Total Pages : 1361 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (995 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis The Oxford Handbook of the Archaeology and Anthropology of Hunter-gatherers by : Vicki Cummings

Download or read book The Oxford Handbook of the Archaeology and Anthropology of Hunter-gatherers written by Vicki Cummings and published by Oxford University Press, USA. This book was released on 2014 with total page 1361 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book provides a comprehensive review of hunter-gatherer studies, undertaking detailed regional and thematic case-studies that span the archaeology, history and anthropology of hunter gatherers, concluding with an in-depth review of the main opportunities, research questions, and moral obligations that lie ahead.

Siamese Melting Pot

Download Siamese Melting Pot PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Flipside Digital Content Company Inc.
ISBN 13 : 9814762857
Total Pages : 277 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (147 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Siamese Melting Pot by : Edward Van Roy

Download or read book Siamese Melting Pot written by Edward Van Roy and published by Flipside Digital Content Company Inc.. This book was released on 2018-02-14 with total page 277 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Ethnic minorities historically comprised a solid majority of Bangkok's population. They played a dominant role in the city's exuberant economic and social development. In the shadow of Siam's prideful, flamboyant Thai ruling class, the city's diverse minorities flourished quietly. The Thai-Portuguese; the Mon; the Lao; the Cham, Persian, Indian, Malay, and Indonesian Muslims; and the Taechiu, Hokkien, Hakka, Hainanese, and Cantonese Chinese speech groups were particularly important. Others, such as the Khmer, Vietnamese, Thai Yuan, Sikhs, and Westerners, were smaller in numbers but no less significant in their influence on the city's growth and prosperity. In tracing the social, political, and spatial dynamics of Bangkok's ethnic pluralism through the two-and-a-half centuries of the city's history, this book calls attention to a long-neglected mainspring of Thai urban development. While the book's primary focus is on the first five reigns of the Chakri dynasty (1782-1910), the account extends backward and forward to reveal the continuing impact of Bangkok's ethnic minorities on Thai culture change, within the broader context of Thai development studies. It provides an exciting perspective and unique resource for anyone interested in exploring Bangkok's evolving cultural milieu or Thailand's modern history.

Golddiggers, Farmers, and Traders in the "Chinese Districts" of West Kalimantan, Indonesia

Download Golddiggers, Farmers, and Traders in the

Author :
Publisher : Cornell University Press
ISBN 13 : 1501719246
Total Pages : 317 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (17 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Golddiggers, Farmers, and Traders in the "Chinese Districts" of West Kalimantan, Indonesia by : Mary Somers Heidhues

Download or read book Golddiggers, Farmers, and Traders in the "Chinese Districts" of West Kalimantan, Indonesia written by Mary Somers Heidhues and published by Cornell University Press. This book was released on 2018-05-31 with total page 317 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This study examines the changing role of the Chinese community of West Kalimantan, particularly its economic and social relationships. Heidhues explores the history of the community from the early nineteenth century establishment of the kongsis to the "Dayak Raids," which uprooted the rural Chinese population in the 1960s.

Transforming the Indonesian Uplands

Download Transforming the Indonesian Uplands PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 1135296537
Total Pages : 347 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (352 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Transforming the Indonesian Uplands by : Tania Li

Download or read book Transforming the Indonesian Uplands written by Tania Li and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2005-06-27 with total page 347 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Drawing upon current theoretical debates in social anthropology, development studies and political ecology, and presenting original research from across the Archipelago, this book addresses the changing histories and identities of upland people as they relate in new ways to the natural resource base, to markets and to the state. It is an engaged study, which fills important analytical gaps and addresses real-world concerns, exploring the uplands as components of national and global systems of meaning, power, and production. It offers a significant re-assessment of concepts, processes, histories, relationships and discourses, many of which are not unique to either the uplands or Indonesia, making the book essential and compelling reading for both scholars and practitioners.

Prehistory of the Indo-Malaysian Archipelago

Download Prehistory of the Indo-Malaysian Archipelago PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : ANU E Press
ISBN 13 : 1921313129
Total Pages : 443 pages
Book Rating : 4.9/5 (213 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Prehistory of the Indo-Malaysian Archipelago by : Peter Bellwood

Download or read book Prehistory of the Indo-Malaysian Archipelago written by Peter Bellwood and published by ANU E Press. This book was released on 2007-03-01 with total page 443 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Since its publication in 1985, Peter Bellwood's Prehistory of the Indo-Malaysian Archipelago has been hailed as the sole authoritative work on the subject by the leading expert in the field. Now that work has been fully revised and includes a complete up-to-date summary of the archaeology of the region (and relevant neighboring areas of China and Oceania), as well as a comprehensive discussion of new and important issues (such as the "Eve-Garden of Eden" hypothesis and its relevance to the Indo-Malaysian region) and recent advances in macrofamily linguistic classification. Moving north to south from northern Peninsular Malaysia to Timor and west to east from Sumatra to the Moluccas, Bellwood describes human prehistory from initial hominid settlement more than one million years ago to the eve of historical Hindu-Buddhist and Islamic cultures of the region. The archaeological record provides the central focus, but chapters also incorporate essential information from the paleoenvironmental sciences, biological anthropology, linguistics, and social anthropology. Bellwood approaches questions about past cultural and biological developments in the region from a multidisciplinary perspective. Historical issues given extended treatment include the significance of the Homo erectus populations of Java, the dispersal of the present Austronesian-speaking peoples of the region within the past 4,000 years, and the spread of metallurgy since 500 B.C. Bellwood also discusses relationships between the prehistoric populations of the archipelago and those of neighboring regions such as Australia, New Guinea, and mainland Asia.