Bob Hudson's Slightly Whimsical Archaeology of Myanmar (Burma) & Archaeology of South East Asia Website.

Updated June 2009

RECENT PUBLICATIONS for DOWNLOAD!

Recent academic publications  on the archaeology of Myanmar/Burma. They are in pdf format. You need Adobe Acrobat Reader to view them (get it free from the web if you don't have it already). All these papers may be cited for research purposes. 

The Origins of Bagan: The archaeological landscape of Upper Burma to AD 1300

Abstract: The archaeological landscape of Upper Burma from the middle of the first millennium BC to the Bagan period in the 13th-14th century AD is a landscape of continuity. Finds of polished stone and bronze artifacts suggest the existence of early metal-using cultures in the Chindwin and Samon River Valleys, and along parts of the Ayeyarwady plain. Increasing technological and settlement complexity in the Samon Valley suggests that a distinctive culture whose agricultural and trade success can be read in the archaeological record of the Late Prehistoric period developed there. The appearance of the early urban "Pyu" system of walled central places during the early first millennium AD seems to have involved a spread of agricultural and management skills and population from the Samon. The leaders of the urban centres adopted Indic symbols and Sanskrit modes of kingship to enhance and extend their authority. The early urban system was subject over time to a range of stresses including siltation of water systems, external disruption and social changes as Buddhist notions of leadership eclipsed Brahmanical ones. The archaeological evidence indicates that a settlement was forming at Bagan during the last centuries of the first millennium AD. By the mid 11th century Bagan began to dominate Upper Burma, and the region began a transition from a system of largely autonomous city states to a centralised kingdom. Inscriptions of the 11th to 13th centuries indicate that as the Bagan Empire expanded it subsumed the agricultural lands that had been developed by the Pyu.

This is my 2004 PhD thesis. To download a full, searchable copy of the thesis (40 MB- full colour illustrations, maps), (click here to view in your browser, right-click to download the file to your computer)

Alternative download area: the Australian Digital Theses Program-  http://hdl.handle.net/2123/638

   A review of the architectural repairs and renovations at Bagan over the past 20 years or so: (click to view, right-click to download)

Archaeological survey of Sriksetra (Myanmar's biggest walled city), a paper (2 MB, illustrated) co-authored with hydrologist Terry Lustig- Hudson & Lustig-2008-Sriksetra, and an associated full-colour A2 format map, the  archaeological survey map of SRIKSETRA, showing newly discovered buildings and drainage systems, and illustrated with many pictures of the artworks and buildings associated with the city. This map comes as a 2 MB pdf file.

  A recent paper on some controversial incised rock images near Mrauk-u, in Arakan (Rakhine) state -  (3MB) Rock art and artisans in the Lemro Valley, Arakan

An overview of the archaeology of Myanmar/Burma, with maps and pictures (19 MB): The Archaeology of Burma by Gutman & Hudson, 2004

Pyu Stucco At Pagan (co-authored with Dr Pamela Gutman of the University of Sydney) looks at one of the earliest temples at Bagan and discusses  its links with the earlier Pyu culture of Myanmar/Burma (2 MB- full colour illustrations).

The Merits of Rebuilding Bagan (18 KB) looks at a major controversy in the world of heritage management! Should hundreds of Buddhist buildings at Bagan, in Myanmar be rebuilt- sometimes from the ground up .... should they be repaired and conserved with as little change as possible ... or should they be left as picturesque ruins?

A Pyu Homeland in the Samon Valley: a new theory of the origins of Myanmar's early urban system (700 KB) proposes that the First Millennium AD Pyu culture was related to an earlier indigenous society of Iron-Age agriculturalists, and was not the result of mass migration.

A conference paper on ancient geography and recent archaeology  (1.4 MB- includes maps) at Vesali, Dhanyawadi and Mrauk-u, in Rakhine state (Arakan) on the west coast of Myanmar provides the first ever radiocarbon date for this region..

  Ancient dental decoration (450 KB, fulk colour) in the form of a jawbone with teeth that have been drilled and packed with gold leaf! A short, illustrated  report of interest to archaeologists ... and dentists!

A paper (1.5 MB- full colour) outlining some of what is known about early iron production in Myanmar Hudson-2006-IronInMyanmar.pdf

 Interested in pottery? Read the unpublished webpage  Making earthenware pottery in Myanmar/Burma- a continuing tradition.

BUT WAIT- THERE'S MORE!

We still have  all the old favourites:  "NAIVE IMAGES OF THE BUDDHA"- a photographic study of some small, unusual, individually crafted bronze Buddha images from South East Asia; WHAT KIND OF BUDDHA IMAGE IS THAT?- some examples of the major styles of Buddha image, and THEY THOUGHT IT WAS BUDDHA'S FOOT: a photographic report of the excavation in Northern Thailand of several ancient pottery kilns. These were the first kilns to be excavated in the north. If you are familiar with the kiln project at Si Satchanalai in Central Thailand, you will certainly want to know about this discovery. There is also HOW DO THEY MAKE THOSE BRONZE BUDDHA STATUES? some photographs from Mandalay of the "lost wax" process of making bronze artifacts. There is   BUDDHIST ARCHITECTURE AT BAGAN:  photographs and descriptions of Pagan, in Burma, (now called Bagan, Myanmar), and its surrounding area, including some of the medieval Buddhist capital's more than  3,400 surviving  buildings. There are  some ARCHAEOLOGICAL MYSTERIES: pictures of unidentified art or archaeological  objects sent in by visitors to these pages. And a page dedicated to BUDDHIST AMULETS: little medals, statues, relics or talismans that are a popular element of Buddhist practice in Thailand.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR.  I am a former Australian Research Council Postdoctoral Fellow, currently Honorary Associate with the  archaeology department at    The University of Sydney (Australia).  and a visiting professor at the Myanmar University of Culture's Field School of Archaeology at Pyay, the site of the ancient city of Sriksetra. I specialise in the archaeology of Myanmar (Burma) up to 1400 AD or so. My research  involves a variety of archaeological methods including  field survey,  excavations, radiocarbon dating, DNA analysis, textual analysis, the interpretation of aerial photos and satellite imagery, and the construction of archaeological databases and digital maps.

To contact  me about anything on this site, email bhudson@mail.usyd.edu.au