Spatial Dynamics of Three Old Settlement Sites in Sumatra Based on Artefacts (9th‒16th c. CE) / Prof. Daniel Perret（Professor & Head, Kuala Lumpur Center, French School of Asian Studies (EFEO)法國遠東學院教授兼吉隆坡中心主任）

2024.05.31（五）上午09:30

Room 201, NTU Dept. of Anthropology (Shuiyuan Campus)

臺大水源校區人類學系201室

Archaeological research on old settlement sites of Sumatra, especially of the North Sumatra Province, has been particularly active for the last 30 years, notably in the framework of French-Indonesian cooperation. This cooperation in North Sumatra started with the launch of a project (1995‒2000) on the west coast led by Claude Guillot (CNRS), focused on the coastal settlement site of Lobu Tua (9th–late 11th c. CE) in the Barus area, well known since the second half of the first millennium CE for trade in camphor and gold, among other commodities from the interior.

A second collaborative archaeological project (2001‒2005), involving the École française dʼExtrême-Orient/French School of Asian Studies (EFEO) and the National Centre for Archaeological Research of Indonesia, focused on the other ancient settlement sites in the Barus region, especially Bukit Hasang (12th‒16th c. CE). In 2006, the first relatively systematic archaeological study of an ancient settlement site in the interior of Sumatra started in the Si Pamutung site (mid-9th‒late 13th c. CE). Si Pamutung is situated in the Padang Lawas region, which has been, for the last century and a half, associated with a number of Hindu-Buddhist remains. The results of this project (2006‒2010) compelled to rethink the history of Padang Lawas in a new light. The research team then moved to the Kota Cina site (late 11th‒early 14th c. CE), on the Strait of Malacca, where fieldwork activities were conducted between 2011 and 2016.

This talk will present the main results of methodological approaches looking at the spatial distribution of certain categories of finds at Bukit Hasang, Si Pamutung and Kota Cina. A first objective is to present how the series of events consisting of the emergence of the site, its rise, its period(s) of decline, and then its abandonment, appear through the spatial distribution of stoneware and porcelain finds. A second objective is to reveal areas devoted to specialised activities.