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The Emergence of Early Polities and Communities on the Trans-Peninsular Routes in the Thai-Malay Peninsula

  • Pipad KRAJAEJUN (Department of History at Thammasat University's Faculty of Liberal Arts in Thailand)
  • Published : 2024.06.15
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Abstract

There is a lot of evidence of early port cities and small habitation sites along the Thai-Malay Peninsula's coastlines. These sites appeared on the trans-peninsular routes during the Maritime Silk Roads period, from 2,000 to 1,500 BP. The Thai-Malay Peninsula was mentioned in many documents as Suvarnabhumi (India), Aurea Chersonese (Greek), and Jin Lin (Chinese), meaning the Golden Land. Ptolemy's map displays that there were many port cities along this peninsula. It corresponds to the Milinda-panha, which depicts many port cities in Suvarnabhumi. Foreign documents primarily documented the presence of major port cities, while inland habitation sites received less recognition. This paper aims to reconstruct the trans-peninsular routes in order to understand their networks, connections, and roles. The second aim is to understand the hierarchy of each site. This paper will focus on two important settlements and high-value artifacts along three routes: the Kra Isthmus Route, the Pho Khao Thong and Tha Chana Route, and the Krabi to Surat Thani Route. I conducted an archaeological survey of these three routes and others during 2021-2023 under the Suvarnabhumi Studies Center, TASSHA Institute, and the Ministry of Higher Education, Science, Research, and Innovation.

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References

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