Between 500 BC and AD 500, societies around the South China Sea were transformed by increasing maritime exchange and human mobility. As distant communities came into closer contact, their materials, technologies and cultural practices were selectively adopted, modified and incorporated into local systems of production, exchange and identity. Southeast Asia became a major crossroads linking China and India with the Mediterranean and the wider ancient world. These expanding Iron Age maritime networks helped create the conditions for the emergence of the region’s earliest states and complex societies. This interplay between maritime connectivity and local innovation is the central theme of Maritime exchange and localization across the South China Sea. The volume originated in an international conference organised by the École française d’Extrême-Orient and the Institute of Archaeology at the National Cheng Kung University in Tainan, Taiwan, in November 2018. Drawing primarily on archaeological evidence, the Introduction and 13 chapters examine interactions between prehistoric and protohistoric societies around the South China Sea, with case studies from China, Vietnam, Thailand, Sabah, Maluku and Taiwan. Analyses of ornaments, pottery, metalwork, burials and megalithic remains show how communities participated in expanding maritime networks while adapting external influences to their own circumstances.
In the Introduction, Frank Muyard and Liu Yi-chang characterise the South China Sea as “a world in common” (p.13). They emphasise the interaction between external stimuli and local agency in societies that became increasingly interconnected while remaining culturally distinctive. Bérénice Bellina applies a technological approach to early globalisation across the South China Sea and Bay of Bengal. Evidence from Khao Sam Kaeo and Khao Sek, two sites in Thailand, reveals port settlements supported by specialised production, mobile craftspeople and transpeninsular exchange. By emphasising cultural hybridisation and diverse social formations, Bellina challenges both conventional models of ‘Indianisation’ and hierarchical core–periphery interpretations. Aude Favereau uses chaîne opératoire analysis to investigate pottery production and interactions between mainland and Island Southeast Asia. She distinguishes local and non-local groups of Vietnamese Sa Huỳnh- and Philippian Kalanay-related pottery in southern Thailand, revealing distinct production histories and changing connections with Vietnam and the Philippines.
Krisztina Hoppál compares Roman and Roman-related artefacts from Thailand and China, considering their materials, archaeological contexts and roles within broader networks connecting East and West. She argues that most reached East and Southeast Asia through indirect, multistage networks involving Indian, Persian and other intermediaries. Regional differences demonstrate how imported objects acquired new meanings in local contexts, cautioning against treating Roman-related finds as evidence for direct Mediterranean trade. Lâm Thị Mỹ Dung traces the diversity of jar-burial traditions across central and southern Vietnam. She identifies two major variants, associated with the northern and southern Sa Huỳnh spheres, and places Sa Huỳnh mortuary practices within a longer history of local development and maritime contact. Yamagata Mariko examines Kalanay-related pottery from Hòa Diêm, Thổ Chu and Óc Eo. These assemblages show how Philippine-related ceramic traditions were reproduced and transformed in new social settings, providing evidence for maritime mobility and cross-regional interaction.
Stephen Chia reviews the Metal Period archaeology of Sabah, North Borneo, including metal objects, pottery, ornaments, jar burials and wooden coffins. Although clearly stratified sites are scarce, the available evidence indicates sustained cultural interaction and maritime exchange. Shiung Chung-ching traces changes in red-slipped and geometric-incised pottery in the Banda Islands, suggesting that the later predominance of geometric-incised pottery was linked to the spice trade and sociocultural change. Emily Miyama reconstructs the production systems of two distinctive forms of nephrite ornament: three-pointed lingling-o earrings and double-headed animal pendants. Through typological and technological analyses, she establishes their chronology and detects shifts in their production and circulation within wider maritime networks.
Four chapters discuss Taiwan, reflecting the volume’s origins. Chao Chin-yung and Chung Kuo-feng reconsider the megaliths of eastern Taiwan, arguing that they should not be treated as evidence for a coherent ‘megalithic culture’. Because these structures served varied purposes, the authors call for greater attention to settlement contexts, landscapes, spatial relationships and changing cultural practices rather than fixed typological classifications. Liu Yi-chang relates Taiwan’s transition to the Metal Age to successive arrivals of foreign populations, materials and technologies. These external elements were gradually incorporated into Indigenous societies through interaction, adaptation and localisation. Wang Kuan-Wen and Caroline Jackson analyse the styles, production methods, chemical compositions, microstructures and contexts of glass beads from seven Iron Age sites in Taiwan. Many originated in south and west Asia, while their distribution within Taiwan reflects the intersection of long-distance maritime trade, internal exchange and local consumption. Liu Jiun-Yu applies a trade-diaspora model to the emergence of metallurgy in prehistoric Taiwan between approximately c. 450 BC and AD 750. Evidence from Blihun Hanben suggests that itinerant craftspeople established enduring relationships with local communities. Metallurgy consequently developed through sustained technological and social interaction rather than a single introduction.
In the final chapter, Muyard examines the incorporation of southern China and northern Vietnam into South China Sea exchange networks. Challenging China-centred interpretations of the ‘Maritime Silk Road’, he highlights the active roles of Yue (southern Indigenous non-Han peoples) and other Southeast Asian communities. Relations between these groups and Qin and Han settlers (migrants associated with the expanding Chinese empires) are interpreted as reciprocal acculturation rather than straightforward Sinicisation.
The volume’s geographical coverage is uneven. Taiwan and the northern South China Sea receive considerable attention, whereas the Philippines, Cambodia and much of Island Southeast Asia remain under-represented. A concluding synthesis examining how exchange, mobility, localisation and early globalisation contributed to the emergence of complex societies and early states in Southeast Asia would have enhanced the volume’s analytical coherence. Nevertheless, these limitations do not detract from its overall importance. Grounded in extensive archaeological evidence and informed by technological and contextual approaches, the volume makes a substantial contribution to the study of ancient maritime networks and will serve as an important reference for scholars of East and Southeast Asian archaeology.
