I. Conferences and Workshops
II. The Nalanda-Sriwijaya Lecture Series
III. The Asian Civilisations Museum-Nalanda Sriwijaya Lecture Series
IV. Nalanda-Sriwijaya Centre-Singapore Buddhist Lodge Lecture Series
V. The NSC-ArtScience Museum Lecture Series
VI. The NSC Archaeology Unit Lecture Series
VII. Special Events

Part I

From Evidence to Histories, Art Histories, and Stories: Non-linear Data Organization as a Keytool Towards Perfectibility in Global Discourses on Cultural Heritage

ABOUT THE TALK

Heritage Science as a domain was born in the digital era and applies interdisciplinary methods to the study and conservation of cultural heritage. Here, "Digitalizing" and "Digitalized" are solutions and problems at the same time. They provide sustainable conservation solutions to access information encapsulated in monuments, museums, galleries, libraries and archives. However, at the same time, they need new professional ontologies and ICT tools to organize knowledge as metadata in the semantic web. In this wide frame, a new generation of scholars needs to discuss, test and implement ICT tools and solutions in correlation with the centuries-old results of each single discipline which contributes to the contemporary domain of Heritage Science. This paper–inspired by Derrida's notion of trace, Ginzburg's "thread and traces" theory, and last but not least Umberto Eco's semiotics (e.g. Dall'albero al labirinto 2007)–focuses on how the "old tradition" provides excellent theoretical skills to create new digital solutions for professional data organization and interactive visual information management.

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

A historian by training (Medieval and Renaissance studies), Prof Andrea Nanetti has both academic and entrepreneurial experience in helping to develop Heritage Science as a domain. Prof Nanetti teaches at the Nanyang Technological University (Singapore) and Shanghai Jiao Tong University (China). He is advisor to public and private institutions and individuals in Italy, Greece and China.

Part II

Digital Humanities in Praxis

ABOUT THE TALK

Digital media have revolutionized the practice of scholarship from archives to the creation of content. Continuing into the next decades, computation will become as integral to humanistic research/creation projects such as the analysis of digital collections, too large for traditional methods. Twenty-first century students now require formal competence with digital technologies to have a competitive edge, both in academia and their workplaces. Digital Humanities, generally applied, refers to the use and application of computational tools and methods to humanist fields of study, and vice versa. Large-scale databases, text-analysis software, geographical information systems, consumer-programmable hardware, and countless digital tools enable innovative approaches to research, while posing new challenges to scholars. At the Centre for Creative Content and Digital Innovation (University of Malaya), we are interested in fostering transdisciplinary connections to inspire new research approaches, while at the same time leveraging on digital media technologies for content creation and dissemination to a wide variety of publics. This presentation examines a variety of work that reflects the potential and impact that Digital Humanities are having on Asian Studies, Asian culture and heritage research/creation.

Date: Monday, 17 June 2013
Time: 3.30 – 5.00 pm
Venue: ISEAS Seminar Room II

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

Phon Kaseka is currently the Director of the Archaeology Department at the Royal Academy of Cambodia. He holds a Bachelor's and Master's degree from the Faculty of Archaeology, Royal University of Fine Arts, Cambodia. He is currently a PhD. candidate at the Royal Academy of Cambodia, and is currently writing his dissertation on the Cheung Ek Archaeological site. Kaseka has had extensive experience on various Archaeological projects in Cambodia, including the "East Cambodia Research Survey" organized by the NAGA Research Group; the site of Phnom Borei; site survey mapping projects in the Ang Snoul, Baray, and Trapeang Prasat districts; and the survey and mapping of Buddhist Vihara Mounds at Udong and Lovek Cities. He has also directed the Sre Ampil Archaeological Conservation Project, which was later expanded into a theoretical and practical training workshop. Additionally, Kaseka has trained site guardians at Prasat Banteay Chmar in a project funded by Friends of Khmer Culture, and participated in the Industries of Angkor Project at Preah Khan of Kompong Svay (Prasat Bakan). In 2012, Kaseka returned to conduct survey and fieldwork at Cheung Ek in order to identify destroyed kilns and other structures, as well as possibly intact kilns that would be excavated in order to understand kiln structure, dating, and the typology of the ceramics produced at Cheung Ek.

Kaseka has translated Dr. Charles Higham's Early Cultures of Mainland Southeast Asia from English into Khmer (funded by the Luce Foundation); a guidebook entitled Guidelines for Stone Conservation and Preservation in Angkor (funded by the German Apsara Conservation Project); and Archaeometallurgy from English to Khmer (funded by the Center for Khmer Studies).

ABOUT THE LECTURE

The village of Cheung Ek, located just outside the capital city of Phnom Penh, is known today as one of the most famous "Killing Field" sites. The "Killing Fields" were sites where large numbers of people were killed and buried by Cambodia's Khmer Rouge Regime in the 1970s. Recent archaeological work at Cheung Ek by Khmer archaeologists have shown, however, that the Cheung Ek area was occupied from a vastly earlier time period. The early historic site which underlies the Killing Fields is significant as it appears to hold the key to a better understanding of early floodplain polities in Cambodia.

Research at the Cheung Ek archaeological site has been conducted in several phases since the year 2000. The findings from the site have slowly developed from one field season to another. Current research at the site has documented 61 kilns, 31 habitation mounds, 11 temple foundations (brick architectural features) and a circular walled site.

Two types of kilns were identified at the site: one type fired earthenware and the other fired stoneware. The earthenware kilns date back to 5th century AD; meanwhile the stoneware kilns are suspected to be dated to a later period, even though the results of the dating are still pending. The research at the site has also revealed a circular, earthen wall with a diameter measuring 740 meters long, or about 54 hectares, making it one of the largest earthworks in Cambodia.

Date: Monday, 24 June 2013
Time: 10.30 am– 12.00 nn
Venue: ISEAS Seminar Room II

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

Dr. Mai Lin Tjoa-Bonatz is currently a Research Associate at the Freie Universität Berlin who is working on the "Tanah Datar" research project. She has a PhD. in Art History from Technical University of Darmstadt and an M.A. in Art History, Archaeology, and Southeast Asian regional studies from Frankfurt University, Germany. She was previously a small-finds assistant for excavations conducted in Syria (2009–2010) and in 2003–2008, she worked as a research assistant for excavations conducted in the Kerinci Region of Sumatra, Indonesia. She was formerly a Visiting Research Associate at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies and a Visiting Research Fellow at the Asia Research Institute. Recent notable publications include an article entitled "The earliest archaeological sources of vernacular architecture on Sumatra" in Insular Diversity: Architecture–Culture–Identity in Indonesia (IVA Institut für vergleichende Architekturforschung, 2013); Crossing States and Empire: Proceedings of the EurASEAA13 Conference (NUS Press, 2012); and From Distant Tales: Ethnohistory and Archaeology in Highland Sumatra (Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2009).

ABOUT THE LECTURE

The Freie Universität Berlin's "Tanah Datar" archaeological project aims to reconstruct early settlement patterns and document the material culture of the Minangkabau in West Sumatra. During the 14th century, the last Hindu- Buddhist king Ādityavarman established his kingdom in this highland area. Various dated stone inscriptions are the oldest documents for this early phase of history.

The potential seat of this kingdom lies on the large mound called Bukit Gombak where settlement features and habitation debris from the 14th and 17th centuries were unearthed in 2011–2012. Excavations at smaller sites and a pre-Islamic burial site including regional surveys provided evidence of a dense settlement pattern in the region. Distributional studies of the habitation deposits offer a number of important observations about the growth of this trading center, the expansion of foreign trade relations, status-related differences and the evolution of craft activity such as metal and earthenware production.

More information, visit: http://www.geschkult.fu-berlin.de/e/vaa/Ausgrabungen/Tanah_Datar/index.html