Archaeology Wordsmith

Results for Funan:

Funan: CATEGORY: site
DEFINITION: The Chinese name for an early kingdom of Southeast Asia, founded in the 1st century AD and recorded as a trading partner of China from at least the 3rd century AD. Located in the lower Mekong region of Cambodia and southern Vietnam, this Indianized state was strategically situated on the trade routes between India and China. It was conquered by the Khmer state of Chenla in the 7th century. There is abundant information about the material culture of Funan from excavations, notably those of Oc-eo, thought to have been its main port, and from Angkor Borei.
Angkor Borei: CATEGORY: site
DEFINITION: The site of the capital of the kingdom of Funan towards the end of the 6th century. The rich archaeological site is located south of Phnom Penh, near the Vietnam border, in Cambodia. It appears as Na-fu-na in Chinese writings and is identified with Naravaranagara. There are many stone statuary.
Cambodia: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: Kampuchea
CATEGORY: site
DEFINITION: Neolithic peoples inhabited present-day Cambodia during the 2nd and 1st millennia BC. Stone tools have been found in terraces of the Mekong River in possible association with tektites from a shower that fell c 600,000 to 700,000 years ago. In western Cambodia there is an important Hoabinhian sequence from the cave of Laang Spean dating to 4300 BC. A major Neolithic mound site at Somrong Sen yielded elaborate assemblage which seems to predate 100 BC. Khmer civilization developed over several distinct periods, starting with the Hindu-Buddhist kingdoms of Funan and Chenla in the 1st century AD, which extended into the 8th century.
Chansen: CATEGORY: site
DEFINITION: A settlement site of central Thailand which traded with India during the first two centuries AD and with Funan sites till the 5th-6th centuries.
Chenla: CATEGORY: culture
DEFINITION: A kingdom of the Khmers of the 6th-8th centuries AD in what is now southern Laos. It expanded to absorb the territories formerly occupied by Funan (now Cambodia). At the beginning of the 8th century it split into Water Chenla" and "Land Chenla". Chenla ceased to exist when the kingdom of Angkor was established in 802. From local inscriptions remarkable sculptures architectural remains and Chinese sources it is clear that it was an Indianized kingdom. There was an important cult site called Wat Phu (Laos)."
Kauthara: CATEGORY: site
DEFINITION: One of the four small states, named after regions of India -- Amaravati (Quang Nam); Vijaya (Binh Dinh); Kauthara (Nha Trang); and Panduranga (Phan Rang) -- of Champa (now southern Vietnam). Champa was formed in 192 AD during the breakup of the Han dynasty in China. The states' populations remained concentrated in small coastal enclaves. To this period belong several brick sanctuaries in the Nha-trang area, notably that of Po Nagar. Nha-trang dates to the 3rd century AD, when, as part of the independent land of Kauthara, it acknowledged the suzerainty of Funan.
Khmer: CATEGORY: culture
DEFINITION: The ethnic name of a linguistic group inhabiting Cambodia, southern Vietnam, and parts of Thailand. Late in 6th century AD, they annexed the declining Funan Empire of south Cambodia and extended westwards. The Khmer were linguistically related to the Mon and at the height of their power ruled most of Thailand and southern Laos. The empire had its capital at Angkor in Kampuchea and it was destroyed by the Thais in about 1400 AD. Khmer was one of the most impressive civilizations of southeast Asia, known for spectacular and monumental religious architecture.
Kulèn: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: Phnom Kulèn, Mahendraparvata
CATEGORY: site
DEFINITION: An administrative capital established in 802 by Jayavarman II, the founder of the Angkor kingdom. It was a rather unsuitable place for a capital, but it was a mountain, and the peoples of Southeast Asia have always believed that gods and spirits dwell on mountaintops. The site may have been chosen so he could claim the title of 'King of the Mountain' (i.e. Universal Ruler), which seems to have been that of the kings of Funan before him. There are the ruins of several monuments on this hill, and it also served as a quarry for the sandstone which was used in a number of monuments at Angkor, notably Angkor Wat.
Oc-eo: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: Oc Eo
CATEGORY: site
DEFINITION: Protohistoric site in southern Vietnam in the Mekong Delta, thought to have been the main port of the kingdom of Funan, built on a Neolithic site. This port settlement, which flourished amid a complex of other settlements connected by canals, was not only an extraordinarily rich emporium dealing in articles from as far as Rome and inner Asia, but it was also a local manufacturing center producing its own jewelry, pottery, and other trade goods. In addition to objects of local production, a large amount of traded goods from India and China, western Asia, and even the Mediterranean, dated to between the 2nd-7th centuries AD, have been found. These finds include Roman coins of Antoninus Pius and Marcus Aurelius of the 2nd century AD; Chinese bronzes, Indian beads, seals, and other jewelry.
Sailendra: CATEGORY: culture
DEFINITION: A Mahayana Buddhist empire established in Java in the 8th century. Its name ('King of the Mountain') has been seen as the claim to 'Universal Rulership', taken over from the kings of Funan. In the 9th century, the dynasty left Java for Sumatra where they continued to hold power for several centuries.
Srivijaya: CATEGORY: culture
DEFINITION: Ancient Sumatran kingdom centered on Palembang in the Malacca Straits which came into being at the end of the 7th century and controlled the ports of Sumatra and peninsular Malaysia. Its rise might coincide with the fall of Funan. First mentioned by the Chinese pilgrim I-Ching as an important center of Buddhist learning and a relay station on the way to India, it was strong in the 7th-8th centuries and again in the 10th-13th centuries. Remains have been found at several sites: Muara Jambi, Kota Cina, Lobo Tuwa, Kampong Sungei Mas, Padang Lawas, Muara Takus, and Pengkalan Bujang.
Vietnam: CATEGORY: site
DEFINITION: A distinct Vietnamese ethnolinguistic group began to emerge about 200 BC in the independent kingdom of Nam Viet, which was later annexed to China. In the 1st century AD the kingdom of Funan occupied much of the Mekong delta area, but it disappeared in the 6th century. Most Vietnamese archaeological sites are in the northern part of the country: Lower Palaeolithic tools, a lithic sequence from the end of the Pleistocene (c 10,000-4000 BC) with pottery, full Neolithic cultures appearing after 3000 BC and the Bronze Age, terminating in the classic Dong-Son culture (early second millennium BC- 200 AD). The Bronze Age-Iron Age in southern Vietnam is associated with the Sa-Huynh culture and Chamic (Austronesian) settlement.
Vyadhapura: CATEGORY: site
DEFINITION: Sanskrit for 'City of Hunters', capital city of the ancient Hindu kingdom of Funan, which flourished from the 1st-6th century AD in an area that comprises modern Cambodia and Vietnam. It is 120 miles (190 km) from the mouth of the Mekong River, near a landform called Ba Hill in southern Cambodia.
Zhenla: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: Chenla
CATEGORY: site
DEFINITION: The name used for an early Khmer state in southeast Cambodia and south Vietnam, probably established during the 6th century AD in the upper-middle reaches of the Mekong River, in what is now Laos. The leaders of Zhenla descended from the Funan. Zhenla was later divided into 'Land Chenla' and 'Water Chenla' which vied for recognition from China. The Funan-Chenla tradition produced some of the world's most magnificent stone cult images.

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