This study focuses on the distribution of early Dong Son bronze drums, from their centres of production in north Vietnam throughout Mainland and Island Southeast Asia, as evidence of cultural contact and cross-regional exchange along river and maritime routes from the late Metal Age to the proto-historic period. This is the period just prior to, and overlapping with, the first Chinese and Indian influences in the wider region. The exchange of bronze drums established alliances between early centres favouring the trade of other goods. Such early centres allow us to identify early cultural spheres which set the stage for the process of state formation in the historic period. Adopting a synoptic view over the entire distribution across present national boundaries, the author analyses the implications of what types of drums are found where. As a working tool towards this goal, she identifies specific regional clusters. Each cluster of drums highlights and clarifies specific questions regarding chronology, routes of transmission, the geographical extent of trade networks, and new local bronze casting traditions arising from the influence of the imported bronze drums.

This study focuses on the distribution of early bronze drums from their centres of production in north Vietnam throughout Mainland and Island Southeast Asia, as evidence of cultural contact and cross-regional exchange along river and maritime routes during the late Metal Age and the proto-historic period. This is the period just prior to, and overlapping with, the first Chinese and Indian influences in the region. The exchange of bronze drums established alliances between early centres favouring the trade of other goods, and defining early cultural spheres which set the stage for the process of state formation in the historic period. Adopting a synoptic view over the entire distribution across national boundaries, I analyse what types of drums are found where by identifying a series of regional clusters. Each cluster of drums highlights and clarifies specific questions regarding chronology, routes of transmission, the geographical extent of trade networks, and new local bronze casting traditions arising from the influence of the imported bronze drums.

Examines the transmission of ceremonial Dong Son bronze drums from their centres of production in north Vietnam and its immediate environs along river and maritime routes throughout mainland and island Southeast Asia from the perspective of Late Metal Age exchange networks. Examining the distribution across present national boundaries, this study focuses on what type of drums are found where to identify different phases and routes of transmission.

"Southeast Asia is one of the most significant regions in the world for tracing human prehistory over a period of 2 million years. Migrations from the African homeland saw settlement by Homo erectus and Homo floresiensis. Anatomically Modern Humans reached Southeast Asia at least 60,000 years ago to establish a hunter-gatherer tradition, adapting as climatic change saw sea levels fluctuate by over 100 metres. From about 2000 BC, settlement was affected by successive innovations that took place to the north and west. The first rice and millet farmers came by riverine and coastal routes to integrate with indigenous hunters. A millennium later, knowledge of bronze casting penetrated along similar pathways. Copper mines were identified, and metals were exchanged over hundreds of kilometres as elites commanded access to this new material. This Bronze Age ended with the rise of a maritime exchange network that circulated new ideas, religions and artefacts with adjacent areas of present-day India and China. Port cities were founded as knowledge of iron forging rapidly spread, as did exotic ornaments fashioned from glass, carnelian, gold and silver. In the Mekong Delta, these developments led to an early transition into the state known as Funan. However, the transition to early states in inland regions arose as a sharp decline in monsoon rains stimulated an agricultural revolution involving permanent ploughed rice fields. These twin developments illuminate how the great early kingdoms of Angkor, Champa and Central Thailand came to be, a vital stage in understanding the roots of modern states"--