Rock Art Research in Southeast Asia: A Synthesis

Abstract

Rock art has been known in Southeast Asia since the early 19th century, but relatively little attention has been paid to this class of archaeological material. This paper attempts to correct the perception that there is little rock art known in the region; especially in the light of intensified research efforts over the last 30 years that have led to the discovery of numerous new sites. Over a thousand rock art sites are known in the form of rock paintings, petroglyphs and megaliths in Southeast Asia, and their distribution across the various territories are uneven. This paper summarises the state of rock art research in Southeast Asia and discusses some of the challenges of studying rock art in this region, research trends and new finds from recent research.

Full text

Arts 2014, 3, 73-104; doi:10.3390/arts3010073
arts
ISSN 2076-0752
www.mdpi.com/journal/arts
Article
Rock Art Research in Southeast Asia: A Synthesis
Noel Hidalgo Tan
Archaeology and Natural History, School of Culture, History and Language, College of Asia and the
Pacific, The Australian National University, Canberra, ACT 0200, Australia;
E-Mail: noel.tan@anu.edu.au or seaarch@gmail.com; Tel.: +61 404 413 883
Received: 4 October 2013; in revised form: 29 January 2014 / Accepted: 29 January 2014/
Published: 13 February 2014
Abstract: Rock art has been known in Southeast Asia since the early 19th century, but
relatively little attention has been paid to this class of archaeological material. This paper
attempts to correct the perception that there is little rock art known in the region; especially
in the light of intensified research efforts over the last 30 years that have led to the discovery
of numerous new sites. Over a thousand rock art sites are known in the form of rock
paintings, petroglyphs and megaliths in Southeast Asia, and their distribution across the
various territories are uneven. This paper summarises the state of rock art research in
Southeast Asia and discusses some of the challenges of studying rock art in this region,
research trends and new finds from recent research.
Keywords: rock art; Southeast Asia; Thailand; Myanmar; Cambodia; Laos; Vietnam;
Malaysia; Philippines; East Timor; Indonesia; Singapore
1. Introduction
Rock art has been reported in Southeast Asia since the 19th century [1–4], but mentions of
Southeast Asia in the context of world rock art have been scant at best. Until recently, relatively little
research has been done in Southeast Asia, leaving one with the impression that there is little or no rock
art in the region. Up until the 1980s, only a handful of sites were known, including Liang Lumba in
Kalimantan [3], Khao Khian, Pha Mue Daeng and Tham Roob [5–7] in Thailand, several Indonesian
sites named by van Heekeren [8,9], Gua Tambun in Peninsular Malaysia [10,11], the Painted Cave
(Gua Kain Hitam) in Malaysian Borneo [12] and the Padahlin Caves in Myanmar [13]. In 1987, during
a meeting of prehistorians in Bangkok at Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Organisation
Regional Centre for Archaeology and Fine Arts (SEAMEO-SPAFA), a discussion recorded at the end
OPEN ACCESS

Arts 2014, 3 74
of the seminar suggested that rock art was not a viable field of research: “Given their scarcity and the
difficulty of interpreting them, are rock paintings a profitable subject for future research? [14]” It
should be noted that SEAMEO-SPAFA has since recognised the importance of rock art research in
Southeast Asia, having organized several interdisciplinary workshops bringing together professionals
in the regional community since 2011.
With the exception of a review by Taçon and Tan [15], the most recent comprehensive overview of
rock art in Southeast Asia was written by Kusch [4], mentioning over 30 rock art sites; however, his
work was not widely known, as evidenced by the lack of reference from later authors. Anati’s [16]
book, World Rock Art, acknowledges the gap of knowledge in that region, displaying absolutely no
Southeast Asian sites in his map of the world. Jean Clottes’s [17] book, also entitled World Rock Art,
slightly improved the situation by representing Southeast Asia with a single page, featuring a site from
Borneo that contained hand stencils. In the 2001 Handbook of Rock Art Research, Southeast Asian
rock art is limited to a three-page discussion in a larger chapter about the rock art of Asia [18]. Chen
discusses rock art sites in Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand and Myanmar, although most of the works
cited were published prior to 1980. Bellwood and Glover’s [19] textbook on the archaeology of
Southeast Asia paints a similar image about the scarcity of rock art in the region: “Of art we have little,
especially compared to the rich cave tapestries of northern Australia, but (…they) do occur in caves
and rockshelters across the region.” Thus, the available English-language literature gives the
impression that very little rock art exists in the region.
Two factors obscure our knowledge of the rock art of Southeast Asia. Firstly, rock art is still
a relatively new research focus in the archaeologies of the region. Neither Southeast Asia nor any of
its constituent countries are currently represented in the International Federation of Rock Art
Organisations (IFRAO). As many countries in Southeast Asia are still developing, archaeology does
not enjoy a high priority in the national agenda, and rock art, when mentioned, often forms part of a
larger report about excavations in a particular cave or region. Thus, most reports tend to treat rock art
in a fairly descriptive manner, often laced with fleeting interpretations that are more speculative than
objective. The second factor is related to the academic landscape of the post-colonial present—many
archaeological reports written in the region today are not published in widely distributed English-language
journals, but are written in small local journals with limited circulation, and in local languages which
further limits dissemination. For example, following a sustained rock art recording programme in
Thailand from the 1980s, the Fine Arts Department has published a number of books about the rock art
of several regions in the country (see [20–26]). These books are written almost entirely in Thai, and are
typically sold at local museums and therefore generally unavailable to non-Thai readers and readers
outside of Thailand.
In this survey of the rock art in Southeast Asia, I define rock art as anthropogenic markings on
stone; most commonly in the form of rock paintings (pictograms) and engravings (petroglyphs). I also
include in this discussion megaliths as a class of rock art, given that like pictograms and petroglyphs
they are considered as a form of landscape art and in many cases megaliths themselves contain
petroglyphs. Given linguistic constraints I have drawn primarily on English-language publications for
this survey, and where accessible, local-language reports. Secondary sources such as museum displays,
unpublished reports and concurrent research have also contributed to this paper.

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To facilitate discussion of a wide corpus of sites spanning multiple countries, I have limited the
discussion to the traditional geopolitical boundaries of Southeast Asia: east of India, south of Hong
Kong, north of Australia and west of Papua New Guinea. It is important to note that some of these
peripheral areas—particularly southern China and northern Australia—contain rock art that have
affinities to the area in discussion (see further discussion of recent research in [15]), but under the
constraints of space I concentrate on two regions: Mainland Southeast Asia and Island Southeast Asia,
under the current geopolitical boundaries. In both areas, evidence for prehistoric human activity is to
be found mainly in caves and rock shelters in the form of stone tools of varying traditions. In fact,
caves and rock shelters continue to be used for various purposes, including habitation, burial and
worship. As in many other places in the world, one marker for the human use of caves is the presence
of rock art.
2. Mainland Southeast Asia
The region discussed as Mainland Southeast Asia comprises the modern nation-states of Thailand,
Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Malaysia, Vietnam, and Singapore. It is geographically, linguistically and
climatically diverse: home to several mountain ranges, including the lower Himalayas in northern
Myanmar and the Dangrek chain bordering Thailand and Cambodia. A total of some 270 million people
who speak a mixture of Austro-Asiatic, Thai and Austronesian languages currently live in the region.
2.1. Thailand
The Kingdom of Thailand has one of the most developed archaeological programmes in the region,
due to sustained archaeological research through the Fine Arts Department. The country’s stability and
prosperity relative to many of her neighbours has also led to a number of foreign-led archaeological
projects conducted within her borders; hence much of our knowledge of the prehistory of Southeast
Asia is derived from Thai discoveries.
In total, there are at least 200 documented rock art sites in Thailand [28], although most of the
published information appears in Thai (e.g., [20–25]). The vast majority of rock art in Thailand are
pictograms painted in monochrome red [29]. The distribution patterns of rock paintings, particularly
the presence of strong clusters in the north, northeast, central and southern offer potential for future
studies in spatial and geographic distribution of human populations and activity. These regions will be
discussed in turn.
Archaeological research in northern Thailand began in the 1960s and 1970s in Pang Mapha
Province. Rock paintings sites have been discovered in the northern provinces of Mae Hong Son,
Chiang Mai and Lampang. These paintings have been commonly dated to between 3,000–5,000 years
BP, but no chronometric dating has yet been undertaken [29]. In Mae Hong Song province, eight rock
art sites are known in the Pang Ma Pha district depicting a variety of designs in red pigment, except for
a single polychromatic painting in Tham Lod, which is unique in Thailand [29]. Ban Rai, a rock shelter
in the same district that was re-investigated in the last decade contains rock paintings of human figures
and animals around a central circular image [30]. The art was previously documented by Sawatsalee
[31], who concluded that the paintings depict human relations to the landscape. In Chiang Mai
Province, Pha Phung and Pha Mai are both honey-collection sites that contain the same depiction of a

Arts 2014, 3 76
three-toed zoomorph [29]. The paintings at Phra Tu Pha in Lampang province are at the base of a
limestone cliff and encompass an area over 300 m long. Over 1,800 paintings have been identified,
over half of which are hand prints [27,29,32–34]. Elsewhere in Northern Thailand, the sites have been
noted in Hot, Chiang Mai and Lampang provinces [35–37]
The rock art of Northeast Thailand was the focus of a concentrated research effort in the early
1980s. Higham and Thosarat [38] make an observation on the site of Khao Chan Ngam, at the western
edge of the Khorat Plateau which contains red-pigmented paintings of a hunting scene (Figure 1). A
pictogram interpreted as a dog would establish a relative chronology within the last 4,000 years since
dogs do not turn up in the archaeological record before then (see also [26]). Another key site, Pha
Taem, lends its name to the national park in Ubon Ratchathani province. The rock art is located on
cliff faces overlooking the Mekong river, the largest of which contain depictions of catfish, elephants
and anthropomorphized figures [38]. Also in Northeast Thailand is the Phu Phra Bat Historical Park in
Udon Thani Province. Phu Phra Bat has a long history of usage from prehistoric times and contains a
number of paintings along the walls of the rock formations; the best preserved depict men near a group
of bullocks, which may infer some sort of animal husbandry activity although from my own
observation of the site these two panels are unrelated. Due to the depiction of domestication these
paintings have been estimated to date between 4,000–2500 BP [22,40]. Chen [18] suggests a possible
connection between the rock art in Cangyuan, in Yunnan province of Southwest China and the art in
northeast Thailand. He suggests that this connection, if further explored, might hint at the human
migration from China to Thailand. There is not enough space for a discussion of the rock art of
Yunnan and other parts of China bordering Southeast Asia, but it suffices to say that several sites lie in
close proximity to geopolitical Southeast Asia that can be considered as part of mainland Southeast
Asia as a region [41–47].
Figure 1. A “hunting scene” from Khao Chan Ngam in Nakhon Ratchasima province. The
presence of a dog suggests that the rock art is less than 4,000 years old. Photo: Noel H.
Tan.
Rock art in central Thailand is relatively sparse, but several sites have been mentioned in literature,
such as Tham Pha Daeng and Tham Ta Duang in Kanchanaburi province. The former includes a

Arts 2014, 3 77
depiction of a “kilted” man wearing a headdress and costume embellishments interpreted as feathers,
while the latter contains a depiction of a circular drum [38,48]. Tham Roob, another site in
Kanchanaburi province, discovered by the Thai–Danish expeditions between 1960 and 1962, contains
depictions of a “reptile” figure that was observed as a tattoo motif used by the living populations in the
area, which may allude to some ethnographic connection between the rock paintings and the
indigenous population [49]. In Uthai Thani Province, the mountain of Khao Plara contains red and
black paintings on a west-facing cliff side [50]. A recently completed MA thesis by Victoria Scott
from the School of Oriental and African Studies looked at the rock art of Tham Ta Duang, Khao
Daeng and Khao Plara in Kachanaburi and Uthai Thani Provinces, assessing various theories about the
rock art and concluding that the rock art depicted some sort of ritual activity [52].
Southern Thailand is known for the first discovery of rock art in Thailand, at the site of Khao Khian
in Phang Nga province, which was reported by Lunet da Lajonquière in 1912 [7]. In the 1980s,
some 48 prehistoric sites were investigated by the Southern Thailand Archaeological Research
Project [51,53]. Several isolated rock art sites have been identified: Tra Cave in Trang Province is
known to date to the historical period while Dong Ao Rusi in Satun Province may derive from a
prehistoric context, but to date no further work or information has been published about it and the
nature of the rock paintings there are unknown. By far, the heaviest concentrated area of rock paintings
lie in the coastal limestone formations of Krabi and Phang Nga provinces, which have been dated to
2,000–3,000 years ago on the basis of associated stone tool finds [53]. These sites contain numerous
predominantly red-pigment rock paintings. Many of these sites are scattered throughout the islands in
the bay, and contain depictions of anthropomorphs; zoomorphs identified as fish, birds and mammals;
and geometric designs. The largest of the Phang Nga Bay sites include Ko Phra Ard Tao in Phang Nga
province, a limestone cliff with paintings in an area over 100 m long depicting humans and fish; Tham
Phi Hua To in Krabi province, which contains approximately 40 paintings of anthropomorphs,
zoomorphs, hand prints and other abstract designs spread throughout two chambers; and Tham Reussi
in Phang Nga province, which contains red-pigment rock art [54]. To the south of Phang Nga Bay, the
island sites of Ko Pi Pi Don, Tham Phayanak, and Ko Rang Nok contain depictions of European-style
sailing ships that indicate a relatively recent age, painted in the last 200–400 years [20,55–57] (Figure 2).
The other coastal sites along the Phang Nga and Krabi Bays are thought to be much older and belong
possibly to pre-agricultural societies.
Recent studies have opened up research into the rock art of South Thailand, such as sites from the
historic era, particularly on the cave temple sites used by Hindus and Buddhists. To date, there are 13
such rock art sites in Southern Thailand distributed from Chumphon province in the north to Yala
province in the south dating from the 7th century until the early 20th century. The rock art from this
period is likely imported from Hindu and Buddhist traditions of using caves as sacred spaces. The
earliest caves from this historic period contain similarities with Hindu cave temples in India, while
later rock art expressed Buddhist styles from the Dvaravati period (c. 9–10th century) up to the recent
Rattanakosin period (1851–1932) [58]. More recently, Sukkham reported two rock painting sites in
Yala province, Yala Mountain and Silpa Cave which contain red and black pigment rock art
respectively [59]. In 2010, Sukkham completed his MA research at Silpakorn University on the rock
art of southern Thailand which involved the re-recording of 23 sites [60]. The sites consist of painted
rock shelters and cave walls along the west coast and mountainous areas of southern Thailand and are

Arts 2014, 3 78
thought to date to between 4,000 to 2,000 years BP, though direct dating has not been undertaken.
Historic period sites of southern Thailand are of various types, containing paintings, sculptures,
inscriptions and/or engravings.
Figure 2. Tham Phrayanak in Krabi province contains many depictions of ships from
several cultures. Photo: Noel H. Tan.
Thailand’s rock art spans a large diversity of types, styles, periods and forms. In contrast, very little
is known about the rock art in neighbouring countries, but her central location in Mainland Southeast
Asia hints at the amounts of rock art that possibly exists and remains to be discovered.
2.2. Cambodia
Until very recently, rock art was unknown in the kingdom of Cambodia. In the last decade,
however, a number of rock art sites have been discovered in different parts of the country, leading
to renewed interest. The first recording of Cambodian rock art was in 2007 from the Cardamom
Mountains on the west of Cambodia, near Kanam Village in Pursat Province [61,62], bordering
Thailand; Poeung Kamnou is a painted boulder containing 45 paintings, consisting mostly of animals
such as elephants, water buffalo and deer, in addition to agricultural tools. Archaeological research at
the Cardamom Mountains is ongoing (see [63]) and it is expected that more art sites will
be discovered.
More significantly, a number of rock art sites have recently been discovered at the Phnom Kulen
area of Siem Reap province, near the world heritage-listed Angkor Archaeological Park. The rock art
was discovered during a ground survey conducted by the Authority for the Protection and Management
of Angkor and the Region of Siem Reap (APSARA) for the Living Angkor Road Project [64,65]. The
art sites were documented during another survey in 2011 [66] where a total of 10 were identified. Most

Arts 2014, 3 79
of these sites were painted sandstone rockshelter sites containing red paintings depicting animals and
other abstract figures. They are presumed to be of a prehistoric age, due to their rockshelter context
and use of red ochre as pigments, but none can be regarded as securely dated at this point in time. A
number of Angkoran sites in Phnom Kulen can be considered as rock art sites, because they consist of
modified stone landscape features. The most famous of these is Kbal Spean, a riverine site with
depictions of the reclining Vishnu carved on the rocks, and the River of a Thousand Linggas, in which
sections of the river bed have been carved with numerous stumps or linggas, which represent the
phallic power of the Hindu deity Shiva. Poeung Tbal is another carved boulder depicting the reclining
Vishnu. Elsewhere on Phnom Kulen, Srah Tamri is an unusual site consisting of large boulders carved
in the shape of an elephant and simhas (lions) [67].
My current research at the Australian National University looks at two of these sites at the Phnom
Kulen area, Poueng Komnou (Born Gamnur in [67]) and Poeung Ta Khap. Poeung Komnou is
a sandstone boulder located in the eastern foothills of Phnom Kulen. The boulder contains several
bas-relief carvings of the deities Vishnu and Ganesha, and inscriptions indicate that it was used as a
hermitage in the 12th century [68] (Figure 3). The aforementioned Living Angkor Road Project noted
the presence of red pictograms at the same site, indicating a long history of human activity at the site.
Poeung Ta Khap was a recently discovered site by the Archaeology and Development Foundation
project on Phnom Kulen; it is a sandstone rock shelter that shows signs of human habitation and
contains red pictograms with depictions of an anthropomorph and a zoomorph (bullock). More
recently, the site has been associated with a nearby temple, and several statues have been erected in the
rock shelter by devotees. These sites are described in detail elsewhere [69].
Figure 3. The rock art from Poeung Komnou in Siem Reap province, part of a series of
newly discovered sites found in the Phnom Kulen area. Photo: Noel H. Tan.

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2.3. Laos
The archaeology of Laos is underdeveloped compared to its neighbours Thailand, Vietnam and
Cambodia and as such there are no published reports about the rock art of Laos. Knowledge of rock art
of this region has come primarily from Souliya Bouxaythip [70] from the Archaeological Research
Division of the Ministry of Information and Culture, who presented an overview of the five known
rock art sites in Laos at a workshop on rock art hosted by SEAMEO-SPAFA.
Tham Vang Sang (or Tham Wang Sang, in [28,70]) in Vientiane Province, some 60 km away from
the capital Vientiane, is dated to the 13th century, containing bas-reliefs depicting the Buddha and
therefore classed as a historic period rock art site. In Xayabouli Province west of Vientiane, an
unnamed site contains petroglyphs of pecked anthropomorphic and zoomorphic figures, as well as
several cupules. Another unnamed site is found in the northern Luang Namtha province; a red painting
of an anthropomorph in spread-eagled position ([70], and also on display in the National Museum of
Laos in Vientiane).
Luang Prabang Province contains at least three rock art sites which are located along the Ou River.
The Pak Ou Caves are a popular tourist destination 20km from the capital Luang Prabang, a pair of caves
housing Buddhist shrines, but also containing a number of prehistoric and historic rock art [69–71]
(Figure 4). Pha Nang Aen, also located in the vicinity of Pak Ou village, was mentioned by
Srisuchat [28], as a painted cliff face located near the Pak Ou caves, although no information was
provided about the subject of the panels. An additional site, Pha Taem (“The Painted Cliff”) is located
in the vicinity, near the village of Huoay Kuong, and contains red paintings and handprints along a
cliff face overlooking the Ou River [70].
Figure 4. Rock art located on the cliff face outside the Pak Ou Caves in Luang Prabang
Province. Photo: Noel H. Tan.

Arts 2014, 3 81
Laos is otherwise famous for the mysterious Plain of Jars in Xienkhuoang Province, a vast field of
stone urns (and therefore classed as megaliths) first described by Colani in 1935 [72]. Some 90 sites of
stone carved jars are strewn across the Xienkhuoang Plateau, although access is limited today due to
the number of live munitions and unexploded ordnance left behind by American bombing runs in the
early 1970s. They are dated to the Iron Age, between 500 BCE and 500 ACE, and are largely
undecorated. The exception, a carved jar in site 1 of a human figure looks similar to a painting found in
the Pak Ou Caves.
2.4. Myanmar
A handful of sites are known from the Republic of the Union of Myanmar (formerly known as
Burma), but only two have been described in literature. The most prominent one is the Padalin
(alternatively known as Pah-dah-lin, Badalin or Pyadalin) Caves which are found in Shan state.
Comprising two sites the limestone rock shelter (Cave 1) and deep underground limestone cave (Cave 2)
were first investigated in the late 1960s, with the excavations carried out in Cave 1. Dates of 11,000 to
13,000 years ago from near the bottom of the deposit were obtained by radiocarbon dating [13]. This
site has a number of rock paintings of animals and stylised human hands with infilled designs on the
main wall (Figure 5). U Aung Thaw ascribes a Neolithic date to the finds, although Moore [73] writes
that the artefacts recovered more closely relate to the late Pleistocene. More recently, cupules were
also discovered in Cave 1 of the Padalin caves and there were several faint traces of painted rock art at
the entrance of Cave 2 [74].
Figure 5. A stylised human hand is one of the many paintings from Padalin Cave 1 in Shan
State. Photo: Noel H. Tan.

Arts 2014, 3 82
The other Myanmar site to be described in literature is the engravings at the Lemro Valley in
Rakhine state. Gutman et al. [75] revisited two petroglyph sites that, according to their interpretation,
were made during the post-medieval period of the 15–19th centuries. Their dating is based on
similarities with artistic styles and attributes found in the nearby city of Mrauk-U.
Three other sites were mentioned by U Win Kyaing [76] during his country report to the
SEAMEO-SPAFA Rock Art workshop in Bangkok. Citing a 1998 report by Hla Gyi Maung Maung to
the local department of archaeology on the caves of southern Shan State, the Le-win Rockshelter
contains a small set of red pictograms depicting anthropomorphs, some of them appearing to ride on
“horses” or “bulls.” Near the city of Myeik at Thaninthayi Division, the Yekan-au cliff paintings are
another red pictogram site lacking other details. Finally, the Gyo Village in the Myingyan District of
Mandalay Division were reported to have some 30 engraved boulders, three of which have been
moved to the district council office. These three aforementioned sites appear to have been written
about in local archaeological reports, but remain inaccessible to me at this stage.
2.5. Peninsular Malaysia
The rock art in Peninsular Malaysia consists mainly of rock paintings distributed throughout the
central and northern states of the peninsula in the states of Perak, Kedah, Kelantan and Pahang. There
are few detailed studies on any single rock art site in Peninsular Malaysia and reports are generally
confined to broad overviews and descriptions [77–79].
Some rock art sites in Peninsular Malaysia are directly associated with the aboriginal population,
known collectively as Orang Asli (“original peoples” in Malay). Evans [80] wrote the earliest account
of such rock painting at Gua Kajang in the Lenggong valley of Perak. Evans [81] later described
similar activity at Gua Badak in Perak, where he described the Lanoh Negritos creating parietal art
portraying different aspects of tribal life. Williams-Hunt [82] observed the same activity 30 years later
when the Lanoh Negritos drew a portrait of himself in his report; in another example, he featured a
“recent drawing of a man leading a horse,” illustrating the range of their decorative arts. Regrettably,
Williams-Hunt did not expound further about the aboriginal practice of cave painting. Gua Badak is
once again documented in 1988 by Faulstich [83], seeking to acquire pictures of the rock art which at
the time were to be quarried for marble; fortunately the site has remained intact, and this author visited
it in 2010. Faulstich noted that many of the designs on the walls of Gua Badak were similar to those
carved on pieces of bamboo used by contemporary Negritos—“myth bamboos” that represented some
kind of cultural knowledge [83,84]. Gua Kelilawar, another charcoal rock painting site in Perak, was
reportedly gazetted as a historical site in 1988 by the local government, and contains depictions of
anthropomorphs, zoomorphs and a depiction of a “boat carrying three men” [85].
Another ethnographically linked rock art site is Gua Luas in the state of Pahang, of which the art is
said to be a panoramic representation of the surrounding regions [86]. Some panels of abstract art is
said to represent everyday items used by Orang Asli, such as combs, blow pipes and decorative items.
Gua Kechil, near the town of Raub, is also reported to contain black-coloured paintings attributed to
the Orang Asli [87]. In Kedah, the site of Gua Batu Putih located near the town of Kodiang contains
charcoal representations of a human anthropomorphs and zoomorphs [78,88]. The cave is located
in the southern end of the limestone complex where the distinctive Kodiang tripod pottery was

Arts 2014, 3 83
discovered; however, it remains to be seen if the two artefact types are related. In the eastern state of
Kelantan, two pairs of charcoal rock art sites are known in the vicinity of Kuala Betis and Kuala
Bering. At Kuala Betis, Gua Batu Cincin is a semicircular cave containing 53 figurines on 27 panels,
the majority of which depict anthropomorphs in a “dancing posture with upraised arms” [78,88].
Nearby, Gua Kambing contains representations of anthropomorphs, again depicted with upraised
arms, along with abstract designs such as “spear-like” motifs and “inverted V-shaped” motifs [78]. The
two sites at Kuala Bering, Gua Tagut and Gua Tampaq both contain representations of anthropomorphs
and zoomorphs. In addition, the site of Gua Tagut is said to contain charcoal paintings similar to Gua
Batu Cincin [78].
Only two rock art sites in Peninsular Malaysia use red pigment. Gua Cerita is a lesser-known
attraction on the northern part of Langkawi Island, a popular tourist destination situated off the coast of
Kedah. Local lore mentions the cave as the site of a legendary wedding between the royalty of China
and Rome. The presence of Jawi writing has been dated to 1754, during the reign of Sultan Mohamed
Jiwa II of Kedah [89]. Besides the red pictograms and writing, during recent visits to the site I have
noted more recent rock art/vandalism of polychrome chalk drawings depicting cars, faces and houses.
Figure 6. A depiction of “mountain goats,” part of the main panel of paintings at Gua
Tambun, Perak. Gua Tambun is the largest rock art site in Peninsular Malaysia, containing
over 600 motifs. Photo: Noel H. Tan.
Gua Tambun is the better-known rock art site containing red-coloured prehistoric paintings.
Situated just outside the city of Ipoh, the capital of Perak, Gua Tambun is a large rock shelter and cliff
face that was first reported by Matthews in 1959 [10,11]. The site was re-investigated in 2008 for a
Masters dissertation which was completed in 2010. The rock art consists predominantly of animal

Arts 2014, 3 84
figures, anthropomorphs of varying shapes and poses, and repetitive abstract designs (Figure 6). The
main panel of rock art was located six metres above the floor of the shelter, and contains over
500 paintings covering an area of approximately 27 square metres. The rest of the paintings were
spread out in 10 other panels throughout the 100 metre-long shelter. Over 600 paintings were recorded
from the limestone rock shelter, making Gua Tambun the largest and most complex rock art site in
Peninsular Malaysia [90–92].
2.6. Vietnam
For various reasons it is difficult to ascertain the extent of documented rock art sites in Vietnam. The
most famous site is the engraved rock field (Figure 7) at Sa Pa in Lao Cai province, in northwestern
Vietnam, and comprises a landscape with over a hundred engraved rocks [93]. The Sa Pa rock art was
recently documented by a team from the Hanoi University of Art [94]. Depictions in the Sa Pa rock art
site include abstract and geometric designs, weapons, anthropomorphs and writing. A similarly engraved
boulder has been found in the neighbouring Ha Giang province by Trinh Nang Chung, in the district of
Xin Man, which is inhabited by the Nung minority. The Xin Man petroglyphs are on a boulder
measuring approximately 13 by 9 m, containing 80 petroglyphs of mostly geometric and concentric
circle forms [95].
Figure 7. One of the engraved boulders from the Sa Pa Engraved Rock Field in Lao Cai
Province. Photo: Noel H. Tan.
Reproductions of two more petroglyph sites are on display at the Vietnamese Museum of History in
Hanoi: the Dong Noi Cave in Hoa Binh Province contains an engraving of a face, while the Thuong Pho
Cave in Quang Binh Province contains thin incisions in the stone, one of which resembles a buffalo. No
further information is available about these two sites. More recently, a team from the Institute of

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Archaeology and the Hanoi University of Culture, headed by Trinh, discovered a megalithic dolmen
estimated to be 2,000 years old [96]. This find is located in Vĩnh Phúc Province of north Vietnam.
Dolmens have also been reported from the Soc Son District of the greater Hanoi area [97]. Painted rock
art was unknown in Vietnam until 2012, when a team led by Trinh discovered the Kho My Cave in Ha
Giang Province in 2009 [98,99]. The cave is located in the Tung Van Commune of the Quan Ba District
and depicts anthropomorphs, some of which are sporting “horns.”
2.7. Singapore
The archaeology of this tiny island nation befits its size, and it is unsurprising that there are no
painted rock art sites in Singapore. However, when Bland [1] described a wedge-shaped stone standing
at the mouth of the Singapore River, we find in Singapore the likely first mention of a rock art site in
Southeast Asia. The Singapore Stone, as it has come to be known, was a sandstone boulder
approximately 10 feet high, 5 feet wide and 9 feet long that contained Indic inscriptions that remain
undeciphered today; they are thought to be Sanskrit or Old Javanese [100,101]. Sadly, what may
possibly have been the country’s only rock art site was destroyed by the English colonisers in 1843,
when the boulder was dynamited as part of construction work to widen the river mouth [102]. A
fragment of the stone inscription lies on display at the National Museum of Singapore and has since
been designated as a national treasure (Figure 8).
Figure 8. The Singapore Stone once stood at the mouth of the Singapore River and a
fragment now sits on display at the National Museum of Singapore. Photo: Noel H. Tan.

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3. Island Southeast Asia
The waters that form the Indian Ocean, the Straits of Malacca and the South China Sea separate
Mainland Southeast Asia from Island Southeast Asia. This region discussed here comprises Indonesia,
East Malaysia, East Timor, the Philippines and Brunei, the last of which has no known rock art sites.
The main languages from these countries come from the Austronesian language family, which is
thought to originate from Taiwan and South China [103]. In addition to numerous rock painting sites
found throughout this region, there is a fairly large corpus of megaliths, the production and use of
some still continue to the present day.
3.1. Indonesia
Most of the rock art known from Island Southeast Asia is found in Indonesia, an archipelago
of over 18,000 islands. According to Kosasih [104], rock painting in Indonesia dates back to the
epi-palaeolithic period and continues through the Neolithic and even in some early metal-using
cultures. Moving along the map from west to east, the rock art of Sumatra, Java, Borneo, Sulawesi, the
Lesser Sundas and West Papua are discussed in turn.
Rock art in Sumatra comes primarily in the form of megaliths. One of the most famous megalithic
sites is found in Pasemah, in southern Sumatra which contains over 60 megaliths, and has been
associated with the early first millennium CE because of the depiction of bronze Dongson-type drums
[105]. The two most notable depictions is the Batugajah, which depicts a rider on an elephant holding a
bronze drum [105], and the bronze drum depiction at Batu Tatahan Air Puar [106]. In the same area,
Caldwell [107] described the new discovery of a painted cist-grave. Other megalithic statue sites such
as Baturedja, Lesungbatu, Muara Komering and Pagerdewa have been mentioned by van Heekeren [9],
while two megalithic complexes are also known from the Nias Islands and Samosir Island [108].
Recent finds include megalithic sites at the Segayun and Skendal villages [109,110]. A 10th century
inscription in the Nagari script is also found on Karimun Besar, an island some 30 km west of
Singapore in the middle of the Straits of Malacca. Its existence has been known since 1873, and its
translation and context was last discussed by Caldwell and Hazlewood [111] (Figure 9). More recent
work has been conducted by Bonatz et al. [112], whose work in Jambi Province has uncovered some
20 megaliths, often carved with decorative motifs. Most significantly, Simanjuntak [113] reported the
first discovery of painted rock art in Sumatra, at the site of Gua Harimau. The paintings are red in
colour which suggests a prehistoric dating, and the site itself is associated with the Neolithic. Research
on this site is still ongoing (Figure 10).
Painted rock art has yet to be found on the island of Java, and like the neighbouring Sumatra, rock
art comes mainly in the form of megaliths—stone cist graves and dolmens—much of which have been
noted during the late-19th and early-20th centuries by Dutch scholars [8,9,114–117]. In 2001, a
petroglyph site was discovered in West Java on Sangkur Mountain. Parts of the engraved panel extend
to below the surface, and have the potential to be dated with careful excavation [118].

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Figure 9. The Karimun Inscription on Karimun Besar Island in Riau Islands Province.
Photo: Noel H. Tan.
Figure 10. The recently discovered rock art of Gua Harimau in southern Sumatra is the
first instance of painted art found in Sumatra and overturns a long-held notion that such
rock art did not exist on the island. Photo: Truman Simanjuntak.

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In Borneo, which is split between East Malaysia (see later section) and Indonesian Kalimantan, we
have one of the early references to rock art in Southeast Asia from Grabowsky [3], who reported the
charcoal “scribbling of natives” from Liang Lumba at Mount Mandella. Megalithic structures in the
form of dolmens (Apo Kajan), rock graves (Long Pura) and sarcophagi (Long Danum) have also been
noted by van Heekeren [9], while a single rock engraving site of Long Po was noted by Kusch [4].
More recent research has been conducted by Jean-Michel Chazine between 2000 and 2009, on a series
of caves in East Kalimantan featuring painted hands and hand stencils (see [119–125]). The rock art
from Gua Saleh in particular has been dated using uranium-series and AMS radiocarbon to produce a
remarkably old minimum age of 9,900 years [125].
Our earliest knowledge of painted rock art from Sulawesi comes from van Heekeren [8], who wrote
about the “leaping babi-rusa” (a jungle boar) from Leang Pattae, and other red painting sites of Leang
Burung and Leang Djiarie. At least fifteen additional sites have since been identified from local
archaeological efforts; such as Garanggung Cave, Salluka Cave and Cumi Lantang, which are to be
found in southern Sulawesi and contain hand stencils and other zoomorphic figures [104]. While most
work has been done in areas of easy access such as Maros and Muna Island, the recent find of hand
stencils and the depiction of an anoa in Gua Batti in the Bone region suggest the potential for many
more rock art sites to be found [126]. In addition to the painted sites, two engraving sites, Tinco and
Lawo, are known from southern Sulawesi depicting geometric linear patterns and a horned deer [127].
Kosasih also conducted surveys of painted sites in Muna Island on the southeast coast of Sulawesi and
reported at least ten sites from there [104]. Megaliths generally come in three forms: stone vats and
stone statues [9], and menhirs—the last of which are found primarily in southern Sulawesi [128].
The Lesser Sundas is the collective name for the smaller islands found south of Sulawesi and east of
Java; the rock art in this area is varied. From as early as 1884, rock art has been reported from the Kai (or
Kei) Islands [2] and later surveys by van Heekeren [8] report that the rock paintings there are
predominantly red in colour. One Kei Island site in particular, Dudumahan, was described in detail by
Ballard [129]. Rock paintings were discovered by Röder at the Seleman Bay of Seram Island situated
between Sulawesi and West Papua [8,130], which depict anthropomorphs, hand stencils and “lizards” in
red, while boats and birds are depicted in white. Latinis and Stark [131] mention rock art sites on Seram
Island, but it is uncertain if the Sawai sites are new or the same ones noted by Röder and van Heekeren.
On the island of Bali, van Heekeren [9] has noted the presence of at least eight stone sarcophagi sites,
and stone sarcophagi continue to be found today [132,133]. Two sites are known from Flores, a
petroglyph site depicting a bronze dagger possibly related to the Dong Son culture and thus related to the
bronze age petroglyphs at Pasemah in Sumatra [104,134]; while Kusch [4], citing an unpublished report,
noted the presence of black paintings on Mbikong Cliff.
West Papua, formerly known as Irian Jaya, is the easternmost province of Indonesia. Rock paintings
there were first reported by Röder [130,135] and then by the National Research Centre of Archaeology
in 1975 and 1976 [104,136]. Sites have been located in the limestone cliffs of the Maccluer Gulf and
on several islands, including Ogar and Arguni. Kosasih [104] noted that some of the paintings were
referred to by the local people as amber-sibui, or “written by aliens” and that some of the motifs share
similarities with those of the Kei Islands. These rock art discoveries of West Papua were synthesised in
a volume by Arifin and Delanghe in 2004. Most recent work in West Papua has been conducted by
Chazine on the red paintings and hand stencils of the Misool Archipelago [137–139].

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3.2. East Malaysia (Borneo)
Besides Indonesian Kalimantan, the island of Borneo is shared with the Malaysian states of Sabah
and Sarawak (collectively known as East Malaysia) and the Sultanate of Brunei. In East Malaysia, the
Niah Caves complex of Sarawak is one of the best-known archaeological cave and rock art sites in
Southeast Asia. Situated on the northern side of Borneo, the cave was discovered and worked on by
Tom and Barbara Harrisson from 1954–1962, and was also recently investigated by another team of
archaeologists from the University of Cambridge to confirm Harrisson’s earlier findings. Red
paintings, described as haematite, were discovered in 1958, with some positioned up to 15 feet above
the cave floor and extending over an area 200 feet wide [12]. The paintings depict anthropomorphs
standing on what appear to be boats or ships (Figure 11). The pictogram chamber, Gua Kain Hitam, is
associated with funerary burials in boat-like coffins. Harrisson associates the rock art with the “ship of
the dead” motif and points out stylistic similarities with the boats portrayed on Dong Son drums;
similar ship motifs are found in the Manunggul jar of the Philippines and the Racolo rock art in East
Timor [12]. The association of the boat burials with the ship paintings put the paintings to be between
1,000 to 2,000 years old [140]. Chemical analysis of the pigment in Niah demonstrated that it is not
made of haematite as originally thought, but derived from the resin of a local tree. Other painting sites
from Sarawak include the charcoal drawings at Gua Sireh [140], and the Bukit Sarang Caves of
Lobang Ringen and Lobang Batu Putih [141–143]. Two sites are known from Sabah: Gua Hagop Bilo
contains depictions of men in ships [77,144,145] and the Madai Caves in Sarawak contains charcoal
drawings overlain with a white bird [144].
Figure 11. The “ships of the dead” of Gua Kain Hitam in Sarawak are associated with
boat-shaped coffins found in the same cave. Photo: Nicholas Gani.

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Circular rock engravings were found on a boulder near the Lumuyun River in Sabah by
Harrisson [147,148] which appear disassociated with the Tagal people living there during the time of
the discovery. Kusch [4] also reported on the work of Baier, who recorded three Sarawakian engraving
sites in the late 1970s: Batu Pilipus, Bulongan and Pa Upan. New engravings were discovered in
Kuching in 2010 by Taçon and Sherman adding 11 sites to those noted by Harrisson and O’Connor Jr.
previously [149,150]. Like much of Indonesia, megaliths are far more common; Harrisson’s survey of
megaliths identifies some 485 sites in Sarawak and 165 sites in Sabah [148,151]. Phelan noted
133 megaliths in his survey of the megaliths around Kota Kinabalu in Sabah and it is unsure if this
number overlaps with Harrisson’s, although the megaliths in Phelan’s survey have all since been
destroyed as a result of development [152]. Other recent research efforts to more fully document some
of these sites include the work of Ipoi Datan of the Sarawak Museum on crocodile-shaped mounds
[153], by Lloyd-Smith and Datan [154] on the megaliths of the Kelabit highlands and by Azlin et al.
and Ratnah et al. on a complex of 34 megaliths in Penampang [155,156].
Figure 12. The stone faces of Lene Hara cave in East Timor, a cave also known for painted
rock art. Photo: Sue O’Connor.
3.3. East Timor
Nestled in the middle of the Indonesian islands, it is not surprising that we find many rock painting
sites in East Timor, and the sites are concentrated on the northern and northeastern side of the island.
Six sites were discovered by de Almeida [157] and Glover [158] and additional ones have been
discovered in the last decade [159,163,164]. In inter-site and inter-regional contexts, the rock art
depicts several distinct motifs such as the flying fox, anthropomorphs, geometric designs and boats,
which show strong affinities to rock art further east in the Maccluer Gulf and the Kei islands in
Indonesia. Some of the boats and common sun motifs also share affinity with the Dong Son art
depicted on the ubiquitous bronze drums found throughout Southeast Asia [159–161]. Attempts to date

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Lene Hara pigment from exfoliated rock fragments using uranium-series dating indicated multiple
phases of painting with pigments dated to younger than 6,300 years BP, and a possibly older paint
layer between 24,000 and 29,300 years ago [162]. Lene Hara produced yet another surprising find in
2010: two groups of petroglyph faces that were hitherto undiscovered were dated by uranium-series as
between 12,500 and 10,200 years old [163] (Figure 12).
In other recent work in the Manatuto region of East Timor, rock art was discovered at the site of
Hatu Wakik (Hawak) in the form of negative hand stencils and abstract geometric shapes. Lithics
excavated from the site were dated to between 3,000 and 5,000 BP [164].
Figure 13. The Angono Petroglyphs in Rizal province is one of the best-known sites in the
Philippines. Photo: Grace Barretto-Tesoro.
3.4. Philippines
Not many sites are known from the Philippine Islands; the most prominent is the Angono
Petroglyphs in Rizal Province in the island of Luzon containing some 127 anthropomorphic figures,
ascribed to the late Neolithic period approximately 3,000 years ago (Figure 13). Barretto-Tesoro [165]
reviewed the research on the Angono petroglyphs and highlighted the lack of knowledge about the
petroglyphs despite there having been two excavation programs since their discovery in 1965. Peralta
[166] has previously remarked that the petroglyphs are similar to those made by the Tau’t Batu, an
indigenous cave-dwelling tribe in Palawan. The Tau’t Batu pictograms (erroneously described as

Arts 2014, 3 92
petroglyphs) in Ugpay Cave have a long-standing tradition that goes right up to the ethnographic
present, although the people themselves do not find the activity particularly significant.
Another petroglyph site exists near Alab, in Mountain province, but is dated not earlier than 1,500
BCE. Like Malaysia, Philippines is home to two kinds of pictogram sites; black charcoal paintings
have been found in Penablanca in Cagayan province and Singapan Caves in Palawan: while red
paintings have been discovered in the Anda Peninsula of the Bohol province [167,168].
4. General Observations
On the mainland, Thailand has the greatest number of reported sites due to its relative stability and
openness, which has allowed archaeological research and led to the documentation and publication of a
number of sites. In contrast, the neighbouring countries of Myanmar, Laos and Cambodia have only a
handful of sites known—some of them recently discovered, while many whose existence have not
been communicated to the larger academic or public community. Similarly with Island Southeast Asia,
most of the rock art known from this region is concentrated within Indonesia, particularly in the
eastern Indonesian islands. East Timor and the Malaysian states of Sabah and Sarawak are equally
dense in rock art site distribution while little is known about rock art from Java and the Philippines.
From this large corpus of sites we can make some generalisations about the rock art of Southeast Asia.
Pictogram sites are by far the most widespread type of rock art found in Southeast Asia, and megaliths,
while more numerous, tend to be limited to specific regions. Petroglyph sites are uncommon, but still
found distributed throughout the region.
Like most rock art elsewhere in the world, the dating of such sites remains a problem. There have been
few attempts to directly date the rock art of Southeast Asia, but where we have dates suggests that the rock
art may be surprisingly old: direct dating of Lene Hara paintings in East Timor by uranium-series dating
put the age of the rock art at a minimum of 6,300 years, and possibly as old as 26,000 years [162],
whereas the petroglyphs range between 10,000–12,000 years [163]; comparisons of dates derived
using radiocarbon and uranium-series dating at Gua Saleh in Kalimantan indicate antiquity of at least
9,900 years [125]. It is interesting to note that we currently only have direct dates derived from Island
Southeast Asia than Mainland Southeast Asia, but their considerable antiquity suggests that some rock
art of the mainland would be of equal age or older.
Some sites can be dated using iconographic identification, epigraphical and art historical methods,
which put them into the historical period and the more recent past. In some Cambodian examples such
as Poeung Komnou, we are fortunate to have inscriptions that date at least some of the rock art
at present [67]. The depiction of cars and bicycles on the walls of Gua Badak [82] and European-styled
masted ships and Chinese junks in Tham Viking [20,56–58] give an indication of the relatively recent
date of these paintings. Thailand, in particular, has classed an entire group of rock art sites as
belonging to the historical period [26].
Most often, rock art sites are dated in association with the excavated finds in situ, or found in the
same area. Radiocarbon dating of sediments in Myanmar’s Padahlin Cave produced dates of 7,000 and
13,000 years old in association with red-stained stone tools [73]. Matthews described the artefacts
recovered from his excavation at Gua Tambun to exhibit a “Hoabinhian” character [11], although the
date has since been revised to the Neolithic period due to the find of a cord-impressed pottery sherd

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[77,169]. The painted rockshelter of Ban Rai in northern Thailand contains two occupation periods, the
late Holocene and early Holocene/Late Pleistocene, and a stained limestone “cup,” possibly a palette,
was recovered from excavations. That they are often found in caves and rock shelters throughout
Southeast Asia further lends support to a “prehistoric”—presumably hunter–gatherer—provenance.
As noted from Malaysian examples discussed earlier, we do know of contemporary groups who still
live hunter–gatherer lifestyles, some of which have been reported to have created rock art in the last
century. What sets the modern rock art apart from older examples is primarily colour—red pictograms
are thought to be older than black ones. Where both occur, black pictograms usually superimpose red
paintings, but not the other way around. The black paintings often appear to be superimposed over red
motifs, depict modern subjects and have ethnographic accounts related to them, such as those at Gua
Badak in Malaysia [83,170]. Polychromatic paintings are also associated with more recent or historical
period painting activity [55,56]. From these few lines of evidence available from the region, the
general idea that emerges is that rock art sites containing red rock paintings without any diagnostic
iconography (which is often) tend to be attributed to the prehistoric period.
Some patterns can also be detected on a regional scale. Ballard has posited the existence of an
Austronesian Painting Tradition located throughout the eastern Indonesian islands and the Western
Pacific, which is characterised by red rock art located at high locations in association with the sea [171].
Hand prints and negative hand stencils also frequently occur in sites on the eastern Indonesian islands,
particularly in Sulawesi, Kei Islands, Borneo and East Timor. Megaliths, which are uncommon in
Mainland Southeast Asia, are found throughout the Indonesian islands, famously in Sumba and as far
west as the island of Nias, off Sumatra, to Irian Jaya in the east. This distribution does not seem to
extend north to the Philippines, but it has crossed the Straits of Malacca to the states of Malacca and
Negri Sembilan, where many of the ethnic Malay population identify their origin with the
Minangkabau people of Sumatra [172]. Another distinct distribution of rock art can be found in the
northeast areas of Southeast Asia, where a traditional of carved boulders can be found in northern
Vietnam, Hong Kong and Taiwan [173]. What is also significant is the places where rock art (rock
paintings in particular) has yet to be found—the central and southern sections of Vietnam, the
Philippines and Java. Sumatra was thought to be devoid of painted art, but the recent discovery of Gua
Harimau [113] has overturned that notion and suggests that many more such sites remain to be found.
This survey demonstrates that contrary to prevailing thought, there is a significant amount of rock
art in the region (Figure 14). We now know that rock art, as a marking in the landscape in one form or
another, exists throughout Southeast Asia—and is found in almost every modern nation-state. By my
count from the existing literature, there are at least 600 known pictogram and petroglyph sites in
Southeast Asia, and when megalithic sites are considered, the number reaches approximately 1,500.
Rock art research in Southeast Asia has certainly intensified in the last decade, and the potential for
further research is immense. At the time of concluding this paper, the 20th Indo-Pacific Prehistory
Association Congress was held in Siem Reap, Cambodia and the proceedings included three panels
focusing on rock art and megaliths. Many new Southeast Asian sites were announced but could not be
included in this paper in time. There is presently much potential for the study of rock art in Southeast
Asia, and what it can tell us about the human past.

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Figure 14. Location of main rock art sites mentioned in text. Points can refer to individual
sites or cluster of sites. Southeast Asia contains many other sites have not been indicated in
this map. Map: CartoGIS unit, ANU College of Asia and the Pacific, The Australian
National University.
Acknowledgments
Many thanks to Sue O’Connor and Paul Taçon and the reviewers for their invaluable comments on
the paper and to Kay Dancey and Karina Pelling of the CartoGIS team from the ANU College of Asia
and the Pacific. I would also like to acknowledge the collaboration of the Department of Archaeology
and Natural History from the ANU College of Asia and the Pacific, the Apsara Authority (Cambodia),
the National Research Council of Thailand, the Fine Arts Department (Thailand), the Ministry of
Information, Culture and Tourism (Laos), the Department of Archaeology, National Museum and
Library of the Ministry of Culture (Myamar), the Robert Christie Centre of the University of Sydney
and the Archaeology Unit of the Nalanda-Srwiwjaya Centre at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies
in Singapore in facilitating my rock art research in recent years. Also, a personal shout-out to friends
and colleagues Grace Barretto-Tesoro, David Brotherson, Jutinach Bowonsachoti, Gemma Boyle,
Stephen Chia, Geoff Clarke, Brian Egloff, Nicholas Gani, Foo Shu Tieng, Hen Chenda, Heng

Arts 2014, 3 95
Sophady, Heng Than, U Hla Shwe, Im Sokrithy, Kasper Hanus, Khieu Chan, Lindsay Lloyd-Smith,
Thonglith Luangkhot, U Man Thit Nien, Mokhtar Saidin, Amphone Monephachan, Muong Chan
Raksmey, U Myo Min Kyaw, Liz Price, Natalie Ong, Dougald O’Reilly, Sakada Sakhoeun, Rasmi
Shoocongdej, Truman Simanjuntak, Duangpond Singhaseni, Atthasit Sukkham, Sulatt Win, Watinee
Tanompolkrang, Mai Lin Tjoa-Bonatz, Udom Rangsey, Veronica Walker-Vadillo, Charmaine Wong
and Christine Yong for their invaluable help in various research projects.
Conflicts of Interest
The author declares no conflict of interest.
References and Notes
A note on names: As a region that befits its diversity, naming conventions in Southeast Asia vary from
country to country, and sometimes vary within countries. Vietnamese, Chinese and Cambodian names
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Indonesian names do not follow a first name, last name system; and Burmese names are sometimes
prefixed with a monosyllabic honorific (commonly in this study, ‘U’ which means Uncle or Mister).
Names are thus written and referenced in full. Malaysia is a multi-ethnic society, the two main ethnic
groups being the Malays and the Chinese. Chinese names are usually three or two part names listed
with the family name first. Tan Suwi Siang is hence referenced as Tan, S. S. Malays and Indonesians
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second name, e.g., Idris bin Ali. Sometimes the middle is dropped, e.g., Idris Ali. Muslim names are
often prefixed by an honorific, such as Muhammad (abbreviated Mohd or Muhd) or Haji. Hence,
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convention. Not all names are anglicised consistently (e.g., Sisuchat vs. Srisuchat in this paper) but to
facilitate searching through databases the original spellings have been maintained.
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