EARLY SOUTHEAST ASIA : From First Humans to First Civilizations

Recent discoveries and improved investigative techniques since the first edition of this book was published in 2014, have opened up dramatic new insights into Southeast Asia’s past. We now know that when the first modern humans reached this region at least 60,000 years ago, they encountered not two, but four different human species and interbred with at least one of them. More advanced generation analyses of ancient DNA mean we can trace precisely the expansion southwards of the first rice farmers from the lowlands of the Yangtze River.

Looking at early cultural expression, we can admire the world’s oldest narrative art, where bird-headed humans hunt buffaloes. The swift rise of social elites coincided with the first evidence for trade in exotic bronzes, soon to be followed by local mining and casting. The opening of a Maritime Silk Road and resilient adaptation to climate change sowed the seeds of the first civilizations. From Myanmar to Cambodia, lasers have penetrated the jungle to map ancient, long abandoned cities. 

Charles Higham’s synthesis of nearly two million years of human endeavour is an essential introduction for all those interested in this fascinating region.