Currently running
Ports and Harbours of Southeast Asia: Human-environment entanglements in Early Modern maritime trade networks
Location: World Cultures, Archaeology area, University of Helsinki
Continuing my interest in maritime transport logistics, this project is a natural progression of my work as it flows quite nicely from river to maritime networks. It still focuses on the environmental impact on waterborne transport, and also aims to draw attention to the rhythmic nature of this type of connectivity, but its main focus lies in the processes involved in the creation of trans-oceanic waterborne trade networks, and how they relate to regional ones.
Abstract of the project
Ports and Harbours of Southeast Asia seeks to unravel the interconnected factors that affected the functioning of Southeast Asia’s branch of the Maritime Silk Road in the Early Modern period (late 14th to early 17th c.). Southeast Asia sits at a cross-roads of transregional maritime trade routes that extend from Far East Asia to South India and the Middle East, and further south to Australasia. The numerous shipwreck sites that plague its waters are clearly indicative of the maritime activities that made this region a nodal point of the so-called Maritime Silk Road. The archaeological material recovered from underwater and terrestrial sites show assemblages of materials originating from local and distant places, all of which have been used in previous research to highlight the role of Southeast Asia as a key –albeit undefined– player in the pan-Asian maritime trade networks. Current scholarship agrees on the relevance of maritime trade networks for the development of polities in SEA, and it is acknowledged as a crucial factor in the transmission of ideas and cultural exchanges, but scholars have yet to engage in the study of the infrastructures and inner workings that made maritime trade a force to be reckoned with. Taking advantage of the extensive data from different disciplines available for the late-14th to early-17th centuries, this project will analyze the mechanisms upon which the shipping network of the Southeast Asian branch of the Maritime Silk Road was built upon. This will be done by following three main objectives: first, to analyze the role of nautical technology in the development of trade networks; second, to identify the key services and infrastructures that serviced the ships and facilitated trade; and third, to determine the impact of the environment on the shipping network and trading activities.
Running period: Jan 2020 to Dec 2022
Follow the project on Researchgate: https://www.researchgate.net/project/Ports-and-harbours-of-Southeast-Asia-Human-environment-entanglements-in-Early-Modern-maritime-trade-networks
Related publications:
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Human-environment interactions: nomadic fishing communities and state development in the Lower Mekong Basin
Location: Helsinki Collegium for Advanced Studies, University of Helsinki
In January 2018 I was awarded a Core Fellowship at the Helsinki Collegium for Advanced Studies, an incredible place where academics are encouraged to conduct curiosity-driven research nested in an interdisciplinary academic cluster. This research project is an spin-off of my doctoral thesis.
Abstract of the project
Since the discovery of the Angkor civilization on the shorelines of the Tonle Sap Lake, it has been assumed that rivers played an important role in the establishment of this polity. However, rivers have largely been ignored in previous academic research, which has seen stronger focus on land remains. This has resulted in a biased interpretation of the data, favouring approaches that recognise Angkor as an agrarian state. While the role of agriculture is certainly of great importance, novel research conducted during my doctoral studies suggests that the presence of nomadic fishing communities played a key role in the establishment of Angkor. These communities provided the necessary man-power to capture fish during the short fishing season, which coincided with the rice harvest. These fishing communities had to travel hundreds of kilometres annually to the Tonle Sap Lake following fish migration patterns, while at the same time land-based communities travelled to the lake to obtain the fish needed to produce prahok, a fermented fish paste that is at the heart of Khmer cuisine. This gathering provided opportunities for human interaction and likely acted as a conduit for culture dispersal and knowledge transfer. In this context of cooperation determined by ecological pressure, the only way to understand the complex relationship that emerged from it is by studying how the functional aspects of the environment influenced the cosmological, economic, and political world of Angkor.
Running period: Sep 2018 to Aug 2020.
Related publications:
Walker Vadillo, V (2020) Entangled Traditions: the royal barges of Angkor, in Ray, H P (ed) The archaeology of Knowledge Traditions in the Indian Ocean World, New Delhi: Routledge India. Pp. 194-210
Kallio, M and Walker Vadillo, V (2020) Historical Ecology of the Mekong in a set of 5 diachronic maps. Helsinki, Finland. DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.3827019
Walker Vadillo, V. (2019) A historiography of Angkor’s river network: shifting the research paradigm to Westerdahl’s Maritime Cultural Landscape. Journal of Southeast Asian Archaeology and Fine Arts, Vol 3
Follow the project on Researchgate: https://www.researchgate.net/project/The-fluvial-cultural-landscape-of-Angkor
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Past projects
The fluvial cultural landscape of Angkor: an integrated study
This project was my doctoral thesis, which was born from a previous study I conducted on the nautical iconography of Angkor for my Master’s dissertation in Maritime Archaeology at University College London (2007-2008). The project was initially envisioned as a study on the social life of boats in the Khmer empire, but it eventually mutated to a far more complex and ambitious project, where I used Westerdahl’s concept of the Maritime Cultural Landscape to analyse the different elements of Angkorian culture that could be identified as being part of a riverine cultural landscape. The results include a thorough analysis of navigation and water transport from a diachronic perspective (including a topological map of the river network), an analysis of boat building (not only in terms of technology, but also in terms of ritual activity), and finally, a study of the different events that took place on water based on the iconographic material.
Abstract of the project
The development of the medieval city of Angkor (802-1431 CE) in the floodplains of the Tonle Sap Lake has lead researchers to believe that Angkor made use of its extensive river network; however, little attention has been given to Angkor’s relationship with its watery environment. Previous studies have presented a fragmentary view of the subject by analyzing different components in a compartmentalized way, placing the focus on nautical technology or neglecting discussion on water transport in academic works on land transport. This work aims to provide a more comprehensive study on Angkor’s specific cognitive and functional traits that could be construed as a distinctive form of fluvial and cultural landscape. This is done by examining the environment, nautical technology, and the cultural biography of boats within the theoretical framework of the maritime cultural landscape and using a cross-disciplinary approach that integrates data from archaeology, iconography, history, ethnography, and environmental studies. A new topological map of Angkor’s landscape of communication and transport is presented, as well as new insights on the use of boats as liminal agents for economic and political activities.
Running period: Sep 2011 to Jun 2017.
Related publications:
Walker Vadillo, V (2017) The fluvial cultural landscape of Angkor. Doctoral thesis. Bodleian library: University of Oxford. https://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:20b045c4-3e2e-4f61-99b2-5fcd904e3cdb
Walker Vadillo, V (2015) Nautical Angkor: an iconological study of Khmer vessels in Angkorian bas-reliefs, in Tripati, S. (ed) Maritime Contacts of the Past: deciphering connections amongst communities. New Delhi: Delta World Book. Pp. 402-428
Walker Vadillo, V (2015) The boats of Angkor, in Withaya, S. (ed) Interpretative studies on Southeast Asian culture. Bangkok: Institute of Thai Studies, Chulalongkorn University. Pp. 261-304