Episode 143: How do Southeast Asian experts discover and study rock art?

The Arch and Anth Podcast

Today, Dr. Noel Hidalgo Tan (SoutheastAsianArchaeology.com; Nalanda-Sriwijaya Centre; SEAMEO SPAFA) is on the show to talk about public outreach, rock art and building capacity in regional archaeology in Southeast Asia.

Noel currently works with the education and culture departments in Bangkok, Thailand, as part of the work done by the Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Organization Regional Centre for Archaeology and Fine Arts (SEAMEO SPAFA). We speak about the role of archaeology in different countries, and how they relate to different ministries and departments dependent on historical contexts. How did Noel manage to end up in this role, especially as archaeology is a bit of a second career for him?

Within Southeast Asia, where has Noel travelled to establish an archaeological record of rock art sites in locations like Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, Malaysia and Thailand. How does he find out there are new sites, and what is his approach to documenting information about rock art occurrences? Is it easy to date the rock art, petroglyphs and megaliths? Or derive meaning from them through discerning what they depict? Why is it important for the greater archaeological community to pay attention to Southeast Asian prehistory and how are Noel and his colleagues building research capacity in the region?

You can find more information in the show notes under the episode on our website.

If you have feedback or questions for Noel, he can be found on Twitter, Academia.edu, Google Scholar and the Southeast Asian Archaeology site.

You can find Michael on Twitter and Instagram too.

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