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Ref ID: 37642
Ref Type: Journal Article
Authors: Von Reden, Sitta
Title: Beyond the Silk Road Metaphor: Transregional Maritime Exchange and Social Transformation in Iron Age Southeast Asia
Date: 2023
Source: Acta Via Serica
DOI: 10.22679/avs.2023.8.2.005
Abstract: Over the past 30 years, intense archaeological research has revealed a great
increase in regional and transregional object mobility across the South China
Sea during its Iron Age (500 BCE to 500 CE). Some objects had moved from
Mediterranean origin; and large bronzes, mirrors, and lacquerware connected
to central East Asia. This evidence has given rise to larger-scale explanations,
among which the most prominent has been the growth of (maritime) Silk Road
trade. Scholars are divided as to whether the Silk Road is a suitable concept,
with some emphasizing its orientalist overtones and colonial baggage and others
and other commodities. This paper explores how productive the Silk Road
concept or metaphor really is for understanding transregional connectivity and
social change in Iron Age Southeast Asia.
Volume: 8
Number: 2
Page Start: 95
Page End: 124