Ceramic Studies as a Lens for Understanding Southeast Asian Archaeology: Insights from Prof. John Miksic's Legacy

WONG Wai-yee Sharon

This paper gives a preliminary review of Prof. John Miksic's pioneering contributions to ceramic studies in Southeast Asian archaeology, focusing on theoretical frameworks, key field investigations, and museum curation. In honouring his legacy, this paper highlights how his work has illuminated complex social dynamics. Miksic positioned archaeological ceramics as critical artifacts for decoding the Southeast Asian Maritime Interaction Sphere—a network of trade, cultural exchange, and economic interconnections within the region and beyond. By analysing earthenware, stoneware, and imported ceramics, he demonstrated how these materials reflect processes of urbanisation, the emergence of early ports, and cultural preferences through local adaptations and the selective adoption of Chinese and Southeast Asian ceramics. It emphasizes ceramics' role in interpreting archaeological evidence in fluid and multi-ethnic contexts. I will use the selected field findings from sites including Fort Canning in Singapore, Cambodia, Indonesia, and Malaysia, to examine the continued relevance of studying earthenware and stoneware, which offer insights into production techniques, trade routes, and socio- economic structures in the region. These serve as enduring frames of reference, functioning as tangible archives that bridge past discoveries with future inquiries in ceramic studies, advancing archaeological methodologies in Southeast Asian archaeology.