Zakharov Anton

Archaeological Sites of the Mekong Delta and the Oc Eo Culture: a review

ЮГО-ВОСТОЧНАЯ АЗИЯ: АКТУАЛЬНЫЕ ПРОБЛЕМЫ РАЗВИТИЯ, 2020, №1(46), 209-230

 
Annotation: The Mekong River Delta has many archaeological sites dated from the first to seventh centuries CE. They include the Oc Eo site and more than ninety sites in the territory of Vietnam. Another site of the Oc Eo archaeological culture is Angkor Borei in Cambodia. The early first millennium remains also include ancient canals which connected Angkor Borei and Oc Eo as well as few other sites. The early Iron Age predates the beginning of the Oc Eo culture in the first centuries CE. The Iron Age witnessed the growing social complexity and settlement hierarchy. The paper is an overview of archaeological investigations in the Mekong River Delta. The paper shows the deep Indian or Indic influences on the material and religious life of the ancient populations of the Mekong Delta.

Keywords: archaeological site, the Mekong River Delta, Oc Eo, Angkor Borei, archaeological culture, Funan, Indochina, Vietnam, Cambodia