The Archaeology of the North Coast of Bali: a Strategic Crossroads in Early Trans-Asiatic Exchange

This project aims to document the growth of trans-Asiatic exchange networks linking Island and Mainland Southeast Asia to India and China and reaching as far as the Mediterranean between 100 BCE and 500 CE. This was a period of fundamental importance in the genesis of the later civilizations of Southeast Asia. The island of Bali has yielded unique evidence for early contacts with India, China and other regions of Southeast Asia. The potential for water-logged organic materials at the ancient harbour site of Sembiran could also provide the earliest archaeological evidence of the trade in eastern Indonesian spices that linked Asia with the Mediterranean.