Asbestos textiles from Batujaya (West Java, Indonesia): Further evidence for early long-distance interaction between the Roman Orient, Southern Asia and island Southeast Asia

It is well-established that Chinese and Indian textiles were staple commodities along the maritime trade routes of the South China Sea and the Indian Ocean, possibly as early as the late prehistoric period, and well into modern times. Southeast Asian people were among the principal consumers of such textiles.l In China, India and the Middle East, cloth remains have been found during archaeological excavations in areas with long established archaeological traditions, and in sites with climatic conditions relatively favourable tothe preservation of such fragile woven materials, but archaeological textiles rarely survive in the tropical climate of Southeast Asia where conditions are not conducive to the preseruation of organic materials. In Thailand and Vietnam, however, a few small textile fragments (silk, cotton, hemp, asbestos) have been recovered in sites dating from neolithic to historical times (Higham & Thosarat2012,pp. 55, 191; Cameron200l,2010,201l I2).