Painted Sites, Sacred Sites: An examination of religious syncretism in Southeast Asia through rock art site usage vols. 1 and 2

Abstract

Southeast Asian religions have often been described as syncretic, highlighting the mixture of Hinduism, Buddhism and indigenous animism and supernaturalism. However, syncretism is difficult to detect in the archaeological record. In this study, I investigate a phenomenon in Mainland Southeast Asia where prehistoric rock art sites later transform into religious shrines. Rock art has often been linked to ritual activity, and together with many forms of religious activity are non-utilitarian acts that result in ascribing significance to the landscape. The lasting effect on place can thus be used as an analogue for syncretism that can be detected archaeologically. Seven sites in Cambodia, Thailand, Myanmar and Laos—countries which are now predominantly Theravada Buddhist—were selected. Using a biographical approach, I reconstructed the life history of these sites, paying special attention to recording the rock art and the different forms of material culture present. The elements related to Buddhism, Hinduism and animism were determined, as well as their relationship to each other. The development of the studied sites can be characterised as gradual or abrupt. Gradual sites have many layers of added meaning in their respective histories that illustrate the transformation of the rock art site over time. The sites of Poueng Komnou (Cambodia), Wat Porta, Wat Phra Phuttabat Bua Ban (Thailand) and the Pak Ou Caves (Laos) show long-standing religious significance assigned by the Indic religions from the second millennium CE, with supplementary evidence suggesting they were significant before the arrival of Hinduism and Buddhism. Supplication to indigenous spirit cults can also be detected at these sites through ethnographic accounts. The abrupt sites of Poueng Takhab (Cambodia), Khao Chan Ngam (Thailand) and the Padalin Caves (Myanmar) show only two layers of occupation: the prehistoric rock art period, and the present religious use. This characteristic is consistent with anthropological observations that the creation and disuse of sacred sites in Southeast Asia can be very rapid. These findings are consistent with the notion of the landscape as an anthropogenic construct rather than an environmental feature. All the sites investigated appear to be excellent places of congregation or habitation. Human transformation of the site, represented by marking with rock art, may have highlighted the delimitation of the controlled space between humans and supernatural spirits—a worldview that is commonly held in Southeast Asia. The introduction of Indic religions and the subsequent dominance of Buddhism endorsed this worldview by putting the Buddha as the chief of the supernatural world. Much attention has been paid to Hindu and Buddhist religious remains, but few indigenous religious materials have been identified archaeologically. Identification of non-Indic religions is exarcerbated because indigenous spirit markers are made from more perishable materials such as wood and cloth, and because Hindu and Buddhist remains themselves can be re-appropriated for nature spirit worship. This conception of spirit world, acknowledged in the different types of material remains found at these rock art sites, suggests an archaeological blind spot in the identification of non-Indic religions in Southeast Asian archaeology. Show more