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The Development of Metallurgy in Southeast Asia: Reply to Loofs-Wissowa

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 April 2011

Donn Bayard  and
Pisit Charoenwongsa
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Extract

We find this a most curious attack, both in tone and in substance; Loofs-Wissowa appears to believe that we, Solheim, Gorman, and the media have been engaged in a conspiracy to cloud the minds of Westerners and Southeast Asians alike on the origins of metallurgy in the region. Loofs-Wissowa evidently feels that Southeast Asian laymen view this question as equal in importance to contemporary issues there (which is of course not the case). He also believes that it is the most burning issue in archaeology since Piltdown or Glozel, splitting the profession into “Believers” in the “long dates” and “Non Believers”. This is again rather an exaggeration; we would estimate the “Believers” to number not more than a few hundred, while the “Non Believers” may be counted on the fingers of one hand (Marschall, Sørensen, Sieveking, and of course Loofs-Wissowa himself). The remainder of the archaeological world (i.e., over 90%) has other questions to occupy it. However, Loofs-Wissowa is certainly correct in pointing out the attention paid to the question of early metallurgy over the past few years, and we welcome this opportunity to counter his arguments and distinguish between our views and those published by the media. This may best be done by first pointing out errors of omission in the facts presented by Loofs-Wissowa, by examining basic errors in his conceptual framework, and finally by answering the three specific questions he poses.

Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Southeast Asian Studies , Volume 14 , Issue 1 , March 1983 , pp. 12 - 17
Copyright
Copyright © The National University of Singapore 1983

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References

Three of us should be writing this reply, but the tragic loss of our friend and colleague, Chet Gorman, has made this impossible. We believe we are answering Loofs-Wissowa's queries in the manner he would have chosen had he been spared to do so. We are grateful for the comments of Noel Barnard on an earlier version of this reply; the opinions expressed are of course strictly our own.

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