Origines et évolutions du nomadisme maritime en Asie du Sud-Est

Abstract

Southeast Asia is characterised by its great environmental, linguistic and cultural diversity. The large number of islands and the dispersed resources have favoured the ancient emergence of extensive networks to exchange these scarce goods. Maritime nomads, now marginalised, played an important role in the creation and functioning of these networks. Until now, there have been few attempts to identify and trace the evolution of maritime nomadism in the archaeological record, partly because of their supposed 'archaeological invisibility' due to the poverty of their material culture. It is only during the second millennium AD that the historical record sheds light on the role of certain nomadic groups in the creation and maintenance of merchant states.There is no simple definition of maritime nomadism in Southeast Asia, which is characterised by a great diversity of economic and political organisations. This diversity is expressed through routes, livelihood strategies, trade goods and modes of interaction with land-based groups and wider trade networks. In this paper we attempt to define this nomadism, discuss its origin and propose ways to understand its archaeological dimension.