We are pleased to announce, with this letter, several initiatives that enhance the resources and work of the EFEO, starting with the opening of a digital platform for our archives. For its part, the réseau des Écoles françaises à l’étranger [Network of French Schools Abroad] has launched an online Bulletin archéologique [Archaeological Bulletin] and opened an ArchivEFE Carnet, the first article of which is dedicated to the Cambodian manuscripts of the EFEO. The first video capsules devoted to the "Asian Treasures of the EFEO" have also been produced, on the occasion of next year's celebration of our 120th anniversary. I invite you to discover these new tools and documents.

Christophe Marquet,
Director of the EFEO

As part of the Kyoto lectures, Yola Gloaguen (CRCAO) presents: "Bringing the Vernacular Into Modernism - Architect Antonin Raymond in Interwar Japan".

At 6 p.m. (Japan time). The conference will be broadcasted online via Zoom.

The password for logging in will be posted on the Kyoto Center's blog and ISEAS websites the day before.

As part of its collaboration with the Max Weber Stiftung, the Peking Centre is making its series of bilingual booklets "Histoire, Archéologie, Société. Conférences académiques franco-chinoises" [History, Archaeology, Society. Franco-Chinese Academic Lectures] on the open-access German platform "CrossAsia". All of these conferences (17 issues to date) will soon be available for consultation and downloading.

Sculpture conservation workshop at the National Museum of Cambodia - EFEO: The arrangements in the spaces devoted to 10th-century sculpture are continuing.

Photo: In the centre of the southwest corner of the museum, a progressive installation of the sculpted group depicting the battle between Bhima and Duryodhana (Koh Ker, Prasat Chen, west entrance pavilion).

Fabienne Jagou is a member of the jury for Laurent Gédéon's habilitation to direct research (École normale supérieure de Lyon) on the theme "Rivalries in the South China Sea. Geopolitical and geostrategic issues between China, Vietnam and the United States", 18 December 2020 (by videoconference).

Fabienne Jagou gives a paper entitled "The Panchen Lamas and their monastery in the midst of opposing forces", at the international symposium Benefitting Sentient Beings through Re-embodiment: the Development of the Tulku-recognizing System since the 17th Century, National Palace Museum, Taipei, 16-17 December 2020 (by videoconference).

From November 16 to December 18, 2020, Brice Vincent will lead a new excavation campaign on the site of the royal foundry of Angkor Thom (11th-12th century). The archaeological work will focus on better defining the nature of the production of the metallurgical workshop, in particular through the study of an area particularly rich in foundry mold fragments. They will be carried out as part of the LANGAU - Fondre pour le roi research project, for which a new partnership protocol has been signed between the APSARA National Authority and the EFEO (2020-2024).

Photo: Buddhist ceremony inaugurating the TRL20 excavation campaign on the site of the Royal Foundry of Angkor Thom.

Legend: Location of the royal foundry in the northwest quadrant of Angkor Thom: royal palace in red; area surveyed since 2012 in yellow (Damian Evans).

Since 2016, archaeological and archaeometallurgical investigations carried out on the site of the Royal Foundry of Angkor Thom have been carried out as part of the LANGAU research programme, or "copper" in Old Khmer, which is dedicated to a multidisciplinary analysis of the metallurgy of copper and its alloys in Angkorian Cambodia (9th-15th centuries). The main component is the study of the royal foundry, itself entitled LANGAU - Fondre pour le roi : étude archéométallurgique de l’atelier de bronziers du palais royal d’Angkor Thom (XIe-XIIe siècle) [Melting for the King: archaeometallurgical study of the bronze workshop of the royal palace of Angkor Thom (11th-12th century)]. The result of collaboration between the APSARA National Authority and the École française d'Extrême-Orient (EFEO), this research project is under the direction of Brice Vincent (EFEO / UMR 8170 - CASE), who also heads the associated archaeological mission. It brings together an international team in which archaeologists, archaeometallurgists, geoarchaeologists, geologists, ceramologists, physicists and metal restorers collaborate and interact. One of the specificities of the project, well integrated within a network of French and foreign laboratories, is to use a wide range of analytical means, in order to respond to the particularities offered both by the site under study and by the very rich furniture, particularly metallurgical, which is produced.

The LANGAU - Fondre pour le roi project favours a dual approach, both technological and historical. The first long-term objective is to recreate the technical processes associated with the working of copper and its alloys, and in particular lost-wax casting, from the use of raw materials to finishing operations. The aim is to inventory and characterise the various metallurgical skills and know-how mastered by the royal foundries. The second objective is to define in socio-economic terms the organisational modalities of this specialised craft at the service of the royal power, which implies dealing with the specific problem of the terms and mechanisms of the order, but also with the questions of the supply networks for raw materials, the nature and volume of production, or the distribution networks for finished products.

Legend: Excavation and geochemical prospecting campaigns (2012-2019): location of trenches, boreholes and core samples (Chea Socheat).

One of the main results of the excavation campaigns already carried out has been the discovery, in a particularly dense and complex area of the Royal Foundry, of around twenty combustion structures, foundry furnaces and forges. An in-depth technological study of several hundred artefacts related to the foundry furnaces alone (furnace walls, pipe blocks, tuyeres, wedges and supports, crucibles) made it possible to propose an initial typology, while reconstructing their construction and operation modes (ventilation, fuel, associated metallurgical operations). Initiated through the geochemical prospecting of a 7500 m² test area, the study of soil pollution by heavy metals also helped to understand the spatial extension of the Royal Foundry and, beyond that, its impact on its immediate environment.

Legend: 2019 excavation campaign: foundry furnace being surveyed.

Legend: Small pouring crucible with spout (Nhoem Sophorn).

On the laboratory side, the elementary chemical analysis of copper furniture (foundry and hammering scraps, fragments of objects) made it possible to characterise the alloying and finishing practices specific to the royal foundry, but also the different types of copper ores that were brought there. At the same time, mineralogical and petrographic analysis of technical ceramics (crucibles, furnace walls, moulds) helped to document the clay-based preparations used, while the study of ferrous furniture confirmed the pluriactivity of this production unit where iron working is closely associated with that of copper and its alloys. These new analytical data, combined with the results of other technological studies, particularly on bronze statuary, invite us to rediscover the diversity of the technical gestures practised by the royal founders, while at the same time helping us to gain a more global understanding of the organisation of a metallurgical workshop at the heart of the Angkorian state system.

Legend: Piece of crucible repaired and inlaid with metal. Cut and thin blade under polarised and analysed light (Federico Carò).

The next four-year period 2021-2024 will see the development of another component of the LANGAU research programme, in addition to the study of the Royal Foundry of Angkor Thom, entitled LANGAU - Aux sources du cuivre d’Angkor : provenance et circulation du cuivre dans le Cambodge angkorien (IXe-XVe siècle) [At the Sources of Angkor Copper: Origin and Circulation of Copper in Angkor Cambodia (9th-15th century)]. Its main objective is to identify the supply sources and circulation networks of copper both within the former Khmer country and in neighbouring territories. One mineralized site in particular, Phnom Pel, located not far from the Preah Khan of Kompong Svay (Preah Vihear province), will be the subject of both a geological and archaeological study, in partnership with the Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts and the Ministry of Mines and Energy of the Kingdom of Cambodia.

Legend: Participants in the EFEO colloquium Maritime knowledge for Asian seas, November 2018.

Results

Progress has been made on naval practices, although we are only at the beginning of this work. A group of six researchers (Paola Calanca, Chen Kuo-tung, Cheng Weichung - Academia Sinica, Stephen Davies - Hong Kong University, Pierre-Yves Manguin and Elke Papelitsky - KU Leuven) has formed around this subject and their work has already made it possible to establish a uniform translation of the technical vocabulary used; to agree on the creation (currently at the embryonic stage) of a database listing all toponyms with their occurrences, their graphic variants, natural or human landmarks as well as the dangers along the maritime routes indicated in the sources (Asian and European), nautical practices, etc. This is an area where our cooperation will continue with the launch of a new collective project, devoted exclusively to this subject (submitted in September for funding to the Chiang Ching-kuo Foundation).

Important work has also been carried out on the lexicon inherent to shipbuilding, thanks to the bilingual French-Chinese translation and publication of the Sigaut collection of the Musée National de la Marine (Paris, publication planned for the end of 2021). Other research is also being carried out on the typology of specific ships in the Chinese fleet, particularly in the field of the navy and on-board storage, as well as merchant ships from the Malay world. In the context of storage on board merchant ships, the study of jars has made it possible to gather, for the first time, a set of data concerning both objects found on distribution sites (shipwrecks, but also port sites and coastal areas in South-East Asia) and on production sites, in China, Cambodia, Vietnam and Thailand.

With the exception of two dossiers "Of ships and men - 船与人," Paola Calanca, Pierre-Yves Manguin & Eric Rieth (eds.), Studies of Underwater Archaeology - 水下考古学研究 2, 2016, p. 259-392, and "Storage Jars: Evidence for Long-Distance Maritime Trade" published by ZHAO Bing (BEFEO 103, 2017), and two articles "Sailing from the China Coast to the Pescadores and Taiwan: A Comparative Study on the Resemblances in Chinese and Dutch Sailing Patterns" by Cheng Weichung (BEFEO 101, 2015) and "Sewn Boats of Southeast Asia: the stitched-plank and lashed-lug tradition", by Pierre-Yves Manguin (International Journal of Nautical Archaeology 48-2), we decided that the entire production would be edited at the end of the programme in order to provide the public with reference works on navigation in the Asian seas. Two volumes are planned and already in production: Of Ships and Men I: Shipbuilding and hazards at sea and Of Ships and Men II: Asian nautical environment.

Legend: Wentai Pagoda, built at the beginning of the Ming in the southwest of Kinmen Island, one of the landmarks for sailors (Paola Calanca, 2016).

Legend: Wentai Pagoda, built at the beginning of the Ming in the southwest of Kinmen Island, one of the landmarks for sailors (Paola Calanca, 2016).

Legend: Inauguration of the exhibition "Voiles d'Asie: Images from the EFEO photo library", Pierre-Yves Manguin, November 21, 2018 (Béatrice Wisniewski).

Daniel Perret (EFEO) speaks on: "Réflexions sur le patrimoine archéologique du nord de Sumatra, IXe - XVIe siècle" [Reflections on the Archaeological Heritage of North Sumatra, 9th - 16th Century].

From 10.30am to 12pm. The conference will take place online upon prior registration. Once registered you will receive the elements to log in (seminar link and password).

The first references to the archaeological heritage of the northern hemisphere part of Sumatra appear as early as the end of the 18th century in Western scholarly literature, and the discoveries multiplied with the explorations and the advance of colonisation from the middle of the following century onwards.
The archaeological, epigraphic and art history research carried out in the region since the 1970s, and in particular that conducted by the EFEO since the 1990s in the present province of North Sumatra, in cooperation with the Indonesian National Centre for Archaeological Research, sheds light on the many facets of a past that has long remained obscure.
This paper aims to provide an overview of the present state of the major components of this heritage, as well as an insight into its main contributions and the many questions it raises, not only for the history of the island, but also for the history of Southeast Asia and the Indian Ocean between the 9th and 16th centuries.

Legend: Ancient Muslim tomb of Barus, North Sumatra.

The EFEO library is open on appointment from Monday to Friday from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. It offers a document loan and return service every Wednesday.

Make an appointment (reading space AND/OR loan-return service).

Check the EFEO's Facebook page and Twitter account regularly for any updates on the terms and conditions of the public reception service.

The inventory of the Cambodian manuscript collection on paper (P.CAMB and P.CAMB.Paris) was published in Calames.

Consisting of approximately 500 quotations, this corpus was collected in Cambodia between the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century.

The collection consists of religious texts mainly related to Buddhism, treatises, chronicles, legal texts, poems, folk tales and Buddhist stories (Jataka, part of which was collected and annotated by Joseph Guesdon), lexicons, grammars and other linguistic elements (mainly for the Cambodian language, including studies by Joseph Guesdon for the publication of his French-Cambodian dictionary), studies of the Cambodian alphabet, as well as some administrative documents.

Legend: P.Camb 66 (I), Kbuon divers.

The EFEO publishes the inventories of its archives: the platform of finding aids for the EFEO's holdings has just been put online. Its purpose is to bring together descriptions of all the School's collections. When available, digital versions of the documents are attached to the metadata.

The photographic holdings of the EFEO remain accessible on the photo library website.

Legend: Basin (Teppakkuḷam) in Madurai, Tamil Nadu, India, early 20th century (EFEO_GOLV00055)..

We are sad to announce the passing of Jacques Dumarçay, which occurred on November 22nd in Saint-Rémy-lès-Chevreuse.

An architect, Jacques Dumarçay began his career in Afghanistan and Pakistan on the excavations of the Indus Archaeological Mission. He was hired in 1964 by the EFEO to join the Angkor Conservation Department. In Cambodia, then in India from 1971 and in Indonesia from 1977 to 1987, he took part in major monumental restoration projects, notably those of the Baphuon and Borobudur, and conducted a number of architectural studies. After his retirement in 1991, he carried out numerous missions in Cambodia and was the main architect of the EFEO's resumption of the restoration work in Angkor, which had been interrupted by the war.

The sharpness of his vision, his jubilant enthusiasm and the benevolent sharing of his skills will accompany the memory of this colleague and friend. With Jacques Dumarçay passes away one of the greatest French architects who worked for the Conservation of Angkor and marked the history of the EFEO.

The EFEO expresses its sincere condolences to his family and friends.

Photo: Jacques Dumarçay on the construction site of the Terrace of Elephants, Angkor (Cambodia), 1998 (photo Christophe Pottier)

Under the ERC Consolidator Grant # 866454, funded by the ERC, the EFEO is recruiting a "Research Scientist (Machine Learning / Data Science)", an expert in data science and machine learning who wishes to apply his or her skills to improve our understanding of human impacts on the environment from the distant past to the present, by helping to develop automated methods of recognising signatures of past human activities in lidar datasets.

⏳ Deadline for application: 22 December 2020
📅 Hiring date: immediate, flexible start date
📌 Location of the post: 22 avenue du Président Wilson - 75116 Paris

Find out more (job description)

Watch the video of Christophe Pottier's speech entitled "Restaurer Angkor ou restaurer sa ruine ? [Restoring Angkor or restoring its ruin?], recorded during the conference on the theme of ruin in the ancient world, jointly organised by the Association of Amis de l’École française de Rome [Friends of the French School of Rome] (AmEfr) and the Association française des amis de l’Orient [French Association of Friends of the Orient] (AFAO) on November 10, 2020.

Legend: Details Louis Delaporte "View from the ruins of Prea-Khan" and Giovanni Battista Piranesi "Veduta del Tempio detto della Concordia".

With a view to celebrating its 120th anniversary, the École française d'Extrême-Orient is launching a series of video vignettes, entitled "EFEO's Asian Treasures", designed to make the rich holdings of its library and archives better known: prints, published works, manuscripts, maps, plans, photographs, images, etc.

These films will be progressively announced in the monthly Newsletter, on the EFEO website and social networks, and will be put online on the Canal U of the Réseau des Écoles françaises à l'Étranger and the EFEO's YouTube channel.

The first video entitled "Les paysans de la forêt à travers le regard d'un ethnographe: le fonds photographique de Jean Boulbet au Sud Vietnam, 1947-1963" will be online on December 15. Catherine Scheer and Isabelle Poujol will present the photographic collection of Jean Boulbet, a young demobilized soldier in Vietnam who became a planter and whom his strong interest in the mountain populations will lead on the path of ethnology and the EFEO.

Legend: Stopover in a Maa' village, South Vietnam, Jean Boulbet collection.

The Maison de l'Asie closes from Thursday December 24, 2020 at 4 pm to Monday January 4, 2021 at 8 am.

The first article in the ArchivEFE carnet is dedicated to the EFEO's collection of Cambodian manuscripts on paper.

The five French Schools Abroad have joined forces to offer a research notebook on the archival fonds and collections preserved in each institution. This notebook is designed both as a place for the exhibition of our collections and the research conducted on them, and as a common space for reflection on the tools and methods used in the treatment of archives, both scientific and institutional.

Legend: P.Camb 66 (I), Kbuon divers.

The first issue of the Bulletin archéologique des Écoles françaises à l'étranger has just been published. It aims to propose contributions from the French School of Athens, the French School of Rome, the French Institute of Oriental Archaeology, the French School of the Far East and the Casa de Velázquez, united within the Network of French Schools Abroad.

Thus, all the news of the archaeological research carried out by these institutions, all around the Mediterranean, but also in the Balkans, India and Asia, will be offered in the exclusively electronic, multilingual and continuously published issues of the Bulletin.

The results of the PSL University Academic Senate elections have been posted on the PSL website. The Academic Senate accompanies the Board of Directors and the Presidency of PSL through its work. It is composed of 100 members divided into three colleges: the college of elected representatives (including seven sub-colleges), the college of appointed personalities and a complementary college. The teachers and other staff of the partner institutions elected the six members of the two lists of candidates, including Charlotte Schmid and Christophe Pottier, to the sub-college 7 reserved for them.