Spice Islands Archaeology Project-Introduction

Project Introduction

This site describes an archaeology research project currently taking place in the Banda Islands of eastern Indonesia. You will also find information about what the islands are like today, as well as links to other related web sites around the world.

The central Banda Islands from Pulau Ay
photo by Andrew Lawless

Note: As of August 15, 2000, I will be the Curator of Archaeology at the Burke Museum, as well as teaching in the Department of Anthropology, at the University of Washington in Seattle. I can be reached at plape@u.washington.edu. This web site will be revised and updated and moved to the UW server in the next few months.

The archaeological research is my Ph.D. dissertation project at the Department of Anthropology at Brown University. From August 1999 - May 2000, I will be completing my dissertation at The Australian National University in the Department of Archaeology and Anthropology, thanks to a Luce Foundation fellowship.

This research has been supported by Earthwatch, and to date 31 Earthwatch volunteers have participated in the project. Additional support has been provided by Brown University, Garuda Indonesia Airlines, a Fulbright Fellowship and a National Science Foundation grant, as well as numerous individuals who have helped me in myriad ways--I am indebted to all.

Since I put this site on line in September 1997, I have received messages from a variety of interested and interesting people; I have heard from other scholars and travelers, been advised of links to other related web sites, or been sent important information that has helped my project. I have recently (August 1999) added a new page with a "further reading" list, a list of radiocarbon dates from the project, and a few other changes.

Beginning in October 1999, I have been adding GIS maps of individual archaeological sites. To access these, click on the site area or site name on the general Banda Islands map. You will need special software to view these site maps, but it is available as free shareware from ESRI. See the map page for details.

As my analysis continues, I will be adding more information. Please feel free to contact me with suggestions, links, questions or comments.

map of Island Southeast Asia showing the position of the Banda Islands. See Banda map for detailed view.