| List of illustrations | p. vii |
| Acknowledgements | p. xiii |
| Chronological table | p. xv |
| Introduction | p. 1 |
| Aspects of diversity | p. 1 |
| The personality of Southeast Asia | p. 5 |
| The history of archaeology in Southeast Asia | p. 15 |
| Themes and approaches | p. 28 |
| Hunter-gatherer communities and early domestication | p. 31 |
| The coast and hills of Bac Bo | p. 33 |
| Coastal groups in Viet Nam | p. 43 |
| A hunting and gathering tradition in the North Thai uplands | p. 45 |
| The Northern Thai uplands: summary | p. 59 |
| The hunter-gatherer occupation of the Chao Phraya plains | p. 61 |
| Coastal settlement round the Gulf of Siam | p. 65 |
| Domestication | p. 80 |
| The expansion of domestic communities | p. 90 |
| The Khorat plateau | p. 92 |
| A general cultural framework | p. 99 |
| Non Nok Tha | p. 99 |
| Ban Chiang | p. 106 |
| Ban Na Di | p. 113 |
| Other excavated sites in the northern Khorat plateau | p. 117 |
| The southern Khorat plateau: Ban Chiang Hian and related sites | p. 121 |
| Dating General Periods A and B | p. 123 |
| The subsistence basis of General Periods A and B | p. 130 |
| The human remains | p. 139 |
| The material culture of General Periods A and B | p. 141 |
| The social organisation | p. 153 |
| The lower Chao Phraya valley | p. 157 |
| The lower Mekong and its hinterland | p. 169 |
| The coastal plains of Central Viet Nam | p. 173 |
| The Bac Bo Region | p. 175 |
| The expansion of domestic communities and the adoption of bronze-working | p. 185 |
| The end of autonomy and emergence of chiefdoms | p. 190 |
| Bac Bo: the Dong Son phase | p. 192 |
| The Chao Phraya plains | p. 204 |
| The Khorat plateau | p. 209 |
| The uplands of Laos | p. 228 |
| The Vietnamese coastal plains | p. 230 |
| The transition from autonomy to centrality | p. 233 |
| The development of mandalas | p. 239 |
| India and China | p. 242 |
| Geographic regions which sustained mandalas | p. 245 |
| The lower Mekong and the delta: A.D. c 100-550 | p. 245 |
| The delta mandalas: summary | p. 254 |
| Mandalas of the middle Mekong and the Tonle Sap plains: A.D. 550-802 | p. 254 |
| Zhenla mandalas: summary | p. 268 |
| The Dvaravati mandalas of the Chao Phraya plains and their antecedants: A.D. 200-950 | p. 269 |
| The Mun and Chi valleys in Northeast Thailand | p. 279 |
| The Han: three border commanderies | p. 287 |
| Bac Bo | p. 287 |
| The mandalas of Champa | p. 297 |
| The dynastic history of Linyi | p. 298 |
| The archaeological remains of Linyi: the Cham mandalas | p. 302 |
| Champa: summary | p. 306 |
| The formative stages of Southeast Asian civilisation: a review | p. 306 |
| Summary | p. 318 |
| The Angkorian Mandala | p. 321 |
| The dynastic history and main historic events | p. 324 |
| Taxation | p. 344 |
| The means of destruction | p. 346 |
| Agriculture | p. 348 |
| The pursuit of perfection | p. 352 |
| Summary and conclusions | p. 353 |
| Concluding remarks | p. 356 |
| References | p. 363 |
| Index | p. 379 |
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