Engaging with the Heritage of Maritime Populations of the Lanta Bay: a Community-based Archaeological and Ethnographic Project (the Lanta Bay project, Thailand)

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The community-based research presented here was conducted by archaeologists and social anthropologists in cooperation with local communities, amongst which the Urak Lawoi of southern Thailand, former collectors-traders, and the oldest inhabitants of the region. It shows how an integrated work can provide new interpretive frameworks and predictive models as well as contributing to the empowerment of local populations in accordance with Sustainable Development Goals. The Urak Lawoi are the least studied so-called "sea nomads" of Southeast Asia and the custodians of an oral knowledge related to ancient trade which is poorly documented in written sources. Now sedentary, these groups are impoverished, and occupy areas, islands and coastlines, that have been largely taken over by the tourism industry and the protected marine parks. Many of their cemeteries have been destroyed by the construction of hotels and their traditional resource exploitation areas are off limits to them as they are part of National Parks. Remains of ancient trading posts and harbors are also heavily looted. The "Krabi local communities and the making of the Maritime Silk Road" documents the local knowledge of the territory (resources and remains), oral histories and the relations that different local groups and sea nomads share with their heritage.