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  • Phasook Indrawooth(10 May 1945 – 7 September 2016)
  • Rasmi Shoocongdej and Himanshu Prabha Ray

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Professor Emerita of Archaeology, Phasook Indrawooth, passed away peacefully on 7 September 2016 at the age of 72 in Bangkok, Thailand. She joined her husband, who had died a few years earlier. The second of six daughters, Phasook Indrawooth was born on 10 May 1945. She became fascinated by Buddhism through her father, Major General Dej Tulwantana, who wrote a book entitled Buddhism: An Intellectual Approach. Having made a significant contribution to the archaeology of Dvāravatī, an early Buddhist state that formed in central Thailand, Phasook Indrawooth went on to become a very distinguished professor and a leading archaeologist in Thailand and Southeast Asia. Indeed, her work has had a profound impact on the archaeology of Thailand as a whole.

Phasook Indrawooth earned a B.A. in Archaeology in 1967 from Silpakorn University, followed by an M.A. in 1971 and Ph.D. in 1979, both in Archaeology from Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda, India. She joined the Department of Archaeology at Silpakorn University in 1974, where she remained until she officially retired in 2005. During her long career, she developed a great breadth of expertise and interests, including the archaeology of Dvāravatī, Srivijaya, and Suvannabhumi, Hindu and Buddhist iconography, and Indian archaeology.

At Silpakorn University, she served as Dean of the Faculty of Archaeology for two terms, between 1992–1996 and 2000–2004. She was a founding member of the Graduate Program in Archaeology and played a major role in strengthening the Ph.D. program at Silpakorn. In addition, she founded Damrong Vichakarn Journal. Published by the Faculty of Archaeology, the journal still serves as a platform for academic discussion in the fields of archaeology, anthropology, arts history, epigraphy, and eastern languages. Prof. Indrawooth also published intensively. Some of her most influential publications are listed in the selected bibliography below.

After her retirement, Phasook Indrawooth remained passionately committed to teaching and mentoring archaeology students. She was a great professor who always supported young students and archaeologists. She continued to write and publish her research regularly until the end of her life, while also providing frequent guest lectures at many universities and institutions in Thailand. She was known by her colleagues and students for her active energy, kindness, generosity, and dedication to archaeology and teaching. Throughout her life, she contributed immensely to Thai archaeology and to the general public.

The passing of Prof. Indrawooth brings great sadness and is a tremendous loss for our department. She definitely made a difference for Thai archaeology and was a role model for young female archaeologists. She will be always remembered for her significant contributions to our archaeology community and for her scholarship.

—Rasmi SHOOCONGDEJ

In her research and teaching Prof. Indrawooth pioneered a new methodology by successfully combining the disciplinary strengths of both art history and archaeology in the study of the historical periods of South and Southeast Asia. With a post-graduate degree and Ph.D. from the Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda in Vadodara, India, Phasook Indrawooth introduced archaeology to the study of Dvāravatī culture, which until then was largely dominated by art history. In her 1985 publication on the pottery index from Dvāravatī period sites, she adopted a new approach comparing ceramics [End Page 269] excavated from historical sites in central Thailand such as Chansen, Nakhon Sawan province; Ban Ku Muang, Singburi province; Ban Tha Kae, Lopburi province; Ban Ku Bua, Rajburi province; and Nakhon Pathom, Nakhon Pathom province. This was done through a typological study combined with a chemical analysis that showed that the pottery had been locally produced from clay available in the Chao Phraya river basin. Many of the shapes were a continuation of earlier vessel types, while some were new introductions, such as spouted vessels, which showed similarities with those from archaeological sites in India.

The study helped determine links with the contemporary sites of Beikthano in Myanmar; Oc-Eo in Vietnam; and Sombor in Cambodia, thus establishing the period as one of cultural growth. Traditionally, historians had viewed Dvāravatī as a politically unified state with a...

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