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See Indus Civilization; South Asia
The Indo-Pacific Prehistory Association (IPPA) has had several names since its inception in Batavia (at that time the capital of the netherlands Indies) in 1929 and its first congress in Hanoi in 1932. At first it was known only through the names of its congresses. The Hanoi congress was known as the First Congress of Far-Eastern Prehistorians; the second, held in 1935, was titled the Second Congress of Far-Eastern Prehistorians; and the third, held in 1938, was called the Third Congress of Prehistorians of the Far East. At the fourth congress, held after World War II, the name came to be the Far-Eastern Prehistory Association (FEPA). That name continued until 1975 when the organization adopted its final and present name, the Indo-Pacific Prehistory Association.
The beginning came about as a result of the Fourth Pacific Science Congress and the interest of Herbert E. Gregory, founder of the Pacific Science Association. In the preliminary organization of the Batavia Pacific Science Congress (1929), Gregory included a prehistory section and asked P.V. van Stein Callenfels to organize it. Among those taking part in this section, besides van Stein Callenfels, were Davidson Black, sir grafton elliot smith, Sir Richard Winstedt, Victor Goloubew, and henry otley beyer. This group agreed to start an organization to promote research in prehistory in the Far East and settled on Hanoi for its first congress, to be hosted by the government of French Indo-China.
George Coedes was the organizing chairman of the congress, Paul Rivet was president, and Paul Mus acted as secretary. Other local organizers were Victor Goloubew and Madeleine Colani; other members were van Stein Callenfels from Java, Beyer from the philippines, Richard Winstedt of Singapore, Ivor H.N. Evans of Taiping in what was then the Federated Malay States, Prince Rajadabhisek and Luang Boribal Buribhand of Thailand, Joseph Shellshear of Hong Kong, C. Haguenauer from japan, and Henri Parmentier of cambodia. The proceedings of the congress were published as Praehistorica Asiae Orientalis in Hanoi in 1932. The second congress was to have been in Bangkok in early 1935, but because of troubled conditions there in 1934, the congress was shifted to Manila. At that congress, there were sixteen delegates and nine associates representing eight different countries. Proceedings of this congress were never published, although a few of the papers presented were published later (Solheim 1957, 8).
The president of the third congress, held in Singapore in 1938, was W. Linehan, and he was assisted by F.N. Chasen and M.W.F. Tweedie. There were twenty-seven delegates and six associates, and in addition to the countries represented before, institutional delegates and associate members came from Australia, New Zealand, and china—from Australia, D.A. Casey and fred d. mccarthy and from China, Lin Huisiang (the founder of the first Anthropology Department in China and a former student of Beyer). Chasen and Tweedie (1940) edited the proceedings.
The fourth congress was to be held in Hong Kong in 1941, but the threatening international situation caused its postponement. It was finally held, jointly with the Eighth Pacific Science Congress, in Manila in 1953, organized by Beyer, in Batavia, with the prompting of H.E. Gregory. This was much larger than the previous congresses and included representatives from many Pacific islands as well as those from countries that had attended previously. Eighteen countries were represented with official delegates, and there were sixty-three members and delegates as well as seventeen associates and observers, with many more Asian participants.
The Far-Eastern Prehistory Association was organized at the final business meeting of the fourth congress. Eleven council members were elected to carry on FEPA business between congresses, and Beyer was elected as honorary chairman. Council members were McCarthy (Australia), li chi (China), Alexander Spoehr (Hawaii and the United States), F.S. Drake (Hong Kong), Bernard P. Groslier (Indochina), H.R. van Heekeren (indonesia), Ichiro Yawata (Japan), C.A. Gibson-Hill (Malaya), roger duff
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