Examining trade routes through the Thai–Malay Peninsula: A simulation analysis

Abstract

An important area for understanding human movement and trade routes during the Early Historic Period in Southeast Asia is the Thai–Malay Peninsula where external records date back 2300 years. Early east–west trade could be routed around the peninsula or sailing time could be reduced by taking terrestrial shortcuts across the peninsula. However, spatial research, particularly on transpeninsula routes, is insufficient to supplement the gaps between written historical records and excavated archaeological sites. This study aimed to simulate transpeninsula routes across the entire Thai–Malay Peninsula using a digital elevation model (DEM) to eliminate human biases when exploring the actual terrain. The simulation results reveal some intriguing characteristics of potential routes that can be used to divide the Thai–Malay Peninsula into five zones. This zonation is associated with external historical records and archaeological evidence before the twelfth century AD to assess the efficacy of different transpeninsula routes. These data are also utilized to propose potential areas of undiscovered archaeological sites within the Thai–Malay Peninsula.