Oc Eo is a very large Funan culture site in the Mekong Valley of Vietnam, occupied about 250 AD. Excavated by Louis Malleret and photographed by Pierre Paris in the 1920s, Oc Eo covers some 1100 acres, with an extensive canal system and brick foundations. Trade goods at Oc Eo are known to have come from Rome, India and China.
Oc Eo was discovered by the Chinese during the Wu dynasty about 250 AD, during the exploration of the world associated with the vast transportation networks that included the Silk Road. Documents in in mainland China written by agents of the Wu emperor about AD 250 appear to have described Oc Eo as a sophisticated country (Funan) ruled by a king in a walled palace, complete with a taxation system. The Funan culture is the precursor to the flowering of the Angkor Civilization.
Recent investigation into the canals at Oc Eo suggest that they once connected the city with the capital of Angkor Borei, the agrarian capital of the Funan culture, and may well have facilitated the remarkable trade network spoken of by the Wu emperor's agents.
Sources
This glossary entry is part of the Dictionary of Archaeology and the About.com Guide to the Silk Road.
Higham, Charles. The Development of Mandalas (especially pp 249-253). In The Archaeology of Mainland Southeast Asia. Cambridge World Archaeology, Cambridge England.
Sanderson, David C. W. et al. 2007. Luminescence dating of canal sediments from Angkor Borei, Mekong Delta, Southern Cambodia. Quaternary Geochronology 2:322-329.
