Hollow clay stands and censers from Neolithic Malaya, and their western prototypes
Prince John Loewenstein published this comparative study in 1959, arguing that the hollow clay stands excavated from Neolithic sites in northern Malaya are not a local invention but belong to a wide distribution of this pottery type originating in Mesopotamia and transmitted through India to Southeast Asia and the Far East. The article simultaneously resolves the long-standing question of the function of perforated pottery cones from Kedah by demonstrating experimentally that they served as censers.
Summary
Loewenstein’s paper was prompted by H. D. Collings’ 1949 assertion that “ancient examples of the type with a hole seem to be confined to Malaya” (p. 168). The author dismantles this claim by assembling a corpus of comparative evidence spanning Mesopotamia, the Indian subcontinent, Japan, Korea, and Manchuria. He traces the hollow stand back to Al Ubaid in Mesopotamia at approximately 4000 B.C., documents its ubiquity in the Indus Valley cities of Mohenjo-daro, Harappa, and Chanhu-daro (c. 2500–1500 B.C.), and shows its persistence in protohistoric Indian sites such as Ahichchhatra and Virampatnam-Arikamedu (2nd century B.C. to 1st century A.D.). The Malayan specimens from Gua Cha, Gua Musang, and Tengku Lembu are then positioned within this broader chronological and geographical framework, with the author noting that all known Malayan examples come from the northern or north-western part of the peninsula—precisely the regions where early Indian maritime contacts would have established footholds (p. 187).
The second half of the article addresses the perforated pottery cones discovered by P. D. R. Williams-Hunt at Bukit Kaplu, Kedah, in 1951. Loewenstein constructs a full-scale plaster model and conducts a controlled burning experiment: five grams of incense placed on a hot plate beneath the cone produced a steady flow of smoke through the upper perforation for forty minutes, consuming the entire quantity of resin (p. 183). He corroborates this with a letter from B. A. V. Peacock, who visited the site in December 1956 and obtained confirmation from a Buddhist chief priest at Padang Sira that the cones were indeed used as incense burners (p. 185). The author further connects these Malayan censers to the perforated “brazier” vessels of the Indus cities and to the compact hearth-stands from Ashur, which share the characteristic of a hollow foot with lateral perforations designed to increase air circulation (pp. 179–182).
A final section extends the diffusion argument to the Far East, citing hollow stands in Yayoi ware from southern Japan (2nd–3rd century A.D.), aeneolithic sites in southern Manchuria, and a hollow bronze stand from South Korea (c. A.D. 700). Loewenstein argues that these Far Eastern examples are linked to the Austronesian migrations, which passed through the Malay Peninsula between 2500 and 1500 B.C., and that the pottery type was adopted during that sojourn (p. 195). He also corrects Collings’ assumption that modern Malayan rotan stands evolved from Neolithic clay prototypes, arguing instead that the plaited fibre stand is the older form and that the clay stand is a later imitation of it (p. 191).
Key Findings
- The earliest known hollow stand comes from Al Ubaid, Mesopotamia, dating to approximately 4000 B.C.; the type subsequently appears at Uruk (3500 B.C.), Farah, Ur, and Kish (p. 177).
- In the Indus Valley, ring-stands, cylindrical stands, and hour-glass-shaped stands are recovered in large numbers at all levels of Mohenjo-daro, Harappa, and Chanhu-daro (c. 2500–1500 B.C.); at Harappa, jar-stands were found embedded in the paved floors of kitchens and larders (pp. 166, 173).
- The largest Malayan specimen, a cylindrical stand of red ware from Gua Cha, measures 204 mm in height with a flaring rim diameter of 277 mm and an opposite opening of 133 mm; a vessel resting on a similar cylindrical stand was found in situ at that site (p. 168).
- Loewenstein’s experimental censer test used five grams of incense on a hot plate beneath a reconstructed cone; the resin burned for forty minutes with a continuous flow of smoke through the upper perforation, after which the entire quantity was consumed (p. 183).
- Hollow stands of Western type occur in Yayoi wares from aeneolithic sites across the southern half of Japan but not in the north; three examples from Oyasato Yakata (Nara), dated to the 2nd or 3rd century A.D., include one with circular wall perforations identifying it as an incense burner (p. 189).
- At Parit Buntar, Perak, ceramic ring-stands are still being produced in limited numbers exclusively by Indian potters for ritual and ceremonial occasions, providing a living link to the ancient type (pp. 192–193).
Conclusion
Loewenstein’s definitive takeaway is that the hollow clay stand is a technology of Mesopotamian origin that spread eastward through India and reached the Malay Peninsula via early Indian maritime contacts, from where it was carried further by Austronesian populations into Japan, Korea, and Manchuria. The restriction of all known Neolithic Malayan examples to the northern and north-western coast reinforces the Indian vector of transmission, and the continued manufacture of ceramic stands by Indian potters in Perak into the twentieth century provides a direct ethnographic parallel confirming the cultural continuity of this tradition.
Context
- The article draws on specimens in the Raffles Museum (Singapore) and Perak Museum collections, supplemented by published excavation reports from Mohenjo-daro, Harappa, Chanhu-daro, Taxila, Ahichchhatra, Virampatnam-Arikamedu, Al Ubaid, and Ashur.
- Historiographically, the paper directly challenges Collings’ 1949 claim of Malayan uniqueness and extends the comparative framework established by Tweedie and Williams-Hunt, positioning the Malayan Neolithic within a broader Old World diffusion network rather than as an isolated phenomenon.