Prehistory

Project: Prehistory
Author: Lem Chuck Moth

Started date: June/01/2003
Last updated: April/01/2016
All right reserved.
Note:
Since this paper is still drafted, the readers would be advised to ignore any context errors. The content is not final and subjected to be reviewed.

INTRODUCTION
Archeology's findings yield no less evidences of paleolithic antiquity of Southeast Asia that dated back since the get-go of humanity (Notes: Southeast Asian Archeology sites of Paleolithic era). Nevertheless, scholars failed to give its prehistoric data the originality of its own history. Eclipsed by India and China, Southeast Asia was always thought to be the recipient of the two colorful cultures until archeology unearthed vestiges of which scholars referred as the Hoabinhian Culture. Named after its archeology's site at Hoabinh, the culture presented itself as the progenator of the agriculturist societies. These findings brought lights to the old enigmas of the world history and encouraged younger researchers to look for more answers of the deep past. Clearly, Southeast Asia presents itself as the archeology site of a rich prehistoric civilization, longtime ignored and yet to be discovered. Evidence of stone tools belonging to a much older civilization also suggests that it was also the home of the early Hunter-gatherer societies of the world. More advanced tools found at different layers of time furthermore proved that, through different stages of cultural evolution, Southeast Asian communities were progressively evolving into more and more civilized societies. As high expectation settled in, archeologists were on the looking for more discoveries. They soon disappointed because prehistoric artifacts were mostly lost due to limited use of durable materials. Contrary to modern societies where traces of civilization could be found easily through concrete vestiges in high numbers, prehistoric proof of human existence was limited due to circumstances (of time and space). To make the matter worst, we shall argue that Southeast Asia was (at least) once the site of a Great Flood that wiped out most of its early traces of civilization. With this lack of information, scholars built their theories based on existing archeology's findings that were found scarcely from caves on some selected high ground. Despite of the limitation, they were able to make a discovery that totally surprised them. Evidence so far shows a continuous progression of paleolithic culture into a more advanced agriculturist development that made Southeast Asia becoming the cradle of world civilization. Even though progress was made, many enigmas still subsisted as many questions were left in the dark or worst yet wrongly answered. Our mission here is to look for other sources, unconventional as they might be, to fill out the gap.

Tradition as a Source of Prehistoric Data
One of the least explored among historical sources is tradition. Unlike written records, custom and tradition presented many challenges to modern historian of secular view to accept as valid historical data. The major drawback that concerns them the most is the authenticity and the accuracy of the sources. In modern societies, customs and cultures are often mixed and changed occurred due to external interference. As educated members are open to new knowledge and use them to benefit themselves and their communities, customs could change overnight. To make the matter worst, fictional myths were freely introduced to spice up old beliefs or new tradition in the efforts to make them appealing to modern audience. Going back in time, less and less interference allowed ancient societies to preserve their customs through the elapse of time with little or no distortion. In Southeast Asia, rich prehistoric records are still available through tribesmen living at the mountainous or dense forest areas whose knowledge of their past had been taught from generation to generation by the words of mouth. Left alone, they are masters of their environment and happy the way they are. If there are no great natural disasters or epidemic outbreaks that could affect their courses of life, they were mostly self-sufficient and live harmoniously with nature the best that they know how. As their tradition stayed on and pretty much preserved, they are as good as living records of their past (Notes: Fictional vs Non-fictional Myths). Southeast Asia as well as the pacific islands are still home of such societies that, through their tradition, reveal different stage of civilization after the Great Flood. Beside oral tradition, their current lifestyles and societies are priceless historical information to be uncovered. In complementation to conventional historical data, proper deciphering through scientific means would yield additional information that could be used to complete the missing links that otherwise are not available in other sources. Taken out of possible distortion, ancient myths and folklore were too important to ignore that could solve many of the prehistoric enigmas still presented to human kind of today.

THE HOABINHIAN CULTURE
The discovery of the Hoabinhian culture had motivated scholars to look for the cradle of civilization outside the scope that have never been done before. The results were astounding as they show that the Hoabinhian culture was actually the forefront of the contemporary human civilization. Southeast Asia surely presented itself as a potential origin of the very early agriculturist societies. Through their own independent studies, some scholars published results that standout from the rest, using new available empirical methods to work on some primary factors. Using different methods and approaches to identify who were these people and how their early civilization was taking place, they came out with answers to which community group of today' s Southeast Asia, the culture belonged to.

The Language Factor
The Hoabinhian culture got its name from the first archeology site in the province of Hoa-Binh in North Vietnam. Since its discovery other sites have been founded through out Southeast Asia spreading in Lao (Luang Phrabang), Siam (Xiangrai, Lopburi, Ratburi) and Malaya (Gua Kerbau, Perak) showing similarity in life-style and culture. These sites were very much spread out on the high ground of a territory extended from the mainland Indochina down to the Malay Peninsular. Among them, the site of Kelantan is located not far south from the ancient Sakai Cave that possesses some of the oldest cave remains. The finding of the rice kernels among the remains indicates an early date for rice cultivation in the region and in Southeast Asia as a whole. Another compelling evidence that suggest the locality of the Hoabinhian culture in Southeast Asia is based on the finding of agriculturists to live side by side with their hunter-gatherers peers speaking the same austroasiatic family of tongue. Protected by their isolated environment, the difference in life-style suggests the locality of the spoken tongue. A typical example of such development could be found at the tribesmen living in Mae Hon Son province of northern Thailand. The Mlubri peoples have their language classified as belonging to the Northern Mon-Khmer subfamily. Their oral history states that they migrated to their present stronghold from Laos in the nineteenth century. The difference of life-styles of the Mluprei as compared to their peers of the valley indicates a strong evidence of regional origin of the Austroasiatic speakers. Their skull shapes have some similarities with those of the Neolithic people of the Malay Peninsula. The fact that two Austroasiatic speaking groups live today side by side in the same region, one still practicing the hunter-gatherer lifestyle, the other farmers for perhaps the past 8000-9000 years, suggests that they stayed still in the same place since the antiquity. This conclusion was due to the fact that mountainous hunter-gatherers, having a pre-Neolithic lifestyle, could not migrated along the same route with their valley agriculturist peers. The finding argues for the great local antiquity of Austroasiatic tongues in the mainland of Southeast Asia in general. Not only that the Austroasiatic tongues could be proved to be among the oldest of all languages of the world, the Hoabinhian societies also retain other aspect of their tradition that could be proved to be no less ancient. Through separate works, linguists also identified Southeast Asia as the original homeland of the Austroasiatic speaking people (Eden: Linguistics: Babel: Figure 21: p. 131). They identified the languages as commonly spoken in major regions of Southeast Asia and in some parts of India. They are generally non-tonal except under foreign influence. They are spoken by Cambodians, Mons, and scattered trail of isolated groups of Indochina, some part of Malaysia, Bangladesh and through to the Mundaic tribes of central and east India. The scattering trails as far as India had led to the theory that Austroasiatic spoken societies were originated farther west (as far as the Indus Valley) and migrated into Southeast Asia in prehistoric time. This theory contradicts head on with the new finding of gene distribution and the topology of the language itself. Several archaeological and linguistic conundrums point out that the original Austroasiatic language's homeland was in fact at the heart of the Southeast Asian continent. The geographical mapping of the Hoabinhian archeology sites compared with those of Austroasiatic spoken society points out that the Austroasiatic language was actually the main language spoken by the Hoabinhian people. As we shall see, it was the ancestor of the Mon-Khmer Language spoken by a subgroup of Southeast Asian tribesmen who were survivors of the Great Flood. It is important to note that prior to the conception of the (Mon-Khmer) language was formed by linguistic communities, scholars had no idea on how the people speaking the language originated. The classification was according to the current perception that the Mon and the Khmer as two different people, induced serious drawback in identifying that they were of different origin. While the Mons were generally perceived as native of the mainland Indochina, the Khmers were on the other hand thought to migrate from India. Our finding shows instead that the Mon-Khmer people were actually descended from the same austroasiatic ancestors of Southeast Asia. On the same thougth, we shall argue for the Tian or Kamara (KMR in Sanskrit) language to be actually the common language of the Great Flood's survivors who were later venturing out back to the plain of Southeast Asia. It was in fact the immediate ancestor of the Mon-Khmer language as classified by modern linguists (Notes: The Mon-Khmer Language). For further clarification, the Kamara Culture to be formed by Meru who was one among a descendant of King Smanta. It was the same Meru Culture that spanned around the globe and through the history of mankind had evolved into the Khmer Culture of modern day. Nevertheless, we shall use the "Mon-Khmer" identity as the reference to the ancestors of both the Mon and Khmer languages while at the same time use the "Tian" or "Kamara" identity for a broader reference to the cultural community that was formed by King Samanta and his direct descendants after the Great Flood.

The Gene Factor
One of the oldest Beta-globin gene mutations of Southeast Asia is the abnormality of the Haemoglobin E trait (Hbe).Found in over 30 percent of Austroasiatic speakers of both Indochina and among the Senoi Aboriginals of the Malay Peninsula, the mutation was due to a specific condition of malaria infested southeast Asia. Known to protect the Southeast Asian bearer against malaria, So far scholars identified it as the main genetic marker of Southeast Asians (Eden: Genetics: Orang Asli Originals: Figure 36: p. 213). it was founded relatively in low rates throughout southern China and island of Southeast Asia and is usually regarded as a marker for the Austroasiatic language group. This view was reinforced by the finding of much lower rate among Autronesian-speaking Aboriginal, such as the Temuan of the same malaria's Malay Peninsula jungles (with exception of the Kelantanese on the East Coast close to the Thai border and to the Austroasiatic Aslian speakers). The Malay-speaking population of Kelantan has an Hbe rate of 40 per cent and more generic and cultural links with southern Thailand than the Malays further south. Even more interesting, the marker is found on at least two generic frameworks (2 and 3). The location on framework 2 that has several variants among Austroasiatic speakers was thought to be the older of the two. On the same setting, the types found among the Orang Asli Aboriginals may have been the ancestral forms. As we shall see, the finding is consistent with their migratory pattern to the footstep of mount Himalayas during the Great Flood as presented in the next chapter. It consisted actually of a prehistoric migratory pattern that moved the HBE bearers from the low lands of Malaya where the ancestral framework 2 was found among the Orang Asli Aboriginals to the footstep of Himalayas where the same frame work was found among the Bodo tribesmen. Likewise, we shall argue that the distribution of frameworks 3 is consistent with the migration of the Mon-Khmer speakers down to the plain of Indochina after the Great Flood subsided. The location on framework 3 is found in Cambodia where that frame is particularly common and is thought to be an example of another gene conversion. It suggests that another mutation must to occur before the migration that moved them into Cambodia, long after the flood. After the flood subsided, the Khmer-Mon people who migrated down south from the foothstep of Himalaya found themselves facing with a new environment that treat their suvival chance again. Tradition says that Cambodia of today was in fact part of a swamy bay, very much infested by malaria that required another adaptation from the part of the survivors to survive. The transition of their genetic marker from the framework 2 to 3 actually confirms the Darwinist theory of natural selection in a rather small domain of microevolution process. On the other hand, the contrast of lower rates that was found in some neighboring Austroasiatic speaking tribes of eastern India, such as the Khasi suggests that they were not from the south and were already at home at the Khasi range before the flood. If this assumption is true, Khasi was likely the remnant of the Hoabinhian Culture that was affected by the flood and was perhap one among the first communities formed by king Samanta into becoming the cradle of the New World civilization. As we shall see, the flood survivors who returned to the plain would receive a new identity as the Tian (Celestial) People, an identity that was inherited from the Meghalaya (Sky) country of the Khasi mountain range. under king Samanta's intervention, evidences show that they stayed in the Tian Shan range for a long period of time until the mainland indochina completely dried up for them to practice agriculture, Speaking the Mon-Khmer language, they settled in the valleys while the mountainous tribesmen who took refuge during the flood in the local moutain tops stayed in the high ground and still practiced the Hoabinhian Cukture. Like the Khasi people, they were not originated from the south and were at their current home since the great flood. Unlike the Khasi, they did not joined into the new Khmer-Mon development that was carried on by king Samantha. Tradition says that they love their freedom very much to join into the new humanity development and still carried on senister ancient religious practices, including witchcrafting and the headhunting custom of the wartime. Like their Shan compatriotes of the northern part of Indochina, they still sustained their ancient custom until the Tai leadership arrived in later date to induce them into the Tai-Kadai culture and language (The Sakadvipa: The Tai Incursion: King Suvanna Kahamdeng and the Formation of Nararatha). On the anomalous feature of the spread of Hbe west, the high rates among some Tibeto-Burman speaking tribes of Assam and Arunachal Pradesh suggests that they were originally austroasiatic speakers from the south, but adopted the Tibeto-Burman language at later date during the Tai incursion. Unlike their Khmer-Mon counterpart who migrated back into the plain, they stayed still at the footstep of mount Himalayas to be subjected to the Central Asian Tai cultural incursion later in their history.

The Cultural Factor
The Hoabinhian culture left traces of ancient sites discovered by archeology through out Southeast Asia. In some deposits, the shipped stones are mixed with sharply polished instrument characteristic of Bacsonian industry (Discovered in the mountainous of Bac-Son, Tonkin) along with a little cord-marked pottery and some bone implements. On the eastern coast of Sumatra, axes ground on one side seem to date from the same period. These people occupied Indochina mainly between 130 to 5 thousands years ago. They had a foraging lifestyle with agriculture development in later phases. In some of the Hoabinhian and Bacsonian sites, human remains were also found exhibiting characteristic features that relate them to the Australian and Papuan-Melanesian races. Others appeared to be of Indonesian type, already showing some of the Mongoloid characteristic that were later to increase (ISSA: The Land and its Inhabitants: P.6). It indicates the Hoabinhian people were already of mix race of both Austric and Mongoloid (Notes: The Tai Migration Theory). It is not clear that their Mongoloid feature was a result of northern stocks migrating south or of austric stock involving with northern invironment. In any case, they had little contribution to the southern culture as evidences of the flood myth show divine authority taking control over their communities from the start. As mentioned earlier, the holders of the Hoabinhian culture were proved to be the Austroasiatic speaking people. The most important finding of all their achievement was the pottery found at Ban Xiang, which according to anthropology was the set-point of a new progression of human civilization into a new phase in the history of mainland Indochina. Discovered in northeast Thailand's Udonthani province, the site contained a preserved dig site with broken pottery and a museum featuring skeletal remains to Bronze Age gifts for the dead. The artifacts were dated to be from 2100 BC for the oldest and to 200 AD for the newest, indicating a continuos settlement of the culture at the actual site since at least the early 2nd millennium BC. It was first thought to be from the Hoabinhian Culture, but its advanced pottery feature convinced us that it related to a more sophisticate Tian culture (Kun-Lun in Chinese) of later development. As its name implied, the culture was originated at the Kun-Lun range of mount Himalayas where a catastrophic event had brought the survivors of the Great Flood to take refuge from drowning. Under the assistance of a divine figure named Samanta, evidences show that a new religion along with its cultural application had been developed to propel humanity to the next Yuga to come. Known as the Man Culture, Brahmanism brought humanity to the next level. Contrary to common belief that Southeast Asian indigenous people were animistic, evidences of more advanced religious belief were also found in their customs and day-to-day lifestyle. One such tradition was concerning the existence of higher authorities that were still revered among remnants of the Hoabinhian people. The Bahnars are classified as a Khmer-Mon group in terms of language, customs and physical appearance. Scholars believe that modern Khmer language incorporated many of Bahnaric features and vocabularies. The Bahnar Roh, one of the subgroups, had a legend explaining the spreading of the early Austroasiatic culture among the communities on both the plain and the hills tribesmen by a god named Bok Kei (MGRV: The Bahnar: Legendary History).
The god Bok Kei, having created the earth, searched unsuccessfully among the lesser gods to rule over the New World. His two Children, a boy and a girl, playing nearby, observed their father's dilemma and offered to take the job. Before sending them to the earth, the father took them on a pleasure trip to the moon. There he put each child into a drum, and hurled it down to the earth.
The children, after they got out of the drum, built their own house and lived separately. One night, the god Bok Kei caused his son to be in the same bed of his daughter. Realizing that it was the wish of their father, they then lived together as a couple and had children.
Soon the girl gave birth to a hundred eggs that hatched into a hundred male and female children: fifty went to live in the plains, and fifty stayed in the mountains with their parents.
The story that involves the interference of a god in the establishment of Austroasiatic societies reflects the association of higher spirit in the development of Southeast Asia. The story was later echoed in many places of the mainland with the Austroasiatic Culture being spread by the grand children of the god Bok Kei on both the plain and the hilltops. This God's intervention could also explain their pre-historical presence at the Himalayan footsteps by the existence of the Austroasiatic language still spoken in small communities of the region. Although sparingly distributed among the Dravidian and Tibeto-burman tongues some Austroasiatic tribes still subsisted.

THE FLOOD MYTH
Among many theories that explain the presence of the Austroasiatic people in the highest place of the continent, the flood theory was yet to be proved but had been increasingly supported by many modern scholars (Eden: Wet Feet: The drowning of Sundaland: pp. 80-81). The theory suggested that Southeast Asia had once been flooded by a catastrophic event that forced the Hoabinhian tribes to seek higher ground. Evidences show that the flood was extensive enough to cover-up a vast area around the Himalayas mountain. All the Hoabinhian tribes were affected, but many were able to survive and retained tell tales to pass-on to the next generation. Their stories were credible enough for us to support the Southeast Asian flood theory and use it as a base to validate other flood myths of the world.

The Mnong's Journey toward the Mountaintop
Southeast Asia was holding a deep tradition about the Flood myth more than any other parts of the world. Other aspects of the story line also match the description of the Noah Flood's story. They both have two similar themes that stand out through their story lines. The first is about the interference of a higher authority (God in the Noah Flood) in the occurrence of the flood myth. It is also believed that the flood was God's doing either to retaliate or to correct human bad behaviors or sins. In a spiritual level, we knew that Southeast Asian revered Yang as the first benefactor of human kind. There are no societies in the world that have similar rich tradition of such authority figure's involvement in their life. Even in Middle Eastern countries where civilization took place many millenniums before Christ, the recollection of God's involvement in their societies appeared to be much less ancient than Southeast Asian civilization. While other parts of the world were still retaining their hunter-gatherer life style, the Mnongs' communities were proved to be already in transition into agriculturist societies. They are of ethnic Khmer-Mon stock, speaking language related to that of the Ma and the Stieng. They had an elaborate story about how they went out from the underground and colonized the rocky surface of the world (MGRV: The Mnong: Legendary History).
In the beginning, the world was covered with flat rock. There was nothing on the world but rock, and man and other creatures lived under the rock. One day a man called Tum Nduu and his wife followed a dog chasing a wild animal through a long tunnel. They soon found themselves on the surface of the world. They took a good look at the flat rock and then returned to their home underground.
From their settlement underneath the mountaintop, the Mnongs found out about the higher rock ground by accident. They then left but came back to make the land habitable.
There they scoop up some earth, gathered seven earthworms and a basket of seeds, and then took them to the surface where they scattered them on the rock before returning home again. Some time later they came back to the surface and found it covered with soil and vegetation. Whereupon, Tum Nduu and his wife went home again, gathered together all the animals and led them, two by two, to the surface of the world to live.
The Mnong's story seam to suggest that they were moving into higher slopes of mount Himalayas and gradually transformed the rocky ground into cultivable land. The account shows that before they moved into the footstep of mount Himalayas, they already practiced to some degree agriculture. Even though the story was not explicitly connected to the flood, it nevertheless reveals an odd situation that forced them to leave their underground habitat and moved into a safer environment provided by the higher ground. If this assumption is correct, it explains how the flood survivors expanded themselves into the whole Himalayas Mountain and went ahead to colonize the whole Central Asia. After moving into the Tian-Shan range, there are evidences that the Mnong were becoming the Shan tribes that dispersed themselves deep into Central Asia and beyond (Notes: The Mnong Identity). Conforming to the cause of the Noah Flood, Southeast Asian fell into excessive self-indulgence because they could afford to do so. Unlike other accounts of the native flood myths, we notice the absence of the spiritual "yang" in their tradition. In correlation with the Bahnar Krem's tradition that the mountainous tribes were jointed later by their father, the Shans became the last to be civilized. Yang Bot spent his last days instructing his eldest son the civilized way of living (The Man Race: The Himalayasn Culture: The Hilltop vs the Valley Civilization). Despite their frivolous life-style, evidences show that they were nonetheless organized and their societies soon became settled as Central Asian powerhouses of the post Great-Flood era. We shall argue that they constituted the backbone of Central Asian societies and were perhaps the founder of the next Ta-Tsin Kingdom to be founded by Meru that spread itself to Middle Eastern region. As we shall see, Ta-Tsin was the first human society under the discipline of the Meru Culture, known to spread civilization to the western world. During the early stage of the flood, they had to cope with the disaster by themselves. Of agriculturist background, the Mnongs were among the flood survivors who were at first trying to cope with the disaster on their own. Because of their own ordeals, their culture was mostly connected to their natural environment that created a strong implication on the Animistic religious believe of the western world (Notes: Animistic vs Brahmanism).

The Indigenous (the Bru and the Koho) 's Flood Myths
The Brus are the most northern Khmer-Mon people of the eastern mountain range located today at approximately of North Vietnam. They have an elaborate flood story that, by its similarity to the Noah flood stands out from the rest of the flood's myths (MGRV: The Bru: Tribal Background: Legendary History).
In the beginning God (Yang Sorsi) create a man and a woman, who lived together very happily. Every day they hunted wild animals and looks for fruit. Only one thing troubled them-they had no children. One day when they wandered in the woods, God met them and promised to give them children.
The woman gave birth to eight sons at the same time. As the Children grew, the story continues, they ate more and more and the parents could not support them. With no other solution insight, they decided to abandon them on a mountaintop. Later on, one of the brothers found a sacred sword and when he used it, the sword exhibited special power. when he grasped the handle, rain would fall, at the contrary when he hold the blade, the sun would shine. The story then shifted to a community of the Valleys people living on their day-to-day located nearby under a chief named Anha. God spoke to Anha that a Great Flood was coming and commanded him to build a boat. Besides his family, no other inhabitants of the community believed in his flood's prediction.
Although the chief tried to hire workers to help him, no one was willing, not even to escape the flood. When the boat was finished, Anha took his family into it. With him were his wife, four daughters, and two sons.
The youngest daughter brought along a civet cat that she met one day on a trip along a river. The civet cat was one of the mountainous brothers who got hold of the sacred sword and disguised himself under a civet cat's skin. God commanded him to grasp the sword many times by the handle and a violent storm followed for eight days and eight nights. The water rose up and the flood destroyed everything on the earth. After it was subsided, all humans and animals were freed to live and the youngest daughter of the chief married the man of the civet cat. Another version of the flood story close to Noah Flood is found among the Koho tribes. In term of customs and physical appearance, the Koho tribesmen belong to the Khmer-Mon family and their dialects stem from the Banaric subgroup of the Mon-Khmer language. Like the Brus, the Koho's account of the flood had drastic affect to the living creature of the earth.
In the beginning of time, a bird and a crab quarreled; the birth pierced the crab's shell with his beak. To revenge itself on the bird, who had flown away, the crab caused the oceans and rivers to swell to the sky. All the creatures of the earth perished in the water except for two humans, a man and a woman who, accompanied by a pair of every animal and bird, took refuge in a wooden chest.
(MGRV: The Koho: Tribal Background: Legendary History)
The Koho's flood story differs from that of the Bru's by not associating the flood to the wrath of God but by blaming the devastating flood to the quarrel between a bird and a crab instead. As we have not come out with any acceptable interpretation of the conflict between the two creatures, we are assuming that the Great Flood could been due to natural cause. After the flood was subsiding, it was the spiritual yang that sent the chicken to give the survivors good new.
The flood lasted 7 days and 7 nights. Then the man and the woman heard a chicken clucking outside of the chest. Sent by the spirit (yang), the chicken told those in the chest that they could get out.
The story is followed by another drama concerning the life of both the man and woman after the flood.
Soon the couple had no more rice and were on the verge of starvation, when they heard a sound from the earth: it was an ant holding in its mandibles a gift from the spirits, two grains of rice. The man destined to become the grand father of the Koho planted the grains, and the next day a crop of gigantic rice covered the plain.
With an abundant staple of rice, the couple then lived happily after if they did not have along the way three children and indulgence became their way of attaining happiness. As the man became old, he became fond of wine and his habit became all too familiar with the kids. The eldest son who, perhaps out of frustration, committed a disrespectful act to his father.
The grandfather drank his rice wine and fell into a stupor. When his eldest son saw him asleep naked, he began to mock his father. A younger son reproached his brother and covered his father with a banana leaf.
It is the custom of the Khmer-Mon people to call an old man as grandfather. When he awoke and knew what his eldest son had done to him, he was very angry. He then chased him away and to punish further his unruly behavior, he forced him to strip naked and to leave all his clothes behind. He did it to humiliate his son the same way that the latter had humiliated him. The son then hid himself on the isolated mountaintop and became the founder of the mountaintop people. Like the Koho, they wear little or no clothes. On the other hand, the other two brothers stayed with the grandfather and prospered (Notes: The two Brothers of the Koho).

In Correlation to the Noah Flood
For long, scholars were looking for clues in regard to the Noah Flood's myth as portrayed in the Bible and other western religious records. While many theories had been suggested, none had satisfactory answered the questions about the locality and the people that were involved in the story lines (Notes: In search for the Noah's Flood). Other flood myths had also been found in many parts of the world and likewise their locality could neither been verified. The failure to find traces of such a big scale catastrophic event disproves the claims about the global flood as taught by western religions. In connecting them together, we shall see that they have common root from the Southeast Asian flood's stories. The memory of the Great Flood still holds among the hill tribes of Central Vietnam that was the seat of the Hoabinhian culture in the past. Due mostly to their cultural isolation, they could retain their memory intact until modern days. In the interference with their lowland neighbors, some of the stories had been modified to reflect their current environment, but the main themes still stay original. Taking interference aside, we could see that each tribe has its own unique story that proves to be consistent with other tribes about the actual flood. Most agree on a common claim that continuos rain of seven days and seven nights was the cause of the flood and some stories resembled very much the Noah flood (of the Christian Bible) that their originality among the local tribes became questionable (Notes: Christian missionaries). Strong evidence however shows that the stories of the Noah Flood, as well as its antecedent Manu Flood of the Hindu folklore, were compiled millenniums later after the actual event. There are however discrepancies in both epic floods as compared to the Southeast Asian flood concerning the magnitude and the devastation, in the detail of their occurrence. For instance, the cause from the rain is hardly suggesting that the flood covered Southeast Asia all at once, let alone the whole world. There were obviously vast areas flooded around mount Himilayas due to rain through the river streams having theirs source from the Kailas Mountain. Stories from other tribes such as the Hroi and the Koho, moreover claim about the sea rising that could be much more catastrophic than the flood from rain water by itself. Along with the rains, the sea rising could cause flood strong enough to induce a big scale destruction and the lost of lives (Notes: The High Magnetude of the Flood). Unlike the well edited story of the Noah Flood in which only the family of Noah survived, there are many crude versions of the flood story recounted by the locals and at least two story lines could be drawn out. The first one is about two siblings, a brother and a sister saving themselves by entering into drums or similar floating devices. After the flood, the sibling committed incest and their descendants lived out to become local tribes of the high plateau. In the version told by the Jarai tribesmen, the two siblings are replaced by a couple. We shall see that this story line reflects the locality of the survivors who later settled back at their homeland. Other stories were found among tribes classified by scholar as the Khmer-Mon family and provide a different picture of how humanity survived and sprung back from the disaster. Their stories are the one that are closely related to the Manu flood's story found in Hindu and Buddhist folk tales and to the Noah flood's story of the Christian Bible. In this story line, more advanced floating carriers such as chests and boats were used to save themselves and animals from perishing. The findings led us to believe that the great flood was actually happening at Southeast Asia and more proofs of a new humanity's conception could be found through local recollection. Like the story of Noah's flood, the native stories convey higher standard of living of local peoples that could only be checked out by archeology of the Hoabinhian Culture. As compared to Neolithic live-style that was still associated to other part of the world, Southeast Asia was clearly the only site of ancient civilization that could be experiencing both the self indulgence of life and the subsequent wrath of God (Yang) as a punishment. Compiled to become subject of religious topic, the Flood myth along with many other Southeast Asian traditions, as we shall argue, were spread around the world by the Man and later the Meru Culture (The Human Race: The Human Civilization: The Eden of the Man Culture). Continuing the Koho's flood myth, the story would end with a happy ending if humanity would not repeat the same mistakes again. The same way that other related Flood's stories became myths, the three brother's story was seen spreading itself around the world. Along the way, the story line changed according to local environment. In one of its versions that became an epic story of the west, the three brothers were known as Ham, Shem and Japheth. This western diversion of human races after the flood was not quite in accordance to the eastern view. We shall try to reconstruct back what had been actually happening after the flood.

THE FLOOD CULTURE
From oral stories, we can postulate that the flood caused most living things to perish but some were able to save themselves by any means available to them. Some survivors found refuge in local high mountainous places and their ordeals are illustrated by the story line of the two siblings, brother and sister who saved themselves by some commodities like the drums or similar floating devices that set their society already apart from the ancient society of hunter-gatherers. Others had chosen to migrate into the footstep of Himalayas by mean of more advanced commodities like chests or boats. They were mentioned to be civilized tribesmen and possessed already the art of building boats or bigger floating carriers to bring them to the mountain slope of Himalayas. Their ordeals were recounted later in the Matsya Fish epic of the Vishnu Purana. As suggested by many accounts in religious manuscripts, the next phase of Human history was mainly concerning their journey to resettle themselves after the flood.

The Fish People and the Journey back to the Sea
As expected, the survivors who had already extensive experience with the sea were among the first to move out when circumstances allowed them to do so. According to local tradition, they were the fish people and their identity became later casted as the Fish Makara in the Flood Myth or Matsya the Fish of the Vishnu Purana. Before the flood, they were fishermen of the seacoast of Southeast Asia that stretched from Manipura to the southern islands of the Malay Archipelago (Notes: The Sea or the Malay People). Their extensive experience with water allowed them to move and became highly nomadic by mean of river stream or seafaring. As indicated in some versions of the flood stories, some form of boating devices was already available to them. The long canoes and possibly the rafting were then invented as their essential mean of waterway transportation, if they had not been available to them. At a certain moment after the flood, some of the survivors were venturing farther away from their Himalayan stronghold, to look for better life sustaining islands. From the northeastern side of Himalayas, they spread quickly on the mainland through river streams. Since their life style did not require much of cultivable land, they do not need to wait until the flood to be completely subsided to move out from the crowed mountainous slope of mount Himalayas. At the edge of the continent, the ocean presented serious obstacles to their restless move. Along the way, they had to settle before they find the way to proceed further. The situation of parallel societies of agriculturists and semi-nomadic, found widespread among the mainland of Indochina, the western islands of Indonesia and Malaysia, the Philippines, suggests exploration of the plain by some settlers while others were proceeding out to the sea by these early sea-fearers (Notes: The Proto-Malay People). Like many other groups classified as Austronesian stock of Southeast Asia, the Rhade shared the same language (and to some extend life-style) of Austronesian tribesmen of the Philippines, Borneo and Indonesia. Furthermore, they seem to retain still a rich history of their past journey from the north.
They believe that they are the oldest race on earth and that they are the only human beings who have preserved, through oral tradition, contact with forebears who lives in prehistoric times. The Rhade legend of H'Bia Ngo describes a creature which has been identified as a prehistoric mammoth.
(MGRV: The Rhade: Tribal Background: Legendary History)
Their legendary history is divided into five epochs. their recollection of the mammoth indicates that they wew actually migrating from the north. It turned out that these recollection was about what scholars called the Out-of-Africa migration of archaic human kinds during the late middle paleolithic era that spread archaic human kinds all around the globe (The History of Humanity: The History of Human kind: The Out-of-Africa Migration Theory). Their new history as we shall see, happened when they were conceived as anatomically modern human by the Sumerian God Enki not far too long before the Great Flood. No evidences so far show that after the flood, they were moving to the Southern part of the Chinese continent where scholars had long speculated that it was the original homeland of all Austronesians and Malayo-Polynesian as postulated by some modern scholars. At the contrary, the Darlac Plateau seams to be the place that the Rhade and other northern migrant tribemen took off to explore the southern sea.
The last Rhade epoch included the period of recorded history. The Rhade left their original home in the Darlac Plateau in an earlier epoch and by the beginning of the last epoch were living in the islands southeast of Indochina.
The story clearly indicates that only in the last epoch that the Rhade left their homeland of the mainland to venture out the southern sea. They soon found out the hard way that they should not leave the Darlac Plateau at the first place. After wondering at the southern islands for a while they sailed back home.
The Rhade never forgot their original home, however, and they sailed for the Indochinese coast where they disembarked. Not finding enough food there, they moved back to the Darlac Plateau where they remained ever since.
On the same premises, We shall also refute the modern theory of Austronesian migration toward the sea from the southern seashore of China (particularly from Taiwan) as the same of the Polynesian Sea exploration (Notes: The Polynesian Dispersal). There were obviously northern migrants among the survivors of the flood who proceeded to check out the southern sea after the flood, but we shall argue that they could not be widespread as the Polynesians of modern days. Through their tradition, we know that they were land-borne from the north and as the case of the Rhade tribesmen, their experience with the sea was limited. Their journeys into southern sea were then restricted to the nearest islands of Southern Sea (Notes: Indonesians Vs primitive Austronesians of Indonesia).

Matsya the Fish and the Naga King
From the Koho's flood story line, we shall identify the three brothers as three immediate dynasties that were brought to life from the descendants of King Samanta. It all started with the presence of the fish Makara in the epic deluge is echoed in Vishnuite publication, the Matsya Purana. In the elaborate Manu flood story, Manu and perhaps other members of his family were saved from perishing in the flood by the elusive sea creature called Matsya. According to the folklore, a king named Satyavrata washed his hand in a river and caught a small fish. As it pleaded for its life, the king brought the fish to his domain and raised it in a Jar. While it kept growing, Satyavrata had to move the fish consecutively into bigger and bigger container. When no big enough containers could be found to store the fish, Matsya was released into a river and later into the sea. The fish then revealed itself as Matsya, an incarnation of Lord Vishnu. Matsya informed Satyavrata of a flood that would destroy humanity in 7 days and 7 nights, and instructed him to build a boat big enough to load selected species of animal and all necessary commodities and foods for life's sustaining during and after the flood. When the flood came, Matsya showed itself up as promised and pulled the boat to a safe higher ground. After the deluge, Satysawrata started recovering humanity and in the process was known as Manu. Evidence show that the Manu's story was not original and along with other Vishnu Puranas, was compiled after the Arianization of Gangetic India. It was nevertheless a recollection retrieved from the Great Flood of Southeast Asia, compiled for the next emergence of Vishnuite tradition. Deviation is expected as the occurrence of the real event already happened millenniums earlier. From the tradition of the Khmer-Mon tribesmen, it appeared that Manu's family was not the sole survivors of the flood and that a sophisticate culture had already been a long while before the Great Flood. The next development of the Makara Culture is based on the Yang Kings, in their effort to bring back humanity after the flood. The Siam tradition of Khun Borom was by far the next best recollection of the Yang King's accomplishment (Xiang-Mai: The Tai Mythology: The Tai's Flood Myth). This Buddhist tradition commemorates Khun Borom to take the leading role of building up human societies after the flood, a task that is equivalent to the first Manu of the Hindu folklore. In addition, Hinduism recognized Manu's descendants as rulers of the local tribesmen and with all their mighty powers attributed to them, gave them the title of the Naga Kings. These powers that made the Naga Kings well respected by the Naga societies, included the capability to create rains and flood in addition to make the earth moving and the volcanoes to erupt. With all these powers, Hindu elevated them into divine status, but they still remained humble and preferred to refer themselves as the Man. In fact, the Naga Kings were modest and often enough insisted of acknowledging themselves to root from the peasant stock. The inclusion of the word "Sri mate" in the dynastic title "Sri Mate Sri Man", later attested in many Khmer and Champa inscriptions, of the ancient Naga kings might serve as a constant reminder of their root. Another symbol associated to the sign of Capricorn that contrasts head-on to the sea born Makara's symbol of the great fish (Notes: Etymology of the word Xiang) is the Xiang symbol of a half man and a half sheep (or mountain goat). Still depicted in Chinese text, the Xiang was the first Draconian symbol representing the Naga society fresh out from the Great Flood, moving up from the sea into the top of high mountainous regions. Their presence at northeastern slope of Mount Himalayas is recorded in the ancient oracle-bone inscription of the Shang Chinese. The account of the Mnongs making their way into the high ground of Mount Himalayas led us to believe that they were in fact the ancestors of the Xiang. They were among the first flood survivors who ventured out for safety into the rigid region of mount Himalayas and later in Central Asia. Their societies got a boost under the leadership of Meru and spread into Middle East. They were then known as the Sumerian who left innumerable vestiges at the Mesopotamia archeology's site known to scholars as Sumer. As we shall see, their communities were later moved to Gangetic India and were known as the Nanda (The visit of Buddha Gautama: The last of Mesopotamia's connection). Their return to Mesopotamia could be checked out by newer archeology site of King Nebuchadnezzar found in Iraq. The Draconian symbol of a mountainous goat, displayed along with a bull on his city 's gate, indicates that the Babylonian court of King Nebuchadnezzar was oriental and had a deep root from both the Nanda and the Xiang dynasties of Southeast Asia.

The Xiang People and their Journey up to the Tian-Shan Range
In the eastern footstep of mount Himalayas, some of the Kajin tribes lived in a community of multiple family units of the long houses. Built on the mountainous slope, the long houses allowed multiple families to scrooge in a limited space under the same roof. It became the best accommodation of all flood refugees on the footsteps of mount Himalayas. Both the Kajin and their northern migrant tribesmen still retained this lifestyle because they found no other accommodation to fit them better after the flood. Down in the valleys, the Shan and other Tian tribesmen lived in separated houses. Grouped in a village or tribes, their feudal communities allowed families to live separately in a close cluster's environment. It is quite common that long houses of multiple family units are also seen among their villages. It indicates that even though separated dwellings are preferred, long houses are still used to accommodate many families in the form of community shelters, as often needed. Tribesmen of the archipelago and the austronesians of the mainland still lived in the long houses. Because of that, we might refer them as the long house indegenous people (or simply as the long house people). As indicated in the Rhade tradition, these northern migrants were land-born and made their migratory life-style through central Asia and possibly the northern region of Siberia where they encountered mammoth and moved south to present day Central China before the flood. Unlike their Austroasiatic counterpart, they had no collection of any spiritual authority to help them cope with the natural selection process. They were practicing hunting-gathering lifestyle like the rest of their peers of the globe, but as remnants of the flood survivors who came also to take refuge on the footstep of mount Himalayas, they received some form of developments that distinguished them from theirs northern peers. Their restless moves propelled them to move out of the footstep of Himalayas soon as they acquired the mean to do so. Their journey down south explains the scattered tribes of Austronesian speaking people in the mainland. At the mean time, evidences show that the Austroasiatic tribes stayed at the footstep of Himalayas for a long period of time. They were the survivors among the Kamara tribesmen who, as indicated in their tradition, had already been subjected to a higher authority called Yang. With more advanced lifestyle they built the southeastern communities of mount Himalayas into the stronghold of the Man Culture. Under his care and clairvoyance, they built the Tian-Shan range to become the Eden of the Man Culture and Manipura as the very first Ta-Tsin locality to spread humanity all around the world. A common feature found in either the long or individual houses is that they are all built on stilt. Most scholars agree that this architecture was designed to adapt to the wetland's environment of the Valleys and became since a characteristic of all flood survivors' dwelling. In contrast, recent immigrants who, either coming from Central Asia or China, preferred their dwellings built flat on the ground. This difference of preferences is so consistent that the stilted dwelling became a characteristic distinction between the old communities of flood survivors and the new comers who were recently migrating into Southeast Asia (Notes: The stilted dwelling). The characterization clearly limits the Great Flood's zone only to Southeast Asia where stilted dwellings are mostly found. This limitation also explains why Central Asia became next the expansion ground of the Man Culture. Even though the condition of the region does not seam to support their agriculturist life-style, the flood survivors had not much option in finding habitable ground. The Mnong's account of colonizing the flat rock area seams to convey their migration into the Tian-Shan range immediately after the Great Flood that transformed their Makara Culture into the Xiang (Mountain Goat) Culture. Central Asian tradition confirmed that the Xiangs were neither Chinese nor Tibetan by origin, but of deep root from the southerners (The Man Race: Nokor Phnom: The countries of Brahmans). Evidences show that the epicenter of Ta-Tsin also moved into the heart of Central Asia by the first Xiang Dynasty or their immediate ancestors. Under the reign of Meru, they turned into Jins but retained still their Austroasiatic tongue at least for religious purposes. On the other hand, evidences show that the people of Ta-Tsin were in most parts of Central Asian stock speaking Tibeto-Burman language. As we shall see, the same organization would be later transplanted in Middle Eas after the unification of Meru with the Queen of the West (The Man Race: The Meru Culture: The Spreading of the Meru Culture). Connecting to Mesopotamia, there is indication that the Sumerian community of Sumer was at first a scion of the Ta-Tsin court of the Tian-Shan range, which itself was a scion of the Himalayan flood survivors. The Sumerian language used on the clay tablet of Mesopotamia must to be Austroasiatic by origin being used in the court of Meru. As we shall see, this legacy stayed until a new development that set the Sumerian civilization to complete its course from Middle East to move back into Southeast Asia.

THE MOVE TOWARD THE PLAIN
The elapse of time between the last findings of the Haobinhian sites as compared to the archeology of later era confirms the occurrence of the Great flood in Southeast Asia. Archeology at the central plain of Indochina yielded vestiges of a new era that clearly distinguished itself from the Hoabinhian period. Following the Moi forts from the eastern footsteps of Himalayas, eastward down to the plain of Cochinchina and back to the central plain of Cambodia, the migration of the Kajin was next to change the demography and the culture of the mainland Indochina. The Chinese source confirmed later the presence of the Kun-Lun (Tian) people in Southeast Asia whose advanced culture could not be mistaken with the original Hoabinhian people.

The Moi Forts and the Kajin Migration down South
The Moi forts are circular earthworks or "moated mounds", having the appearance as a fortified enclosure of ancient community. Found mostly in the central plains of Indochina, they were named after the Moi tribesmen of South Vietnam. In reference to the antiquity of their existence, it is highly possible that the Moi tribes are the remnants of the ancient people who lived along side the people who built the forts. From excavation of these sites, archeologists had found ceramics and ground stone tools strikingly similar to those recovered from Samrong Sen, Laang Spean, and Khorat Plateau sites, and more generally to pre-Iron Age occupations elsewhere in Southeast Asia. Radiocarbon dates these sites to have a time span from 2300 to 300 BC, the oldest are in adjacent to Vietnam, and as one moves westward toward the Mekong river, they get progressively later. The discovery of the Moi forts in South Vietnam, led to the revision of previous discovery as similar earthworks were found to spread all around the mainland of Indochina. Colonial aerial photographs reveal some 200 moat mounds in the Chi and Mun River basins of the Khorat Plateau; some of which were circular and others were roughly rectangular. A number of circular earthworks had been found on the region of "red soils" that extends from the Delta to the sandstone plateau of southern Cambodia. Considering the sophistication of their formation, the Moi-forts reveal higher level of societies compared to previous Indochinese settlers. Similar circular earthworks were found deep in the Kachin States of Assam that according to some finding, were used as funeral sites of top ranking chiefs of the village. They constituted the historical sites of the Kachin tribesmen whose presence at the region was proved to date since the prehistoric time. Whatever they were used for, the Moi forts provide the spreading proofs of a higher culture over the ream of the Austroasiatic stocks. Local tradition claims the circular pattern as the utmost invention of the naga culture and one can get a circle by just holding to the naga's tail and running around the naga head. This finding of prehistoric earthworks and other vestiges shed light to the Jin migration into the plains of Southeast Asia. They were then already civilized and were referred later in Chinese texts as the Kun-Lun people. Perhaps in the commemoration of their past origin from the Kun-Lun range of mount Himalayas due to the Great Flood (ISSA: The Land and its Inhabitation: P. 9). The dating of the Moi forts gave us an approximation on when they started migrating in a big scale down into the plain, which started around 2300 BC. On top of the elevated mountains ranges they experienced new environments that their southern relatives had never encountered. Their fair skin, for instance, might have been subsequently due to cold weather as their physical appearance incurred changes to adapt the new environment. Also forced to live in close contact with other tribes, they learned to form bigger societies of diverse ethnic background and adopted a new form of culture later known as the culture of the mountain or the Shan culture. After the flood had completely subsided, cultivable lands were available again for the flood refugees to come down and built up their agriculturist societies. As they migrated back into the mainland, they were joined with their long lost relatives, coming down from the local high grounds. Evidence show that they had no serious problems to settle and thrive among their indigenous peers. Their presence could be detected through more advanced cultural development seemingly splitting the Austroasiatic society into two separate groups.
In the Neolithic period, we notice a split between the northern and southern regions of the geographic era studied here, perhaps caused by a migration of the Mongoloid ethnic elements. Southeast Asia, Southern China, are the region of the ax with shouldered tenon the characteristic utensil of peoples speaking languages of the Austro-Asiatic family. (ISSA: The Lands and its Inhabitants: Prehistory: P.5-6)
As we shall see, the Jin leadership was going to make their journey into Middle East through Central Asia. By doing so they became the Mongoloid ethnic elements of Central Asia that played important part during the next development of human culture. On the plain of Southeast Asia, they were easily detected by their physical appearance since they have fairer skin than their aboriginal counterpart. Beside that, they seamlessly mixed into the Hoabinhian ancient stocks and appeared to have the same lifestyle. Just as the Austroasiatic people, they lived in separated house built on stilt but grouped together in a village. They were the majority of the population who bore the Hbe gene marker of framework 3, mutant due to flood conversion (Notes: The Austronesian Mixture with the Kun-Lun). Together, they formed the new societies of Kajin stock that became the cradle of the Kamara culture of Southeast Asia.

The Split of the Kamara from the Austroasiatic Family
Glottochronology dates the subsequent split of the Mon-Khmer language from the Austroasiatic family as recently as the 3000-4000 years ago, around 2000-1000 BC. The split was so decisive that natural evolution could be excluded as probable cause and proves that the change was due instead to a catastrophic event. As we had argued, the Great Flood caused the Hoabinhian tribesmen to move into the footstep of mount Himalayas and stayed to have their cultural under-changed by King Samanta. Their return down to the plain of Indochina brought a new improved culture that characterized the deep split of the Kamara Culture from its Austroasiatic counterparts. Beside the language, other proof of progression implanted on the Hoabinhian societies is found through many aspects of cultural transition. Among them was the new tradition of cremation that was not native to Southeast Asia. Evidence shows that the Austroasiatic people used simple ground burial to dispose their dead, a tradition that is still practiced today. Nevertheless the cremation was archeologically proved at the site of Sa-Huynh and Ban-Chieng well before the Christian era. It is important to note that this development coincided with the Arianization of Gangetic India that was dated by scholars to be around 1500 BC. At the same time, it is also known that many of the Jin tribes of Manipura, having little cultural connection with the Gangetic India also cremated their dead with the same practice and manner found in Southeast Asia (Notes: The Jin's cremation). After the cremation, urn is generally used to keep bone fragment from the remains of the burned body. To the most extends, the Miens or the Yao people of Southwestern China also burned their death while the rest of their compatriots of Central Asia and China still practiced other forms of disposing their corpse. Many Chinese sources confirm the practice among the Kamara power-elite first, before it was universally adopted by the general people (The Chenla Empire: The Chenla Culture: The funerals). In fact we shall argue that the Cremation is a Meru tradition and that the practice was not due to practicality, but to religious belief that set the Khmer societies apart from those of the rest of the other cultures (Notes: the Purpose of Cremation). The practice was particularly seen in Kamara societies by the elite class who were more inclined to believe of their heavenly origin. There was conscientious effort among general population also to have their death cremated properly even though it proved to be more costly than other funeral proceeding. More study reveals that the practice was also common in Samarakant among the Aryan tribesmen also. We conclude that the Aryanization of Samarakant as of the Gangetic India had a strong connection with the Kamara Culture as a whole. Originated at the footstep of Himalayas on the ground of the Jin-Kajin tribesmen, the global development of the Meru Culture triggered the Aryanization of the world that later included the Gangetic India. While the west was incurring change into a more materialistic civilization, evidences show that the east was also. The existence of the Moi forts, the emergence of the Mon-Khmer Language and the cremation were among many other aspects to suggest that the Jins started to migrate down to the plain. Among circumstances that triggered the Kun-Lun mass migration down south was the subsiding of the floodwater that provided the Kun-Lun people extensive cultivable land to colonize. Needless to say, their presence had contributed to the formation of the Kun-Lun culture apart from the Hoabinhian tribesmen.
with regard to material culture, the cultivation of irrigated rice, domestication of cattle and buffalo, rudimentary use of metals, knowledge of navigation; with regard to the social system, the importance of the role conferred on women and of relationship in the maternal line, and an organization resulting from the requirements of irrigated agriculture; with regard to religion, belief in animism, the worship of ancestors and of the god of the soil, the building of shrines in high places, burial of the death in jars or dolmen; with regard to mythology, " a cosmological dualism in which are opposed the mountain and the sea, the winged race and the aquatic race, the men of the heights and those of the coasts"; with regard to linguistics, the use of isolating language with a rich faculty for derivation by means of prefixes, suffixes and infixes. To a great extend it was undoubtedly this unity of culture that led the Chinese to group the diverse peoples of Farther India together under the name Kun-Lun. (ISSA: The Land and its Inhabitants: Austro-asiatic Civilization: P. 8-9)
Scholars were at first puzzled by the Chinese revelation. Nevertheless, more evidences allow us to conclude that what the Chinese called the Kun-Lun culture was actually the Hoabinhian culture in progression through the Man and Meru 's development after the Great Flood. The conclusion however requires the need to review back the catastrophic flood that would take many centuries to subside (Notes: The High Magnitude of the Flood).

Reference:

ISSA: The Indianized States of Southeast Asia, by G. Coedes
Eden: Eden in the East, Stephen Oppenheimer
MGRV: Minority groups in the Republic of Vietnam, Department of the army pamphlet
SIAM1: Annales du Siam, Premier Partie, Translated by Camille Notton
AKC: Angkor and the Khmer Civilization, Michael D. Coe)
Tib: The Tibetan Empire in Central Asia, by Christopher I. Beckwith
NEDT: BEFEO I: Notes Ethnographiques Sur Diverses Tribes du Sud-Est de l' Indochine, by M. A. Lavallee
PMK: BEFEO VII, Les Peuples Mon-Khmer: Trait-d'union entre les peuples de l'Asie Centrale et de l'Austronesie, by P. W. Schmidt

Notes:

Chronology
10,000-2000 BC: Hoabinhian Culture; 7000-3300 BC: Neolithic period; 5500-4000 BC: Neo-Tian Culture, 3500 BC: Writing in cone-form; 3300-1200 BC: Bronze age
Christian missionaries
As part of the colonization of Indochina, there were attempts by French Christian missionaries to convert the locals into Christianity (The Colonization: The French Colonist: The Missionary Work). It is thus possible that the Noah flood's story was spreading among them by the missions.
Southeast Asian Archeology sites of Paleolithic era
Paleolithic industry, in the sense meant by the term in European prehistory, is presented in Burma by the "ancient Anyathian" characterized by pebbles shaped into axes, specimens of which have also been found in Siam (Fing Noi) and in upper Laos (Phu Loi). This industry was the work of the proto-Australians who have left traces of the "Chelllean" type in Java. Remains of the following period, characterized by stone chopper tools and the almost complete absence of pottery, have been found in Tonkin (Hoa-binh Provinces) and in North Vietnam, in Laos (Luang Phrabang), In Siam (Xiang-rai, Lobburi, Ratburi) and in Malaya (Gua Kerbau, Perak) (ISSA: The Lands and its Inhabitants: P.5-6)
Fictional vs Non-fictional Myths
Through misusage, myth became perceived along the time as an invented story. Secular view went further to conclude that all myths are false. The view is correct when it was applied to modern fictional myths such as myth of racial superiority due to physical appearance. Nevertheless, precausion have to be made when applied to other myths in general as they are not of the same kind. As an historical fact, ancient non-fictional myth could could be more or less verified through scientific means of theirs existence while fictional myth could not.
The Mon-Khmer Language
Through language classification, linguists classified the Mon-Khmer tongue as a distinctive language of Southeast Asia. Further study reveals that the classification extended itself into common cultural base and even ethnicity. The choice of naming the Mon as preceding the Khmer was from the misconception that the Mon Civilization preceded the Khmer while evidences show that it was the other way around. According to the Khmer tradition, the Mon and the Khmer were the same people until they were split through cultural development brought by the Indianization of which the Mon got their Mon (Ramana) identity long after the Khmerization of Southeast Asia (The Chenla Empire: The Chenla Brotherhood: Sri Ksetra and Rampuri).
The Tai Migration Theory
The finding misled scholars to concept the importance of the northern migrants in shaping up the Southern Culture to the extend that the Polynesians were thought to be derived from them. Many theories later (One of which is the Tai Migration Theory) were formulated on the assumption that the Austronesian speaking people were migrating from the north.
The Mnong Identity
Like the Stieng the Mnong was of austroasiatic stock. The word Mnong (or Mnang) was probably the short form of Manu-anga. If this conception is true, the Mnong identity was actually referring to the flood survivor communities that were formed under Manu leadership.
Animistic Vs Brahmanism
As disasters forced them to find solutions in coping with the unknown, knowledge and belief were learnt from their daily life. Along the way, more and more spiritual concepts had developed to answer some of their enigmas. It was the start-up of abstraction that served later the base of Astrology, as we know it, in close connection with phenomenon believed to be of supernatural world. Dwelling in the flooded sea, the fish Makara created flood-related myth recounted in Hindu tradition. Since then it became one of the icons in many legacies of the world civilization. In the Hindu solar calendar, Makara is the name of the first of the twelve months of the year. On the sky, Makara is represented by the first constellation of the Zodiac, the Capricorn. The next sign of the Zodiac, the Aquarius represents water (a lot of water) and is associated to innovation. Another important astrological conception, in relation to the Great Flood, was the mountain goat that represents the perseverance of the sign of Capricorn. It was formed after the flood survivors in their search of dried land on the high ground of mount Himalayas to look for better lifestyle.
The two Brothers of the Koho
Because the story was retrieved during the colonial time and that the well-off Annamete and the Laotians had moved in to become their neighbors, the Koho complete their story by including the two new comers as the civilized races of their two brothers. The story was later seen in the Tai tradition of the three chiefs of Khun Khek, Khun Khan and Khun Po wamsa. As quoted in the factual history, the two brothers (Khun Khan represnting the Vietnamese and Po Vamsa (representing the Cham) who behaved and lived along fine with the father were not so kind to the Koho (Khun Khek).
Specific information on the factual history of the Koho peoples is scanty. For centuries, more highly organized peoples, by pressure and exploitation, gradually pushed the Koho out of the lush coastal areas into the more rugged country they currently inhabit.(MGRV: Chapter 1 The Koho: Factual History)
Austronesian Sea Venturing
Unlike their austroasiatic counterpart, the northern migrants had no tradition of god (or gods) in their prehistory. Until the Great Flood, evidences show that they were practicing hunting-gathering life-style and depended totally on natural resources to survive. The experience of the Rhade moreover shows limited sea's knowledge as compared to the native seafarer people. As nomads from the north, the maritime navigation was not part of their land-borne skill set and must to learn from the Austroasiatic Malay's people.
The High Magnetude of the Flood
The claim of sea rising could also be due to the singking of the Southeast Asian tectonic plate that caused much more catastrophic effect than the flood from torrential rain water by itself. Along with the rains, the sinking of the tectonic plate could cause the flood to be strong enough to induce a big scale destruction and the lost of lives.
The Sea or the Malay People
Known later as the Malay people, the Sea People were already mastering the sea navigation and were obviously the first to head back toward the southern sea after the flood. If they have not done it before, they then proceeded to go further exploring the Pacific Ocean and was known as the Polynesians (Eden: Prologue: The Flood in Southeast Asia and the Asian dispersal: p. 11). Urged by their spirit of exploration, they moved from island to island of both the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans and colonized their way toward the South American continent.
Indonesians vs primitive Austronesians of Indonesia
The association of northern migrants as dominant race in modern Indonesian societies needs to be treated with precaution. In contrasts with modern assumption that the Malay and Polynesian people were of northern origin, evidences show instead that the austronesian language is of southern origin. Since Java and most of its southern islands' developments were actually much more recent (Champapura: The Cosmogony of Po-Nokor: The Cham Banis), New finding shows that the northern migrants were actually archaic and conceived as modern austronesians by the Sumerian god Enki, not too long before the great flood (The History of Humanity: The History of Human kind: The Conception of the Austronesian People).
The Cause of the Flood
Through geology, we know that Southeast Asia was located at the southern tip of Euro-asian tectonik plate. Many scholars had postulated that the Sunda land between the mainland Indochina and Australia was once above sea level before it was drown by the flood. Evidencs also show that the flooding of the Sunda-land was due to the collapse of the Euro-asian tectonik plate rather than from the rain water. Evidences moreover show that untill now, the flood only partially subsided through a series of elevation of the plate.
The Proto-Malay People
The oldest tribesmen of the Malay achipelago that still exist today were the Austroasiatic tribes of the Orang Asli communities. Genes analysis confirms that they were the ancestor of both the agriculturist Khmer-mon People and also of the seafearing Polynesians (Eden: Eve's genes: The Polynesian motif: Figure 31: p.199). As much as the the Orang Asli tribesmen stayed in land and had agriculturist life-style, theirs relatives who lived on the seacoast as fishmen had much more extensive experiences with the sea to take on the identity as the Fish or the Sea People.
The Polynesian Dispersal
The exploit of the Polynesian that what scholars attributed to the work of Austronesian people had very much impacted on the world civilization of human race (Eden: Prologue: The flood in Southeast Asia and the Asian Disposal: pp. 10-11). The same myth was actually echoed in the Tai tradition of the three chiefs: Khek, Khan and Po Vamsa who survived the Great Flood and when out to colonize the Mahabharata part of the world (Xiang-Mai: The Tai Mythology: The Tai's Creation Myth). In his book, Dr. Oppenheimer also gave proof of Polyneisian connection with Southeast Asian Malay people (Eden: Eve's Genes: The Polynesian motif: pp. 197-201).
Etymology of the word Xiang
In the Shang Chinese oracle-bone inscription, from around four thousand years ago, there is reference to a people called Xiang.
The name Xiang is a Chinese word that combines the sign of sheep and man. Their successors in the Chinese records are known as the Xiang, who lived in and around the area of present day northwest china, but were considered to be non-Chinese. They spoke foreign language and dressed differently from the Chinese.(Tib: Tibet and Central Asia before the Empire)
The symbol is actually another representation of the first sign of the Zodiac, the Capricorn. The word Xiang is perhaps a short form of the word "Xia-yang", meaning the Kingdom of the Xia Kings.
In search for the Noah's Flood
As any other myths found in the Bible and other Middle Eastern tradition, the Noah Flood was thought to happen at Middle East. Scholars had spent many years to verify the story line and many theories were formulated. However many suggested sites about where Noah landed his ark were hardly checked out. To start, Middle Eastern tradition had no tradition whatsoever of such flood beside what they know from their religious scripture. The story line was moreover unrealistic as it is involved with a physical world flood that wiped off completely humanity except the family's members of Noah. Scientifically, such flood of that magnitude only happened many millions years ago when all dinosaurs were wiped out from the surface of the earth. During the time, no evidences show that human race had already existed.
The stilted Dwelling
During the conflict between the Lao Kingdom of Lan Xiang and Dai-viet, it is said that the Lao king Fa Gnum limited his kingdom to the flood-people identified as living on stilted dwelling (Nokor Champa and the Lao Kingdom of Lang-xang: The establishment of Lan-xang: The exploit of Fa Ngum).
Indigenous and the modern time Progression
As civilization progresses, lands and other natural resources were running scarce for the civilized neighbors, while they are still available in the indigenous side. In the name of progression, they turned aggressive and managed to grab the golden mine of wealth with little or no cost from their Indigenous neighbors. The practice led to the colonial law of ownership through conquest that allows stronger society to quest land and resource from the weak, with no accountability whatsoever of their action.
The Austronesian Mixture with the Kun-Lun
As compared to the Austroasiatic counterpart, evidence show that the Austronesians were not agriculturist during the great flood. For those who did not try to leave early, they were either married or absorbed into the new Man Culture. They constituted the majority of the population who does not bear the Hbe gene marker. The finding supports the conjecture that the Kun-Lun Culture also incorporated many of the Austronesian legacies and was a progression of the latter as well. Under the new Man Culture, they spoke the same Mon-Khmer tongue and were agriculturists instead of semi-nomadic hunter-gatherers.
The Jin's Cremation
The southern Jin generally cremated the dead. Those in Kanpetlet then place the ashes in an urn that is put under a small capstone supported on three or four small upright stones. These are placed in a grove outside the village. Haka Jin buries the dead (except those who die in violence) either in the house compound or in cemeteries immediately outside the village. Matu cremate and erect houses of the dead on the cremation grounds.
(The Structure of the Chin Society: Some conceptual Structures in Chin Religion, by F. K. Lehman)
The High Magnitude of the Flood
The rains alone would not be enough to cause the flood of that magnitude and to last that long. New finding suggests that the magnitude of the flood was more likely caused by the drop of the Southeast Asian tectonic plate. It is in the same argument that its rising caused the flood to subside many centuries later. As we shall see, the last elevation that resulted in the drying of Cambodia around the formation of Nokor Khmer was due to the eruption of Krakatoa volcano and the elevation of the Southeast Asian tectonic plate to its current level (Nokor Khmer: The Khmerization of Kambuja: The Drying of Kambodia).