The 22nd Congress of the Indo-Pacific Prehistory Association (IPPA) took place in Chiang Mai, Thailand, from 6 to 12 November last year. What a huge pleasure it was, after the arid COVID years, to meet friends and colleagues once more, and catch up with what has been going on. I even had the company of my son Tom after months of separation. The IPPA has been growing exponentially, and one of the highlights was the number of young archaeologists from Asian countries attending and giving presentations on their fieldwork. There are also great locations for the congress to take place. The last one was in Hué, Vietnam, the old royal capital, where our field trip took us to the palace compound of Vietnamese kings, now restored after becoming the epicentre of the Tet Offensive in 1968. Prior to that, we all met in Siem Reap, and were dropped off at the western gate of Angkor Thom, the city of Jayavarman VII, before roaming round the temple mausolea of Jayavarman and Baphuon, the latter belonging to his predecessor Suryavarman I.
Even without a single Chinese archaeologist in attendance, due to strict travel restrictions, there were so many delegates that we were confronted with six parallel sessions, and hard choices had to be made. For one, however, the choice was made for me. On Tuesday 8 November, there was ‘A special panel in honour of Professor Charles F W Higham ONZM’. Three years ago, my friend Oli Pryce had organised a meeting in the French Alps to celebrate my 80th birthday. It had to be postponed because of asbestos removal. It was then postponed again due to the outbreak of COVID, and finally the session in Chiang Mai took its place. I listened in awe to the range of topics covered. First, my co-director since 1985, Rachanie Thosarat, gave a résumé of where we dug and what we found. Then there were papers from China and Vietnam. Matthew Spriggs gave a most interesting summary of dating under the rubric ‘chronometric hygiene’, certainly a topic that has been central to my research. I cannot mention all contributions, but I must note that Sarah Paris gave a fascinating talk on the use of red ochre in the mortuary traditions at Khok Phanom Di, a paper that was to win her the prize for the best presentation from a graduate student when awards were announced at the farewell dinner.
I had not known anything of the evening party that would follow until I was invited that day. Tom, forewarned, had brought a jacket for me to wear, since I had not brought my own. Properly attired, we took the short walk to the headquarters of the École française d’Extrême-Orient. This is a quite magic complex in old teak, with gardens ringed by huge trees, and the evening was hosted by my friend Christophe Pottier. Greeting me at the entrance was the New Zealand Ambassador Jonathan Kings, who had specially flown up from Bangkok with a large offering of wine. Before long, he was standing on a raised pavilion giving a speech that described my contribution to New Zealand–Thai relations. As he spoke, someone whispered in my ear that I was next. I ascended the stairs and gave thanks to all my friends and colleagues, ending with my gratitude to my wife Polly for keeping the home-fires burning while I was in the field, once for as long as seven months at Khok Phanom Di. Then the evening progressed to a fine buffet, during which I met Sarah Taylor, the Canadian Ambassador to Thailand, who as a student had been with me at Khok Phanom Di in 1985.
