Woven by the sea: South-East Asian museums and a vision of shared heritage
Today, South-East Asia is often viewed through the lens of national borders. But long before those borders were drawn, coastal communities traded goods, craft skills, and ideas across maritime routes.
Mohd Syahrul Bin Ab Ghani of the National Museum of Malaysia shared a story of cultural connections between his home province of Kelantan and Pattani in southern Thailand. Through a Kingfisher Kris, he showed how these two neighbouring provinces share not only an environment, home to the kingfisher (burung pekaka) and the timber used for the hilt, but also a shared tradition of craftsmanship.
The kingfisher was not the only creature that emerged as a thread connecting the countries. Marine life told similar stories of movement and exchange across the region. Even a simple shell became a bridge between nature, religion, trade, and storytelling shared across our region.
When Sarun Klinsukon, curator at the National Museum Bangkok, joined the project, his thoughts immediately turned to the sea and to shells. In Thai, the word hoi is believed to derive from a Cantonese word meaning 'sea'. Once he pointed out this linguistic connection, participants began sharing stories of shell artefacts and marine invertebrates across their collections.
In prehistoric galleries, giant clam shells reveal how early coastal societies used marine resources for tools, ornaments and status symbols. In artistic traditions, spiral motifs echoing snail shells appear on pottery, while shell decorations on bronze drums symbolised abundance and rain. As religions spread, shells acquired new meanings. Conch shells became sacred symbols of divine power in Hindu tradition, while their spiral form influenced how the Buddha’s hair was sculpted in regional art. Shells also served as currency and appeared in folklore and literature.
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