It is also thinkable that there was an established ruling class of ethnic Indians who dominated over a local population which was ethnically different. Many historians believe that the decline of Funan came with the rise of a rival, Chenla. Keeping in mind that Funanese records did not survive into the modern period, much of what is known came from archaeological excavation. As mentioned, the ethnicity of those people is still not clear. The last king of Funan was named Rudravarman, who ruled from 514-545 AD. Again, Funan was far away from being an integrated state, as the term 'state' in it's modern version implies. The image top right shows Wat Ashram Moha Russei, a hindu temple of the Funanese time on Phnom Da. Funan is mentioned in the records of the Chinese Empire. Such transfers were common, and many survive in Indo-Chinese use or memory to this day.'. Image by Asienreisender, 2007. It's also likely that merchants from India, Malaya, Java and China settled down in Funan's towns in the lower Mekong area, who were of strategical importance as a trade center and stopover on the seaway between India and China.

So, the civilizational level apparently wasn't that high. The Khmers and the Funanese share the same origin myth and under Funan…

The Chinese emperor was so impressed that he ordered the establishment of an institute for Funanese music near, King Fan Shih-man, the greatest king of Funan, and his successors sent ambassadors to, During its golden age, Funan controlled modern-day southern Vietnam, Cambodia, central Thailand, northern Malaysia, and southern Myanmar.

The caste system never was adopted, but Indianization stimulated the rise of highly-organized, centralized states. FactsandDetails.com states: “Even the Chinese, who considered most everyone around them to be Barbarians, marveled over Funan’s treasures of gems and gold.”. Also found was a large canal system that linked the settlements of Angkor Borei and coastal outlets; this suggests a highly organized government. The king of Funan would consequently be officially acknowledged as the supreme commander of the South Seas and the title of “General of the Pacified South” was conferred on to him by the Imperial Court of China. There was no overheading state existing, unifying these settlements. Many people still live here in similar conditions as their (early) ancestors did.

The Funan Kingdom was was an ancient Asian civilization that existed in the southern regions of Cambodia, along with some portions of modern-day Thailand and Vietnam. Since Chenla derived most of its income from agriculture rather than maritime trade, it failed to maintain the kind of control over the trans-peninsular trade routes that Funan had done, and finally fell to the surrounding local kingdoms.

There is no hard evidence that they were Khmer. For a 'Map of Funan' click the link or the image. Having said that, there seems to be substantial evidence to prove that it was certainly one of the earliest prominent centers of power in Southeast Asia. However, these first people were nomads, hunter-gatherers who roamed the forests and along the swampy rivers on the search for game and edible vegetables. Nokor, situated close to Kampong Cham, was a former center of the Funan civilization, became centuries later an important place in the Angkorean empire and houses now, most prominently in the center of the site, a contemporary Buddhist temple. There is archaeological evidence to suggest that this civilization spread across Cambodia to Vietnam, all the way to Thailand, and probably Malaysia. A Funanese king appears in Chinese records as Fan Shih-Man; though this name is clearly a Chinese derivate for his original name. Others show motives of the legendary Hamsa bird, what is in the hindu cosmos Shiva's vehicle and a mythical variation of a goose or swan. Funan was a complex and sophisticated society with a high population density, advanced technology, and a co… Keeping in mind that Funanese records did not survive into the modern period, much of what is known came from archaeological excavation. Estimations vary between tens to hundred thousands of years. Seems they had bad luck there, because from 357 CE on Funan became a tributary vassal of China. The usage of copper and bronze tools was invented at around 1500 BCE.