Compared to the countries that surround it – China, Burma, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam – Laos remains rather backward in the field of historical research : its territory is almost untouched by archaeological survey and the vast majority of its written sources have not been analysed or used. The Vientiane centre of Ecole française d’Extrême-Orient has over the last dozen years conducted studies on a number of vernacular manuscript traditions (religious literature, chronicles, customary law treaties, astrology manuals), and is now working on an inventory and publication of the rich body of Lao epigraphy. (…)

Post-Scriptum :

in : Myanmar Historical Commission – Conference Proceedings, Part I, ministry of Education, Union of Myanmar, 2005. pp. 117-122.