Book excerpt: For the last century and a half, the name of Padang Lawas, in the present province of North Sumatra, Indonesia, has been associated with a number of isolated Hindu-Buddhist remains located in the interior of the island. These remains are all the more remarkable because they form the largest Indianised archaeological complex known so far in the northern half of Sumatra, This book follows the recently published volume on archaeological researches conducted at the Si Pamutung site from 2006 until 2010. Its two main purposes are ?rstly to present and reappraise all the available sources for the ancient history of the region and, secondly, to provide an initial synthesis of the history of Padang Lawas between the mid-ninth and the end of the thirteenth century CE. As no comprehensive inventory of sculptures and other artefacts reported since the mid nineteenth century had been published, the ?rst chapter attempts to ?ll this gap by providing descriptions of Z64 items. lt is followed by four systematic studies on dozens of these items, whether stone or bronze artefacts, Furthermore, the thirteen ancient inscriptions from Padang Lawas are systematically reinvestigated or are deciphered for the ?rst time. To this epigraphic study is associated a historical study on the indigenous writing system. Two chapters present on the one hand the main results of recent archaeological research conducted in two other sites of the Barumun River Basin and, on the other a panorama of archaeological data on the Mandailing-Natal region situated west of Padang Lawas, in order to get a comprehensive and updated overview of the knowledge currently available of the area between both coasts of this part of Sumatra. In addition, the epigraphic study on Padang Lawas is supplemented with a reappraisal of inscriptions from Mt Sorik Merapi in this Mandailing-Natal region, and inscriptions from the site of Muara Takus on the banks of the upper reaches of the Kampar River.