M.J. Manuel

The state of theocracy: defining an early medieval hinterland in Sri Lanka

The ancient Sri Lankan city of Anuradhapura is currently the subject of one of the worlds largest and most intensive archaeological research projects. Having traced its growth from an Iron Age village to a medieval city, the research team now moves to the task of modelling the surrounding landscape. Three seasons of fieldwork have located numerous sites of which the most prominent in the urban period are monasteries. Here is a clue about how the early urban hinterland was managed which has implications well beyond Sri Lanka.

The earliest Buddhist shrine: excavating the birthplace of the Buddha, Lumbini (Nepal)

Key locations identified with the lives of important religious founders have often been extensively remodelled in later periods, entraining the destruction of many of the earlier remains. Recent UNESCO-sponsored work at the major Buddhist centre of Lumbini in Nepal has sought to overcome these limitations, providing direct archaeological evidence of the nature of an early Buddhist shrine and a secure chronology. The excavations revealed a sequence of early structures preceding the major rebuilding by Asoka during the third century BC. The sequence of durable brick architecture supplanting non-durable timber was foreseen by British prehistorian Stuart Piggott when he was stationed in India over 70 years ago. Lumbini provides a rare and valuable insight into the structure and character of the earliest Buddhist shrines.

The sustainability of ancient water control techniques in Iran: an overview

Qanats are a traditional source of water management that exists throughout much of the Middle East, and extending into North Africa, Spain and South Asia. In particular, they have played an important role in managing the supply of water throughout Iran for over two millennia in what is an arguably a sustainable manner. With water scarcity playing a prominent role in the modern world, qanats offer a practical, low cost solution to these issues. This paper looks at the early development of qanats in Iran, the important role they played in revolutionising the settlement systems and sustainability of communities in the past, and how they are now being reinvigorated to provide sustainable water in the present in Iran and other countries.

Luminescence dating of brick stupas : an application to the hinterland of Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka.

The domed stupas are among the most distinctive of South Asias religious monuments and have been shown to be sensitive indicators for their society. Since arguments for economic and political change depend on accurate dating, and since the stupas are largely composed of brick, the authors here assess the potential for dating building sequences by applying optically stimulated luminescence to brick fabric. As so often, good scientific dates obtained from specimens must be tempered by their context: brick may be replaced or recycled during repair and embellishment. Nevertheless, the method promises important insights by distinguishing different episodes of building, and so writing ‘biographies’ for stupas with different functions.

Archaeology and cosmopolitanism in early historic and medieval Sri Lanka.

The peoples of Sri Lanka have participated in far-flung trading networks, religious formations, and Asian and European empires for millennia. This interdisciplinary volume sets out to draw Sri Lanka into the field of Asian and Global History by showing how the latest wave of scholarship has explored the island as a ‘crossroads’, a place defined by its openness to movement across the Indian Ocean. Experts in the history, archaeology, literature and art of the island from c.500 BCE to c.1850 CE use Lankan material to explore a number of pressing scholarly debates. They address these matters from their varied disciplinary perspectives and diverse array of sources, critically assessing concepts such as ethnicity, cosmopolitanism and localisation, and elucidating the subtle ways in which the foreign may be resisted and embraced at the same time. The individual chapters, and the volume as a whole, are a welcome addition to the history and historiography of Sri Lanka, as well as studies of the Indian Ocean region, kingship, colonialism, imperialism, and early modernity.

Response to Goonatilake

GOONATILAKE, S. 1981. The formation of Sri Lankan culture: reinterpretation of Chronicle and archaeological material. Ancient Ceylon 4: 157–74. – 1982. Crippled minds: an exploration into colonial culture. New Delhi: Vikas Publishers. – 1984. Aborted discovery: science and creativity in the Third World. London: Zed Press. – 1999. Toward a global science: mining civilizational knowledge. Bloomington (IN): Indiana University Press.

Contextualising the Tabbova-Maradanmaduva ‘Culture’: Excavations at Nikawewa, Tirappane District, Anuradhapura District, Sri Lanka

Terracotta figurines and artefacts discovered throughout Sri Lanka, especially in the North Central Province, have been traditionally assigned to the Tabbova-Maradanmaduva culture. Not a single stratigraphic excavation has been conducted at any site where a terracotta assemblage has been recovered, leading to a variety of divergent opinions as to the date of such artefacts. In addition, the corpus is often presumed to represent ‘folk art’ spontaneously created by individuals or local communities to suit and satisfy immediate ritual, economic, and social concerns. Recent fieldwork conducted as part of the Anuradhapura (Sri Lanka) Project: The Hinterland (Phase II) has addressed the uncertainty surrounding the Tabbova-Maradanmaduva culture. Not only has excavation at the site of Nikawewa (D339) provided the first absolute scientific date for such an assemblage, but data collected from the projects sample universe suggests that the terracotta corpus exhibits a high degree of uniformity and that these assemblages may represent a formalised ritual structure parallel to that provided by Buddhist monasteries.

Rita P. Wright The ancient Indus: urbanism, economy and society. x+396 pages, 78 illustrations, 13 tables. 2010. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press; 978-0-521-57219-4 hardback

chronology, the excavation layers and square X (4×4m) on the southern periphery of the mound and square Y (8×4m) near the centre, the burials, the material culture and a summary. The cultural sequence is divided into 12 phases, each with distinct mortuary and occupational artefacts and more than 60 radiocarbon dates. The data is summarised in a compilation for Ban Non Wat, Ban Lum Khao and Noen U-Loke, with flexed burials (1750–1050 cal BC), Neolithic 1–2 (1650–1050 cal BC), Bronze 1–5 (1050–420 cal BC), Iron 1–4 (420 cal BC–500 cal AD) and Early Historic (AD 500 onwards) cultural periods (p. 25). Each chapter contains tables, plans and photographs of pits and finds followed by a concise bibliography and useful index.

85 & £45; 978-0-521-57652-9 paperback

One of the Indus Civilization’s most striking features is its cultural uniformity evidenced by a common script, artefact forms and motifs, weights and measures, and the presence of proscribed urban plans. Early excavators and commentators utilized ideas of diffusion, and concepts of kingship and slavery remained prevalent within interpretations of the Indus. Whilst Childe questioned ideas of diffusion and hereditary rule he still identified a system of economic exploitation in which the vast majority of the population was subordinated. More recently scholars have begun to argue that small sections of the Indus population may have willingly subordinated themselves in order to secure positions of power. This article explores the dichotomy between traditional Eurocentric normative models of social organization and those derived from south Asian cultural traditions.

27.99 & £15.99.

This entry into the encyclopedia examines the archaeology of the Northwest Frontier and Kashmir region from early prehistory to the end of the Early Historic period in third century AD. It examines the palaeolithic communities of the Potwar Plateau and Northern Valleys, and the first food-producing communities in the Kashmir and Swat Valleys and the Vale of Peshawar. It details the first emergence of urban centers, such as Rehman Dheri, in the south of the region between 3300–1900 BC, and the relationship between these sites and the Indus Valley Tradition. Rejecting the concept of Aryan invasions it discusses emergence of Gandharan Grave Culture, and megalithic architecture in Kashmir during the second millennium BC. It then details the emergence of the major urban centers of Taxila and Charsadda and their subsequent incorporation into the imperial worlds of the Mauryan, Indo-Greeks and Kushans. These cities were important trade centers linking the South Asian subcontinent with the Near East and Central Asia, and facilitated the spread of Buddhism through the edicts of Ashoka. Finally, this entry ends with the partition of the region into the Sasanian and Gupta Empires in 320 AD.