CONTENTS:- 1. Introduction 2. Agriculture, Languages, and Genes in China and Southeast Asia 3. Economic and Sociopolitical Organizations 4. Early Writing in Neolithic and Shang China 5. Secondary State Formation and the Development of Local Identity 6. The Han Empire from its Southern Periphery 7. The Rise of Inner Asian Confederation and Empires 8. Histoncizing Foraging in South Asia 9. The Axial Age in Asia: The Archaeology of Buddhism 10. Imperial Landscapes of South Asia
DESCRIPTION
This book fulfils a long-felt need in South Asian studies by initiating an inter-disciplinary dialogue between archaeology and history. It challenges traditional assumptions derived text-based archaeology dating to the Alexander Cunningham are and re-examines the role of archives, monumental architecture and artifacts in the reconstruction of the past. This book draws attention of the reader towards to two emerging trends in the study of the past: one, the use of archival data for a study of the history of archaeology in south Asia, and two, the question of representation and public archaeology. The second section discusses scientific methods and techniques that have been significant in recent years in providing inputs to questions of chronology and sourcing of metal objects. Recent research stresses the archaeology record, as discusses in the other section on Ethno-archaeology.
