Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-dh8gc Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-04T21:44:18.288Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

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

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2015

Robin Coningham ,
Prishanta Gunawardhana ,
Mark Manuel ,
Gamini Adikari ,
Mangala Katugampola ,
Ruth Young ,
Armin Schmidt ,
K. Krishnan ,
Ian Simpson  and
Gerry McDonnell
...Show all authors
Robin Coningham
Affiliation:
Department of Archaeology, Durham University, UK (Email: [email protected])
Prishanta Gunawardhana
Affiliation:
Department of Archaeology, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka
Mark Manuel
Affiliation:
Department of Archaeology, Durham University, UK (Email: [email protected])
Gamini Adikari
Affiliation:
Postgraduate Institute of Archaeology, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka
Mangala Katugampola
Affiliation:
Department of Archaeology, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka
Ruth Young
Affiliation:
School of Archaeology and Ancient History, University of Leicester, UK
Armin Schmidt
Affiliation:
Department of Archaeological Sciences, University of Bradford, UK
K. Krishnan
Affiliation:
Department of Archaeology and Ancient History, MS University of Baroda, India
Ian Simpson
Affiliation:
School of Biological and Environmental Sciences, University of Stirling, UK
Gerry McDonnell
Affiliation:
Department of Archaeological Sciences, University of Bradford, UK
Cathy Batt
Affiliation:
Department of Archaeological Sciences, University of Bradford, UK
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

The ancient Sri Lankan city of Anuradhapura is currently the subject of one of the world's 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.

Keywords

AnuradhapuraSri Lankaheterarchymonasticismsurveytheocracy
Type
Research
Information
Antiquity , Volume 81 , Issue 313 , 1 September 2007 , pp. 699 - 719
Copyright
Copyright © Antiquity Publications Ltd. 2007

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Allchin, F. R. 1995. The Mauryan state and empire in Allchin, F. R. (ed.) The archaeology of Early Historic South Asia: 187–221. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Bandaranyake, S. D. 1974. Sinhalese Monastic Architecture: the Viharas of Anuradhapura. Leiden: Brill.Google Scholar
Brohier, R. L. 1934. Ancient irrigation works in Ceylon. Colombo: Ceylon Government Press.Google Scholar
Bronson, B. 1978. Angkor, Anuradhapura, Prambanan and Tikal: Maya subsistence in an Asian perspective, in Harrison, P. D. & Turner, B. L. (ed.) Pre-Hispanic Maya Agriculture: 255–300. Albuquerque: New Mexico University Press.Google Scholar
Coe, M. D. 1957. Khmer settlement pattern: a possible analogy with that of the Maya. American Antiquity 22.4: 409–10.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Coe, M. D. 1961. Social Typology and the Tropical Forest Civilisations. Comparative Studies in Society and History 4.1: 65–85.Google Scholar
Coningham, R.A.E. 1995. Monks, Caves and Kings: A Reassessment of the Nature of Early Buddhism in Sri Lanka (Ceylon). World Archaeology 27: 222–42.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Coningham, R.A.E. 1999. Anuradhapura: the British-Sri Lankan Excavations at Anuradhapura Salgaha Watta 2, Volume 1 - the site (British Archaeological Reports International Series 824/ Society for South Asian Studies Monograph 3). Oxford: Archaeopress.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Coningham, R.A.E. 2002. Beyond and Before the Imperial Frontiers: Early Historic Sri Lanka and the Origins of Indian Ocean Trade. Man and Environment 27: 99–108.Google Scholar
Coningham, R.A.E. 2006. Anuradhapura: the British-Sri Lankan excavations at Anuradhapura Salagha Watta, 2 Volume 2 - the artefacts (British Archaeological Reports International Series 1508/Society for South Asian Studies Monograph 4). Oxford: Archaeopress.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cosgrove, D. 1984. Social Formation and Symbolic Landscape. London: Croom Helm.Google Scholar
De Silva, K. M. 1981. A History of Sri Lanka. Berkeley: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Deraniyagala, S. U. 1972. The Citadel of Anuradhapura: excavations in the Gedige area. Ancient Ceylon 2: 48–169.Google Scholar
Deraniyagala, S. U. 1986. Excavations in the Citadel of Anuradhapura: Gedige 1984 a preliminary report. Ancient Ceylon 6: 39–48.Google Scholar
Deraniyagala, S. U. 1992. The Prehistory of Sri Lanka. Colombo: Archaeological Survey Department.Google Scholar
Drennan, R. D. & Peterson, C. E.. 2004. Comparing archaeological settlement systems with rank-size graphs: a measure of shape and statistical confidence. Journal of Archaeological Science 31: 533–49.Google Scholar
Dunning, N., Scarborough, V., Valdez, F. Jr, Luzzadder-Beach, S., Beach, T. & Jones, J. G.. 1999. Temple mountains, sacred lakes and fertile fields: ancient Maya landscapes in northwestern Belize. Antiquity 73: 650–60.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Erdosy, G. 1988. Urbanisation in Early Historic India (British Archaeological Report International Series 430). Oxford: Archaeopress.Google Scholar
Erdosy, G. 1995. City states of north India and Pakistan at the time of the Buddha, in Allchin, F. R. (ed.) The Archaeology of Early Historic South Asia: the emergence of cities and states: 75–98. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Fleming, A. 2006. Post-processual landscape archaeology: a critique. Cambridge Archaeological Journal 16 (3): 267–80.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ford, L. A., Pollard, A. M., Coningham, R.A.E. & Stern, B.. 2005. A geochemical investigation of Rouletted and other related South Asian fine wares. Antiquity 79: 909–20.Google Scholar
Fritz, J. M. 1986. Vijayanagara: authority and meaning of a South Indian imperial capital. American Anthropologist 88: 44–55.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fritz, J. M. & Michell, G.. 1987. Interpreting the plan of a medieval capital, Vijayanagara. World Archaeology 19.1: 105–29.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fussman, G. 1988. Central and provincial administration in Ancient India: the problem of the Mauryan Empire. Indian Historical Review XIV: 43–72.Google Scholar
Hocart, A. M. 1924. Anuradhapura. Colombo: Archaeological Survey Department.Google Scholar
Inomata, T. 2006. Plazas, performers and spectators. Current Anthropology 47.5: 805–42.Google Scholar
Kenoyer, J. M. 1997. Early city-states in South Asia: comparing the Harappan phase and Early Historic period, in Nichols, D. L. & Charlton, T. H. (ed.) The Archaeology of City-States: cross-cultural approaches: 51–70. Washington: Smithsonian Institution Press.Google Scholar
Knappett, C. 1999. Assessing a polity in protopalatial Crete: the Malia-Lasithi state. American Journal of Archaeology 103: 615–39.Google Scholar
Kulke, H. & Rothermund, D.. 1992. History of India. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Lansing, J. S. 1987. Balinese "Water Temples" and the management of irrigation. American Anthropologist 89 (2): 326–41.Google Scholar
Lansing, J. S. & Kremer, J. N.. 1993. Mergent properties of Balinese Water Temple networks: co-adaptation on a rugged fitness landscape. American Anthropologist 95 (1): 97–114.Google Scholar
Leach, E. R. 1959. Hydraulic society in Ceylon. Past and Present 15: 2–26.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Manatunga, A. 1990. The Kiri Oya valley, in Bandaranayake, S. D., Mogren, M. & Eppiwatte, S. (ed.) The Settlement Archaeology of the Sigiriya-Dambulla Region: 73–92. Colombo: Postgraduate Institute of Archaeology.Google Scholar
Paranavitana, S. 1936. Excavations in the Citadel of Anuradhapura. Colombo: Archaeological Survey Department.Google Scholar
Paranavitana, S. 1970. Inscriptions of Ceylon, Volume 1: early Brahmi inscriptions. Colombo: Archaeological Survey of Ceylon.Google Scholar
Paranavitana, S. 1983. Inscriptions of Ceylon, Volume 2: late Brahmi inscriptions. Colombo: Archaeological Survey of Ceylon.Google Scholar
Parker, H. 1909. Ancient Ceylon. London: Luzac.Google Scholar
Rahula, W. 1956. History of Buddhism in Ceylon: the Anuradhapura period. Dehiwala: The Buddhist Cultural Centre.Google Scholar
Rangarajan, L. N. (translated and edited). 1992. Kautilya, The Arthasastra. New Delhi: Penguin.Google Scholar
Shaw, J. 2000. The sacred landscape, in Willis, M. (ed.) Buddhist Reliquaries from Ancient India: 27–38. London: British Museum Press.Google Scholar
Sinopoli, C. M. & Morrison, K. D.. 1995. Dimensions of imperial control: the Vijayanagara Capital. American Anthropologist 97.1: 83–96.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sugandhi, N. 2003. Context, content, and composition: questions of intended meaning and the Asokan edicts. Asian Perspectives 42.2: 224–46.Google Scholar
Trautmann, T. R. 1971. Kautilya and the Arthasastra: a statistical investigation of the authorship and evolution of the text. Leiden: Brill.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Verghese, A. 2004. Deities, cults and kings at Vijayanagara. World Archaeology 36.3: 416–31.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wilkinson, T. J. 2000. Regional approaches to Mesopotamian archaeology: the contribution of archaeological surveys. Journal of Archaeological Research 8 (3): 219–67.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wilkinson, T. J. 2003. Archaeological Landscapes of the Near East. Tucson: University of Arizona Press.Google Scholar
Wijesuriya, G. 1998. Buddhist Meditation Monasteries of Ancient Sri Lanka. Colombo: Department of Archaeology.Google Scholar