The Archaeology of Seafaring in Ancient South AsiaPrior to European expansion, communities of the Indian subcontinent had a strong maritime orientation. In this new archaeological study, Himanshu Prabha Ray explores seafaring activity, religious travel and political economy in this ancient period. By using archaeological data from the Red Sea to the Indonesian archipelago, she reveals how the early history of peninsular South Asia is interconnected with that of its Asian and Mediterranean partners in the Indian Ocean Region. The book departs from traditional studies, focusing on the communities maritime history rather than agrarian expansion and the emergence of the state. Rather than being a prime mover in social, economic and religious change, the state is viewed as just one participant in a complex interplay of social actors, including merchants, guilds, boat-builders, sailors, pilgrims, religious clergy and craft-producers. A study that will be welcomed by students of Archaeology and Ancient History, particularly those interested in South Asian Studies. |
Contents
Historiography and the maritime landscape | 1 |
12 Historiography | 10 |
13 The maritime landscape | 19 |
14 Geographical knowledge of the Indian Ocean in antiquity | 25 |
Archaeology of trade | 27 |
The palaeoenvironment and location of Mahasthangarh | 28 |
Fishing and sailing communities crosscultural contacts | 30 |
beginnings | 37 |
64 Alliance as political strategy | 145 |
65 The early polities in Sri Lanka | 147 |
66 Political developments in early Southeast Asia | 149 |
67 Royalty and ritual | 152 |
Royal inscriptions from peninsular India | 155 |
The Greeks adventurers travellers and traders | 165 |
71 The explorers | 168 |
72 Hellenistic settlements | 172 |
23 Boat nomads | 43 |
24 Piracy | 46 |
the historical record | 47 |
26 Sailing communities | 51 |
Tamil poems of love and war | 53 |
La longue durée transportation boatbuilding technology and navigation | 55 |
32 The stitched tradition | 59 |
33 Early European response | 64 |
34 The ethnographic evidence | 66 |
35 Boatbuilding centres | 70 |
37 Ownership of vessels | 72 |
38 Organisation of shipping | 74 |
39 Innovation and change | 75 |
310 Repair and maintenance | 77 |
Maritime archaeology of the Indian Ocean | 80 |
Maritime trade networks the beginnings third to second millennia BCE | 82 |
41 Mesopotamian contacts | 84 |
42 The Persian Gulf and early maritime networks | 87 |
43 The Harappan civilisation | 91 |
44 The maritime regions of the Harappans | 93 |
45 Internal networks of trade | 96 |
46 Transition and change | 98 |
Instruments of trade | 100 |
Regional integration late second to early first millenia BCE | 103 |
51 The Persian Gulf | 105 |
52 Socotra | 109 |
53 Peninsular India | 111 |
54 Sri Lanka | 117 |
55 Southeast Asia | 120 |
The megalith builders of peninsular India | 125 |
changing paradigms | 127 |
Consolidation of the political structure | 129 |
theory and practice | 133 |
63 Satavahanas and their successors | 136 |
73 The Nabataeans Sabaeans and Gerrhaeans | 175 |
74 The maritime network | 177 |
75 Christian communities | 182 |
IndoGreek coins | 186 |
The merchant lineage and the guild | 188 |
82 Organisation of inland trade | 193 |
83 The Indian Ocean network | 198 |
84 Foreigners and trade networks | 205 |
85 Money and the use of coins | 208 |
The prevalence of writing | 212 |
Craft production and trading networks multiple meanings | 214 |
91 The trading commodities | 216 |
92 Textiles | 217 |
93 Beads | 227 |
94 Ivory | 231 |
95 Metal artefacts | 233 |
96 Organisation of crafts | 235 |
analogies with the early Buddhist sites | 237 |
Shared faith | 245 |
101 Social base of early Buddhism | 248 |
102 The worship of the stupa and the relics | 251 |
103 Pilgrimage | 253 |
104 Ritual and ceremony | 255 |
105 Buddhism and maritime activity | 258 |
106 Archaeology of monastic sites | 260 |
107 Continuity and change | 269 |
Details of relic caskets enshrined | 272 |
Retrospect and prospect | 275 |
112 Future research strategy | 279 |
beginnings of agriculture in peninsular India? | 290 |
Glossary | 292 |
296 | |
328 | |
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
activity ancient Andhra Anuradhapura Arab Arabian archaeological Arikamedu Asoka beads Begram boat-building boats brahmanas bronze Buddha Buddhist burials cave centres century BCE chapter coastal coins commodities Common Era communities context copper plates craft cultural dated Deccan Delhi Dilmun district donations early Buddhist east Epigraphia Indica evidence example excavations figure fishing gotra Greek Gujarat Harappan Harappan civilisation historical Iksvaku Indian Ocean indicate Indus inscriptions Iron Age island ivory Jātakas Kenoyer kilometres king located maritime trade Mauryan megalithic merchants Mesopotamia millennium BCE monastic monks Nagarjunakonda Pallava peninsular India period Periplus Persian Gulf pillar political port pottery Prakrit records Red Sea refers region relic religious ritual river Roman ruler sailing Sanchi Sanskrit Satavahanas second century settlement shell ships significant Siraf sixth century sources Southeast Asia Sri Lanka stone stupa Tamil temple textiles texts third century trading networks tradition vessels village watercraft western Indian Ocean