GIS XV.
Proceedings of the Fifteenth International Conference of the European Association of South Asian Archaeologists, held at the Universiteit van Leiden, 5-9 July, 1999.
Since 1971, every other year archaeologists and art historians meet in one of Europe’s university cities for the South Asian Archaeology conference, the principal platform for face-to-face scholarly exchange in this special field. The fifteenth meeting of the Association of South Asian Archaeologist was held in Leiden (The Netherlands) from 2 to 6 July, 1999. Its proceedings collect 52 of the papers, covering the variegated arts, crafts, materials and techniques of the subcontinent. Each methodologically rooted in specific disciplines (such as archaeology, art history, epigraphy or numismatics), together these contributions create a vivid image of an impressive civilization that continuously revitalizes itself over a multi-millennia span of time.
CONTENTS
Keynote address
1. Some Reflections on the Formation of the Buddha Image
MAURIZIO TADDEI (†)
Appendix: Kośagatavastiguhyatā
FRANCESCO SFERRA
2. A Topographic and Stratigraphic Map of Altyn-depe
New Evidence on Craft Activities from Surface Analysis
L.B. KIRCHO, S. SALVATORI AND M. VIDALE
3. Tracking the Prehistory of Southeastern Balochistan
New Evidence from Las Bela
UTE FRANKE-VOGT AND SALEEM UL-HAQ
4. New Light on the Kulli Culture
A Reconsideration of the Painted Pottery Uncovered by Sir Aurel Stein
at Kulli and Mehi in Southern Baluchistan
GONZAGUE QUIVRON
5. The Indus Valley and the Indo-Iranian Borderlands at the End of the 3rd Millennium BC and the
Beginning of the 2nd Millennium BC
JEAN-FRANÇOIS JARRIGE AND GONZAGUE QUIVRON
6. Harappa Excavations 1998-1999
New Evidence for the Development and Manifestation
of the Harappan Phenomenon
RICHARD H. MEADOW AND J. MARK KENOYER
7. The Indus Talc-Faience Complex
Types of Materials, Clues to Production
HEATHER MARGARET-LOUISE MILLER
8. New Radiocarbon Determinations from Loteshwar
and Their Implications for Understanding Holocene Settlement
and Subsistence in North Gujarat and Adjoining Areas
AJITA K. PATEL
9. Emergence and Growth of Village Life in Mewar, Rajasthan,
India
The Recent Evidence
VASANT SHINDE
10. Domestication, Diffusion and the Development
of Agricultural Villages
A Study of the South Indian Neolithic
DORIAN Q. FULLER
11. Caulking Technologies of ’Black Boats of Magan’
Some New Thoughts on Bronze Age Water Transport in Oman
and Beyond from the Impressed Bitumen Slabs of Ra’s al-Jinz
GILBERTO RINALDI AND MAURIZIO TOSI
12. Charioteer-Warriors on their Way from East Europe to India
E. KUZMINA
13. ’Hypogaeum’ Type Burials in the Gonur Necropolis
VICTOR SARIANIDI
14. Special Deposits of Miniature Vessels from Swat Chalcolithic Pits
(Early / Mid 2nd Millennium BC)
GIORGIO STACUL
15. The Archaeological Visibility of Transhumance Tested
Using Faunal Material from N.W.F.P., Pakistan
RUTH YOUNG, ROBIN CONINGHAM, IHSAN ALI AND TAJ ALI
16. Further Research on the Later Prehistory of the Bannu Basin
The 1998 Excavations at Akra
FARID KHAN, ROBERT KNOX, PETER MAGEE,
KEN THOMAS AND CAMERON PETRIE
17. South Asian Archaeological Finds from Berenike,
a Hellenistic-Roman Port on the Red Sea Coast of Egypt
The Background
STEVEN E. SIDEBOTHAM
18. Early Indian Cotton Textiles from Berenike
JOHN PETER WILD AND FELICITY WILD
19. The Symbol of an Indian Punch-marked Coin in Judea?
GUSTAF ROTH
20. Barabar Reconsidered
HARRY FALK
21. Further Excavations at Gotihawa (1998-1999)
GIOVANNI VERARDI AND STEFANO COCCIA
22. Excavations within the Citadel of Tissamaharama (Sri Lanka)
HANS-JOACHIM WEISSHAAR AND W. WIJEYAPALA
23. Excavations at Godavaya and a Recently Unearthed,
Hitherto Unknown, 2nd Century Inscription of King Gajabāhu I
OLIVER KESSLER
24. Lost Indo-Greek Remains in Gujarat, Sind and the Punjab
KLAUS KARTTUNEN
25. The Gods of the Rabatak Inscription
MARTHA L. CARTER
26. Jātakas Represented in Gandhāra Art
NAKAO ODANI
27. An Unidentified Gandhāra Bodhisattva
ANNA MARIA QUAGLIOTTI
28. The Gandhāran Wreath-Bearing Bodhisattva
Further Typological Studies
CAROLYN WOODFORD SCHMIDT
29. A Hellenic Pillar in an Eastern Indian Cave Painting
SUCHANDRA GHOSH
30. Sātavāhana-Ksaharāta Chronology and Art History
AJAY MITRA SHASTRI (†)
31. South India and Southeast Asia
Early Trade and Contacts
K. P. RAO
32. Early Terracottas from Kanauj
Chessmen?
RENATE SYED
33. The Śabaras, the Vile Hunters in Heavenly Spheres
The Inhabitants of the Jungle in Indian Art, Especially in the Ajanta Paintings
MONIKA ZIN
34. Three Copper Plates of the Sixth Century AD
Glimpses of Socio-Economic and Cultural Life in Western India
RANABIR CHAKRAVARTI
35. The Darel Valley on the Indus & T’o-li and Faxian
1998 and 1999 Field Research in the Northern Areas of Pakistan
HARUKO TSUCHIYA
36. Temple Restoration and Transformation
MICHAEL W. MEISTER
37. Jaina Temple Architecture
A Progression from Images to Shrines and Temple Cities
JULIA A.B. HEGEWALD
38. Planetary Deities on Jaina Images in Stone
GERD J.R. MEVISSEN
39. Some New Light on the Kāņcī Yoginīs
JAMES C. HARLE (†)
40. The Enlightened Buddha and the Preaching Śiva
More Light on the dakşiņāmūrti Icon
ADALBERT J. GAIL
41. Royal Portrait Sculptures of the Simhachalam Temple (A.P.)
KRISHNA KUMARI
42. A Rare Bronze Object from Bangladesh
GOURISWAR BHATTACHARYA
43. The Los Angeles Manuscript Covers
Iconography and Style
CLAUDINE BAUTZE-PICRON
44. The Depiction of Hindu and Pan-Indian Deities
in the Lo tsa ba IHa khang at Nako
CHRISTIAN LUCZANITS
45. An Early Temple in Southern Tibet
with Wall Paintings Corresponding to Grwa than
and their Common Link to the Avatamsakasūtra
HELMUT F. NEUMANN
46. An Unpublished Early Tibetan Thang ka
Depicting Avalokiteśvara Şadakşarī, in a Private American Collection
EVA ALLINGER
47. Some Remarks on a Silk Wrapper
LAURE FEUGÈRE
48. A Collection of Indian Miniatures
in the National Museum of Ethnology, Leiden
NANDANA CHUTIWONGS
49. The Sirohi Rasamaňjalī Paintings
JOACHIM K. BAUTZE
50. The Regional Landscapes of the Imperial City of Vijayanagara
Report on the Vijayanagara Metropolitan Survey Project
CARLA M. SINOPOLI AND KATHLEEN D. MORRISON
51. The Nālukeţţu House and its Metrology
Four examples of Historical, Keralite Four-wing Houses in the Light of
the Manuşyālayacandrikā, a Mediaeval Sanskrit Treatise on Housing
HENRI SCHILDT
52. St Mary’s Syrian-Orthodox Church
in Thiruvithancode (Tamil Nadu)
FALK REITZ
South Asian Archaeology 1999 was held in the heart of the old city of Leiden, where nearly 200 participants from Europe, the Unites States, South Asian countries, Japan, and Australia assembled at the premises of the Faculty of Arts. Convenor was Prof. Karel van Kooij who at that time held the special chair of South Asian art history at the Kern Institute of the Universiteit van Leiden. The other two members of the Organizing Committee were Dr Ellen M. Raven of the Kern Institute, and Prof. Hans T. Bakker of the University of Groningen, while the conference secretariat was coordinated by Drs Helga Lasschuijt of the International Institute for Asian Studies.
As usual, the paper-reading sessions spanned five days. Unlike in Rome in 1997, when the participants had to choose between three parallel sessions, the Leiden organizers preferred two sessions only: one on prehistory and historical archaeology; the second on historical archaeology, numismatics, epigraphy, and art history.
The overwhelming response to the call for papers made it necessary, for the first time in the history of `South Asian Archaeology’ meetings, to carry out a selection process. Over 90 papers (of circa 20 minutes each, with ample opportunity for discussion) were selected and scheduled. Abstracts were bundled in a handy abstract book (sent out in advance), which was accompanied at the conference by a neatly designed programme book.
The paper-reading sessions were alternated with sunny lunches in the nearby Botanical Gardens of the University (one of the oldest of its kind in Europe), receptions (by the Museum of Ethnology, the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, the Mayor of Leiden, the University Board, and the IIAS) and a dinner in one of the most beautiful and oldest churches of Leiden. The participants were also treated to a visit to the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam to see the recently reinstalled Asian arts wing.
After the welcoming speeches, Prof. Maurizio Taddei of the Istituto Universitario Orientale in Naples delivered the keynote address on a central issue of art historical discourse among South Asianists, `Some reflections on the formation of the Buddha image’. French archaeologists reported on their ongoing research in the IndoIranian borderlands and Baluchistan. The excavations at Mehrgarh for instance have now reached early-Neolithic levels of between 7000 and 6000 BC. For the first time architectural remains related to the very beginning of the Neolithic occupation here have been exposed and levels of graves revealed burials remarkable by the wealth and diversity of their grave goods.
Shards
A second focal point at the conference was the Indus Valley civilization (circa 2600-1750 BC). The papers ranged from news on pre-Harappa levels (the so-called Raviphase) to water-controlling devices at the Harappan site of Dholavira in Gujarat, Harappan household architecture, ceramics from Chanhu-daro, and human skeletal remains from Harappa. Dr Richard Meadow explained how, from the beginning of the Ravi phase (circa 3300 BC), raw materials and finished artefacts from throughout the Greater Indus Valley made their way to Harappa. Among the spectacular finds from the early levels are shards engraved with signs. Some of these resemble signs used subsequently on artefacts from the Kot Dijian phase, and next on the famous Indus seals with its still undeciphered Indus script. The excavators believe that the relatively few signs recovered so far (only 17 shards with inscribed signs have been dug up so far) are part of a script from which the Harappan script eventually evolved.
Focusing on an equally early period were the papers clustered in the panel on ’Maritime trade of the Arabian Sea in the 3rd millennium BC’, organized by Prof. Serge Cleuziou and Prof. Maurizio Tosi. A second panel, organised by Prof. Steve Sidebotham, offered the latest news and views on South Asian archaeological finds from Berenike, a Hellenistic-Roman port on the Red Sea coast of Egypt. Since 1994 joint excavations by the University of Delaware and the Universiteit van Leiden have unearthed a rich array of artefacts (ceramics, beads, textiles, wood remains) and floral evidence which attests to contact with India and Sri Lanka throughout the Roman period.
Several of the remaining prehistoric papers focused on the Chalcolithic site of Balathal in Rajasthan, where stone and mud-brick fortifications have been found which are contemporary with the Indus cities more to the North. Other papers, focusing on Pakistan, led the participants from Chalcolithic pit dwellings in the Swat valley of Pakistan, along the Bala Hisar or `High Fort’ of Charsadda, the early historic mound of Akra near Bannu (NWFP), through the Darel valley on the Indus, to Hund, the last capital of Gandhara, and to the remarkable Salt Range temples which are stylistically related to the temples of Kashmir.
In a captivating story continuing from previous SAA conferences, the participants were treated to the latest news on excavations at the site of Gotihawa, in Nepal, by Italian archaeologists led by Prof. Giovanni Verardi. Gotihawa is one of the sites where the famous Indian emperor Ashoka Maurya (3rd century BC) erected one of the pillars engraved with his edicts. The Italian team is investigating whether the nearby stupa-mound goes back to his time as well. Likewise Dr Hans-Joachim Weisshaar reported on the joint Sri Lankan-German excavations within the citadel at Tissamaharama, the capital of the ancient Sri Lankan kingdom of Ruhuna. Recently a brick-built building of the 3rd-5th century AD was uncovered, leading to the recovery of many coins and beads.
Old-time favourite
The numismatic papers brought together in Section 2 highlighted several of the major coin types at one time circulating in the northern part of the subcontinent: silver punchmarked coins from Mahasthangarh (Bangladesh), Indo-Greek and Indo-Scythian coins from hoards found in the Northwest, Kushana gold coins and their astonishing pantheon of deities, coins found in Gandharan stupa deposits; and the rather enigmatic gold coins that were issued in the Northeast after the Gupta period, and for which Joe Cribb of the British Museum is developing a classification and chronology.
South Asian epigraphy was represented by papers on inscriptions at Barabar from the time of the Mauryas, those from a Buddhist monastery at Godavaya (Sri Lanka, 2nd century AD), and texts on copperplates from the time of the Hun King, Toramana (6th century AD).
The Buddhist art of Gandhara, more particularly its iconography, is an oldtime favourite of the SAA. The Leiden meeting included papers on Gandharan Jatakas and on Bodhisattva imagery. A wide range of papers focused on forms of visual arts from other regions and periods: sculptures in terra-cotta, sandstone, and metal; mural paintings in cave temples and in painting galleries of Rajput palaces; manuscript miniatures on palm-leaf and paper. Others dealt with purely iconographic themes. Focusing on many corners of the subcontinent and on various periods, these papers reflected the kaleidoscopic panorama offered by South Asia for scholarly study and aesthetic enjoyment.
Art history and its objects of study were visibly joined in the paper on early Indian chess pieces from Kanauj by Dr Hab. Renate Syed, when Mr Manfred Eder, chairman of the Födrderkreis Schach-Geschichtsforschung in Germany showed several of such rare figures to the participants.
The number of papers on architecture was fairly limited, with a few contributions on temple conservation, Jain temple architecture, excavations at a Buddhist monastery at Kashidhoo on the Maldives, and sultanate mosque architecture.
Traditionally favoured for the SAA are the art and archaeology of the Himalayan region and the Silk Road, and the 1999 meeting was no exception. Papers discussed the connection between the art of Kashmir and Tibet, terra-cottas from Gilgit, Nepalese temple architecture, western Himalayan and Tibetan painting on monastery walls and thangkas, and Tibetan inscriptions from Tabo (Himachal Pradesh).
Central Asia was represented via textiles from Tumshuq, underground burials in Gonur (Turkmenistan), and Indian motifs in Sogdian art.
South India and Sri Lankan archaeology, art and architecture remained relatively underexposed in the conference, not least because of a few late cancellations of papers. The programme did, however, include papers on early ceramics, temple sculptures from Kanchi, Simhachalam, and Madurai, architecture (sacral or secular) from Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, and Sri Lanka, the ancient cities of Vijayanagara and Kumbakonam, and ideology in archaeology and heritage management in South Asia.
After a report on the conference by Karel R. van Kooij and Ellen M. Raven, published in the IIAS Newsletter 20 (1999).
Courtesy International Institute for Asian Studies, Leiden.
