SWEDISH SOUTH ASIAN STUDIES NETWORK

---

Conference on South Asian Archaeology, in Paris:

The European Association of South Asian Archaeologists arranged the Sixteenth International Conference on South Asian Archaeology in Paris 2-6 July 2001. There were 239 participants: Archaeologists and a small portion of linguists and historians representing 19 countries and 4 continents. The majority came from universities and research institutions in Europe, but South and East Asian, Australian and North American institutions were also represented.

South Asian prehistoric and historic archaeology is developing, with the rest of the discipline, towards a truly interdisciplinary undertaking, involving for example palaeobotany, climatic studies and experimental archaeology apart from the study, from various aspects, of the remains of material culture itself.

Several papers were presented on agriculture and livestock tending, metallurgy and commercial and cultural contacts in prehistoric and historical times: Vasant Shinde and Yoshinori Yasuda (Japan) discussed Holocene Climatic changes and the emergence, growth and decline of agricultural communities in Central India. Dorian Fuller (U.K) discussed early cultivation and pastoralism in Karnataka based on material from the dung mounds. Margareta Tengberg (France) discussed the exploitation and use of different species of wood at Harappa, Punjab based on charcoal analysis.

Benoit Mille and David Bourgarit (France) presented material on metals and metalworking processes in Baluchistan from the 6th to the 4th millennium BC. Julia Shaw (UK) discussed Buddhist monasteries in relation to settlements and irrigation works in Sanchi, central India. Eva Myrdal-Runebjer (Sweden) discussed land-use and control of resources in Dry Zone Sri Lanka during the1st Millennium AD. Osmund Bopearachchi (France) presented new and convincing archaeological evidence on cultural and commercial relationships between ancient Sri Lanka and Tamil Nadu.
Some of the papers will, in due course, be published in the conference proceedings