ANTH 521. South Asian Archaeology in Age of Text.

How archaeologists investigate South Asia’s past during periods in which textual sources are available. It focuses primarily on the Early Historic (300 BCE-500 CE) and Medieval periods (500-1600 CE), examining how the analysis of the archaeological record, epigraphy and other forms of text have been articulated to produce narratives of South Asia’s past. Interrogation and problematization of the sometimes passive and politized roles that archaeology has played in South Asian historiography and exploration of how more comprehensive approaches to studying archaeological and textual data enables a fuller investigation of past social, political, economic, ideological and ritual conditions and practices.