Archaeology in Sri Lanka: Challenges and Prospects for the Future
The island of Sri Lanka has been known by many names throughout its history: Ratnadipa, or the 'land of gems' in Buddhist Sanskrit literature, Taprobane among Greeks and Romans, Serendib to the Arabs, and Ceylon under the British Empire. This small island, only 25,000 square miles in size, lies off the southern tip of India. Early Iron Age culture was introduced to the island, presumably from South India, at the beginning of the First Millennium B.C., but few sites of this period are known, except for cemeteries with megalithic graves. Archaeological work in Sri Lanka has concentrated instead on large monastic settlements which were established in the Early Historic Period, ca. 300 B.C. - 300 A.D. and mark the spread of Buddhist influence over the island. Little attention has been paid to secular sites, nor have the lower levels of most monastic sites been probed to determine the nature of earlier occupation. Also neglected have been the remains of Hindu, Islamic and Christian sites and structures. The challenge that lies ahead for the next generation of Sri Lankan archaeologists is the investigation of sites and regions that will provide a broader and more balanced picture of the island’s past.Terra Incognita No Longer: Archaeological Research in Grevena, Southwest Macedonia, Greece
Grevena first came to the attention of archaeologists early in this century when Wace and Thompson published their work Nomads of the Balkans.. In it they described their travels with a group of nomadic pastoralists as they moved their flocks from their winter pastures in Thessaly to the mountains of Grevena. Since similar transhumant practices continue even today, one of the goals of the Grevena Project has been to study modern pastoralists and agriculturalists in order to shed light on the archaeological remains of the region.
Prior to the interdisciplinary archaeological survey of the province of Grevena, the area rightfully was called "terra incognita." But now, after four seasons of field work, we have been able to identify approximately 325 archaeological sites, ranging in date from Early Neolithic to Modern. Early Neolithic sites seem to be concentrated on low hills above major river valleys which served as migratory routes for the earliest farmers in the region. Evidence for transhumant pastoralism first appears in the archaeological record in the Late Bronze age when herders chose occupied both highland and lowland sites. In Hellenistic times sites were generally on steep-sided slopes that were often ringed by fortification walls. Roman sites, on the other hand, were in the open, in valleys or on plains, indicating a change in the political stability of the region. Several Byzantine refuge sites are in nearly inaccessible areas, but by the Late Medieval period settlements were again in the open.
Because there are few references in the ancient literature to the area now encompassed by the modern province of Grevena, archaeological exploration has provided our only evidence for the occupational and environmental history of the region.
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