Exploring archaeology, community engagement and cultural heritage protection in South Asia, this book considers heritage management strategies through community engagement, bringing together the results of research undertaken by archaeologists, heritage practitioners and policy makers working towards the preservation and conservation of both cultural and natural heritage. The book highlights the challenges faced by communities, archaeologists and heritage managers in post-conflict and post-disaster contexts in their efforts to protect, preserve and present cultural heritage, including issues of sustainability, linkages with existing community programmes and institutions, and building administrative and social networks. The case-studies illustrate larger-scale projects to small micro-level engagement, across a range of geographical, political, social and economic contexts, providing a framework that links and synchronises programmes of archaeological activities alongside active community engagement. The chapters 'Introduction', 'Community Engagement in the Greater Lumbini Area of Nepal: the Micro-Heritage Case-Study of Dohani' and 'Conclusion' of this book are available open access under a CC BY 4.0 license at link.springer.com.

The third volume of the Anuradhapura series documents the results of six years of settlement survey, excavation and geoarchaeology in the hinterland of the Citadel. Mapping the response of rural communities to the growth of Anuradhapura as Sri Lankan capital and Indian Ocean pilgrimage centre, this interdisciplinary study presents the establishment and consolidation of settlement within the island's Dry Zone and the associated investment in hydraulic infrastructure from the first millennium BC onwards. It also traces the division of hinterland settlement into either Buddhist monastery or agricultural village with an absence of towns as well as the hinterland's subsequent collapse in the eleventh Century AD. Conforming to a model of Tropical Forest 'Low Density Urbanism', this volume presents the most detailed archaeology study of the dynamic and contested nature of a South Asia urban hinterland. (See also BAR S1508 and BAR S824)

The Bala Hisar of Charsadda is a 23m high mound covering an area of some 25 hectares close to the confluence of the Swat and Kabul rivers in North West Frontier Province's Vale of Peshawa.Although not as formally investigated as Taxila to its south-east, it has been subject to antiquarian and archaeological interest for over 100 years on account of its historical links with the Achaemenid Empire and Alexander the Great. The focus of this research may have changed significantly over time, mirroring broader methodological and theoretical changes, but all researchers have attempted to identify when this great tell site was founded and occupied, and whether there is evidence of Alexander's siege of the site. These issues are not merely of interest to ancient historians but are of great interest to archaeologists of both southern and western Asia as the origins of South Asia second urbanisation are also under scrutiny.

The site of Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka, is important, from two principal points of view. In the first place it has played a significant role in the history and cultural traditions of Sri Lanka as a whole. Secondly, Anuradhapura has a more immediate, specific importance from an archaeological point of view on account of the extent, depth and richness of the occupation deposits. This has been demonstrated by the research done there by archaeologists during the last century. This work has opened the way to achieving a better understanding of Early Historic Sri Lanka than was hitherto possible and provided an excellent basis for further investigation. The investigations described here had the advantage of a number of modern techniques, including geophysical methods of surface survey, three-dimensional recording of levels and finds in excavation, and ample radiocarbon measurements. The present, second volume, The Artefacts, describes the artefacts and other finds and relates them to the dated sequence of archaeologically identified layers, thus clothing the dated structural framework with cultural material.

The excavation project undertaken at Anuradhapura responded to the general lack of research on early historic cities in India. This first volume details the environmental and geographical background of Anuradhapura, the history of the city from the small circular houses of the Iron Age through to the stone built architectural structures of the 13th century AD as the city developed into a thriving fortified metropolis. A large part of the volume is taken up by the results of the excavations carried out between 1989 and 1994 providing a better understanding of the development of urbanism on Sri Lanka. The second volume will include the artefacts and materials discovered during the excavations.

This book offers a critical synthesis of the archaeology of South Asia from the Neolithic period (c.6500 BCE), when domestication began, to the spread of Buddhism accompanying the Mauryan Emperor Asoka's reign (third century BCE). The authors examine the growth and character of the Indus civilisation, with its town planning, sophisticated drainage systems, vast cities and international trade. They also consider the strong cultural links between the Indus civilisation and the second, later period of South Asian urbanism which began in the first millennium BCE and developed through the early first millennium CE. In addition to examining the evidence for emerging urban complexity, this book gives equal weight to interactions between rural and urban communities across South Asia and considers the critical roles played by rural areas in social and economic development. The authors explore how narratives of continuity and transformation have been formulated in analyses of South Asia's Prehistoric and Early Historic archaeological record.

In this book an international team of archaeologists, philosophers, lawyers and heritage professionals addresses significant ethical questions about the rights to access, manage and interpret the material remains of the past. The chapters explore competing claims to interpret and appropriate the past and the major ethical issues associated with them, including handling the sacred; contested rights over sites, antiquities and artifacts; the involvement of local communities in archaeological research; and the legal status of heritage sites. The book covers a range of hotly debated topics in contemporary archaeological practice, focusing particularly on the relationship between academic archaeologists and indigenous communities for whom the material remnants of the past that form the archaeological record may be part of a living tradition and anchors of social identity.

In this book an international team of archaeologists, philosophers, lawyers and heritage professionals addresses significant ethical questions about the rights to access, manage and interpret the material remains of the past. The chapters explore competing claims to interpret and appropriate the past and the major ethical issues associated with them, including handling the sacred; contested rights over sites, antiquities and artifacts; the involvement of local communities in archaeological research; and the legal status of heritage sites. The book covers a range of hotly debated topics in contemporary archaeological practice, focusing particularly on the relationship between academic archaeologists and indigenous communities for whom the material remnants of the past that form the archaeological record may be part of a living tradition and anchors of social identity.