The Oxford companion to Indian archaeology : the archaeological foundations of ancient India, Stone Age to AD 13th century

Part I: Prehistory: Chapter 1. Indias Place in the Scheme of Human Evolution; Current thoughts about human evolution; Fossil evidence in China and Java, and its implications for India; Fossil evidence in India; Lower Pleistocene antiquity of stone tools in India; Discussion; Chapter 2. Regional Survey of the Palaeolithic Kashmir and Ladakh; Baluchistan, Sind, NWFP, and Pakistani Panjab; Jammu, Himachal Pradesh, Indian Panjab, Haryana, and Delhi; Rajasthan and Gujarat; Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh; Maharashtra, Goa, and Karnataka; Kerala, Tamilnadu, and Andhra Pradesh; Orissa, West Bengal, Jharkhand, Bangladesh, Tripura, and the northeastern states; Bihar, Nepal, and Uttar Pradesh; Chapter 3. The Palaeolithic: Perspectives and Problems; Review of the regional stratigraphic profiles: the Lower, Middle and Upper Palaeolithic; Typological characteristics of the Lower, Middle and Upper Palaeolithic; Socio-economic and cultural reconstructions; Chronology of the various stages; Faunal background; Environmental hypotheses; Palaeolithic art and belief-system; Chapter 4. The Mesolithic Evidence; Regional survey of the data; Chronology; Settlements and economy; Rock-art; Skeletal biology; Chapter 5. The Relevance of Indias Stone Age Past; Part II: The Background, Development, Features, Decline, and Transformation of the Indus Civilization Chapter 1: The Problem of the Beginning of Food-production in India and the Evidence from Mehrgarh; Complexities of the problem; Mehrgarh; Chapter 2: The Growth of First Villages between Baluchistan and GujaratRajasthanHaryana; The problem of environment: climate and the river valleys; Northeast Baluchistan, Quetta valley, Kalat plateau, southern Baluchistan and the Makran coast; The Kirthar piedmont; Bannu plain; The NWFP and Potwar plateau; Sind; Bahawalpur; The Indus plain of Pakistani Panjab; Bikaner, Haryana, Indian Panjab; The Aravallis; Gujarat; The emerging picture; Chapter 3: Origin of the Harappan or Indus civilization; The notion of Early Harappan or early form of the Indus civilization; Transition to the Mature Harappan or the mature form of the Indus civilization; Explanations of the transition; Chapter 4. Sites and Settlements of the Mature Harappan Phase; Regional distribution; Features of the excavated settlements; Does the size of a Harappan site reflect the extent of its urbanism? Chapter 5. Economy; Agriculture; Internal trade and trade routes; External trade and trade routes; Specialized crafts; Chapter 6. Technology; Ceramic technology; Mining and Metallurgy; Production techniques of miscellaneous crafts; Chapter 7. The Writing System, Possible Nature of the Society and State, Religion; Chapter 8. Art; Terracottas; Stone sculpture; Metal sculpture; Painting; Chapter 9. Late Harappan Phase or the Transformation of the Civilization; Regional survey of the evidence; The nature of transformation; Possible causes; How does the Harappan civilization merge in the later Indian development? Part III. The Formation and Development of Village Life in the Non-Harappan Context Chapter 1. Developments in the Northwest and the Himalayan Belt; Baluchistan and Sind; The NWFP; Kashmir; Ladakh, and the Himalayan belt to the east; Chapter 2. Rajasthan, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, and Maharashtra; Chapter 3. Karnataka, Tamilnadu, Kerala; and Andhra; Stages of the south Indian Neolithic; The evidence from the excavated sites; Chapter 4. Chhattisgarh, Orissa, West Bengal, the Northeastern States; Chapter 5. Jharkhand, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh; Chapter 6. Haryana and Panjab; Chapter 7. Shared Elements: the Neolithic-Chalcolithic Economy of non-Harappan India; Chapter 8: Regional Beginnings of the Use of Iron; The archaeological evidence; The iron-using context of the megaliths south of the Satpuras; Did the use of iron usher in a new Age in India? Part IV. Archaeology of India between c.7th-6th century ad and c.6th Century ad Chapter 1. The Beginning of Early Historic India; Chapter 2. The Historical Framework of Early Historic Indian Archaeology; Chapter 3. Settlement Contexts; Chapter 4. Pattern of Early Historic Urban Growth and the Problem of ArchaeologyLiterature Correlation; Chapter 5. The Archaeology of Indian Religions: Hinduism and its Iconography; Chapter 6. The Archaeology of Indian Religions: Buddhism, Jainism, and Associated Iconographies; Chapter 7. The Material Basis of Life in Early Historic India: Artefacts; and Technology; Chapter 8. The Material Basis of Life in Early Historic India: Irrigation and Agriculture; Chapter 9. The Material Basis of Life in Early Historic India: Internal Trade and Trade Routes; Chapter 10. The Material Basis of Life in Early Historic India: External Trade and Trade Routes; Part V. Archaeology of India between c.7th Century ad to c.12th13th Century ad Chapter 1. Geographical and Chronological Configurations of the Dynasties; Chapter 2. Settlements and the Problem of Urban Decay; Chapter 3. Technology and Economy; Chapter 4. Inscriptions; Chapter 5. Coins; Chapter 6. Sculpture and Painting; Chapter 7. Architecture; Chapter 8. Religious Framework and Iconographies; Part VI. Some Major Themes Chapter 1. Agriculture; Chapter 2. Metallurgy; Chapter 3. Pottery and Other Industries; Chapter 4. Internal and External Trade; Chapter 5. Religion; Chapter 6. A Geographical Perspective of India¹s Archaeological Development; Appendix 1. A brief history of archaeological research in the country; Appendix 2. The Indo-Aryan and other language issues in Indian archaeology; Appendix 3. The archaeology of the Indian islands: AndamanNicobar and Lakshadvip; Notes; References