Books by Robin Coningham

Society for South Asian Studies Monograph No 5The 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. Astride one of the arteries of the Silk Road, the uttarapatha, the mountain passes to its north and west link south Asia with central and western Asia. Strewn with thousands of ceramic sherds, cobbles and brickbats, the Bala Hisar was identified in 1863 as the city of Pushkalavati, one of the ancient capitals of Gandhar. 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, in Sir Mortimer Wheeler's words 'The outstanding importance of Charsadda lies in its earlier phases, when it was a metropolitan centre of Asiatic trade and meeting-place of oriental and occidental cultures'. Indeed, most archaeologists would agree that the Bala Hisar of Charsadda and Taxila are amongst the earliest cities that emerged during the subcontinent's second urbanization.With contributions from Taj Ali, Mukhtar Ali Durrani, Cathy Batt, Briece Edwards, Derek Kennet, Gerry McDonnell, Muhammad Naeem, Cameron Petrie, Seth Priestman, Abdur Rehman, Armin Schmidt, Farooq Swati and Ruth Young.

Society for South Asian Studies Monograph No 3The 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).With contributions from F.R. Allchin, Cathy Batt, Paul Cheetham and Randolph Haggerty

Society for South Asian Studies Monograph No 4The site of Anuradhapura, NW 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. Indeed, it is upon this basis that the investigations described here have been undertaken and have carried forward the study of this remarkable site, leading to a more detailed and comprehensive understanding of its long history and development. 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. On account of the depth and continuity of the dated cultural sequence described in the two volumes that make up the report, each of which deals with specific aspects of the excavation as a whole, it is possible to relate Anuradhapura to a wider archaeological context. The present, second volume, The Artefacts, describes the artefacts and other finds and relates them to the dated sequence ofarchaeologically identified layers, thus clothing the dated structural framework with cultural material. An important discovery was that of a small number of short inscriptions on pottery and other objects in Brahmi script. The record provided by the Anuradhapura sequence makes it possible to look outward at its historic links and their implications. For example, it is now possible to study the city of Anuradhapura's cultural and trading links with other parts of the ancient world. In sum, the excavations at Anuradhapura provide a wonderful database of evidence relating to the Iron Age and Early Historic periods of South Asia and from it we can study the stages of the emergence of a city and its subsequent growth. (Volume I, The Site, provides the archaeological framework and is firmly based on the carefully recorded cultural sequence, the longest and most fully recorded so far available in Sri Lanka, and indeed in the entire southern half of the Indian subcontinent. This work is available as BAR S824 1999: Society for South Asian Studies Monograph 3 Anuradhapura The British-Sri Lankan Excavations at Anuradhapura Salgaha Watta 2. Volume I: The Site by Robin Coningham. ISBN 1841710369.)

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)With contributions from (in alphabetical order) Gamini Adikari, Paul Adderley, Ian Bailiff, Cathy Batt, C. I. Burbidge, A. J. Cresswell, Christopher Davis, Randolph Donahue, Krista Gilliland, Jennifer Jones, Mangala Katugampola, Krishnan Krishnan, Mark Manuel, Gerry McDonnell, Harendralal Namalgamuwa, Umanga Roshani Rammungoda, David Sanderson, Armin Schmidt, Jayampath Senanayake, Ian Simpson, Ben Stern, Keir Strickland and Ruth Young