Asian Perspectives, 2003 - Volume 42, Number 2 (Fall)
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Asian Perspectives is the leading peer-reviewed archaeological journal devoted to the prehistory of Asia and the Pacific region. In addition to archaeology, it features articles and book reviews on ethnoarchaeology, palaeoanthropology, physical anthropology, and ethnography of interest and use to the prehistorian. International specialists contribute regional reports summarizing current research and fieldwork, and present topical reports of significant sites. Occasional special issues focus on single topics.
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Center for South Asian Studies
University of Hawai'i, Manoa
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ItemThe Uninvited Skeleton at the Archaeological Table: The Crisis of Paleoanthropology in South Asia in the Twenty-first Century(University of Hawai'i Press (Honolulu), 2003)Emerging from the philological-historical approaches of the eighteenth-century Orientalists, the scientific study of the hominid fossil record and prehistory of South Asia (India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and their borderlands) has a history of over two centuries. Today Western and South Asian scholars ofter new answers to old questions about the origin and antiquity of the earliest hominids in the subcontinent, the beginnings of the Indus civilization, archaeological and skeletal interpretations about the reputed Indo-European-speaking Aryans of the Vedic tradition, biological affinities of ancient and modern populations, and palaeodemographic profiles of health and disease status, traumatic and developmental moditlcations, and population sizes and densities of earlier peoples in this part of Asia. At the beginning of the third millennium we respond to these issues in ways that modify or repudiate earlier theories and interpretations of archaeological and palaeontological data, e.g., a present-day recognition that hominids were present in the northwestern sector of the subcontinent during the geological period of the Pliocene-Pleistocene transition, the establishment of the roots of the Indus civilization in cultures established by 7000 B.C. and long before the period of the third millennium H.C. settlement and cultural difIllsion, the fall of the Aryan migration myth and its racial and caste implications, and a reevaluation of population genetic affinities using DNA and more powerful statistical types of analysis of the skeletal record. This paper summarizes these and other recent advances in South Asian palaeoanthropology by noting transitions in scientific perspectives and present-day issues of research, and discusses prospects for the development of palaeoanthropology in South Asia at the dawn of the new millennium in the light of specific crises that will be encountered by its future practitioners. KEYWORDS: Palaeoanthropology, South Asia, research orientations.
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ItemSkeletal Variation among Mesolithic People of the Ganga Plains: New Evidence of Habitual Activity and Adaptation to Climate(University of Hawai'i Press (Honolulu), 2003)Rethinking new perspectives in South Asian archaeology necessitates wider appreciation for insights derived from the bioarchaeological analysis of prehistoric human skeletons. Since the 1970s, Mesolithic sites near Allahabad (Uttar Pradesh) have yielded abundant well-preserved human skeletons permitting a bioarchaeological approach to past life-ways. Prior research on human remains from Sarai Nahal' Rai and Mahadaha is supplemented by this analysis of human skeletal variation in 47 specimens from Damdama. This report examines skeletal variation in muscle attachment sites (entheses) and musculoskeletal stress markers, prevalence of osteoarthritis, long bone dimensions and proportions, and estimates of stature for the human skeletons from Damdama. The objective of this study is to better understand habitual activity patterns, variation in stature, and adaptation to climate among Mesolithic foragers of North India. Standardized methods of paleopathology, osteometry, and stature estimation were used. While most entheses displayed a "normal" range of development, those associated with bipedal locomotion and overhand throwing were especially well developed. Extreme hypertrophy of the soleal line indicates repetitious and forceful plantar flexion as in walking long distances, up hills, or with heavy loads. Hypertrophy of the supinator crest suggests forceful overhand throwing as in launching spears or projectiles. Osteoarthritis is unusually low in frequency, though spinal osteophytes and arthritis of the hand and elbow were observed. Stature is tall at Damdama, a trait shared with inhabitants of Sarai Nahal' Rai and Mahadaha. Collectively, North Indian Mesolithic groups are significantly taller than Eastern or Western Enropean Mesolithic samples. Long lower limbs may be an adaptation to locomotor efficiency, but may also reflect adaptation to high seasonal temperatnres. Indices of distal to proximal limb segments for both upper and lower extremities conform to physiological principles of thermoregulation and suggest biological adaptation to a hot arid environment. KEYWORDS: bioarchaeology, entheses, osteoarthritis, stature, limb proportions, climate adaptation, activity pattern, Mesolithic.
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ItemRepresenting the Indus Body: Sex, Gender, Sexuality, and the Anthropomorphic Terracotta Figurines from Harappa(University of Hawai'i Press (Honolulu), 2003)Despite significant theoretical advances, there is still no universally accepted paradigm for the investigation of sex and gender and little critical research on the subject in South Asian archaeology. Without deciphered texts, artifacts such as figurines that provide body imagery are invaluable in understanding these conceptions in ancient societies. This paper is a critical examination of representations of the body in the Indus civilization, focusing on the anthropomorphic terracotta figurines from Harappa and using more flexible notions of sex, gender, and sexuality to explore Indus conceptions of sexual difference as it relates to other aspects of social difference and identity. The meaningful combinations of the attributes of the represented Indus body may reflect complex and fluid concepts of sex, gender, and sexuality in Indus society that differed from later traditions and varied beneath the cultural veneer of the Indus Civilization with its unique ideology. KEYWORDS: archaeology, Indus civilization, Harappa, terracotta, figurines, sex, gender, sexuality, sexual difference, life cycle, social difference, body.
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ItemUnderstanding Hearth Function: An Approach from Harappa(University of Hawai'i Press (Honolulu), 2003)Hearth features possess potential for providing valuable archaeological data on past cooking and heating practices. Ethnographic study demonstrates a relationship between hearth morphology and function in rural Punjabi homes. Preliminary work from the nearby Indus civilization site of Harappa suggests a relationship between hearth content and morphology. If hearth contents reflect hearth function, future research may provide further insight on archaeological hearth use in conjunction with hearth type. KEYWORDS: Indus civilization, Harappa, hearth features, ethnoarchaeology, experimental archaeology, palaeoethnobotany.