This conference is focused on understanding the values embedded in burial archaeological sites in southernmost India. The objective of the conference is to discuss the importance of burial archaeology to academia and its significance in promoting postgraduate research related to archaeology in the country. It has been said that values embedded in historic buildings, archaeological sites, and other important places of the past honored all nations in South Asia in ways that would inspire and motivate present and future generations. In the past few decades, archaeologists have diligently discovered, documented, analyzed, and curated our collective past. However, this rich store of data has not yet been exploited for documenting and understanding the long-term trajectories of human societies. Investigations indicate that archaeological data can be the key to expand scientific understandings of human social dynamics, redressing injustices of the past, empowering local and descendant communities, and aiding in the formulation of solutions to contemporary problems in South Asia. For this purpose, a collaborative synthetic research, as practiced in human palaeo-ecology (environmental archaeology) and other sciences, has been a powerful driver for advancing interdisciplinary science. To use these advances, archaeologists, as a community, need the means to bring disparate data sets together and interpret them. This entails creating a vehicle by which collaborative synthetic research becomes a routine and institutionalized practice in archaeology—a budding effort we call the Coalition for Archaeological Synthesis. It is an initiative that will not only benefit the discipline but will also enable researchers to communicate to the public the richly detailed stories of humanity itself. Burial archaeological context in southernmost Asia (i.e. Sri Lanka and South India) is the theme of this particular conference.
Specific Objectives:
- To expose the existing knowledge, particularly the grave sites of Sri Lanka and South India
- To strengthen collaborative synthetic research in archaeology
- Help open up relevant archaeological and paleoenvironmental data collected during archaeological projects to other scientists
- To realize the potential of archaeological records to serve interdisciplinary research
The conference will be held on 20th and 21st December 2018 at the Postgraduate Institute of Archaeology, 407, Bauddaloka Mawatha, Colombo 07. Please refer to the map given below for the location and directions.
| 20.12.2018 (Thursday) | |
| Start time | 9.00 am |
| 9.00-9.15 | ARRIVAL OF PARTICIPANTSÂ AND WELCOME Â ADDRESS
Dr. T. R. Premathilake |
| 9.15-10.00 | Keynote Lecture: Understanding the burial Archaeological context in
Sri Lanka    Prof. Sudarshan Seneviratne |
| 10.00-10.30 | Issues raised from the Keynote Lecture and further discussion on burial archaeology in Sri Lanka
Dr. S. U. Deraniyagala |
| 10.30-10.45 | TEA |
| 10.45-11.15 | The burial ground at Ranchamadama: Â archaeological and chronological evidence
Prof. Raj Somadeva |
| 11.15-11.45 | Archaeological records form Maradammaduwa and Nikawewa megalithic cemeteries
Mr. Ranjith Bandara |
| 11.45-12.15 | The Material Culture of the Megalithic Burials in the Jaffna Peninsula
Prof. Selliah Krishnarajah |
| 12.45-1.30 | LUNCH |
| 1.30-2.45 | Understanding burial archaeological context in South India
Prof. K. Rajan + Discussion |
| 2.45-3.00 | Â TEA |
| 3.00-3.45 | Megalithic culture of central India and Vidarbha/Maharashtra
By Prof. Rabi Mohenty, Deccan College, Pune, India + Discussion |
| 3.45-4.45 | Final discussion: Grand challenges in conducting research on burial archaeological context in South Asia
Expertise from India and Sri Lanka |
| End | |
| 21.12.2018 (Friday) | |
| Start time | 9.00 am |
| 9.00-9.15 | Introduction to reconstructing burial environment: experience on micro-archaeology
Dr. T. R. Premathilake |
| 9.15-10.00 | Reconstructing burial environment in southernmost Asia: integrated laboratory and microscopy approaches of archaeo-palynology in southernmost Asia
Dr. Anupama Krishnamurthy, Mr. S. Prasad, Mr. G. Orukaimani |
| 10.00-10.15 | TEA |
| 10.15-10.45 | Reconstructing burial environment: integrated microscopy approach of phytolith studies in southernmost Asia
Dr. T. R. Premathilake |
| 10.45-11.15 | Preservation issues related to micro-fossil content:- some experience from the sites (Â Â Â ) in South India
Dr. Richard Selvasingh |
| 11.15-12.15 | Quantifying past land-cover in south India using a pollen-vegetation modeling approach
Mrs. Navya and (Mr. J. Lazar) |
| 12.15-1.15 | LUNCH |
| 1.15-2.00 | Applications of GeoSpatial Technologies in Archaeological Research
Dr. G. Muthu Sankar + Discussion |
| 2.00-2.30 | Current progress on GIS application to Archaeology in Sri Lanka
Mrs. Resta Fernando |
| 2.30-2.45 | TEA |
| 2.45-3.30 | Poster Presentations |
| 3.30-4.00 | Final discussion with experts, and suggestions for future projects |
| End | |
This sounds like a very interesting conference. Hope to read more about it.
Just a suggestion: As I understand it, the title of the conference and the text above is meant to refer to Southernmost Asia, not Southernmost India. I think this should be corrected.