The state of theocracy: defining an early medieval hinterland in Sri Lanka

Citation

Coningham R, Gunawardhana P, Manuel M, Adikari G, Katugampola M, Young R, Schmidt A, Krishnan K, Simpson I, McDonnell G & Batt C (2007) The state of theocracy: defining an early medieval hinterland in Sri Lanka. Antiquity, 81 (313), pp. 699-719. http://antiquity.ac.uk/ant/081/ant0810699.htm

Abstract
The ancient Sri Lankan city of Anuradhapura is currently the subject of one of the world’s largest and most intensive archaeological research projects. Having traced its growth from an Iron Age village to a medieval city, the research team now moves to the task of modelling the surrounding landscape. Three seasons of fieldwork have located numerous sites of which the most prominent in the urban period are monasteries. Here is a clue about how the early urban hinterland was managed which has implications well beyond Sri Lanka.

Keywords
Anuradhapura; Sri Lanka; heterarchy; monasticism; survey; theocracy

Journal
Antiquity: Volume 81, Issue 313

• antiquity_paper_anuradhapura.pdf