Water Management in the Ancient States of South India and Sri Lanka

Summary

Water management practices have been instrumental in the rise and collapse of many complex societies. Informed through case studies from South India and Sri Lanka this paper explores the importance of water management in their developmental trajectories during the Chola (848-1279 CE) and Sinhalese Empires (377 BCE-1310 CE). Initial conditions that led to the impetus for water management include environment and climate changes. Continued growth and prosperity relied on the development and use of more sophisticated water management practices for agricultural extensification, political hegemony, and ritual worship. Interest is placed on understanding how subsequent political and social changes resulted in water management practices becoming vulnerable to perturbations, which may have ultimately contributed to the decline and collapse of these tropical societies.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 81st Annual Meeting, Orlando, FL (2016)   •
• Comparative Approaches to Complexity in the Tropics

Keywords

Spatial Coverage