Assessment of Pilgrimage Activity through Ritual Material Culture in the Anuradhapura Hinterland, Sri Lanka

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

This research aims to assess whether — and if so, how — pilgrims and individuals traveling

to the pilgrimage site of Anuradhapura during the Early Historic (340 B.C.E. to 200

C.E.), Late Historic (200 C.E. to 600 C.E.) and Early Medieval (600 C.E. to 1200 C.E.)

periods can be represented through the deposition of ritual material culture within the

hinterland. In doing so, this research adopts a methodology that prioritizes the

archaeological data over textual narrative-driven interpretations. It utilizes datasets from

the Coningham and Gunawardhana’s (2013) Anuradhapura hinterland report for spatial

and material culture analysis, as well as epigraphic remains as translated by Paranavitana

1970; 1983; 2001a; 2001b) and Ranawella (2001; 2004; 2005). An analysis of the

temporal and spatial results uncover potential pilgrimage networks, hubs, and

demographics, and reveal how these relationships with the Anuradhapuran center change over

time and within their historical context.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts   •
• Society for American Archaeology 88th Annual Meeting, Portland, OR (2023)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 35877.0