Linguistic Archaeology of South Asia

The Achaemenid Expansion to the Indus and Alexander’s Invasion of North-West South Asia

There is a range of evidence that informs us about the organisation of the Achaemenid Empire, but our understanding ofthe eastern-most reaches of the empire, which lie within the bounds of modern-day Pakistan is relatively limited. Whilethere is evidence for the eastern provinces in imperial art and references to them in Achaemenid Royal inscriptions, thearchaeological record in the subcontinen...

Contextualizing an Archaeology of Asia

This volume offers an archaeology of Asia whose geographic coverage ranges from the equator to the upper latitudes, and from the South China Sea to the lakes of eastern Kazakhstan. For many readers picking up this book, their first question is likely, " Why Asia? " The answer is fourfold: Asia is vast; it is diverse; its history merits comparison with other regions of the world; and for the las...

Developing Complex Societies in Southeast Asia: Using Archaeological and Historical Evidence

Southeast Asia is today among the most exciting areas for research in historical archaeology. It was the scene of developments ranging from the first world system connecting East Asia to the Mediterranean via the Indian Ocean to the spectacular rise of indigenous states and empires. Interdisciplinary teams with both Southeast Asian and expatriate scholars are bringing the most current archaeolo...

Managing Linguistic Nationalism through Constitutional Design: Lessons from South Asia

Linguistic landscaping of South Asia using digital language resources: Genetic vs. areal linguistics

Like many other research fields, linguistics is entering the age of big data. We are now at a point where it is possible to see how new research questions can be formulated – and old research questions addressed from a new angle or established results verified – on the basis of exhaustive collections of data, rather than small, carefully selected samples. For example, South Asia is often mentio...