Archaeology has, of late, taken a big leap forward. A multidisciplinary study, involving teams of scientists, it is now increasingly relying on satellite remote sensing and GIS: not just for research, but also to examine the status of heritage sites. With its inseparable linkages with history, archaeology is being constantly used in unravelling India’s past and to study the human cultural progress in different parts of the subcontinent. The papers here on the conceptual and methodological shifts in the prehistoric studies and on the proto-historical cultures of the Karnataka, demonstrate significant developments in the theoretical and methodological aspects of the archaeological researches.

Putting together 33 well-researched papers, the volume shows how, supported by archaeology, history has been able to find answers to certain vexing, unresolved questions, including the issues of Iron Age, megalithic societies and their spatio-temporal dynamics, the rise of chiefdoms and subsequent rise of empires. The volume sets out fresh perspectives on the processes of urbanization and state formation, and on the role of subaltern sections of the society in shaping historical events during the early historic and medieval periods. A paper in the book also focuses on the theoretical issues of the subaltern histories in the post-modernist era.

Among other specific themes, the papers here focus on New Approaches to Rock Art Research, Action Archaeology and Sustainable Development, Trade and Commerce in Ancient Belgaum, Education in Pre-Colonial Pondicherry, Medicine in Buddhist Tradition, Environmental Conservation in the Tamil Tradition, Regional Approaches in the Writing of History, Early Resistance to Colonialism in French India, Current Trends in Folk Culture Studies, and Folklore and Cultural Construction in Colonial India.

Dr N. Chandramouli is currently Associate Professor in the Department of History, Pondicherry University, Pondicherry.