Papers by Smriti Haricharan
Beyond Stones and More Stones, 2022
Performance at the Urban Periphery, May 5, 2022
Temples are rarely a one-dimensional space of worship; the interactions with these spaces are oft... more Temples are rarely a one-dimensional space of worship; the interactions with these spaces are often connected to cultural participations, economic transactions and communal celebrations. They act as a backdrop for the performance of not only religious rituals but also more banal interactions such as the display and sale of objects such as brass idols or toys, bought by visitors. These long-established markets around temples are examples of living heritage, perhaps analogous to enactments in the open-air museums of Europe. This paper uses interviews of vendors from these markets, along with newspaper articles, to discuss attempts, after a fire broke out in 2018, to move the shops located within the Meenakshi temple complex at Madurai into newly constructed mall-like complexes, affecting not just the experience of visiting a 1000-year-old temple, but also livelihoods that have revolved around it. The paper builds on the argument that to understand relationships with the past in south Asia we need to further interrogate such case studies.
The study aims to combine different sources of evidence, including literary and material along wi... more The study aims to combine different sources of evidence, including literary and material along with remotely sensed images to identify defense structures from southern Tamil Nadu. The present study explores the possibilities of using the satellite images and ground verification in order to identify fortification at Vallam and Gangaikondacholapuram. The ability of the satellite images to give synoptic view has facilitated in identifying a possible outer ring for the previously known fort at Vallam, Tamil Nadu. Whereas IRS LISS 3 image of Gangaikondacholapuram, Tamil Nadu, does not show any traces of a fort though it has been reported in the literature, and it is not very clearly visible in Google earth images either. But Land sat 7 images of 2010 displays a weak signature of the moat in a rectangular pattern. The paper uses landscape studies in conjunction with literary sources to posit a hypothesis on power and politics across the medieval landscape of Tamil Nadu.
Siruthavoor: An Iron Age-Early Historical burial Site, Tamil Nadu, South India, 2016
Megaliths, often constitutive of large stones, attracted both the imaginations of people and atte... more Megaliths, often constitutive of large stones, attracted both the imaginations of people and attention of archaeologists for centuries. In India, particularly in southern and western regions, burials that characterise the megaliths became integral to understanding our past as in other parts of the world. Decades of archaeological research across the vast landscapes of Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka, Tamilnadu, Kerala and Maharashtra, explored, documented, described and excavated these burials. However, the dissimilitude, in terms of documenting, usage of terminology, identification of physical parameters and the temporality of their occurrence, across different studies is wide ranging. This book explores a megalithic or Iron Age-Early Historic burial site, namely Siruthavoor, located close to Chennai, India. Analysing information from exploration and excavated material from the site, it details the material culture of the people of the area. Further, the book uses geoarchaeological methods to understand the changing landscape and a historical and present understanding of the terminologies used to understand the megalithic burials and the discrepancies thereof. Most often these burials are associated with the Iron Age-Early Historic time scale; this excavation and dating provided evidence of a much recent date of 300 BCE - 600 CE. This book, gives an in-depth analysis of one particular site with the possibility of using similar methodological framework in a wider context.
Public Archaeology, 2019
Siruthavoor is a village situated 40 km south of Chennai in south India. The people of this villa... more Siruthavoor is a village situated 40 km south of Chennai in south India. The people of this village share their landscape with archaeological remains of south India's past, including Iron Age-Early Historic burials and medieval temples. As an archaeologist, having witnessed and been both an indirect and direct participant in the changing reactions, actions, and perceptions of the community towards these monuments, I use this paper to explore the implications we can draw from the interaction between archaeological landscapes and various actors, spanning a period of twelve years. In India, as in many other countries, archaeological landscapes, monuments, and objects face the possibility of alteration, conservation, preservation, or destruction. The factors involved in this, I argue, are specific to localized conscious and unconscious decision-making by people living around such archaeological sites. Delving deeper into these issues will help us understand these often seemingly inexplicable choices that imperil the continued presence of archaeological monuments in the contemporary landscape. The behind-the-scenes events that occur in the 'field' of archaeology often remain untold, and yet they hold a lot of information. Through this narrative, this paper explores some of the subjectivities that we need to acknowledge as academics.
Current Science, 2016
The use of satellite imagery is explored in mapping the distribution of archaeometallurgical site... more The use of satellite imagery is explored in mapping the distribution of archaeometallurgical sites for iron and steel production and as a tool for potential reconnaissance in northern districts of Telangana. Travellers' accounts from at least the seventeenth century suggest that this was an area where pre-industrial iron and steel production flourished, which is also testified by the vast amount of archaeometallurgical debris in the region. The geographical distribution of ferrous metal production sites within this landscape has been documented by integrating data from surface surveys on over 100 archaeometallurgical sites with satellite imagery. Despite the constraints that the surface sites could not be dated by archaeological excavation, this pilot study explores how satellite imagery and related experimental procedures may be used to complement surface archaeometallurgical surveys and reconnaissance efforts.
Antiquity, 2013
The megalithic burials of southern India—a wonderfully varied set of monuments—have long needed a... more The megalithic burials of southern India—a wonderfully varied set of monuments—have long needed a chronology and a context. Broadly contemporary with the Roman and Sasanian empires, these dolmens, cairns and cists have continually raised contradictions with their material contents. The authors attack the problem using luminescence applied to pottery at the site of Siruthavoor in north-east Tamilnadu. Although sharing material culture, this first pilot project gave dates ranging from 300 BC to AD 600, so exposing the problem and perhaps, in OSL, its long-term solution.
World Archaeology, 2014
The Iron Age-Early Historic landscape of southern India has been subject to scholarly study and s... more The Iron Age-Early Historic landscape of southern India has been subject to scholarly study and scrutiny for over a century now. There is much variation in the chronology, typology and understanding of sites from this period. This paper looks at the habitation, burials and habitation-cum-burial sites of the Iron Age-Early Historic period, from the northern part of Tamilnadu, India. Historians have also used the Sangam texts of classical Tamil, which are believed to be contemporaneous with the archaeological sites considered, to understand the society and culture of this period. However, most of the previous literary and archaeological researches have progressed parallel to each other, thereby resulting in different perspectives for the same research questions. This paper uses the excavated sites from northern Tamilnadu as a case study to explore the possibility of combining archaeological and literary-historical approaches, while examining the advantages and limitations of each approach.
Current Science, 2011
The 26 December 2004 tsunami exposed an inscription of the 10th century engraved on a rock boulde... more The 26 December 2004 tsunami exposed an inscription of the 10th century engraved on a rock boulder at Saluvankuppam, 6 km north of Mamallapuram. The inscription indicates the existence of a Subramanya temple. The temple and the mound around the granite inselberg were excavated by the Archaeological Survey of India, Chennai Circle. The excavation exposed the entire Subramanya temple complex constructed over a period of time (4th/5th CE to 12th/13th CE). The temple complex and the litho sections reveal phases of temple building activity. The cement and lime used for the temple complex contain fragments of shells. Soil micromorphology technique was applied to understand the type of textures and fabric in soil sediments, bricks, potsherds, well rims, bone fragments, etc., using a polarized microscope. Thin sections of the laterite bricks which formed the foundation indicate high content of hematite, magnetite, kaolinite patches and the porosity of the laterite brick varies from 5% to 10...
The technological debris collected during the 2010 Telangana survey forms one of the key project ... more The technological debris collected during the 2010 Telangana survey forms one of the key project datasets and its macro-morphological analysis is an integral component of the post-survey treatment of the data (Fig. 1). The aim of this analysis is to increase our understanding of the nature of the technological processes represented at the locations recorded during the field survey. This includes at a primary level the identification of both smelting and crucible steel refining, and at a more detailed level, variations in these processes. By assessing and comparing assemblages of technological debris from individual locations a composite picture of the technology carried out within this landscape can be achieved.
Workshop on Academic Integrity Tuesday was held in the NIAS Lecture Hall on September 24, 10.30 a... more Workshop on Academic Integrity Tuesday was held in the NIAS Lecture Hall on September 24, 10.30 am - 1 pm
Sexual Harassment at the Workplace (SHW) has remained one of the central concerns of the women’s ... more Sexual Harassment at the Workplace (SHW) has remained one of the central concerns of the women’s movement in India since the early-’80s. Before 1997, women experiencing SHW had to lodge a complaint under Section 354 of the Indian Penal Code that deals with the ‘criminal assault of women to outrage women’s modesty’, and Section 509 that punishes individual/individuals for using a ‘word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman’. These sections left the interpretation of ‘outraging women’s modesty’ to the discretion of the police officer/s. In 1997, the Supreme Court passed a landmark judgment in the Vishakha case laying down guidelines to be followed by establishments in dealing with complaints about sexual harassment. THE SEXUAL HARASSMENT OF WOMEN AT THE WORKPLACE (PREVENTION, PROHIBITION AND REDRESSAL) ACT was passed in April 2013.
In Indian classrooms, social sciences receive disproportionately less attention than natural scie... more In Indian classrooms, social sciences receive disproportionately less attention than natural sciences and mathematics (Dahiya, 2003; Lall and House, 2005; Roy, 2017). History features within the social science textbooks in India, and is perceived as boring and uninteresting by school children (Roy, 2017; Dahiya, 2003); archaeology is taught as part of the history lessons and is most often not seen as different from history.
Heritage: Journal of Multidisciplinary Studies in Archaeology , 2019
The study aims to combine different sources of evidence, including literary and material along wi... more The study aims to combine different sources of evidence, including literary and material along with remotely sensed images to identify defense structures from southern Tamil Nadu. The present study explores the possibilities of using the satellite images and ground verification in order to identify fortification at Vallam and Gangaikondacholapuram. The ability of the satellite images to give synoptic view has facilitated in identifying a possible outer ring for the previously known fort at Vallam, Tamil Nadu. Whereas IRS LISS 3 image of Gangaikondacholapuram, Tamil Nadu, does not show any traces of a fort though it has been reported in the literature, and it is not very clearly visible in Google earth images either. But Land sat 7 images of 2010 displays a weak signature of the moat in a rectangular pattern. The paper uses landscape studies in conjunction with literary sources to posit a hypothesis on power and politics across the medieval landscape of Tamil Nadu.
Beyond Stones and More Stones, 2020
in press, Beyond Stones and More Stones, edited by. R. Korisettar, Bengaluru, the Mythic Society
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Papers by Smriti Haricharan
This book explores a megalithic or Iron Age-Early Historic burial site, namely Siruthavoor, located close to Chennai, India. Analysing information from exploration and excavated material from the site, it details the material culture of the people of the area. Further, the book uses geoarchaeological methods to understand the changing landscape and a historical and present understanding of the terminologies used to understand the megalithic burials and the discrepancies thereof. Most often these burials are associated with the Iron Age-Early Historic time scale; this excavation and dating provided evidence of a much recent date of 300 BCE - 600 CE. This book, gives an in-depth analysis of one particular site with the possibility of using similar methodological framework in a wider context.