The Early History of Delhi

Delhi’s past begins in the stone age; this is evident from the stone tools found as surface finds at many places and the excavated site of Anangpur. Remains of the protohistoric period have been unearthed at Bhorgarh and Mandoli. Ashoka’s Minor Rock Edict I indicates that Maurya influence extended into this area. Sites such as the Purana Qila reveal a cultural sequence extending from the early historic to the medieval period. The medieval remains of the Qutb complex include a Gupta-period pillar, many aspects of which remain enigmatic. Remains of the Rajput and early Sultanate phase have been found at Lal Kot. Although the details provided by the textual, archaeological, epigraphic and numismatic evidence are sparse, they help outline the history of rural and urban settlements in the Delhi area long before it became an important political center.

Ceramic Wares and Water Spirits

Water spirits as major Mississippian cosmic powers assumed various forms ranging from panther-like to serpent-like, and these varying visualizations were crafted as ceramic vessels, copper objects, rock art, and shell media. Evidence of water spirit religious sodalities is reflected in the numerous Lower Mississippi Valley “cat serpent” bottles and bowls found in northeastern Arkansas and southeastern Missouri. Their use flourished during the protohistoric period, the decades between the Hernando de Soto entrada and initial French contact. Water spirit vessels were crucial for transforming and in consuming medicinal potions for purification in water spirit rituals. In this chapter I discuss these Lower Mississippi Valley “Great Serpent” effigy vessels and argue that they were central to religious beliefs in Beneath World deities associated with the cycle of life and death and appealed to through ritual supplication and veneration.

Las interpretaciones arqueológicas y la aparición de fortificaciones en el período protohistórico de Corea (300 aC – 300 dC) = The Archaeological Interpretations and the Emergence of Fortifications in the Protohistoric Period of Korea

Este artículo tiene como objetivo analizar arqueológicamente las fortificaciones del período protohistórico de Corea (300 aC – 300 dC), desde los terraplenes, empalizadas y fosos de los primeros núcleos de carácter urbano hasta posibles murallas de carácter fronterizo, en un momento clave en la evolución social, política, cultural y arquitectónica de la península, de transición de la aldea a la ciudad y de los cacicazgos tribales a las confederaciones de pequeñas ciudades-estado que acabarían formando los primeros reinos centralizados. Se tienen en consideración yacimientos amurallados del reino de Koguryo (en el norte), de las confederaciones tribales Samhan como las ciudades-estados de Wirye y Saro (en el sur), y de los distritos administrativos del imperio chino en corea (comandancias Han). Ante las turbias y polémicas interpretaciones nacionalistas de las diferentes tradiciones historiográficas del Asia Oriental (Corea, Japón y China), se defiende aquí el papel de la antigua civilización China como estímulo y origen de influencias avanzadas para el desarrollo de la arquitectura militar coreana, junto al urbanismo y a la organización de estructuras estatales, entre otros factores. This article aims to analyze archaeologically the fortifications of the protohistoric period of Korea (300 BC – 300 AD), comprising the embankments, palisades and moats of the first urban centres as well as possible border walls, in a key moment in the social, political, cultural and architectonic evolution of the peninsula, of transition from villages to cities and from tribal chiefdoms to the confederation of small city-states that eventually formed the first centralized kingdoms. It is taken into account walled sites of the Koguryo kingdom (in the north), of the Samhan tribal confederations like the city-states of Wirye and Saro (in the south), and of the administrative districts of the Chinese empire in Korea (Han commanderies). Given the murky and controversial nationalist interpretations of the different East Asian historiographical traditions (Korea, Japan and China), we will try to situate within its context the emergence of the urban military architecture in the peninsula and the nearby area, considering the constructions undertaken both by Chinese authorities and by the first Korean confederacies. We will try to place the emergence of the urban military architecture of the peninsula and the nearby area within its context, considering the constructions undertaken both by Chinese authorities and by the first Korean confederacies.

“From Right in Front of the Sun”

Plains-Pueblo research typically examines issues of culture contact, culture history, and social evolutionary trajectories leading up to European colonization. While previous approaches have shaped current understandings of Plains-Pueblo exchange, they fail to appreciate the role of Athapaskans in prevailing models of regional interactions in the American Southwest during the Protohistoric period (1450–1700 ce). This chapter discusses the social institutions and practices that enabled the Athapaskans to dominate southern Plains bison economies and trade with eastern frontier Pueblos. A reconceptualization of Athapaskan-Pueblo interaction draws attention to the deep history of the Plains-Pueblo interface based on trade, kinship, and residence during the pre-colonial to colonial transition.