Living Traditions: Studies in the Ethnoarchaeology of South Asia

This book is the result of possibly the first symposium ever held on the ethnoarchaeology of the Subcontinent. It consists of 19 papers by distinguished archaeologists and anthropologists from Europe, Pakistan, India and the USA who have used modern local practices to shed new light on their material. Writing with a critical appreciation of the dangers of ethnoarchaeological parallels, the authors still demonstrate the immense richness of information available from countries which for social and economic reasons have always placed a premium on tradition. They stress the importance of recording more traditional practices before they disappear, not only for use as a scholarly database but also because continuing traditions are often evidence of a uniquely successful adaptation to social and environmental conditions. This is a thought-provoking introduction to a little-known but fascinating archaeological resource.