Archives: Publications

29 Pages

Notes of Material Importance: Archival Archaeology in the South Caucasus

- published in Archive Journal (August 2017)

This article explores the role of archaeological archives in untangling the ancient history of the South Caucasus. Archaeological datasets are uniquely diachronic. They reflect historical and environmental processes that occurred in antiquity, as well as the research questions, excavation methods and recording practices that surround their discovery. Archaeologists working in the South Caucasus, a region

30 Pages

Revised dates for the deposition of the Begram hoard and occupation at the New Royal City

- published in Parthica, 19 (2017), 75-104

This paper offers two major revisions to the chronology of the archaeological site of Begram (Afghanistan). The first revision pertains to when the Begram hoard was deposited (i.e. not when the objects were produced). Based on the new identification of three coins from room 10 as belonging to the post- Vasudeva Oesho with bull series,

46 Pages

Wars, Trade and Treaties. New, revised, and neglected sources for the political, diplomatic, and military aspects of imperial Rome’s relations with the Red Sea basin and India, from Augustus to Diocletian

In: K. S. Mathew (ed.), Imperial Rome, Indian Ocean Regions and Muziris: New Perspectives On Maritime Trade. New Dehli: 83-128.
This paper discusses new, revised, and neglected sources for imperial Rome’s economic, diplomatic, and military activities in the Red Sea basin and on the Indian West coast. It also explores Rome’s military and diplomatic investment

38 Pages

Perceptions from Beyond: Some Observations on non-Roman Assessments of the Roman Empire from the Great Eastern Trade Routes

Journal of Ancient Civilizations 30 (2015) 117-149 (together with A. Kolb)
The paper offers an overview and short discussion of contemporary assessments of ‘the Romans’ and the Roman Empire in literary and documentary sources from the great Eastern trade routes between the Mediterranean Sea and Ancient China. The paper also proposes new interpretations of the

33 Pages

Colonial imagination and identity attribution: Numismatic cues for defining space

- published in H.P. Ray (eds.) Negotiating Cultural Identity: Landscapes in Early Medieval South Asian History (New Delhi: Routledge, 2015)

This paper aims to focus on the fixation in the study of early historical coins with colonial categories, i.e. the ‘imperial’ versus the ‘tribal’ coins. Under discussion here are the types of copper coins bearing the legends- janasya, gaṇasya, or janapada or the names of the issuing community. These coins, since the

30 Pages

Global Economic History

This is the first attempt to write an economic history of the Afro-Eurasian region in antiquity from the first Millennium BCE to the first Millennium CE. It starts from a comparative assessment of economic structures and growth, focussing on factors such as agrarian, urban and fiscal development as well as monetization. In a second step,

9 Pages

On the Term dubi kun: Reconstructing the Image of Han Hired Laborers by Investigating their Clothing

Although there is substantial number of studies on hired laborers in Han period, they have not yet constructed a vivid image of this group of personnel. These studies focus on investigating hired laborers’ economic backgrounds, as well as the types of job engaged with and extent of freedom enjoyed. But the appearances of laborers have

28 Pages

Hired Activities and Movement of Population in Qin-Han Periods

Residents in Qin-Han rural society had close relationship with their land, kinship, and neighborhood. Leaving home was regarded as full of uncertainty and fear due to the difficulty and danger of transportation. Thus, residents were not easily intended to depart from their home or take a long distance journey. Their mobility was limited and their

7 Pages

Invocations through Coins: Legends for Allegiance and Popular Validation in the Indigenous Copper Coins

This paper tries to understand the extra-economic aspect of the coins. The questions asked in this paper are: whether the change in the legend of coins may represent the formation of a federation of polities? Whether with the extension of the region under federation/conglomeration the name of geographies associated with the polities are dropped and