Mark Lycett | University of Pennsylvania (original) (raw)

Papers by Mark Lycett

Sacred Southwestern Landscapes Archaeologies of Religious Ecology Edited by Aaron M. Wright, 2024

Beyond Stones and More Stones, 2022

Geoarchaeology, 2021

Archaeologists and historians of South Asia have long emphasized the significance of large-scale ... more Archaeologists and historians of South Asia have long emphasized the significance of large-scale irrigation reservoirs to historical developments and precolonial land use. However, comparatively little attention has been directed at an extensive corpus of small-scale water-retention features, such as culturally modified weath

Beyond Stones and More Stones, 2020

in press, Beyond Stones and More Stones, edited by. R. Korisettar, Bengaluru, the Mythic Society

Recognition of peninsular India as a location of value, rich with products such as textiles, iro... more Recognition of peninsular India as a location of value, rich with products such as textiles, iron and steel weapons, rice, pepper, sandalwood, ginger, and cardamom is common enough among historians, who view European desire for spices and other wealth as a decisive factor in European colonial ambitions. Until recently, however, archaeologists contributed little to this picture. The so-called Indo-Roman trade, especially as discussed by Wheeler (1954), tended to focus on Mediterranean goods brought to South Asia with much less consideration of the return voyage. This picture has changed significantly, however, with recent scholarly work on Early Historic southern India leading to greatly improved understandings of this critical period, especially in terms of interregional exchange and coastal settlement (Tomber 2010). More than simply visiting Roman traders, recent research has revealed a complex, cosmopolitan world of interregional exchange in which residents of the Indian peninsula played a pivotal role. While this literature necessarily focuses on those more durable remnants of past exchange; coins, pottery, and beads, it is important to consider that much, though by no means all, of the value embodied in this exchange lay in more ephemeral goods – foodstuffs and spices, textiles, wine and oil. While these are difficult to study, it is worth considering how both the production and consumption of such goods was organized, and how expanding demand affected those making, moving, and consuming such goods.

Elite claims of power and authority may take material expression in both the archaeological and h... more Elite claims of power and authority may take material expression in both the archaeological and historical records. Such claims may be expressed through the renovation, rebuilding, realignment, or construction of monumental architecture; the appropriation of symbols of power and authority; or may be made outright in verbal and written media. The South Indian empire of Vijayanagara (c. A.D. 1300-1600) laid claim to a vast portion of the Indian subcontinent, but scholars agree neither on the nature nor the extent of power exercised by the imperial center. In this paper, we examine the ideological claims of the Vijayanagara political elite, as they are materially expressed. Specifically, we differentiate the forms and spatial extent of centralized power and centralized authority in the imperial "core" versus several "peripheral" regions through the distribution and form of fortifications and temples and through a quantitative spatial analysis of inscriptions. Such claims can be related to material conditions only in the "core" region; relationships between ideological claims and archaeological patterns in that area suggest avenues for future archaeological research in complex societies.

This paper examines one assemblage of texts from southern India, stone inscriptions of the Vijaya... more This paper examines one assemblage of texts from southern India, stone inscriptions of the Vijayanagara period, and considers both how these texts have been studied and how that history of research has structured our understanding of the past. We ask how these texts might be interpreted differently, (1) under different conditions of sampling and recovery, with a specific focus on in-field locations of inscriptions, and (2) as sources of information combined with archaeological data. We suggest that traditional source-side criticism of texts might be profitably expanded routinely to include contextual analysis, such as archaeologists apply to studies of artifacts.

Indigenous Landscapes and Spanish Missions: New Perspectives from Archaeology and Ethnohistory,, 2014

Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient 56 (2013) 433-470

Abstract The eponymous capital of Vijayanagara was largely abandoned following the defeat of the... more Abstract
The eponymous capital of Vijayanagara was largely abandoned following the defeat of the imperial army at Talikota in 1565. The city was burned and looted and its monumental temple complexes, gateways, and images left in ruins. Despite large-scale damage to architecture in the city, however, the level and focus of destruction was strikingly variable. In this paper, we draw on the material record of late Vijayanagara temple complexes and other archaeological evidence to examine patterns of differentially distributed political violence. We suggest that these patterns may be understood, in part, in terms of the contemporary politics of sovereignty, incorporation, and reconstitution of elite authority. Drawing on these observations, we discuss the role of commemorative destruction as well as post-1565 temple rededications and abandonments in the afterlife of Vijayanagara as a social space. In particular, we examine the potential of monumental violence to act as a symbol or to index social memory through a creative and fluid process of instituting claims about the past,heritage, authenticity, and the nature of the present.

Despite the long pre-Columbian tradition of metallurgical technology in West Mexico, there is no ... more Despite the long pre-Columbian tradition of metallurgical technology in West Mexico, there is no evidence for the development of metallurgy in the US Southwest prior to Spanish colonization. Metal bearing minerals are widespread in the region and were used as pigments and ornamentation prior to Spanish contact (see sidebar). Discussions of the largely untapped potential of mineral wealth are ubiquitous in Spanish colonial descriptions of New Mexico from the sixteenth through the nineteenth centuries. Documentary sources suggest that iron, copper, and other metals of every day necessity were relatively scarce in this colony. Small amounts of manufactured metals appear in assemblages from Franciscan missions and other Pueblo settlements occupied during this period. Despite the importance and widespread use of these metals, there is little evidence of mining or processing of local ores, and it has generally been assumed that all metal in colonial period New Mexico was imported from New Spain. While this supposition may be true for much of the material recovered in colonial period assemblages, strong evidence of metal production has been found in a few Hispanic contexts and from the missions of San Pedro and San Marcos. While some of these processes were spectacularly unsuccessful, copper metallurgy appears to have been the predominant focus of this technology. Archaeological and metallurgical analyses suggest a number of important patterns in the organization and development of these processes. Spatial segregation of technological processes and activities is coupled with a diversity of ore bodies, metals, and products, and shifts in the use of facilities and processes. These create a complex mosaic of emergent experimentation in novel and hybrid technologies shaped by the requirements of colonial tribute demands, locally available resources, indigenous knowledge and practices, and frontier exchange relationships.

Elite claims of power and authority may take material expression in both the archaeological and h... more Elite claims of power and authority may take material expression in both the archaeological and historical records. Such claims may be expressed through the renovation, rebuilding, realignment, or construction of monumental architecture; the appropriation of symbols of power and authoriry; or may be made outright in verbal
and written media. The South Indian empire of Vijayanagara (c. A.D. 1300-1600) laid claim to a vast portion of the Indian subcontinent, but scholars agree neither on the nature nor the extent of power exercised by the imperial center. In this paper, we examine the ideological claims of the Vijayanagara political elite, as
they are materially expressed. Specifically, we differentiate the forms and spatial extent of centralized power and centralized authoriry in the imperial "core" versus several "peripheral" regions through the distribution and form of fortifications and temples and through a quantitative spatial analysis of inscriptions. Such claims can be related to material conditions only in the "core" region; relationships between ideological claims and archaeological patterns in that area suggest avenues for future archaeological research in complex societies. KEYWORDS: Monumentaliry, South
Asia, power, archaeological inference, Vijayanagara.

Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory, Jan 1, 1997

This paper examines one assemblage of texts from southern India, stone inscriptions of the Vijaya... more This paper examines one assemblage of texts from southern India, stone inscriptions of the Vijayanagara period, and considers both how these texts have been studied and how that history of research has structured our understanding of the past. We ask how these texts might be interpreted differently, (1) under different conditions of sampling and recovery, with a specific focus on in-field locations of inscriptions, and (2) as sources of information combined with archaeological data. We suggest that traditional source-side criticism of texts might be profitably expanded routinely to include contextual analysis, such as archaeologists apply to studies of artifacts.

Sacred Southwestern Landscapes Archaeologies of Religious Ecology Edited by Aaron M. Wright, 2024

Beyond Stones and More Stones, 2022

Geoarchaeology, 2021

Archaeologists and historians of South Asia have long emphasized the significance of large-scale ... more Archaeologists and historians of South Asia have long emphasized the significance of large-scale irrigation reservoirs to historical developments and precolonial land use. However, comparatively little attention has been directed at an extensive corpus of small-scale water-retention features, such as culturally modified weath

Beyond Stones and More Stones, 2020

in press, Beyond Stones and More Stones, edited by. R. Korisettar, Bengaluru, the Mythic Society

Recognition of peninsular India as a location of value, rich with products such as textiles, iro... more Recognition of peninsular India as a location of value, rich with products such as textiles, iron and steel weapons, rice, pepper, sandalwood, ginger, and cardamom is common enough among historians, who view European desire for spices and other wealth as a decisive factor in European colonial ambitions. Until recently, however, archaeologists contributed little to this picture. The so-called Indo-Roman trade, especially as discussed by Wheeler (1954), tended to focus on Mediterranean goods brought to South Asia with much less consideration of the return voyage. This picture has changed significantly, however, with recent scholarly work on Early Historic southern India leading to greatly improved understandings of this critical period, especially in terms of interregional exchange and coastal settlement (Tomber 2010). More than simply visiting Roman traders, recent research has revealed a complex, cosmopolitan world of interregional exchange in which residents of the Indian peninsula played a pivotal role. While this literature necessarily focuses on those more durable remnants of past exchange; coins, pottery, and beads, it is important to consider that much, though by no means all, of the value embodied in this exchange lay in more ephemeral goods – foodstuffs and spices, textiles, wine and oil. While these are difficult to study, it is worth considering how both the production and consumption of such goods was organized, and how expanding demand affected those making, moving, and consuming such goods.

Elite claims of power and authority may take material expression in both the archaeological and h... more Elite claims of power and authority may take material expression in both the archaeological and historical records. Such claims may be expressed through the renovation, rebuilding, realignment, or construction of monumental architecture; the appropriation of symbols of power and authority; or may be made outright in verbal and written media. The South Indian empire of Vijayanagara (c. A.D. 1300-1600) laid claim to a vast portion of the Indian subcontinent, but scholars agree neither on the nature nor the extent of power exercised by the imperial center. In this paper, we examine the ideological claims of the Vijayanagara political elite, as they are materially expressed. Specifically, we differentiate the forms and spatial extent of centralized power and centralized authority in the imperial "core" versus several "peripheral" regions through the distribution and form of fortifications and temples and through a quantitative spatial analysis of inscriptions. Such claims can be related to material conditions only in the "core" region; relationships between ideological claims and archaeological patterns in that area suggest avenues for future archaeological research in complex societies.

This paper examines one assemblage of texts from southern India, stone inscriptions of the Vijaya... more This paper examines one assemblage of texts from southern India, stone inscriptions of the Vijayanagara period, and considers both how these texts have been studied and how that history of research has structured our understanding of the past. We ask how these texts might be interpreted differently, (1) under different conditions of sampling and recovery, with a specific focus on in-field locations of inscriptions, and (2) as sources of information combined with archaeological data. We suggest that traditional source-side criticism of texts might be profitably expanded routinely to include contextual analysis, such as archaeologists apply to studies of artifacts.

Indigenous Landscapes and Spanish Missions: New Perspectives from Archaeology and Ethnohistory,, 2014

Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient 56 (2013) 433-470

Abstract The eponymous capital of Vijayanagara was largely abandoned following the defeat of the... more Abstract
The eponymous capital of Vijayanagara was largely abandoned following the defeat of the imperial army at Talikota in 1565. The city was burned and looted and its monumental temple complexes, gateways, and images left in ruins. Despite large-scale damage to architecture in the city, however, the level and focus of destruction was strikingly variable. In this paper, we draw on the material record of late Vijayanagara temple complexes and other archaeological evidence to examine patterns of differentially distributed political violence. We suggest that these patterns may be understood, in part, in terms of the contemporary politics of sovereignty, incorporation, and reconstitution of elite authority. Drawing on these observations, we discuss the role of commemorative destruction as well as post-1565 temple rededications and abandonments in the afterlife of Vijayanagara as a social space. In particular, we examine the potential of monumental violence to act as a symbol or to index social memory through a creative and fluid process of instituting claims about the past,heritage, authenticity, and the nature of the present.

Despite the long pre-Columbian tradition of metallurgical technology in West Mexico, there is no ... more Despite the long pre-Columbian tradition of metallurgical technology in West Mexico, there is no evidence for the development of metallurgy in the US Southwest prior to Spanish colonization. Metal bearing minerals are widespread in the region and were used as pigments and ornamentation prior to Spanish contact (see sidebar). Discussions of the largely untapped potential of mineral wealth are ubiquitous in Spanish colonial descriptions of New Mexico from the sixteenth through the nineteenth centuries. Documentary sources suggest that iron, copper, and other metals of every day necessity were relatively scarce in this colony. Small amounts of manufactured metals appear in assemblages from Franciscan missions and other Pueblo settlements occupied during this period. Despite the importance and widespread use of these metals, there is little evidence of mining or processing of local ores, and it has generally been assumed that all metal in colonial period New Mexico was imported from New Spain. While this supposition may be true for much of the material recovered in colonial period assemblages, strong evidence of metal production has been found in a few Hispanic contexts and from the missions of San Pedro and San Marcos. While some of these processes were spectacularly unsuccessful, copper metallurgy appears to have been the predominant focus of this technology. Archaeological and metallurgical analyses suggest a number of important patterns in the organization and development of these processes. Spatial segregation of technological processes and activities is coupled with a diversity of ore bodies, metals, and products, and shifts in the use of facilities and processes. These create a complex mosaic of emergent experimentation in novel and hybrid technologies shaped by the requirements of colonial tribute demands, locally available resources, indigenous knowledge and practices, and frontier exchange relationships.

Elite claims of power and authority may take material expression in both the archaeological and h... more Elite claims of power and authority may take material expression in both the archaeological and historical records. Such claims may be expressed through the renovation, rebuilding, realignment, or construction of monumental architecture; the appropriation of symbols of power and authoriry; or may be made outright in verbal
and written media. The South Indian empire of Vijayanagara (c. A.D. 1300-1600) laid claim to a vast portion of the Indian subcontinent, but scholars agree neither on the nature nor the extent of power exercised by the imperial center. In this paper, we examine the ideological claims of the Vijayanagara political elite, as
they are materially expressed. Specifically, we differentiate the forms and spatial extent of centralized power and centralized authoriry in the imperial "core" versus several "peripheral" regions through the distribution and form of fortifications and temples and through a quantitative spatial analysis of inscriptions. Such claims can be related to material conditions only in the "core" region; relationships between ideological claims and archaeological patterns in that area suggest avenues for future archaeological research in complex societies. KEYWORDS: Monumentaliry, South
Asia, power, archaeological inference, Vijayanagara.

Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory, Jan 1, 1997

This paper examines one assemblage of texts from southern India, stone inscriptions of the Vijaya... more This paper examines one assemblage of texts from southern India, stone inscriptions of the Vijayanagara period, and considers both how these texts have been studied and how that history of research has structured our understanding of the past. We ask how these texts might be interpreted differently, (1) under different conditions of sampling and recovery, with a specific focus on in-field locations of inscriptions, and (2) as sources of information combined with archaeological data. We suggest that traditional source-side criticism of texts might be profitably expanded routinely to include contextual analysis, such as archaeologists apply to studies of artifacts.

New Mexico Historical Review 88:464-465., 2013

Asian Perspectives 39:196-198, 2000

American Antiquity 61: 811-813., 1996

JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, a... more JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.

The United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction defines disaster in three crucia... more The United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction defines disaster in three crucial terms: hazards, vulnerability, and capacity. While only the first of these can be ‘natural’ in the way that that term is commonly understood, catastrophic events and processes are frequently represented as exogenous, autonomous, and unpredictable elements of a bio-physical world. Beginning from the theorization of disaster as a property of nature, this lecture examines the political ecology of drought, flood, earthquake, and famine in their historical, economic, and cultural contexts, focusing on community vulnerability and capacity as outcomes of socio-natural histories and relations. Drawing on historical and contemporary case studies we will consider a number of dimensions of the dynamic between nature, dislocation, and communities in an increasingly vulnerable world.

During the 17th century, LA 162, alternately known as Paa-ko and Mission San Pedro, was both an ... more During the 17th century, LA 162, alternately known as Paa-ko and Mission San
Pedro, was both an ancestral Pueblo village and a Spanish colonial mission site. Over the past
decade, research in this setting has addressed colonial incorporation and transformation, the
constitution of marginality in new social geographies, and the import of differential incorporative
practices on each of these processes. Drawing on examples from paleoethnobotanical and
metallurgical findings, this paper discusses the importance of multi-disciplinary approaches to
historic settings and examines the emergence of novel systems of production in colonial settings
as an historical process.

LA 162 or Paa-ko, was a relatively small and discontinuously settled ancestral Pueblo that persi... more LA 162 or Paa-ko, was a relatively small and discontinuously settled ancestral Pueblo that persisted at the geographical margins of colonial New Mexico until the mid-seventeenth century. In contrast to mission locations in the nearby Galisteo and Albuquerque-Belen Basins, this settlement was never central to European occupation in the region.

Since 1996, our reseach at LA 162 has addressed the relationship between Spanish colonization and the historical transformation of indigenous societies in the northern Southwest. We are particularly interested in the occupational history and spatial organization of contact period settlements, and the organization of indigenous economic practices and their articulation with colonial production and distribution networks Over the last 85 years several large scale excavation projects have been conducted at LA 162.

Both surface documentation and excavation suggest that the occupational history and construction sequence is complex and discontinuous. There is a widespread and intensive occupation early fifteenth centuries, followed by about a century of abandonment. Colonial period (ca. AD 1540 to AD 1680) occupation of the site is restricted to a single plaza group in the southwest quarter of the north division. Features associated with this colonial period occupation include soil and water control facilities, corral enclosures, and a copper smelting facility.

Horizontal exposure of superimposed plaza surfaces provides a sample of temporally distinct extramural occupation surfaces and their associated assemblages. In the remainder of this poster, we focus on two plaza surfaces constructed and used during the colonial occupation of the site. We explore the occupational histories of these plaza surfaces then relate these histories to formal and functional aspects of their associated ceramic assemblages.

LA 162, also known as Paa-ko and San Pedro, is a large, Ancestral Pueblo village east of the San... more LA 162, also known as Paa-ko and San Pedro, is a large, Ancestral Pueblo village east of the Sandia Mountains, in the San Pedro Valley, New Mexico. There was an extensive occupation at this site in the 14th and 15th centuries, and a small, short lived re-occupation in the early 17th century. Over the past 87 years, four large scale excavation projects have been conducted at this site. Despite this impressive history of research, our understanding of this settlement, its occupational history, and its incorporation and transformation during the Colonial period have changed dramatically over the past five years. This session explores these new understandings of Paa-ko, highlighting both the value of incorporating prviously collected data into ongoing research projects, and the implications of new knowledge for investigating local changes in the wake of Spanish contact.

The Past for Sale: Protecting India’s Cultural Heritage, conference held at the University of Chi... more The Past for Sale: Protecting India’s Cultural Heritage, conference held at the University of Chicago Center in Delhi, India. Discussion of value, values, and contexts of destruction and protection of archaeological remains in southern India.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vzk-ss5Uqsc

Talk given for the University of Michigan Center for South Asian Studies, Jan. 15, 2014. Based on... more Talk given for the University of Michigan Center for South Asian Studies, Jan. 15, 2014. Based on the Lycett and Morrison 2014. "The 'Fall' of Vijayanagara Reconsidered" JESHO. link to public lecture: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-fZM0BpRs0