Dear Dominik

Regarding the ever complicated question of  'continuity', Carla Sinopoli's (1991)  paper on ethnoarchaeology in South Asia makes for very useful reading.

https://www.jstor.org/stable/42928242?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents

Also a more recent paper by Ajay Pratap (2017)

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00438243.2017.1334584?journalCode=rwar20

In particular, there is an extensive literature on the ethnoarchaeology of pottery making communities and traditions in South Asia, and such discourse often touches upon brick making and other craft specialisations. 

The following discussion of Carol Kramer's Pottery in Rajasthan: Ethnoarchaeology in Two Indian Cities. Washington and London: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1997 discusses some  of the key works and issues in this respect, and includes a very good bibliography at the end.   

https://networks.h-net.org/node/22055/reviews/22087/kolb-kramer-pottery-rajasthan-ethnoarchaeology-two-indian-cities

Best wishes

Julia

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From: Dominik Wujastyk <wujastyk@gmail.com>
Sent: 07 November 2018 23:56
To: Shaw, Julia
Cc: Indology
Subject: Re: [INDOLOGY] brick-making communities

 

Thank you, Julia!  That's very helpful indeed.  It's a literature I'm completely unfamiliar with.

Is there a general opinion amongst SA archaeologists about the continuity or otherwise of contemporary rural brickmaking with medieval, ancient or very ancient brickmaking? 

Best,

Dominik

On Wed, 7 Nov 2018 at 10:56, Shaw, Julia via INDOLOGY <indology@list.indology.info> wrote:

Standardised  brick size and type particular to specific periods figure prominently as dating tools  in  South Asian excavation reports (too many to collate here). For example, tables based on brick size are provided in G. Verardi's (2007) Excavations at Gotihawa and Pipri, Kapilabastu District, Nepal, Rome, IsIAO. 

Further, more general  discussion: 

T.N. Mishra, 1997

Ancient Indian bricks and Brick Remains, New Delhi: Harman

E.S.N. Reddy, 1998. Evolution of building technology: Early and Medieval in Andhradesa, 2 vols. New Delhi. Bharatiya Kala Praashan. 

M. Pareek, 2002. Early Indian Residential architecture. 

I'll try to look out some other references on continuities / discontinuities between Harappan / early-historic brick technology. There is also ethno-archaeological work on brick making communities, again which I'll need to look out. 

Best wishes

Julia