Integrated Socio-Ecological History of Residential ... · 1 Integrated Socio-Ecological History of...

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Integrated Socio-Ecological History of Residential Patterning,

Agricultural Practices, and Water Management at the “Classical” Burmese

(Bama) Capital of Bagan, Myanmar (11th to 14th Century CE)

Research Proposal for the 2019 IRAW@Bagan Settlement Archaeology Project

Submitted

by

Gyles Iannone, PhD

Principal Investigator/Professor

Department of Anthropology

Trent University

Pyiet Phyo Kyaw, PhD

Co-Director/Lecturer

Department of Archaeology

University of Yangon

&

Scott Macrae, PhD

Co-director/Adjunct Graduate & Research Faculty

Department of Anthropology

Trent University

January 28, 2019

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Table of Contents

Mission Statement and Logo 3

Project Summary 5

Proposed Field Operations for April-May 2019 9

2019 Field Crew 22

2019 Itinerary 23

Detailed Description 24

Knowledge Mobilization Plan 38

Expected Outcomes 39

Research Team and Training 40

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IRAW@Bagan Mission Statement

The world’s tropical zones are witnessing the negative impacts of unchecked population growth,

increasing wealth disparities, unbridled agricultural expansion, growing water demands,

diminishing biodiversity, environmental degradation, escalating disease rates, and climate

change. These are all urban issues. The proposed IRAW@Bagan study will highlight

archaeology’s true strength – namely the ability to trace changes in urban forms and lifeways

over time, and across multiple climate regimes, technological advances, and socio-ecological

changes – to explore the root causes of the myriad issues faced by contemporary tropical

metropolises.

လပငနးဥ းးတခအေကငးးက

မၻကအပပးရ မပငးးက ဥးနမခကး တ းမမမမ တညလမဥ းအးးးးလကကငး

မးမတ တည

ေြယ၀ခမး ကမမပပႈပမခကးးးးလကကငး ငနးခပမမမပညအ ကႈ ပခးအးးလပငနးမခကးးးခ

ပ လကကငး အးလပခပမမခကးကပကးလကကငး ၀မခးႈပမခးြပမခကးအပခက ြယလကကငး

ဘက၀ပး၀နးခင ငးက းယးမမမခကး အးကရာဘယငမအကပကလကကငး ရငညးက ဥ

းအကပကငလပကငးမခကးအပပ းခး

မခကး အးကလခးရအနေ တ အ ကပအနေ တသခမခကးမရကကမ ကပမခကးေပ

အးြတ

အနေး တညကပ နကးပမခကးက ႈေ တသပရပIRAWအလညလကအးး အး နလပငနး က

ပလႊက

တအးရးအ ကငး အး န ငးကမရနးယကးအကငးလခးရအ က

ခလမခကးအပပ

ဓကးငကးလပအ ကင ြကးပာမတက ႈပာ တသအး းတးရပည

ေ တည းရငအနငငမမမခကး ရငည

ကမ ကပပပႈပမခကးအကပကငးလပမမးတအကးကပအလညလက ငမတညးတအ ြး

မးမတ တညးက ဥးနမခကးကပန လရန ႈပအနေကငး နတးပတကမခကးးးးလကေကငး

ရငညလမမမႈ းပြကးအးး ငးကအကပကငးလပကငးမခကးႈ တက ငည လပာ တသဓလ

ပအ ကငမတညအးရးအ ကငး အး န ငးကႈငးပမခကး တ အးကပင မပငးးက ဥ

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းနးြငးးရကမ ကပမခကးးင ငေပအးြတပညေးမတညကပ နကးပမခကးပ

းငးကမႈ းရကအ ြအလညလကအ ကငး ငးနက ႈပာ တသ

The IRAW@Bagan Logo

The IRAW@Bagan logo on the cover of this proposal is derived from Jataka plaque #543 from

the West Hpetleik Stupa: Sāma Jātaka (Sāma the Devoted Son). In the traditional Pali canon this

story is listed as #540 of 547, but at Bagan three additional stories are often included as #s 497,

498, and 499 (for a total of 550), which pushes this story to #543.

A summary of the story can be found here:

http://usamyanmar.net/Buddha/Article/Sama%20jataka.pdf

IRAW ပရပ ပ လရ အ ၤး

ကပလႊက မခ ရက ပးးြငအ ကကပငကး တည IRAW ပရပ လရ အၤး တ ပရပ အနက

လပဘးကးးရ ကးနပပား ၅၄၃ ၀ဏၰ ကမကး းပအ က းပေြမရ က ႈပာ တသ ကးနပပား

ႈဥမရက ကး ပးကး ပအပာငးငကး က ငည မမးငး နပပား ၅၄၀ ႈကး ၅၄၃က ႈအန တသ

ပအပာငး ငကး တည ကး ပးကးမရက ၄၉၇ ၄၉၈ ရငည ၄၉၉ းတက ႈေပာ တသ

ကးပပကပင ခဥးအကပာ ငးကန၀ဘ းြင၀ငအးကေတညးမ ငပာ တသ




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IRAW@Bagan Project Summary

The IRAW@Bagan project (Phase I) will generate an integrated socio-ecological history for

residential patterning, agricultural practices, and water management at the Classical Burmese

(Bama) capital of Bagan, Myanmar (11th to 14th century CE) across a range of significant

ecological, climatic, economic, socio-political, and religious changes. This objective will be

achieved through a settlement archaeology study within the peri-urban (mixed urban-rural)

settlement zone immediately surrounding Bagan’s regal-ritual epicenter, which is still clearly

defined by remnants of its original walls and moat. The importance of the proposed program of

survey, excavations, and geo-spatial inquiry is grounded in the fact that our current

understanding of Bagan society continues to be biased towards its upper echelons, namely its

high-ranking nobles and religious functionaries. A settlement archaeology study within Bagan’s

peri-urban zone will: 1) generate a more nuanced understanding of Bagan as a dynamic capital

city; 2) provide insights into the unique characteristics of early urbanism in the tropics; and, 3)

contribute to considerations of resilience and vulnerability in contemporary tropical

metropolises.

One of history’s great Buddhist kingdoms, Bagan’s peri-urban settlement zone covers

roughly 80 km2 and encompasses over 2800 Buddhist monuments, including temples with

decorated interior space, solid stupas containing relics, and monasteries. Given the context, it is

understandable that scholarly investigations at Bagan have almost exclusively focused on elite

and/or religious architecture, art work, and texts. Nevertheless, inscriptions and retrospective

chronicles suggest that Bagan’s peri-urban zone was also home to a large and diverse support

population that lived in well-organized (i.e., orthogonally planned) “clusters” or “wards” based

on commonalities in status, ethnicity, occupation, and clientage (i.e., formal “bondage” to a

patron, such as the Crown or Church). Unfortunately, the veracity of this tightly integrated and

highly organized, “cellular” residential pattern has yet to be confirmed on-the-ground. Recent

archaeological investigations have also suggested that Bagan’s peri-urban zone was of the

“dispersed,” agrarian variety, and included significant green space as well as productive land, in

addition to a small-scale, but nonetheless sophisticated water management system. Once again,

these suppositions require empirical confirmation. Taking these issues into consideration, the

following questions will serve to frame both the methodological approach for the IRAW@Bagan

settlement archaeology study, and the integrated socio-ecological history that will result from

this long-term research program.

1) How accurate is our current understanding of the commoner population that inhabited

Bagan’s peri-urban settlement zone, given the elite-centric focus of our current data sets?

2) Can the posited heterogeneity and cellularity of Bagan’s peri-urban population be

materially confirmed, given the diversity in status, ethnicity, occupation, and bondage

suggested by the historic records?

3) If such diversity can be recognized archaeologically, what might this tell us about

commoner agency, and shifting levels of adherence or resistance to the dominant, merit-

based, Buddhist ideology, and the system of bondage that supported it?

4) Did different segments of Bagan’s peri-urban population exhibit varying degrees of

resilience to changing socio-ecological circumstances – such as climate change – and if

so, why?

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5) How were individual Bagan houses, house-lots, and villages configured, what kinds of

activities took place in these residential spaces, and did the nature of these spaces

change over time?

6) Does the residential patterning in Bagan’s peri-urban zone reflect the

orthogonal/compact tradition of China, or the quasi-orthogonal/dispersed tradition

found elsewhere in the tropics?

7) Did Bagan’s city-scape transition from being more dispersed and haphazard to more

compact and grid-like over time?

8) How extensive and interconnected were Bagan’s peri-urban water management and

agricultural systems, how did they develop, and in what ways did different stakeholders

engage with them?

အး နလပငနးခဥးခပ IRAW အး နလပငနးပးရခ(ပငး ၁) တ ငငးရကးမမးရအ ကအရ ႈနႈ းက ဥး ႈ ပြကးအးး လမမမ ငငပအးး ရငည ဘက ကအးး ငးကအကပကငးလပမမမခကးႈြကက း နလက ပည တည (းႈ ရႈ ၁၁းကႈမရ ၁၄းကႈ)ကမနမကးတပ ရ ၀ငကမ အးကေ းးႈက ႈပညအ က ပရပအ းရ လမအနငငမမပပႈပမခကး ႈပခးအးးလပငမမမခကး ရငညအးးငးကမႈႈ မပ နတြပမမမခကးးြ းအပာငးးႈတးငပ လပင အ ကငးြမတည လမမမႈ းပြကးအးး မငး အး နကပလပမတက ႈပာ တသ ဥ းးတခအကငကမငအႈးနးြအးရးအ ကငးကမ းက ခပးးကမခကး ရငည းရငးလငးငငးရကးမမးရ တညအးရးအ ကငးကမ န း း၀အ မခကးးြငအးြတးအလညးရ တည (ကမ ရငညးြကအနးကမခကးအးကအ ရကအန တည) အကခအနငငမမ ရငည ငအ ကအးရးအ ကငး အး နပတကးပ ငးကအလညလကအးးလပငနးမခကးအ ကငးြ မတက ႈပာ တသ ြငး ငးးငးးကအလညလကကငး းမးအ ကအလညလကကငး ရငည ဘမမ- ငးလငးကပင င းက ႈမးႈမးအလညလကအးးမခကးးြ ကပငကး တည ႈ ႈဥမခကးပ အးးပာမမ လးရ ၽြနပးတ နကးလတငကးအ က ငညကမငညလမတ ြပတႈတးက ႈ တည ဘးင မရ း မး လမနငန ဘက ကအးး ငးကႈငးပမခကးအပပးြင က အလးအပးငကး တည ပရပလမမမ ြပတႈတး အပပအကပငကးပာ တသ ပရပအ းရကမ ကပ ရငညႈပ အန တည းြကအ မခကးပ လမအကခအနငငပညမမမခကးအလညလက မတညအးရးအ ကငး အး နလပငနး(၃)းရ တသ (၁) းးးႈတပငလခးရ တညကမ ကပးႈ က ႈ ပရပပမနကးလတလကအႈးနအ ကငးြကငးသ (၂) ပမပငး မးက ဥးနးြငးးရ အႈကပငးကမ ကပပပႈပမခကးပ ြငကပငလကဏကးပမခကး နကးလတပႈကးးးလကအႈးန အငကပပညက ႈအႈကငးသ (၃) လးရပမပငး မးက ဥးနးြငးးရကမ ကပေ းမခကးပ ကးနတးယးအလခကညလကကငး ရငည ပမခကး ငအကပအကငအခကလႊက ငပညကငးမခကး အလးငကးမလကအႈးန ကးငးကငးမခကးက ႈ တသ

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ေ းခယနးနကးအ က ဗ ၶဘက ကးငးကပတးႈကပတက ႈပည တည ပရပ န းး၀းရ ကမ ကပ ရငည ငႈပအနအ ကအခးးြကမခကးပ လမအနငငမမနမခကးမရက (၈၀)ႈးးနး လမ းကနတးရကပ း လးက မခကး ဓကးအးကမခကး ရငည ဘနအးကေ းအခကငးမခကး ရငညးမ ရမဘးကး ရငအႈး ပငးမခကးပာ၀င တည ဗ ၶဘက က အ ကဥ (၂၈၀၀)အခကးရ တသ ႈပ းရငကး မရခအ က ပရပ ရငည င တည အေကငးးကကးလပးလလမရက လမနငနမခကး ရငည/ တ ဘက ကအးး ငးကဗ က ပတက ရငည ႈကအပမခကးပငက ႈေ တသ မတ တပငက ႈအႈအခကႈကမခကး ရငညအးရးးက၀ငမခကး ပရပကမ ကပ ရငည ငႈပအန တညအနးကမခကးးြင အနငငေ တည မယကမခကးမရ မခကးကပကးကပ း မခးႈပလင လရအ က လမအနငငမမဥ းအးအ ကကပအနေ တသ တအ က ပမအကငး တမရက ယအနတငပင ပရပအ ပ လမအနငငပည တည မနးမခကး မယကအငကငကးမခကးအကမကပငအပပးြင အ င ငမကမက မအးြတးရးအ းကငးပငက ႈ တသ လးရအးရးအ ကငး အး န ငးကအလညလကမမမခကး ပရပကမ ကပ ရငညငႈပအန တညအခးလးအ မခကးကပနတ ရပတအနကငး ႈ ပခးအးးလပ င မမမခးမခး ရငည ငငးရကး တည ႈမးအးကငနယအကမးယကမခကး ကပင ငး နမခကးငးလပ တညအကမယကမခကး ငတကပငအ းငယ တညအနငကးက ႈအ က လတး ငညးနးးရ တညအးႈ မပ နတြပမမႈနႈမခကး အ ကကပအနေ တသ ငတကပင ငငကမငယမ ခမခကး တ လအးြတ းြင အ ငမးနလပလခးရ တသ တအ က ႈငးပမခကး အလးငကးလခ အကပာအမးြနးမခကး IRAW ပရပလမအနငငမမ ငးကအးရးအ ကငး အး နအလညလကအးးလပငနး ရငည းအပာငးးႈတးးတးလပအ ကငမတညအးးရတ အ းနလပငနးမရးးရလကမတညလမမမႈ းပြကးအးး မငး းတ းြ ပးကပမတညနတးလမးမခကးက ႈ နယပယ းမရးမတက ႈပာ တသ 1) လးရ အနေအ က လမနငနမခကးအပပ က အလးအပးအလညလကအနေး တည ခ

လမခကး ပရပကမ ကပ ရငညငႈပအန တညအခးလးအ မခကးးြငအနငငေ တည ကမန လမးနးႈကးလမဥ းအး မရနနႈြကနကးလတ အဘကအပားန မတပည တကပလပးမတနတး?

2) မငးမရးးမးမခကးအ ကကပငကး တည မခးမခးအ က ငညးနးမခကး လမမခးမခကး လပ ငမခကး ရငညအခးၽြန လပ မကးမခကးအေကငး းပ၀းပႈငတးအငကငကးမခကး ရငည မခးႈကးႈပလငမခကးကပကးကပ းႈႈႈတးႈတးးရပညအေကငး အ ကပ ငမတလကး?

3) မခးႈကးမခကးကပကးႈပလငမမ အးရးအ ကငး အး နနတးက ငည နကးလတ အဘကအပာကပ း လရခင ကမနလမးနးႈကးမခကးပ းငးခ လမခကး အကပကငးအးႊ မမ ငညမခကး( တ) ေပပညေပပညပအနငင ငမမမခကး လရ းနးဓငကးမမ ဗ ၶဘက က ငးကအးြးေပ ရငညအခးၽြနႈနႈမခကး မတ တကပနလတးငကပလက ငမတနတး?

4) ပရပအခးလးအ လမဥ းအးပ မးမတ အ ကႈးပငးမခကး တ းက ဥးအကအကပကငးလပကငး ပည တအ က လမမမအရ ငးက ပး၀နးခငမခကးအကပကငးလပကငးးြင ေပညေပည ပ ငပည တည

8

မခးမခးအ က ငညးနးမခကးအ ကကပ ငပည လကး?အ ကကပ ငပညလရခငလတး ဘယညအေကငညေပညေပညပ ငပညေ နတး?

5) ပရပးရမးႈလပးခငးမခကး မယကြ မခကး ရငည းြကပပႈပမခကး တ မတပည တ းရပညမတနတး? ယငးအနငငးကးယကခယ၀နးမခကးးြင မတပည တအ က လပအ ကငမမမခကး လပအ ကင ပည ေမတနတး? ယငးးယကခယ၀နးမခကးပ အဘက ဘက၀ တ ခနးငးအကပကငးလပ လခးရ ပညပာ လကး?

6) ပရပအခးလးအ းရ လမအနငငမမပပႈပမခကး တ အငကငညမရနခ တည/ြခခအနငငေ တညးတးတးးက( တ)အငကငညမရနမခးခကကပနတ ခပအနငငးး တည ပမပငး မးက ဥး နမခကးးြငအးြ းးး တဓအလညမခးမခကးလကး?

7) ပရပၿမ ကပဓအလည တကပနတခပၿပ း ငအကပ လအနငငေ တညပပႈပမရ ပမြ ခၿပ းအလးအငကငည ခခပပႈပမခကး တ ခနေကလက တည ရငညမရခအကပကငးလပ ပညေ လကး?

8) ပရပအခးလးအ းရ အးႈ မပနတြပမမ ရငည ႈပခးအးးႈနႈမခကးခငးခငး ကပနလရန ြယကငး ရငည းးခပ လပ ငကငးမခကးမတ ပည တကပလပေ နတး? ယငးးတမတပည တ းးးအကငလပအ ကငေ နတး? မတ တညနတးလမးမခကးက ငည မးမတ တည င မမခကး ခငးခငးမတပည တ တမ မငးအ ကငးြပညေ နတး?

9

Proposed Field Operations for April-May 2019

2019 Surface Collection and Excavations

During the 2019 field season the IRAW@Bagan team will conduct quadrant-based surface

collection (diagnostic sherds and special finds) and sub-surface testing of the Shwe Creek

(Operation 315) and Otein Taung (Operation 748) occupation sites (see Figure 1). Both locales

were examined multiple times during our initial reconnaissance within Bagan’s peri-urban

(mixed urban-rural) settlement zone, and both have plausible evidence for domestic occupation.

The sub-surface testing will involve the excavation of a 1 x 4 m trench in the approximate center

of a significant ceramic scatter at each site (N-S orientation), and an additional 1 x 4 m trench 10

m to the east of each of the central units (E-W orientation; see Figures 2 and 3). The quadrants

for surface collection will be oriented based on a primary “operation” datum to be established in

the approximate center of each ceramic scatter (adjacent to the central excavation unit), and the

two 100 m baselines that will extend out from this operation datum on the cardinal directions

(e.g., N-S and E-W). This configuration will form four 50 x 50 m surface collection quadrants:

NW, NE, SE, SW (Figures 4 and 5).

Excavations will be conducted using trowels and hand-picks, following a combination of

natural and cultural contexts. All excavated matrices will be processed using ¼″ screens, and

matrix samples will be collected when deemed useful. Munsell colors will be assigned to each

matrix, and color “smears” will be recorded on context specific Data Record forms. Information

pertaining to specific excavation contexts and associated artifactual finds will be recorded using

the same Data Record forms. More elaborate excavation narratives will be recorded in the

excavator’s personal notebooks. Profile/Section drawings and top-plans will be hand-drawn for

specific excavation contexts. In addition, a series of high resolution (RAW) photographs will be

taken for each excavation context to facilitate photogrammetric-based 3D-imaging.

Figure 1. Google Map showing the location of the initial four IRAW@Bagan project settlement

testing areas, including the sites scheduled for investigation during the 2019 field season: Shwe

Creek (Op. 315) and Otein Taung (Op. 748).

10

Figure 2. Google Map showing the location of excavations at the Shwe Creek site (Op. 315).

Figure 3. Google Map showing the location of excavations at the Otein Taung site (Op. 315).

11

Figure 4. Google Map showing the surface collection area for the Shwe Creek site (Op. 315).

Figure 5. Google Map showing the surface collection area for the Otein Taung site (Op. 748).

12

2019 Survey and Reconnaissance

During the 2019 field season, the IRAW@Bagan team will conduct reconnaissance and

mapping of an NNE-SSW transect between the Shwe Creek and Otein Taung locales (Figure 6),

two “possible residential neighborhood” (PRN) sites that will undergo test excavations during

the same time period. The positioning of the transect, running between the two known PRNs and

bisecting Bagan’s peri-urban settlement zone, will increase our understanding of the distribution

of Bagan era residential neighborhoods and associated features, and inform the location of future

test excavations. The pedestrian transect survey will emphasize the rapid and efficient

identification of locales deemed indicative of PRNs through the documentation of high-density

surface scatters (HDSS) of artifacts, defined as those that meet or exceed a minimal density

criteria (MDC) of 25 artifacts per square meter, over a contiguous area of at least 100 square

meters. These criteria are consistent with the characteristics of the previously identified Shwe

Creek and Otein Taung PRN sites. The proposed transect survey will be 200 m wide x 1.75 km

long. Individual survey lines (SL) will be established every 10 m across the width of the transect,

along the northern boundary (from east to west), beginning at 5 m west of the eastern boundary

line (i.e., at 5 m, 15 m, 25 m etc.). Each survey line will be digitized over satellite imagery to

help maintain the survey formation, and assigned a unique, sequential designation, from east to

west (i.e., Transect 1, Survey Line #1 = T1-1). The survey lines will serve as the designated

“walking paths” running parallel to the long axis of the transect (e.g., they will be 1.75 km long).

The survey team will be composed of eight transect walkers, with one individual designated

as the team leader. The team leader will have the responsibility for maintaining Survey Line

Record forms (SLR) and anchoring the team’s movements along the transects. The pedestrian

survey of the transect will begin by aligning the field walkers in 10 m intervals along the

northern boundary, beginning with the most eastern survey line (T1-1), which will be inset from

the eastern transect border by 5 m (i.e., by walking along the survey line, this field walker will be

scanning 5 m to the east and west of their survey line, thus covering the 10 m wide [E-W] area

immediately adjacent to the transect border, but not beyond it). Each individual walker will

subsequently be positioned at 10 m intervals, with the final field walker stationed at the 75 m

survey line (T1-8). The team leader will be positioned along one of the middle survey lines (i.e.,

T1-4/35 m or T1-5/45 m) and equipped with a handheld GPS to maintain the survey orientation

and to mark the distances walked. All other field walkers will carry a directional compass to

assist in maintaining their orientation along the survey lines.

Field walkers will progress southward along their designated 1.75 km long survey lines in

increments of 50 m, completing what is referred to as a transect unit or TU (50 x 10 m in size).

The survey lines will serve as the central (longitudinal) axis for each transect unit, and the 50 m

increments will establish the northern and southern boundaries of each transect unit. Each

transect unit will be given a spatial designation based on the survey line being traversed (e.g.,

T1-1), and the sequential number of the 50 m increment along the survey line, beginning with the

most northern transect unit, and ending with the last transect unit, at the southern boundary (i.e.,

T1-1:1, T1-1:2 etc.). The distance traveled by each individual field walker will be determined by

counting paces, with the assistance of handheld counters. At the end of each transect unit

13

increment the team leader will confirm the appropriate distance and orientation on the GPS and

establish a marker flag on their survey line. The field walker on the outside survey line will also

place a flag on their line at the end of each transect unit increment to assist in maintaining the

orientation of the subsequent set of returning survey lines. Survey line walking and ground

scanning will continue until the southern boundary of the transect is reached, at which point the

survey team will reorient itself on the southern boundary, in 10 m intervals, to proceed with the

next set of survey lines, this time moving to the north. The orientation of the new survey lines

will continue to be assisted by using the GPS and compasses, in addition to the survey flags

previously left by the team leader and outside edge field walker. This approach will be applied to

the entire transect except where terrain is impassable or modern development has obscured the

archaeological record. In order to complete the NNE-SSW transect between the Shwe Creek and

Otein Taung occupation sites the survey team will cover a total of 700 transect units (50 x 10 m

in size) over 20 days of field work, requiring the survey of 35 transect units per day, or a little

over four transect units per person/per day for each of the eight field walkers.

During the process of completing each 50 x 10 m transect unit, each field walker will be

responsible for scanning the ground surface 5 m to either side of them, with the goal of

identifying any potential high-density surface scatters (HDSS) of artifacts, and/or other relevant

cultural and natural features. All potential HDSS locales, along with any cultural or natural

features of interest, will be flagged for more intensive investigation following the completion of

each transect unit. At the conclusion of each transect unit increment, each field walker will

record initial observations on a Survey Line Recording form (SLR) specific to each 50 x 10 m

transect unit. Each potential HDSS artifact scatter flagged by the field walkers will then be

investigated in more detail by the entire survey team to determine if it meets or exceeds the

minimal density criteria (MDC) of 25 artifacts per square meter, over a contiguous area of at

least 100 square meters. If these criteria are met, the team will attempt to determine the

approximate boundaries of the HDSS, mark these boundaries on the relevant satellite image, and

acquire a GPS point for the approximate center of the scatter. The locale will then be recorded on

the SLR form as a possible residential neighborhood (PRN) site and be given a preliminary site

designation that includes the transect number and a sequential number for each PRN discovered

(i.e., T1-PRN1, T1-PRN2 etc.).

As PRN sites are, by definition, large – given the HDSS criteria – it is likely that they will

cut across multiple transect units, requiring that descriptions of transect unit-specific

characteristics for a particular HDSS/PRN be recorded on all relevant Survey Line Recording

forms (SLR) for all associated transect units. The individual SLR forms should include an

inventory of any cultural or natural features indicative of ancient settlement, agricultural

practices, and water management – including temples, stupas, monasteries, canals, ponds,

streams, and vegetation cover – that are associated with the HDSS within a particular transect

unit, as well as a check list of the types of artifacts making up the HDSS. Significant features

should also be marked on the associated satellite image in preparation for digitization within a

GIS program. All collected data will be entered into a Microsoft Access database as well as a

GIS (geographic information systems) program to facilitate future analysis and to guide the

choice of future PRN test excavations.

14

Figure 6. Map showing the location of the Shwe Creek and Oteing Taung PRN sites, and the

transect that will be surveyed between them during the 2019 field season.

15

၂၀၁၉ ၿပ အမလးြ ြငး ငး အးန လပငနးမခကးႈကပးငကပကငး

၂၀၁၉ ရႈ အကမအပပအးြ အငကငကးမခကးႈအ ကငးကငး ရငည းမးအ ကအးးလပငနးမခကး

၂၀၁၉ ရႈပြငး ငး အး နလပငနးးက းြင IRAW@Bagan

အး န ြပ တ အကမအပပအးြ အငကငကးမခကး(ြပကမးႈးက ကအလညလကနင တည

းကမးြပမခကး ရငည း နတငမးကကးမမးရ တညအးြ းရ ခ မခကး) အလးအငကငညြးႈနႈက ငည

မရးးမးးငႈအ ကငးကငးလပငနးႈးငပာမတသ

ငတကပငအကမအကးမးအ ကအးးအနက ငညအတႊအခကငး(ဘးကးမရး၃၁၅န းႈမးခဥး) ရငည

းငနးအးကင (ဘးကး မရး ၇၄၈န းႈမးခဥး)မခကးးြင းကမးြပနမမနကးယမနငမတည

ႈမးခဥးမခကးးမးအ က အး နကပအ ကငတြ မတက ႈပာ တသ (ပပ.၁.းြငးမ) ပာ

ႈမးခဥးးမးအ ကးနအနးက(၂)အနးကႈလပး နဦးအလညလကမမမခကးက ႈ တည

ပရပအးအခးလး ငအက နးအ မခကး(ၿမ ကပ ရငညအခးလးငႈပအနေ တည)

အကခအနငငမမ ငးကလမအနးယကမခကး ရငည အမြးးမးအေကငးလပငမခကးးြ

ယပေတ ကး ငကး ြယးက အငက ငကးမခကးအလညလကပညခနမခကးပင

ႀမမခကးႈြကအလညလကႈႈအ းေတညးမပညၿပ းက ႈပာ တသအကမအကႈမးႈမးအလညလကမမးြ

းမးအ က အး နကပလပးန ၁x၄မ းက ခဥးးရတအကမငတပႈငတး

မခကးကပနတခပအနးကမခကးပလယးတညးတညမရ (အးကငအကမကးနး၍)လတးအကငး

ကကး၁x၄မ းက ခဥး းရတ းႈ လယးတညးတညမရအန၍ အးရ ဘ တ ၁၀ မ းက (အးရ -

အနကးနး၍) ႈမးခဥးးမးအ က အး နကပလပမတက ႈပာ တသ (ပပ.၂. ရငည ၃. းြင

းမ)အကမအပပအးြ အငကငကးမခကးႈအ ကငးကငး

းြအလးအငကငညြမခကးအကမငတပႈငတးမခကးကပနတခပအန တညအနးကပလယးတညးတညမရ

းမးအ ကအးး းြးငးးကငကး တည ဦးးတးကမခဥးမခကးအပပအကပ၍(းမးအ ကမတည

ခဥးးရတမခကးပ လယဗ ရငည န းပ ပးးယမလခ) ႈအ ကငးအလညလကမတက ႈပာ တသ

ငတအနက ၁၀၀မ းကးရတ မခဥး(၂)အေကငး းမးအ ကမတည ခဥးးရတမခကးပ

လကးကးငး(ဥပမကအကမကအးကင အးရ -အနက) လ ြပ ကးက

မရးးမးးငမတက ႈပာ တသ တက ငည

၅၀x၅၀မ းကအလးအငကငညြအလးြအကမအပပအငက

16

ငကးႈအ ကငးအလညလကးနးြ းးရမတက ႈပာ တသ အနကအကမက ြ

အးရ အကမကြ အးရ အးကင ြ အးရ အကမကြ မ၍က ႈပာ တသ (ပပ.၄. ရငည ၅.းြငးမ)

အကမအကးမးအ ကအလညလကအးးးြင လ ငအရပကပကးြၽနငယမခကး ရငည

လ ငအပာြၽနငယမခကး ဘကးအကမလႊက ရငည ယဥအခးမမအကမလႊကမခကးပ အနငကးး

လပ လ ပးကပငမးအ ကအလညလကမတက ႈပာ တသ းမးအ ကးးရ မရခအ က

ႈပ ပႈငတးမခကးကးလပး ၀.၂၅”ႈး ခပးရ တည ႈကမခကးက ငည ႈႈယမအလညလက

မတက ႈပာ တသ ႈကႈႈ ခးကမရးးရ မရခအ က အး နလပငနးမခကးးြ

ႈဥးႈကးႈပ အးြးယမနငမတည နမမနကပႈငတးးငး ႈအ ကငးအလညလကမတက ႈပာ တသ

မန ယအကမအးကငကပႈကပ ပးကပမတက ႈၿပ း းးရ တညနမမနကပႈငတးမခကးပ အးကင ရငည

ပာ၀င တညအကမမမပတြယႈကးမခကး ခလမရးးမးးငပပႈပ းြင က တညႈြ က

မရးးမးးယမမတက ႈပာ တသ းမးအ ကခဥးမခကးမရးးရမတည းငးခ လ ရငည

ႈပအန တညအးြ းရပႈငတးမခကးလတး

ခလမရးးမးးငပပႈပမခကးးြငပငက တညႈြ က မရးးမးကပႈမတက ႈပာ တသ ငတအနက

းမးအ ကမမလပငနးႈဥးအလရခက အ းႈးခလမခကးမမ းမးအ ကအးး ႀ းေပ မပ

မရးႈႈကပ းြငး တက တညႈြမရးးမးးငပာမတသ းမးအ ကမမ ရငည င တည း နတ ြပပပ

မခကးးြ အဘးးကက းပငးပပ ြပမခကး ရငည အပပႈ းကမင ြပပပမခကး

လက ငညးးးငးးကအးး ြပပာ မတသ ငတကပင းမးအ ကအးးခဥးမခကး

ပးဘကမငတပလပးး ြပပႈပမခကးငးလပနငးနးြ ပပေတလငကပး ကးမမကမငညမကး တည (RAW)

ဓကးပပမခကးက ငညလတးမရးးမးးယမမတက ႈပာ တသ

၂၀၁၉ ြငး ငးးငးးကအးး ရငည ႈနႈးခအ းႈးအလညလကႈမးႈမးကငး

၂၀၁၉ြငး ငး အး နးက ကလးြင IRAW@Bagan ြပ တ အတႊအခကငး ရငည

းငနးအးကင

းမးအ ကအးးအနးကမခကးေကးးယကးအလရခကအကမကအးရ အကမက အးကငအနကအးကင

လကးးကးငး ဦးးတမတည ႈပမခဥး ကးလခအကမပပအးး ြပကငး ရငည

ႈနႈးခအ းႈးႈမးႈမးအလညလကကငးမခကး(ပပ.၆. းြငးမ)အ ကငတြမတက ႈ တညကပင

ပရပအးအကခလ အနငငပညးကတြက ယမ နငအ က န းႈပးက (PRN)အနးက(၂) းႈခနးတး

17

းႈၿပငန ႈမးခဥးးမးအ ကအလညလကမတက ႈပာ တသ တြကက ႈနငအခးရအ ကအနးက (PRNs)

(၂)အနးက ရငည ပရပအးၿမ ကပ ရငညငႈပအန တညအခးလး ငအက နးအနးကမခကး ခငးခငး

ႈပ လခ ရငးယရဥအလညလကကငး တ ပရပအးလမအနမမဓအလညမခကးပခပည ရပ ပပ ရငည

ႈပ အန တညအငကငကး ခငး းကမခကး ပမနကးလတလကအႈမတညကပင

နကရားးြငအလညလကအးကညမတည ႈမး ပးမးအ ကအလညလကမမ

မခကးးြမခကးႈြကအငကမက ႈအႈပာမတသ းႈအနးက ရငညးႈအနးက

ခငးခငး ရငးယရဥႈပ လခ

ြငး ငးအလညလကကငးလပငနးအကမအပပးြင မခကး ပးပခပည ရပ အးြ းရး တညအငကငကးမခကး(H

DSS)ပ မရးးမးမခကး းႈ းႈႈပးတးးရအန တည ႈးးနးမ းက၁၀၀းြင

နတး ပးးႈႈးးနးမ းကးြငး အငကငကးပခပည ရပ မမ (၂၅) ကးရ တညနတး ပး ပခပည ရပ

မမႈပ မနး(MDC) မရးးမးမခကး အကပလခ လမအနငငပညမတ ယမ နငမတည တြကအနးကမခကး

နတမရနးကငး အ ကပကငးမခကးကပလပနငးန အလးအပး အးနကပလပ ြကးမတက ႈပာ တသ

ယငးအလညလကမမႈပ မနးမခကး တ ယငအလညလကႈမးႈမးပညၿပ းက ႈ တညအတႊအခကငး ရငည းငနးအးကငးရ

(PRN)အနးကမခကးမရ အလညလကအးြ းရး တည လကဏကးပမခကး ရငည ႈပမမးရအနေၿပ း မခကး

ႈြက ပးးတညနငမတက ႈ တသ ကပငကး တည ပႈပ ရငယရဥအလညလကမတည းယကမရက

၂၀၀မ းက ခယx ၁.၇၅ လမ းကးရတ းြငးးရမတက ႈပာ တသ

းႈဦးခငးြငး ငးအလညလကမတည မခဥးးႈ ရငညးႈ(SL) မရက ၁၀

မ းကြကႈ က ႈပာ တသအကမကဘနယနမးးအလရခက(အးရ မရအနက)

အးရ ဘနယနမးမရ အနကဘ တ ၅မ းကမရႈးငပာမတသ (ဥပမက-၅မ းကးႈအနးက

၁၅မ းကးႈအနးက ၂၅ မ းကးႈအနးက ႈ တက ငည) ြငး ငးအလညလကမတည မခဥးးႈခငးႈ ပ

ေ နပ ၿရလးပပးပက ငည မရးးမးးငငကးးရကငးက ငည ြငး ငးအလညလကပည တညပပ ပကန

ငမးကကးအးြ းရခမခကး အးြ းရ တညအငကငကးႀမ မနးမခကး

အးရ မရ အနက တႈဥလ းခမရးးမးးယမနငမတက ႈပာ တသ (ဥပမက-

ရငးယရဥမမ ၁ Transect 1 ြငး ငးမခဥး #၁ Survey Line #1= T1-1 ၁း ၁-၁)

ြငး ငးမခဥးမခကးမရက ရငးယရဥအလညလက မတည းယကမခဥး ရငညၿပ ငးရအနေအ က

လမးအလရခကြငး ငးေးမတည လမးအေကငးမခကးပငက ႈ တသ (ဥပမက-ြငး ငးမခဥး( တ)

လမးအလရခကြငး ငးးမတညးရတမရက ၁.၇၅ လမ းကက ႈေ တသ)

18

ြငး ငးအလညလကအးး ြပ တ လမးအလရခကြငး ငးမတည မ (၈)အယက ြပ ႈတးမတက ႈၿပ း

ႀ းေပ မအာငးအ ကင(၁)ဦးပာ၀ငမတက ႈ တသ ြပ အာငးအ ကင တ

ြငး ငးမခဥးမရးးမးးငပပႈပ (SLR) းကးနယမအ ကငတြးမတက ႈၿပ း

ြငး ငးလမးအလရခက ြပ းႈ ြပ လပး ႈ မပ ြပပးမတသ ရငးယရဥ အလညလကမတည

းယကးအလရခက လမးအလရခကြငး ငးႈမးႈမးအလညလကအးးးြ ြငး ငးလမးအလရခက မ

မခကး တ (၁၀) မ းကြကအးးက ငညအကမကဘနယနမး းငး အးရ မရ အန တ

ဦးးတလခအလရခကေမတက ႈ တသ အးရ ဘမရႈ၍ ြငး ငးမခဥး (T1-1)

ရငးယရဥအလညလကမတညးယကပ အးရ ဘ နကး းမခဥးမရ (၅)မ းကြကးြင ႈးငပာမတသ

(မခဥးအပပးြင ြငး ငးအလရခကမတည မ တ ြငး ငးမခဥးပ အးရ ဘ(၅)မ းကအးက

အနကဘ(၅)မ းကပာ ႈမးႈမးအလညလကလခလမးအလရခကး မတက ႈ တညးြ

ြငး ငးးယကမရက(၁၀)မ းကခယးရမတသ ငးယကငအခကလြန၍မးပာသ)

းႈဦးခငးလမးအလရခကြငး ငး မးငး တ (၁၀)မ းကႈ ြကအးးက ငည

လမးအလရခကြငး ငးေး မတက ႈၿပ း အနက ပး ြငး ငးအလရခက မမရက

(၇၅)မ းကြငး ငးမခဥး (T1-8) းြငးရမတက ႈ တသ ြပ အာငးအ ကင တ

ြငး ငးမခဥးကးလပးပ လယးရမခဥးအနးက(ဥပမက- T1-4/35 m or T1-5/45 m) းြငးရ

မတက ႈၿပ း လ င (GPS) းယကက ငည ြငး ငးမခဥးပ လကးးက မရးးမးးငကငး ရငည

လမးအလရခက ြငး ငး တည ြကအးးးတ မရးးမးးငပာမတသ

ြငး ငးလမးအလရခက မမခကးကးလပး တ းပမခ ရကကပ ပလမကမ အကငးႈ ႈ က ငည မမးတပ

ြငး ငးမခဥးလကးကးငးအးရ းမလမးအလရခကေ းပာမတသ

ြငး ငးလမးအလရခက မမခကး တ အးကငဘ တ

(၁.၇၅) လမ းကြကအးးငအးရ ေး မတက ႈၿပ း

ရငးယရဥအလညလကမတညးယက းမရးခ(TU) (၅၀x၁၀ မ းက တြယ ႈကး)င ြငး ငး

ေးမတက ႈ က ငည ပ (၅၀)မ းကင လအလရခကေးမတသ ြငး ငးမခဥးမခကး တ

ရငးယရဥအလည လကမတည းယက းမရးခးငးးြ လတမခဥး(အ ာငလ) ရငည

ၿပငက ႈအနေမတသ းယက း

မရးခးငးပအကမကဘ ရငညအးကငဘႈြနးနယနမးမခဥးမခကးးြင ပ(၅၀)မ းက

အးးြငကးးရ ပာမတသ းယက းမရးခးငးပ မတအပးပပမခကးမရက

19

ြငး ငးမခဥးမခကးအကပလခ ((T1-1) းမရးမတအပးပာမတသ ပ

(၅၀)မ းကးြ ြငး ငးမခဥးမတအပးးနးြအကမကဘႈြနး

ႈ ရငညအးကငဘႈြနးဘ ပးးတးြင (T1-1:1, T1-1:2 ႈ က ငည) မတအပးပာမတသ

ြငး ငးလမးအလရခက မ းႈဦးခငးႈ တ

အကလရမးအးးြ အးးြႈလး ပးကပ၍ မရး ကးအးးြကငး ပပႈပက ငည

လမးအလရခကေးပာ မတသ ရငးယရဥအလညလကမတည းယကးႈ ၿပ း ပးးငးးြင ြပ အာငးအ ကင

ငညအလရခက တည ြကအးး GPSအပပးရ ဦးးတခလကးးကးတ ြငး ငးမခဥး ပးးြင

မရး ကး လပႈငမမရး ကးငကးးပာမတသ ယငးြငး ငးမခဥးကပငးရ ကကးအ က

ြငး ငးလမးအလရခက မးငး မမးတ လမးအလရခက တည ြငး ငးမခဥးမခကး ပး းးငး

လပႈ မရး ကးကပငကးကငးက ငည လ ြငး ငးလမးအလရခကမတည

ဦးးတခလကးက ရငည ြကအးးမခကး းရအႈးန အငကမ က ႈအႈပာမတသ

ြငး ငးမခဥးလမးအလရခကကငး ရငညအကမကပငႈမးႈမးအလညလကကငးမခကး အးကငဘနယနမး

ပးအးက တင းလပအ ကငေးမတက ႈၿပ း (၁၀)မ းက ြကအးး

ြငး ငးမခဥးမခကး းငးအနကငပးႈႀမ

ြင ငးမခဥးအးကငမရ အကမကဘ ပးနယနမး တ ကပနလရန

လမးအလရခကေးမတက ႈပာ တသ ႈငပ းမရးလ တည ြငး ငးမခဥးပ

ဦးးတခလကးးက GPS ရငည ပလ မကမ အကငမခကးမတ က ငည

ြပ အာငးအ ကငႈ ငမမရး ကးငကး တည လပအနးကမရ လမးအလရခကႈမးႈမး တည

းယကကပငမရ ႈးငးမတက ႈပာ တသ လရခမခကး အခကမခကး ရငည ႈအ ကလပ ငကး တည

အ ကဦအနးကမခကးမရ ပ ယပည တအ က ရငးယရဥႈမးႈမးအလညလကကငးလပငနးးႈလပးးြင

အးရးအ ကငး အး နပတကးပ ငးက မရးးမးမခကးယမအလညလကနငမတက ႈပာ တသအတႊအခကငး ရငည

းငနးအးကငယဥအခးမမအနးကမခကးေကးးရအကမကအးရ အကမကမရ အးကင အနကအးကင တ

ရငးယရဥးႈမးႈမးအလည လကကငးလပငနးၿပ းအကမကအႈးနးြ ြငး ငး ြပ တ ရငးယရဥးးယက

းမရးခ(၅၀x၁၀ မ းက တြယႈကး) ႈႈအပာငး(၇၀၀) းအပာငး(၂၀)းြငး

ြငး ငးအ ကငတြေးမတက ႈပာ တသ းႈးလခင းမရးးယက(၃၅)င

ၿပ းႈ းးနအ ကငတြေးပာမတသ တမ းပာ ြငး ငးလမးအလရခက မ(၈) ဦးမရ းႈဦးလရခင

းႈး းမရးးယ(၄)င နတး ပး ၿပ းႈ းအကငအ ကငတြ ေးပာမတသ

20

၅၀x၁၀ မ းက တြယးရ တည ရငးယရဥအလညလကမတည းမရးးယကမခကး

ၿပ း ပး တညခနးငးးြင ြငး ငးလမးအလရခက မးငး တ မမလမးအလရခက တည

ြငး ငးမခဥးပအဘးးႈဘးႈခးငးပ (၅)မ းကြကအးးးယကးြငး

ႈမးႈမးအလညလကမမမခကးကပလပလခ HDSS ပ အနငကးးးရမမ တမ း ကကးအ က ဘက၀ ရငည

ယဥအခးမမ ငးက အငကငကး လကဏကးပမခကး မရးးမးက တညႈြေးမတသ ဘက၀ ရငည

ယဥအခးမမ ရႈႈလပးးြ ႈး၀ငႈကး ြယးကက ႈအႈၿပ း HDSS းြ လကးလကးရမတည

ကးလပးအ ကအနးကအကအနမခကး လပမရး ကးမခကးႈငမလခ

းမရးးယကၿပ း ပး တင အ းႈးေပမးႈမးႈမးအလညလက ေးပာမတသ

ပ းမရးးယကမခကး ပး းၿပ းႈ းခနးြင ြငး ငး လမးအလရခက မးငး ၅၀x၁၀မ းက

တြယႈကး းမရးးယကးြ ြငး ငးမခဥးမရးးမး SLR းြ

ႈးငႈမးႈမးအလညလကေးပာမတသ ြငး ငးလမးအလရခက မမခကးပ လပ မရး ကးမခကးႈငမ

မရး ကးငကးပညေ တည HDSS းြ လကးလကးရ တည

ပႈငတးအငကငကးမခကးအးြ းရမမမခကး တ နတး ပးအးြ းရႈပ မနး ရငည င MCD

းရမတ ပာ ြငး ငး ြပ းႈ ြပ လပးမရ အ းႈးႈမးႈမးအလညလက

ေးမတသအးြ းရမမ တ အ ကကပပာႈပ မနး ရငည တ အနပာ ြငး ငး ြပ တ HDSS းြ

နတမရနး းမရးနယနမးးႈ GPS ပးကပလခ ၿရလးအကမပပ ပးကပက

မရးးမးးငးမတသအးြ းရ အငကငကးမခကးပ ပခပည ရပ အးြ းရး တည လယဗ အနးက GPS

ေ နးမရးးယမမရး ကးးမတသအးြ းရးကအနးကလတး SLR ပပႈပးြင PRN

အနးကက ႈမရးးမးက တညႈြးမတက ႈ တသ ရငးယရဥအလညလက

မတည းမရးးယကနပပား ရငညးမ PRN းငးပ နပပားမခကး ပမးးြပမတအပးက

ႈကးငးက တည ြငးးမတက ႈ တသ (ဥပမက-T1-PRN1, T1-PRN2 ႈ တက ငည)

HDSS ႈပ မနးမခကးး းမရးငကး တည ခယကပနတအ က PRNအနးကမခကးက ႈအ ကအေကငည PRN

အနးကမခကး တည ရငးယရဥအလညလကမတည းမရးးယကးႈးတးးြင ကမဘပ ရႈ

ပးငမနတးက း နးပားငအနနငမတက ႈပာ တသ ငတအေကငည းမရးးယကမခကးပ

း နတငငးရကးမမးရမတည HDSS/PRN လကဏကးပမခကး ငးက းမရးးယကမခကးပ SLR

မခကးးြင မရးးမးက တညႈြငကးးမတသ SLR းႈခငးႈ းြင ယဥအခးမမ ရငည

ဘကးခငးးကမခကးက ႈေ တည ရမဘးကး အႈး ဘနးႀ းအခကငးမခကး

21

းမးအကမကငးမခကး အးနမခကး ႈမးအခကငးမခကး ရငညအကမအပပအးြ းရး တည

ပငမခကးပားင အးရးအးအ ကငး အကခအနငငကငး ႈ ပခးအးးဓအလညမခကး အးးးရမမႈ မပမခကး

ႈ တးတ ႈကးငး ြငးမရး ကး ငည တသ ၄ငးးတ တ ရငးယရဥအလညလကမတည

းမရးးယကးႈးြငအးြ းရး တည HDSS မခကး ရငည ြယအနေ တည

ကပငအးြ းရပႈငတးမခးႈကးမခကး ႈႈအ းအလညလကကငးက ငညလတး HDSS

နတမရနး းရနငမတက ႈပာ တသ ငမးကကးႈြကအးြ းရး တည ခလမခကး GIS

ႈနႈက ငညအးး ြပငကး တည ၿရလးအကမပပးြင ငတည ြငးမရး ကး ငည တသ ႈအ ကငးးးရ တည

ကးလပးအ က ခလ အေကငးးကအးြ းရမမမခကး Microsoft Access databaseက ငည

ခလႈအ ကငးငကးးရမတညကပင ြငး ငး အး နလပငနး မခကးၿပ း ပးခနးြင

အ းႈးြပကမးႈး ခကအလညလကကငး ရငည နကရားးြင လ အ ကငတြေမတည PRN

အနးကမခကး ႈမး ပးမးအ ကအလညလကအးးးြ အငကမက ႈအႈးန GIS ႈနႈ

ပးကပလခ ႈမးႈမးအလညလက ြကးမတက ႈပာ တသ

22

2019 Staff List

1. Dr. Gyles Iannone (Trent University), Principal Investigator

2. Dr. Scott Macrae (Trent University), Co-Director (Survey)

3. Nyein Chan Soe (Yadanabon University), Survey Assistant

4. Naing Soe (University of Yangon), Survey Assistant

5. Paing Thet Phyo (University of Yangon), Field Assistant

6. Dr. Pyiet Phyo Kyaw (Mandalay University), Co-director (Excavations)

7. Kong Cheong (American University), Field Director

8. Dr. Nwe Nwe Moe (Mandalay University), Unit Supervisor

9. Ellie Tamura (Trent University), Unit Supervisor

10. Daw Khin Phyu Phyu Tun (University of Yangon), Field Assistant

11. Keiko Lui (Eco K Company), Environmental Consultant

12. Khin Lay Maung (University of Yangon), Field Assistant

13. Hsu ThinZa Toē (Mandalay University), Field Assistant

14. Saw Tun Lin (University of Yangon), Unit Supervisor

15. Raiza “Stephany” Rivera-Borbolla (Trent University), Unit Supervisor

16. Daw Khin Thet Su Hlaing (University of Yangon), Field Assistant

17. Daw Thaw Thaw Nyein San (University of Yangon), Field Assistant

18. Moe Sat Wathan (University of Mandalay) Field Assistant

19. Khin Kyi Phyu Thant (University of Yangon), Field Assistant

Shwe Creek Unit 315a-1 &

Otein Taung Unit 748a-1

Shwe Creek Unit 315a-2 &

Otein Taung Unit 748a-2

Survey Team

• Nwe Nwe Moe

• Ellie Tamura

• Khin Phyu Phyu Tun

• Keiko Lui

• Khin Lay Maung

• Hsu ThinZa Toē

• Saw Tun Lin

• Stephany Rivera

• Khin Thet Su Hlaing

• Thaw Thaw Nyein

San

• Moe Sat Wathan

• Khin Kyi Phyu Thant

• Scott Macrae

• Nyein Chan Soe

• Naing Soe

• Paing Thet Phyo

• +four rotating team

members from the

excavation crews

23

◄ Mar 2019 April 2019 May 2019 ►

Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

19

20

21

22

23

24 leave for airport in the evening

25 Depart YYZ

BR35 departs 1:45 am

26 Bangkok Hotel Arrive TPE 5:15 BR211 depart 8:25 Arrive BKK 11:10

27 Bagan Hotel Depart DMK FD244 departs 11:00 Arrive MDL 12:15 Airport Shuttle (to Bagan)

28 Bagan Hotel • Site Tour

• Equipment

• Excavation methods lecture

1 Van

29 Bagan Hotel Shwe Creek

• Recording methods lecture

1 Van

30 Bagan Hotel Shwe Creek

• Lab methods lecture

1 Van

1) Foreign staff hotel days = 29 (26+3); Myanmar staff hotel days = 26 2) Foreign staff meal days = 29 (26+3); Myanmar staff meal days = 26 3) van rental days = 23 4) Airport shuttle trips = 2

◄ Apr 2019 May 2019 Jun 2019 ►

Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat

1 Bagan Hotel Shwe Creek 1 Van



4 Bagan Hotel Day Off






10 Bagan Hotel Otein Taung 1 Van












22 Bagan Hotel Pack-up Day 1 Van

23 Mandalay Hotel Airport Shuttle (to Mandalay)

24 Bangkok Hotel 1 van (to airport) Depart MDL

FD 245 departs 12:55 Arrive DMK 15:10

25 Depart BKK BR62 depart 11:40 Arrive TPE 16:30 BR36 depart 19:40 Arrive YYZ 21:55

• Bangkok Hotel: https://www.tripadvisor.ca/Hotel_Review-g293916-d549706-Reviews-New_Siam_Guest_House_II-Bangkok.html

• Bagan Hotel (Golden Crown): https://www.tripadvisor.ca/Hotel_Review-g317112-d10046302-Reviews-Golden_Crown_Motel-

Bagan_Mandalay_Region.html

• Mandalay Hotel: http://www.diamondrisehotel.com/

24

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

OBJECTIVES: Insight Grant (IG) funding is requested to support Phase I of a long-term

archaeological research program aimed at generating an integrated socio-ecological history of

residential patterning, agricultural practices, and water management at the “classical”

Burmese (Bama) capital of Bagan, Myanmar (11th to 14th century CE). The IRAW@Bagan

project gains its importance from the fact that our current understanding of Bagan society is

biased towards its upper echelons, being based almost entirely on elite-focused texts, art, and

architecture. A settlement archaeology study within the peri-urban (mixed urban-rural) zone

immediately surrounding Bagan’s walled and moated, regal-ritual epicenter will: 1) provide

much needed balance to our conception of Bagan as a dynamic capital city; 2) generate insights

useful to elucidating the unique aspects of urban development in the tropics; and, 3) inform

considerations of resilience and vulnerability in contemporary tropical metropolises.

CONTEXT: Bagan (aka Pagan), like most of the historic Buddhist capitals of Myanmar, was

located in the central “dry zone” (Aung-Thwin 1987:88, 1990:1; Aung-Thwin and Aung-Thwin

2012:38; Cooler 1997:19-20; Hudson 2008:553; Strachan 1989:8), on the eastern bank of the

strategic and economically important Ayeyarwady River (Higham 2001:134; Hudson 2004:221,

265). Recent archaeological and scientific assessments support a mid-9th century CE date for the

establishment of the Bagan community (Hudson 2004:220, 265-266; Moore et al. 2016:285;

Nyunt Nyunt Shwe 2011:26), with the 11th to 14th centuries being the period when Bagan was

the capital of a polity that controlled much of what is now the country of Myanmar (Daw Thin

Kyi 1966:187; Galloway 2006:35; Higham 2001:134; Hudson 2004:183, 266, 2008:553, 555;

Kan Hla 1977:17; Moore et al. 2016:285; Stadtner 2011:214-215, 2013:14, 18). Bagan’s

florescence was followed by an era of socio-political “collapse” and reorganization, after which

time it saw continued usage as a provincial capital and pilgrimage center (Hudson 2004:234-245,

266, Table 15, 2008:555; Hudson et al. 2001:53; Stadner 2011:215-216, 2013:14, 18). These

periods of growth and decline coincide with, and may have been influenced by, two significant

climate changes: The Medieval Climate Anomaly (MCA; 900-1300 CE), marked by warmer

conditions with increased rainfall, longer monsoon seasons, shorter dry season droughts, and

rains more evenly distributed throughout the year – which were ideal conditions for agriculture –

and the subsequent Little Ice Age (LIA; 1300-1570 CE), a cooling period that brought negative

changes in both rainfall and temperature, and hence deteriorating agricultural conditions

(Buckley et al. 2010, 2014; Cook et al. 2010; Lieberman 2003:103, 2009:330, 792, 2011:939;

Lieberman and Buckley 2012:1052; Wohlfarth et al. 2016; Wündsch et al. 2014; Yamoah et al.

2017).

The Bagan epicenter, as is true for other historic Myanma capitals, was an “exemplary”

center that was imbued with cosmological and regal-ritual significance, at the same time that it

was home to royals, nobles, military leaders, guards, servants, and elite craft workers (Aung-

Thwin 1985:50-51, 1987:88, 94-98; Aung-Thwin and Aung-Thwin 2012:81, 100-101; Daw Thin

Kyi 1966:187; Hudson 2004:221; Kan Hla 1977:21). Such epicenters were normally

characterized by a walled and moated regal-ritual space with 12 gates that housed royal temples

(with interior space), stupas (solid cores with offerings), ordination halls, libraries, monasteries,

“preaching halls,” and a palace (Aung-Thwin 1985:50-52, 1987:89-91; Aung-Thwin and Aung-

Thwin 2012:81; Daw Thin Kyi 1966:179; Hudson 2004:220; Stadtner 2011:219-220).

Historically, Myanma epicenters were roughly 2.5 km2 in size (Aung-Thwin 1987:90; c.f., Daw

25

Thin Kyi 1966:179). Bagan’s epicenter is slightly smaller, at 1.5 km2 (Aung-Thwin and Aung-

Thwin 2012:78), although it is impossible to determine its original dimensions because its

western wall washed into the Ayeyarwady River sometime in antiquity (Daw Thin Kyi

1966:179; Hudson 2004:221; Luce 1969:7, 106; Stadtner 2013:125).

When considered today, Bagan’s epicenter clearly: “represents an elite core, not an urban

boundary,” given that a dense amalgamation of brick temple complexes, stupas, and monasteries

extends out and away from the walled enclosure in all directions, thereby forming an extensive

peri-urban settlement zone (Hudson 2004:221; see also Aung-Thwin and Aung-Thwin 2012:101;

Kan Hla 1977:21; Luce 1969:229). Most of these features were constructed during Bagan’s

florescence (Hudson 2004:236), and the spatial extent of the peri-urban zone itself appears to

have been established by the end of the 11th century (Kan Hla 1977:18). This peri-urban zone is

estimated to have covered around 80 km2 (Grave and Barbetti 2001:75; Hudson 2004:237;

Hudson et al. 2001:48; Moore et al. 2016:294; c.f., Aung-Thwin and Aung-Thwin 2012:91), and

it encompassed at least 2200 brick temples (Hudson 2004:236; Kan Hla 1977:15), and possibly

as many as four thousand (Aung-Thwin 1985:169; Kan Hla 1977:15; Prichard 1992-2003). The

emphasis on channeling resources into monumental architecture during Bagan’s early

development suggests that these edifices were considered strategic mechanisms for broader

societal integration (Hudson 2004:243; Hudson et al. 2001:51; see also Trigger 1990). Crucial to

this integration was the Buddhist notion of “merit,” which was fundamental to the Bagan belief

system, and indeed to the daily life of all members of the kingdom (Aung-Thwin 1987:89; Aung-

Thwin and Aung-Thwin 2012:83-84). It was good deeds, and more significantly donations of

capital and both human and natural resources to the Buddhist church (the Sangha), that allowed

all citizens – but mostly those with access to such resources – to secure “social recognition and

spiritual benefits,” along with a higher quality rebirth (Aung-Thwin 1985:26, 43-44, 169-171;

Aung-Thwin and Aung-Thwin 2012:94; see also Luce 1969:89-90, 107, 109, 112, 115; Stadtner

2013:18).

Hudson et al. (2001:70) posit that: “By the twelfth century A.D., [Bagan’s peri-urban zone

was] characterized by a low-density, monument-rich complex that could expand without the

constraint of a predefined outer boundary,” such as a perimeter wall or any other type of

defensive feature (Daw Thin Kyi 1966:187; Kan Hla 1977:19). The inscriptions inform us that

although the majority of temples and stupas were made of brick, some monasteries, and the

many palaces, commoner residences, and schools scattered throughout the peri-urban zone were

crafted from wood and built on “stilts” (Aung-Thwin and Aung-Thwin 2012:91; Kan Hla

1977:20; Luce 1969:229; Strachan 1989:7). As a result, other than the clay roof tiles used in elite

structures, these buildings have all perished (Aung-Thwin and Aung-Thwin 2012:91). According

to John Miksic (2001:100): “Subjective impressions of Pagan obtained by walking over the

ground suggests that many areas in fact may have been densely inhabited, to judge from the

dense scatters of ceramic sherds littering the ground” (see also Aung-Thwin and Aung-Thwin

2012:79-80; Daw Thin Kyi 1966:187; Stadtner 2013:15, 50). Hudson et al. (2001:70) concur,

positing that: “Spatio-temporal evidence from Bagan’s key multi-attribute artifacts, its buildings,

indicates that there may have been a number of long-term settlements spread throughout the

urban complex” (see also Strachan 1989:7). Indications are that these settlement “clusters” were

normally surrounded by greenery and located adjacent to agricultural plots of various size (Kan

Hla 1977:21; Moore et al. 2016:294). Recent analysis also indicates that the peri-urban zone

contains remnants of a complex and extensive, yet comparatively “small-scale” water

26

management system (Cooler 1997:22-23; Moore et al. 2016:285, 294-300, 302; Win Kyaing

2016).

What then do we know about the population that inhabited Bagan’s peri-urban city-scape? It

is here where Bagan’s inscriptions and retrospective chronicles provide us with some important

information. We are told that a small portion of Bagan’s society was made up of officials of

upper and lower rank, and an even smaller number of nobles, including those comprising the

royal court (Aung-Thwin 1985:71, 96; Aung-Thwin and Aung-Thwin 2012:97; Stadtner

2013:25). The apex of the commoner class included village heads, artisans, and crown service

troops (Aung-Thwin 1985:72-73). By far the largest segment of Bagan’s support population was

made up primary producers, most of which were involved in some form of agricultural

production (Aung-Thwin 1985:71-73, 95; Aung-Thwin and Aung-Thwin 2012:49). Besides

farmers, Bagan was also home to myriad craft specialists (Aung-Thwin and Aung-Thwin

2012:49, 90-91; Higham 2001:134; Hudson 2004:212; Kan Hla 1977:21; Luce 1969:108, 112,

230-232; Miksic 2001:100; Stadtner 2013:25). Regardless of their occupation, most commoners

were formally “bonded” to either the Crown, the Sangha (Buddhist church), or less frequently to

wealthy nobles, in a complex web of patron-client relationships that were codified into law

(Aung-Thwin 1985:71, 74, 78, 87, 1987:88; Aung-Thwin and Aung-Thwin 2012:97). Indications

are that Bagan’s support population was multi-ethnic (Aung-Thwin 1985:71; Aung-Thwin and

Aung-Thwin 2012:88, 96-97), and although Theravada Buddhism was the state religion, other

Buddhist schools (i.e, Mahayanist), traditional animistic practices, and even Hindu beliefs were

apparently tolerated (Luce 1969:72-73; Nyunt Nyunt Shwe 2011:26). The historic texts also

imply that this societal heterogeneity conditioned Bagan’s residential patterning, giving it both a

clustered and cellular character, wherein a combination of one’s “socio-spiritual” status,

clientage, occupation, and ethnicity determined where and with whom one lived (Aung-Thwin

1985:74, 91-96; Hudson 2004:212).

Regardless of the apparent details provided by the historic records, it is accurate to state that

there is little attention paid to the general lifeways of Bagan’s peri-urban population (Luce

1969:116; Miksic 2001:91). We must also remain cognizant of the fact that such elite-focused

representations are, by their very nature, one-sided, and they should therefore not only be

reviewed with a critical eye, but also actively challenged using alternative datasets. This is likely

to result in contrasting, multivocal, and undoubtedly more realistic renditions of Bagan society

(see Feinman 1997; Overholtzer 2013). The elite-biased perspective that governs our current

understanding of Bagan’s peri-urban population stimulates a series of research questions that will

help guide the long-term IRAW@Bagan research program 1) How accurate is our current

understanding of the commoner population that inhabited Bagan’s peri-urban settlement zone,

given the elite-centric focus of our current text-based data sets? 2) Can the posited heterogeneity

and cellularity of Bagan’s peri-urban population be materially confirmed, given the diversity in

status, ethnicity, occupation, and bondage suggested by the historic records? 3) If such diversity

can be recognized archaeologically, what might this tell us about commoner agency, and shifting

levels of adherence or resistance to the dominant, merit-based, Buddhist ideology, and the

system of bondage that supported it? and, 4) Did different segments of Bagan’s peri-urban

population exhibit varying degrees of resilience to ecological, climatic, economic, socio-

political, and religious changes, and if so, why?

Another area that requires further investigation is the character of Bagan’s peri-urban ground

plan. The inscriptions and retrospective chronicles relating to Bagan have led some to imply that

27

its peri-urban settlement zone was formally planned on an orthogonal, grid and block system,

with distinct “wards” housing individuals sharing the same occupation (Aung-Thwin 1987:92;

Aung-Thwin and Aung-Thwin 2012:91; Kan Hla 1977:21), not unlike what is found in the

Chinese tradition of “compact urbanism” (Wheatley 1971). Others have underscored that

Bagan’s peri-urban zone does not appear to have been either gridded or orthogonal in plan,

although the placement of prominent structures was surely intentional (Kan Hla 1977:21-23;

Moore et al. 2016:302). The latter characterization has also been advocated by those advancing a

cross-cultural, comparative perspective, wherein Bagan’s city-scape is considered an example of

a quasi-orthogonal, “low-density” (Fletcher 2009, 2012; Hudson et al. (2001:70), or dispersed

urban center (Iannone 2015). As such, it is posited to equate with a unique urban tradition that

persisted for a considerable length of time in the world’s tropical zones (Fletcher 2009, 2012;

Haviland 1969:431-432, 1970; Iannone 2015; Isendahl and Smith 2013; Miksic 2001:102,

2012:179; Stark et al. 2015:1442; Wheatley 1971). Given these alternative perspectives, four

additional questions will help frame the IRAW@Bagan research program: 1) How were

individual Bagan houses, house-lots, and villages configured, what kinds of activities took place

in these residential spaces, and did the nature of these spaces change over time? 2) Does the

residential patterning in Bagan’s peri-urban zone reflect the orthogonal/compact tradition of

China, or the quasi-orthogonal/dispersed traditions of the tropics? 3) Did Bagan’s city-scape

transition from being more dispersed and haphazard to more compact and grid-like over time?

and, 4) How extensive and interconnected were Bagan’s peri-urban water management and

agricultural systems, how did they develop, and in what ways did different stakeholders engage

with them?

METHODS: The IRAW@Bagan project will employ theoretical and methodological tools from

the applicants’ previous settlement archaeology project in the Maya subarea (e.g., Iannone 1996,

2003, 2004, 2005; Iannone and Connell 2003; Iannone et al. 2008; Longstaffe and Iannone 2011;

Macrae and Iannone 2011, 2016; McCane et al. 2010), and their six years of comparative

research (2010-2016) into socio-ecological resilience in South and Southeast Asia (Iannone

2014a, 2014b, 2015, 2016; Iannone et al. 2015). Three interconnected sub-projects will frame the

research program.

The Residential Patterning Sub-Project: This sub-project will explore diversity in

settlement unit location, size, composition, ground plan, orientation, and activities, with the goal

of evaluating the tight integration, residential clustering/cellularity, and orthogonal/grid-block

ground plan suggested by the historic records (Aung-Thwin 1985:74, 91-96; Aung-Thwin and

Aung-Thwin 2012:91; Kan Hla 1977:21). The principal challenge for the residential patterning

sub-project is that: “Excavations in Mainland Southeast Asia have yet to reveal a single complete

house plan” (Higham 2017:369; emphasis mine). Indeed, the settlement patterns and residential

architecture of the classical period polities of Southeast Asia have rarely received archaeological

attention (Miksic and Goh 2017:26, 358), with the exception of Angkor, Cambodia (Bâty 2005;

Stark et al. 2015), and Trowulan, East Java (Miksic 2001:100, 2012), where recent excavations

have been specifically aimed at exposing house remains. As such, the fundamental goal of

Phase I of the IRAW@Bagan residential patterning sub-project is to find ancient living

surfaces and reveal the city’s first complete house plans. As is common practice in such

“exploratory” situations, our initial investigations will employ non-probabilistic

(purposive/judgmental) sampling methods to enhance the potential for finding buried residential

features (Banning 2002:28-29; French 2015:21). This sampling strategy has been informed by

28

prior archaeological observations concerning the possible locations of settlement clusters at

Bagan (Hudson 2004:208-220, 234--266; Hudson et al. 2001:53-62). Based on such knowledge,

preliminary surface reconnaissance by the IRAW@Bagan research team (May 2017) resulted in

the discovery of four potential residential loci, given the presence of exceptionally dense ceramic

scatters: 1) Shwe Creek, 2) Otein Taung, 3) South Wall, and 4) Kiln #4. Our Phase I excavations

will focus on these four possible residential sites, and any other possible sites encountered during

GPS-guided pedestrian survey of three 200 m wide transects (see the field work plan [below] for

more details). These “purposively” situated transects will be used to locate extensive scatters of

ceramic detritus (Banning 2002:90), a plausible proxy for residential occupation (Banning

2002:15, 75, 206). This reconnaissance will be aided by scheduling our fieldwork in April-May,

coinciding with the end of the dry season and the time when ground cover is most limited. A

series of 1 x 4 m test trenches and larger 4 x 4 m horizontal exposures will subsequently be used

to search for and uncover buried residential features, such as postholes (please see the fieldwork

schedule [below] for more details). Context information will be recorded in notebooks and on

level/feature forms and entered into a Microsoft Access database. A hand-held digital SLR

camera and georeferenced ground control points (using a total station) will be used to record all

excavation contexts, on-floor artifact distributions, features, and both plans and sections.

Processing of these data using “Structure from Motion” (SfM) photogrammetric software

(Agisoft LLC 2017a, 2017b) will allow for the production of high resolution orthophotos (sub-

millimeter), digital elevation models (DEMs), accurate 3D and 2D maps, precise post-excavation

measurements (e.g., lengths, heights, and volumetrics), and geospatial analysis in ArcGIS ([ESRI

2016]; Benavides López et al. 2016; Green et al. 2014; Koenig et al. 2017; Quatermaine et al.

2014). Samples for radiometric (bone or charcoal) and/or luminescence (ceramics) dating will be

collected to aid in chronology building. Artifacts will be processed and analyzed using standard

procedures (e.g., Rice 1987), including the use of both identification guides (e.g., Brown 2000)

and reference collections in the Bagan Museum.

The Agricultural Practices Sub-Project: The Bagan polity was supported by an agrarian

economy, but the city itself was not well suited to wet-rice cultivation (Aung-Thwin 1990:8;

Cooler 1997:22-23). This sub-project will therefore explore the agricultural potential of the

peri-urban settlement zone in terms of “dry weather crops” – such as sesame, millet, sorghum,

legumes, palm trees, dry rice, onions, and root crops (Aung-Thwin 1990:5-6; Cooler 1997:23;

Kan Hla 1977:15; Moore et al. 2016:302-303; see also Spate 1945:524-526) – in addition to

assessing the distribution of fields, gardens, and granaries. This research will build on earlier

assessments of Bagan’s agricultural capacity (Aung-Thwin 1990), taking into consideration that

the agricultural potential of Bagan’s peri-urban zone would have varied across the MCA and LIA

climate regimes. The agricultural practices sub-project will involve total-station mapping and

excavation of possible remnant field “walls” and adjacent field surfaces (1 x 2 m trenches)

encountered during the transect surveys (please see the fieldwork schedule [below] for details).

Excavation areas will be selected based on their connection with identified hydrological features

and proximity to known settlement units (see Macrae 2017:123). Soil samples collected from

each stratigraphic profile will be subjected to pedological tests, including: soil taxonomy,

textural classes, organic matter, exchangeable micro- and macro-nutrients, and trace element

concentration, as well as chemical constituents such as pH, electrical conductivity, and estimated

cation-exchange capacity (French 2015). Subsequent analysis will focus on interdependent soil

characteristics such as soil fertility, soil moisture retention capability, and vulnerability to soil

29

erosion (Macrae 2017:155-168). The soil samples will also be subjected to macro- and micro-

botanical analysis (phytolith, starch, and pollen). Results of these tests will be examined in terms

of expected crop production and intensity. A developmental model for sections of the ancient

Bagan agricultural field system will then be generated using excavation data, proximity to

datable hydrological or settlement features, and correspondences between fields and

temple/monastery spatial orientations, as determined through remote sensing (e.g., Hawken

2013). Finally, a global information system (GIS) model for crop suitability and productivity

potential will be produced through an analysis of crop suitability based on precipitation (as

extrapolated from regional climate signatures), soil quality (from the archaeopedological

analysis), topographic conditions (from available DEMs and hydrological mapping), and the

biophysical requirements of the crops identified by macro- and micro-botanical analysis (Macrae

2017:226-253). Production potential will be modeled by examining the manipulation of crop

suitability through farm management practices, technological advances, and cropping systems,

assigning each management condition a unique value that influences potential levels of

production (Elsheikh et al. 2013:98). Production potential will then be evaluated for a series of

crop groups (cereal, fiber crops, oil crops, roots and tubers, stimulants, fruit trees, and

vegetables) under different management practices.

The Water Management Sub-Project: Access to water was an endemic issue at Bagan

(Cooler 1997; Luce 1969:7), and most kings attempted to augment the city’s water supply

through the construction of brick wells, dams, canals, and brick or stone-lined holding tanks

(Kan Hla 1977:22; Luce 1969:76, 84, 256; Pe Muang Tin and Luce 1923:65, 131; Stargardt

1968:360-361). This sub-project will attempt to reconstruct the broader water management

system associated with Bagan’s peri-urban settlement zone. It will build on prior examinations

of Bagan’s water management system, (Moore et al. 2016:283; see also Win Kyaing 2016; c.f.,

Cooler 1997:32), including preliminary examinations of known water management features in

the peri-urban zone carried out by the IRAW@Bagan research team in May 2017. This sub-

project will involve a GIS-based hydrological study of Bagan’s peri-urban settlement zone. The

analysis will be based on hydrological modeling programs (Arc Hydro [see Maidment 2002])

within a geographical information system (ArcGIS [ESRI 2016]). The foundation of this analysis

will be a high-resolution DEM derived from existing remote sensing datasets (i.e., recent aerial

photographs and prior mapping initiatives) and traditional total station and GPS survey data

collection. The Hydrological analysis will include the direction of flow, flow accumulation, and

watershed delineation (see Macrae 2017:214-225; Macrae and Iannone 2016:374-388). The

identification of these hydrological characteristics across the landscape will provide information

on both naturally occurring features – such as slope, streams, and seasonal ponds – as well as

cultural features, such as reservoirs, canals, weirs, and moats. Identifying potential areas of

strategic water management and zones of high flow accumulation will provide the basis for

traditional total station survey of both natural and anthropogenic water flow. Sub-meter accurate

GPS devices will be used to ground-truth and map these features in real time. The results will be

used to both identify and differentiate between natural and cultural features, and these

observations will be used in conjunction with data derived from remote sensing to facilitate the

analysis of changing hydrological processes. This analysis will include assessments of localized

weather patterns indicative of annual wet and dry periods (see Aung-Thwin 1990:6), providing

the necessary comparative data for identifying changing water levels across the anthropogenic

system. This analysis will also facilitate investigation of the potential ramifications that the MCA

30

and LIA climatic regimes had on both domestic water security and agricultural production during

Bagan’s rise and fall as a political center. Targeted excavations of water management features

will focus on cross-sectioning canals and weirs (1 x 2 m trenches) that functioned to distribute

water between the agricultural fields and larger reservoirs (please see the fieldwork schedule

[below] for details). The location of these excavations will be based on considerations of the

hydrological flow and accumulation maps, and insights generated through the systematic transect

surveys. Excavations will address both the chronological sequence and techniques of

construction. Soil samples will be collected and soil organic matter (SOM) will be radiocarbon

dated to substantiate the results of ceramic date attributions, and to facilitate direct temporal

correlation with adjacent agricultural fields and settlement units.

Our proposed fieldwork schedule is as follows. October 2018: The PI (Iannone) and Co-

Director (Pyiet Phyo Kyaw), accompanied by a few additional project members, visited Bagan in

preparation for the April-May 2019 field season. Our activities included securing permissions

from landowners, establishing the locations for excavation units, arranging for staff housing and

meals, and consulting with the DOA-Bagan concerning the forthcoming excavation and survey

activities. April-May 2019: Quadrant-based surface collection (diagnostic sherds and special

finds) and sub-surface testing of the Shwe Creek and Otein Taung occupation sites, including

excavation of a 1 x 4 m trench in the center of each ceramic scatter (N-S orientation), and a 1 x 4

m trench 10 m to the east or west of the central units (E-W orientation); Reconnaissance and

mapping of a 200-m wide x 1.75-km long NE-SW transect between Shwe Creek and Otein

Taung occupation sites. April-May 2020: Surface collection and sub-surface testing of the South

Wall and Kiln #4 occupation sites, including excavation of a 1 x 4 m trench in the center of each

ceramic scatter (N-S orientation), and a 1 x 4 m trench 10 m to the east or west of the central

units (E-W orientation); Reconnaissance and mapping of a 200-m wide x 2.15-km long NW-SE

transect between Otein Taung occupation site and Minnanthu Village. April-May 2021: Surface

collection and sub-surface testing of two occupation sites discovered during the Years 1 and 2

transect surveys, including excavation of a 1 x 4 m trench in the center of each ceramic scatter

(N-S orientation), and a 1 x 4 m trench 10 m to the east or west of the central units (E-W

orientation); Reconnaissance and mapping of a 200-m wide x 2.75-km long SE-NW transect

between Otein Taung occupation site and the South Wall occupation site. April-May 2022:

Horizontal excavation of the previously tested occupation site with the clearest signs of

residential occupation. This will involve 3-4 contiguous 4 x 4 m excavation units strategically

positioned based on the results of prior test excavations; Sectioning of field walls and adjacent

field surfaces (1 x 2 m trenches), soil sample collection and flotation analysis (macro-and micro-

palaeobotanical recovery), ground-truthing of GIS-based hydrological analysis, and test

excavation (1x 2 m trenches) of canals and weirs along the three survey transects; Artifact

analysis for socio-cultural reconstructions and chronology building. April-May 2023: Horizontal

excavation of a second previously tested occupation site with clear signs of residential

occupation. Once again, this will involve 3-4 contiguous 4 x 4 m excavation units strategically

positioned based on the results of prior test excavations; Sectioning of field walls and adjacent

field surfaces (1 x 2 m trenches), soil sample collection and flotation analysis (macro-and micro-

palaeobotanical recovery), ground-truthing of GIS-based hydrological analysis, and test

excavation (1 x 2 m trenches) of canals and weirs along the three survey transects; Artifact

analysis for socio-cultural reconstructions and chronology building.

31

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Knowledge Mobilization Plan

The ultimate goals of the proposed research program are to: 1) foster an understanding of peri-

urban development at the “classical” Burmese capital of Bagan, Myanmar (1100-1400 CE); 2)

explore the broader implications this knowledge holds for understanding the unique

characteristics of early tropical urbanism; and, 3) mobilize knowledge of the past to better equip

communities and policy makers to deal with the various issues that are currently facing urban

centers in the tropics. The knowledge mobilization plan has four components:

• Public Outreach: We will strive to disseminate knowledge generated through the proposed

pilot project through a series of public lectures at Trent University and other universities and

museums, and in Myanmar itself, where we have been building strong ties with both the

newly founded Myanmar Archaeological Association, and the various communities

surrounding “Old Bagan.”

• Scholarly Conferences: We will present annually at two major scholarly conferences, the

American Anthropological Association meetings (winter), and the Society for American

Archaeology meetings (spring). We will also present at one regional conference (SEAMEO-

SPAFA) that attracts archaeologists, educators, and government officials from across

Southeast Asia (usually held every two to three years).

• Publications: It is anticipated the project will result in annual open-access field reports that

will be published online through the Trent University Occasional Paper series. We also

anticipate at least three open access journal articles (likely in a regionally specialized or

methods focused journals), three book chapters, and three “research bulletins” to be published

in Myanmar. It is also expected that between 5-10 individuals Master’s theses (Trent

University and University of Yangon), and 2-3 PhD dissertations (University of Yangon), will

result from the proposed project.

• In-Class Instruction: A significant portion of our knowledge mobilization occurs in our

classrooms, where we are able to share the results of our research with future public and

private sector leaders. Over the past six years the PI (Iannone) has transitioned his teaching

load to focus on four principal courses that are high enrollment and cross-listed with multiple

departments (Anthropology, Environmental Sciences, Geography, and Ancient History and

Classic), and which will all benefit from various aspects of the proposed research program:

Archaeology of Natural Disasters, Archaeology of Climate Change, Human Impact on

Ancient Environments, and Collapse of Complex Societies.

39

Expected Outcomes

This project will: Enhance graduate-level HQP training, and augment undergraduate instruction;

Build collaborative and logistical networks in Myanmar; Advance understanding of the methods

and theories of settlement archaeology and resilience theory within Southeast Asian archaeology;

Permit the training of graduate students from North America and Myanmar in both the theory

and methods of an “integrated” settlement archaeology, and the application of resilience theory

to the study of early urban communities in the tropics; Make a significant contribution to our

understanding of urbanism in the tropics, with particular emphasis on the nature of the early

urban footprint, its resilience aspects, and the factors responsible for, and implications of, the

transition from dispersed to compact urbanism over time.

The project will also foster: Critical knowledge of the unique characteristics of early urbanism in

the tropics, and the factors contributing to the eventual transition from dispersed to more

compact urbanism that occurred across Southeast Asia; Economic outcomes by providing

information about Bagan’s early peri-urban community that can be shared with the growing

number of tourists that are visiting Bagan year-over-year, and which will augment the current

application for UNESCO World Heritage Site status, the conferring of which will have huge

financial benefits for Myanmar, and especially the contemporary communities surrounding the

archaeological park; New collaborations by pioneering research partnerships with faculty and

students at the University of Yangon, as well as UNESCO Myanmar, the Departments of

Archaeology of Myanmar, its local administrative office at Bagan, and the Bagan Museum.

40

Research Team and Training

A) DESCRIPTION OF THE RESEARCH TEAM: A team approach is required to carry out

most archaeological field work, and this endeavour is no exception. The Principal Investigator

(Iannone) and Co-applicant (Macrae) have worked together on archaeological projects since

2005, and this bodes well for the success of the proposed research program. When initiating a

large project in a foreign country a strong collaborator is also crucial, and Pyiet Phyo Kyaw

(University of Yangon) has already proven to be an invaluable colleague in terms of navigating

government bureaucracy and community relations.

In brief, the proposed “Integrated Socio-Ecological History of Residential Patterning,

Agricultural Practices, and Water Management at the “Classical” Burmese (Bama) Capital of

Bagan, Myanmar” project (IRAW@Bagan) has been crafted to take advantage of the Principal

Investigator’s (Iannone) extensive understanding of “integrated” settlement archaeology and the

comparative approach to tropical resilience, both of which are areas of research that are not well

developed in Myanmar. The project also leverages the Co-applicant’s (Macrae) understanding of

tropical agricultural practices and methodological skills in GIS-based geospatial analysis and

hydrological studies. Finally, the collaborator (Pyiet Phyo Kyaw) has considerable experience

with Bagan’s art and architecture, textual record, and water management system. Clearly, the

combined skillsets of these three are highly complementary, and promise to result in a successful

research project. Further details concerning areas of expertise, and the roles and responsibilities

of the three principal participants in the IRAW@Bagan pilot project, are outlined below.

Principal Investigator: Gyles Iannone, PhD; Professor, Department of Anthropology,

Trent University. The PI will be responsible for roughly 50% of all project related activities. No

other major research projects will be taken on during the proposed investigations. The PI’s

principal areas of expertise include: 1) Archaeology; 2) Resilience Theory; 3) Settlement

Archaeology; 4) Early Tropical States; 5) Mesoamerica; and, 6) South and Southeast Asia. In

terms of the ability to lead the project, the Principal Investigator has considerable experience

with formulating and overseeing a large, well-funded, transdisciplinary settlement archaeology

project in Belize (1999-2014) that included examinations of integrative mechanisms, residential

patterning, agricultural practices, water management, climate change, and advanced geospatial

data. The Principal Investigator has also devised and overseen an extensive field-based

investigation of resilience in early tropical state formations across South and Southeast Asia

(2013-2015), and has visited Bagan three times (2012, 2013, 2017). He has published

extensively on settlement patterns, socio-ecological systems, climate change, resilience theory,

and the collapse of complex societies. During the proposed IRAW@Bagan settlement

archaeology project the Principal Investigator’s roles and responsibilities will include: 1) serving

as the Principal Investigator; 2) administration of all intellectual, regulatory (e.g., fieldwork

permits), and financial aspects of the project; 3) field supervision of the residential patterning

(survey and excavations) sub-project; 4) oversight of the agricultural practices and water

management sub-project; 5) co-supervision of all field and lab activities; 6) co-ordination of,

and major contributions to, an effective program of knowledge mobilization; and, 7) direct

supervision of 5-7 MA students from Trent University.

Co-Applicant: Scott Macrae, PhD; Adjunct Graduate and Research Faculty, Trent

University. The Co-applicant will be responsible for roughly 40% of all project related activities.

No other major research projects will be taken on during the proposed investigations. The Co-

41

applicant’s areas of expertise include: 1) Mesoamerican and Southeast Asian Archaeology; 2)

Environmental Archaeology; 3) Comparative Archaeology; 4), Socio-Economic and Socio-

Political Systems of the Ancient Maya; 5) Agricultural Strategies; 6) Relic Agricultural and

Water Management Systems; 7) Settlement Patterns; 8) Landscapes Archaeology; 9) Applied

Anthropology; 10) Socio-Ecological Systems; 11) Resilience Theory; 12) Geographic

Information Systems; 13) LiDAR; 14) Remote Sensing; and, 15) Archaeological Field Methods.

The Co-applicant has considerable experience supervising sub-projects focused on residential

patterning, agricultural practices, and water management. His use of GIS-based spatial analysis

tools is particularly well developed and innovative. The Co-applicant has also participated in the

Principal Investigator’s comparative study of early tropical state formations in South and

Southeast Asia (2013-2016), and he has visited Bagan once (2013). Although a “new scholar,”

the Co-applicant has already begun to develop a laudable publication and conference

presentation record, a large portion of which focuses on ancient agricultural practices and water

management strategies in the tropics, with particular emphasis on GIS-based geospatial analysis.

During the proposed IRAW@Bagan settlement archaeology project the Co-applicant’s roles and

responsibilities will include: 1) assisting with the administration of all intellectual, regulatory

(e.g., fieldwork permits), and financial aspects of the project; 2) field supervision of the

agricultural practices and water management sub-projects; 3) assistance with the residential

patterning sub-project, especially the transect surveys and associated total station mapping; 4)

supervision of all of the remote sensing, GIS-related, and “Structure from Motion”

(photogrammetry) aspects of the project; 5) co-supervision of all field and lab activities; 7)

assistance with, and major contributions to, an effective program of knowledge mobilization;

and, 8) co-supervision of 5-7 MA students from Trent University.

Collaborator: Pyiet Phyo Kyaw, PhD; Lecturer, Department of Archaeology, University of

Yangon and Advisor, Myanmar Archaeological Association. The Principal Investigator and

Collaborator recently met at the SEAMEO-SPAFA archaeology conference in Bangkok (May-

June 2016), and have been in regular contact since that time. They co-supervised preliminary

field investigations relating to the proposed study in May 2017. The Collaborator will be

responsible for roughly 10% of project related activities, with his principal focus being collateral

projects in his areas of interest, which include: 1) Myanmar History; 2) Archaeology; 3) Art

History; 4) Iconography; 5) Material and Visual Culture (Semiotics); 6) Ancient History; and, 7)

Landscape Archaeology. In terms of his value to the project, the Collaborator has extensive

experience with the history, art and architecture, and landscape of Bagan, and has published on

the city’s art and epigraphy, as well as its water management system. During the proposed

IRAW@Bagan project the Collaborator’s roles and responsibilities will include: 1) assistance

with regulatory issues (e.g., permitting processes); 2) service as the principal liaison with

government and archaeological officials, the Myanmar Archaeological Association, and local

communities and their principal stakeholders; 3) contributions to an effective program of

knowledge mobilization; and, 4) direct supervision of 3-5 MA students from the University of

Yangon, all of whom will participate in the proposed IRAW@Bagan fieldwork.

B) DESCRIPTION OF ONGOING AND PREVIOUS RESEARCH RESULTS: The

proposed IRAW@Bagan research program will build on the Principal Investigator’s 24 years

(1991-2014) of settlement archaeology experience, which focused on ancient Maya communities

in Central America. Most relevant is the project he directed in Belize’s north Vaca Plateau,

which included both thesis and dissertation work on the part of the Co-applicant. Our Phase I

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investigations (1999-2005) – supported by a SSHRC Standard Research Grant (#410-2002-

0150 [2002-2005]) – involved extensive excavations within the regal-ritual epicenter of

Minanha. This research provided us with a view of the rise and fall of this small city-state capital

from the perspective of its royal court. Our subsequent Phase II (2006-2009) investigations –

also funded by a SSHRC Standard Research Grant (#410-2006-0788 [2006-2009]) –

generated a multifaceted history of the commoners who inhabited the settlement zones

surrounding Minanha’s epicentral court complex, thus providing us with a view of the rise and

fall of the city-state from the standpoint of its support population. Finally, our Phase III

Investigations – supported by two separate grants from the Alphawood Foundation of Chicago

(2010-2014) – expanded our research focus from the Minanha micro-region to the north Vaca

Plateau sub-region, resulting in an integrated socio-ecological history that incorporated

considerations of integrative mechanisms, residential patterning, agricultural practices, water

management, and climate change. This research program was augmented by a multi-project

“consortium” grant from Alphawood (2012-2013) for LiDAR acquisition, which allowed the

Co-applicant to conduct a sophisticated hydrological analysis of a relic agricultural field system

southwest of Minanha.

The transition to a similar settlement-focused investigation in Myanmar was enhanced by six

self-funded visitations made by the Principal Investigator to South and Southeast Asia (2010-

2016), and a two-year SSHRC Insight Development Grant (#430-2013-001006[ 2013-2015])

in support of the Socio-ecological Entanglement in Tropical Societies (SETS) project. The latter

project allowed the Principal Investigator to lead student research teams – including the Co-

applicant – on four field trips to the “classical” capitals of South India, Sri Lanka, Cambodia,

Thailand, Vietnam, Java, and Myanmar, resulting in a number of detailed field reports, book

chapters, and conference presentations (in Canada, the United States, and Thailand). The original

intent of the IDG study was to assess the quality and quantity of various data sets in preparation

for a broader, comparative study of resilience in tropical societies. Although the investigations

did indicate that there was sufficient data to carry out a more comprehensive comparative study,

it was also readily apparent that the data sets for residential patterning, agricultural practices, and

water management strategies were extremely limited in South and Southeast Asia. The

subsequent offer to conduct archaeological fieldwork at Bagan focusing on these three areas –

which was extended to the Principal Investigator by UNESCO-Myanmar following presentation

of some of the results of the initial IDG study at a SEAMEO-SPAFA conference in Bangkok in

2016 – was therefore both timely, and intellectually enticing. The current Insight Grant

proposal aims to take advantage of the extraordinary opportunity to utilize a similar theoretical

and methodological approach to the one that has been effectively employed by the Principal

Investigator and Co-applicant in their past investigations in the Maya sub-area, and the ability to

leverage the knowledge gained from the recent comparative study of tropical societies, to expand

our understanding of the complex socio-ecological relationships at the base of one of Southeast

Asia’s most renowned preindustrial urban centers.

Preliminary groundwork for the proposed investigations was carried out by the Principal

Investigator and the Collaborator in May 2017, with support from Trent University’s Vice-

President of Research Strategic Initiatives Fund (2016-2017). This funding allowed the

IRAW@Bagan research team to examine all of Bagan’s known water management features, and

to carry out surface reconnaissance in areas that our literature review suggested were likely to

contain residential sites, resulting in the discovery of the four potential occupation loci that are

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the focus of the current grant proposal. Finally, a pending National Geographic Society grant

submitted by the Principal Investigator, Co-applicant, and Collaborator will support forthcoming

ethnoarchaeological research (December 2017) within ten traditional villages located in and

around what was once Bagan’s peri-urban settlement zone. These investigations will inform the

proposed settlement archaeology study by enhancing our understanding of the characteristics of

traditional houses, house-lots, villages, and both water management strategies and agricultural

practices.

C) DESCRIPTION OF PROPOSED STUDENT TRAINING STRATEGIES:

• Build both academic (research and teaching) competencies and general professional

skills, including knowledge mobilization, that would be transferable to a variety of

settings.

o The various MA and PhD students involved in the IRAW@Bagan project –

including those based at both Trent University and the University of Yangon –

will acquire various “transferable” skills as a result of their formal training and

practical experience in:

▪ Settlement archaeology

▪ Excavation methods

▪ Settlement survey

▪ Soil sampling, processing, and analysis

▪ Artifact processing, curation, and data-basing

▪ Total station and GPS mapping techniques

▪ Structure from Motion (photogrammetry) recording and imaging

▪ GIS-based geospatial analysis, including hydrological analysis

o The students will also be encouraged to actively assist in the dissemination of

project results through the following means:

▪ Production of annual site report chapters

▪ Presentation of research proposals and results at their home institution,

and to interested local groups, such as the Myanmar Archaeology

Association

▪ Presentation of research findings at professional conferences in North

America and Southeast Asia

▪ Publishing of their research results as book chapters and/or journal articles

(including open access versions)

o The students will also benefit from being taught the theory and methods of

settlement archaeology, broadly construed, in both the classroom and field setting,

and in countries with very different archaeological traditions.

o Student participants will also be instilled with a strong sense of research ethics by

contributing to an international research program, by working with their Myanma

colleagues, by living in Myanma communities and consulting with diverse

stakeholders, and by conducting research on an archaeological site that not only

attracts many tourists, but which has been recently nominated for UNESCO

World Heritage status.

o At its heart, the IRAW@Bagan project is transdisciplinary – with its focus on

residential patterning, agricultural practices, and water management – meaning

that students will learn the value of focusing on specific research problems but

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drawing on diverse methodological and theoretical approaches, without being

hindered by the conceptual parameters of traditional, disciplinary specific

research (i.e., the “silo” approach).

o Students on the IRAW@Bagan project will also be fully involved in the daily

operations of the project, including field and lab work, and daily project

management; this will not only allow them to appreciate the complexities of

running a research project, but also instill in them the importance of building

research teams and fostering individual leadership skills.

• Include international and/or intersectoral opportunities whenever possible and

applicable.

o The IRAW@Bagan is largely an international project, and students will gain from

working with faculty and team members from both Canada and Myanmar

o The students will also engage with local and federal resource managers on a

regular basis, and as Bagan moves towards designation as a UNESCO world

heritage site, they will also be encouraged to participate in intersectoral

workshops and seminars involving myriad stakeholders.

• Include specific, effective mentoring and institutional support.

o Full-time MA students attending Trent university will be provided with teaching

experience through the Graduate Teaching Assistantship program.

o Trent students will also be able to take advantage of various career enhancement

workshops and seminars while at Trent.

o Both Myanma and Canadian students will be able to attend IRAW@Bagan

faculty-led training seminars on an annual basis, in both Yangon and Bagan; these

training sessions will focus on specific archaeological methods, and be arranged

in conjunction with Myanmar’s Department of Archaeology, and the Myanmar

Archaeology Association (e.g., the Principal Investigator led a seminar on

settlement archaeology in Yangon in May 2017, with assistance of the Myanmar

Archaeology Association).

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