| Ref ID: | 23679 |
|---|---|
| Ref Type: | Book Section |
| Authors: | Berliet, Ernelle |
| Title: | Territorial planning in Burma during the Pagan period (1044-1287): the foundation of an empire |
| Date: | 2008 |
| Source: | From <i>Homo erectus</i> to the living traditions |
| Place of Publication: | Chiang Mai |
| Publisher: | European Association of Southeast Asian Archaeologists |
| Notes: | Choice of Papers from the 11th International Conference of the European Association of Southeast Asian Archaeologists, Bougon, 25th-29th September 2006. |
| Abstract: | The emergence of cities and states is a more or less recently developed issue for the insular or coastal regions of Southeast Asia, but it is less considered for the continental areas. In Burma, in particular, this topic had never been thoroughly researched. This program, of which a part is presented on that poster, is entitled "Urbanization process and territorial planning in ancient Burma" and was started in 2001. It aims to identify ways of territorial occupation and ancient regional planning in Burma, exploring historical geography and urbanization process through an archaeological point of view. This subject is tackled with a special focus on the plain areas and within the chronological time period defined between the origins of urban centres in the country (<i>i.e.</i> 2nd cent. BC) until the end of the first Burmese Empire (1287 AD). Here is presented the territorial planning elaborated by Anawratha, the first Burmese king (mid. 11th cent. AD), for the purpose of establishing the first Empire ever settled in Burma. It is, indeed, at the rising time of the Pagan Kingdom that the deepest changes are visible in the organisation of the country it is also at that period that territorial management becomes a real instrument of power and control. In this perspective, Anawratha founded 43 military fortresses - of which 27 have been surveyed and mapped since 2001. He settled down also several cities named khayaing, which were dedicated to the administration of the productive irrigated lands held by the Kingdom. The new archaeological data collected in this region help to understand the territorial organisation and the environmental context of these cities. They also seem to show a hierarchy among these settlement of the 11th century. |
| Date Created: | 10/7/2008 |
| Editors: | Pautreau, Jean-Pierre Coupey, Anne-Sophie Zeitoun, Valéry Rambault, Emma |
| Page Start: | 203 |
| Page End: | 205 |