From Villages to Palaces

The book explores the threads and traces of the development of complex society from the time of the beginning of the first farming communities in 2 millennium BC up to 4 century CE. Generating and analysing data from the explorations and excavations of archaeological sites, the book employs the conceptual category of heterarchy rather than hierarchy as a more meaningful category to understand the nature of complexities of archaeological settlements, as well as the continuity and changes there in different temporalities. The work pleads for adopting fruitful theoretical frameworks to understand periodisation and nature of material cultures of Odisha. In a sense this is the first work which tries to construct the past of early farming and early historical cultures of Odisha.

 About the Author

Umakanta Mishra teaches History in Ravenshaw University. His earlier book, Vajrayana Buddhism: Study in Social Iconography was published in 2009. He works on Buddhism and cultural transactions in the Indian Ocean in early medieval period. He also works on the Chalcolithic and early historical archaeology of Odisha

Sibanarayan Bihari has obtained his Ph.D in History from Ravenshaw University. He is now a Guest Lecturer in Department of History, Ravenshaw University