G. H. Luce - THE EARLY SYĀM IN BURMA’S HISTORY

    Not  long  ago, I  was asked  to give an opinion  about a  proposal to write the  history of  the Shans. The proposal came from a Shan scholar for whom I  have great respect, and  who  was as well- fitted   as  any  Shan   I    know   to   do   the   work. He planned to assemble   copies   of   all   the  Shan  State  Chronicles extant; toglean all references to the Shan States in Burmese Chronicles; andfinally   to   collect  source   materials  in   English. Such,  in   brief,was  the  plan. I  had  to  point  out  that   it  omitted what,  for   the older  periods  at  least, were  the   most  important  sources of  all: the   original   Old  Thai   inscriptions  of  the north, the  number  of which, if   those   from  East  Burma, North   Siam   and  Laos,  are included, may  well   exceed   a  hundred;¹ and  the  dated contem- porary   records   in   Chinese,  from   the  13th   century   onwards.

The Basic Archaeology

The book in your hand is not a textbook: it makes no attempt at comprehensive coverage, and it contains no exercises. Instead, it aims only to get you thinking about one of the most important and fascinating topics you could ever hope to encounter: archaeology, the investigation of the human past. Our created past surrounds us and it matters. Indeed, it is probably our most important legacy. I hope this short book will quickly persuade you of this and show you that nothing is more interesting, more stimulating or more rewarding than the study of archaeology.

My book is designed as a basic introduction to the subject. I have chosen eight aspects of archaeology and covered one in each chapter. Archaeologists do not always agree and I have set out some of the current debates as well as several of the major questions that archaeologists are tackling, whether as researchers, managers, curators, specialists or a combination of all of these aspects of the profession. The reader I have in mind for this book is someone who has not yet entirely made up their mind about archaeology. This means they are not sure if they want to find out more; whether ley lines and the Bermuda Triangle are more interesting (believe me they are not!) than the everyday life of a medieval peasant or the evolutionary origins of humans. I have also written the book for those who are a few steps further on. You have been bitten by the archaeology 'bug' and want to know more. You may be reading archaeology for pleasure, studying it at university, taking it in conjunction with another subject or just intrigued by a Web site you have browsed or a museum or monument you have visited.

What this book is not about are the techniques of field archaeology. Many excellent books already exist on that subject and I would recommend Philip Barker (1982) and Jane McIntosh (1999). What I hope my book will do is kick-start your archaeological imagination so that the experience of handling and studying objects, fieldwalking and surveying landscapes and buildings, arranging exhibits and presenting the past to the wider world will become even more immediate and rewarding.

Clive Gamble

Click to Link Download  : http://adf.ly/1mRuEC