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Janice Stargardt
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Janice Stargardt, M.A. D. Let.
Cambridge Quaternary Phone +44 1223 766585 |
Current Positions
Janice Stargardt is Affiliated Lecturer, PACSEA Senior Research Fellow in the Department of Geography . and Fellow of Sidney Sussex College , where she directs the Cambridge Project on Ancient Civilization in South East Asia.She is concurrently,
*Foreign Professor (for life) at the Ecole Pratique des Hautes
Etudes IV, at the Sorbonne, Paris (1976),
*Member of the Management Committee of the Asian Studies Centre,
St Antony's College, University of Oxford (since 1983)
*Editor Publications on Ancient Civilization in South East Asia,
Cambridge (since 1989)
*Consultant to UNESCO and the British Council in India, Thailand,
Burma and Indonesia
*Visiting Professor at universities in the UK and Europe, South
East Asia and Japan
*External Examiner at the University of Leiden
Research Interests and
Current Projects
Her research interests embrace the evolution of the Quaternary environment in South and South East Asia, the development of human societies andcultures, and the interactions between societies and specific environments.
A particular focus of her research is the Kra Ecotone in South Thailand.
She is working on the Holocene geological evolution of the East coast plain
with Dr Phil Gibbard , Head of the Quaternary
Palaeoenvironments Group, Prof. Choathip Purintavaragul of Prince of Songkla University
[PSU] and Dr R. Morley (Palynova Ltd). This is a central location in the
South China Sea area and is producing data of regional importance on the
dates of the stabilization of the terrestrial
environment, the stratigraphic sequences involved (Fig.1), and associated
sea and lake-level changes. The work has been supported by the University
of Cambridge, the Natural and Environment Research Council of the U.K. and
PSU.
Concurrently, she is studying holocene continuities and changes in the floral cover of the Kra Ecotone - upland and lowland - with Dr Tim Whitmore (Department of Geography), and Professors Puangpen Sirirugsa and Choathip Purintavaragul. Biologically, the ecotone (as defined by Whitmore) is the zone of transition between the wet evergreen rainforests of West Malaysia and the semi-evergreen forests of peninsular Thailand and Burma [Myanmar]. This work is being supported by the Royal Society through its Tropical Rainforests Research and its "cutting edge science" programmes.
A feature of current research is completing inventories of the economic
plants in and around the Great Songkhla Lakes and in the upland rainforests.
Some key elements of rainforest vegetation are present from the beginning
of stable terrestrial conditions at c. 6900 BP. Trees with aromatic wood/bark,
resins and resinous crystals generated a very high-value luxury trade in
incense between South Thailand, India/Sri Lanka and the eastern Roman Empire
for some 2,000 years and between South Thailand and China for over 1,000
years. This is reflected in changes in the density and distribution of ancient
settlements around the Great Lakes
and on the Satingpra Peninsula, as well as in the construction of navigable
canals on the Isthmus (from c. the 6th to 13th century AD) to facilitate
trade between the South China Sea and the Indian Ocean. The ancient capital
city, ports, canals, monuments and industrial sites have been selectively
excavated as part of this interdisciplinary research programme.
Janice also has long-term research interests in Central Burma, South-East
India and Sri Lanka, where she is carrying out research on people-plant
interactions in the exceptionally dry micro-climates of the humid tropics,
which were also the hearths of major early Buddhist cultures.
Recent Research Articles
Books and Monographs
Satingpra I, the Environmental and Economic Archaeology of South Thailand.
British Archaeological Reports (BAR), Oxford in association with the
Institute of Southeast Asian Studies (ISEAS), Singapore, 1983, xxiii+381
pp., 66 figs. &. pls. [Translated into Thai, Silapakorn University,
Dept. of Archaeology, 1985].
Histoire du paysage, archéologie et télédétection.
[History of the Landscape, Archaeology and Remote Sensing], Co-author with
Jacques, C., M.
Terrasse. J. Legorgeu. Paris, EPHE/CNRS, Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes
IV, 1988, 98 pp., 12 figs, 19 pls.
The Ancient Pyu of Burma. Vol. I, Early Pyu Cities in a Man-Made Landscape.
PACSEA, Cambridge, in association with ISEAS, Singapore,
(hardcover) December 1990, (paperback) April 1991, xxix + 436 pp., 135
figs., 32 pls. [Translated into Japanese, University of Tokyo, Faculty of
Letters,
Graduate Programme in South East Asian History, 1993; translated into
Burmese, University of Yangon (Rangoon), Faculty of Arts, Department of
Archaeology, 1994].
Tracing Thought through Things: the Earliest Pali Texts in the World and
their Background in the Early Buddhist Archaeology of India and Burma.
Seventh Annual Gonda Foundation Lecture 1999 [revised and expanded].
Amsterdam, Monograph of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences
2000, 60 pp., 23 figs. & pls.
Common Pool Resources - Developing Management Strategies that Can Benefit
the Poor. Bankground Paper (with co-authors) for the Natural Resources Systems
Programme Workshop, October 2001, University of York, 98 pp.
Nearing Completion
The Ancient Pyu of Burma. Vol.II, Early Pyu Buddhism, in Cities, Sculptures
and Inscriptions. PACSEA, Cambridge in association with ISEAS, Singapore,
due 2002.
In Preparation
Satingpra II, the Ancient Cultural Mosaic of South Thailand. PACSEA, Cambridge,
in association with ISEAS, Singapore c. 350 pp., 85
Selected Articles (since 1992 only)
'Assimilations reciproques entre le rituel funÈraire autochtone et le bouddhisme en Birmanie ancienne, du 2Ëme s. av. J.C. au 8Ëme s. ap. J.C,' Lecture for the Centenary of the Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes V, CollËge de France, 1987, in Le Rituel, vol. II, (eds. Schipper, K. & A.M.Blondeau). Louvain, Peeters, 1992a, pp.89-106, 10 figs.
'Le cosmos, les ancÍtres et le riz; l'eau dans l'espace urbain des pyus en birmanie,' in Disciplines croisÈes, hommage ? Bernard-Philippe Groslier, (eds. Condominas G. et al.). Paris, Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, 1992b, pp. 311-35, 13 figs.
'Water for Court or Countryside? Archaeological Evidence from Central Burma and South Thailand Reconsidered,' in The Gift of Water, (ed. Riggs, J.). London, School of Oriental and African Studies, 1992c, pp. 59-72, 2 figs.
'Muang Fa Daed: from prehistoric moated villages to Mon-Khmer style city; new archaeological studies of aerial images.' Paper presented to the Thai-Sophia Symposium on Ancient Khmer Cities in Lower North-East Thailand, Dec., 1989; in Ancient Khmer Cities of Lower North-East Thailand, (eds. Ishizawa, Y. and T.Kano). Tokyo, Sophia University, Institute of Asian Culture, in association with the Fine Arts Department of Thailand, 1992d, pp.107-128, 6 figs.
'Earth, Rice, Water: Three Essays in "Reading the Landscape" as Historical Record on Satingpra, South Thailand,' in Sediments of Time: Environment and Society in Chinese History , (eds. Elvin, M. and Liu T-j.). Taipei, Academia Sinica, 1995 (in Chinese, translated by Academia Sinica), pp. 209-70, 10 figs., 14 tables.
English version of above, in Nature and The Orient; the environmental history of South and Southeast Asia. (eds. Grove, R., V. Damodaran & Satpal Sangwan). Oxford & Delhi, Oxford University Press, 1998, pp. 125-183, 7 figs., 14 tables.
'The Four Oldest Surviving Pali Texts: the Results of the Cambridge Symposium on the Golden Pali Text of Sri Ksetra (Burma), April 1995,' Journal of the Pali Text Society, 1995, pp. 199-213.
6 articles commissioned by the Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana, translated
into Italian in Volumes A and B, of the Enciclopedia Archeologica Italiana,
1997 CD-rom.
'Canals - Far East (Acquadotte)' 6 pp., 7 figs.
'Ananda, temple of (Tempio di)' 3pp., 6 figs.
'Architectonics, structures, South East Asian - (Architettoniche Strutture)'
6 pp., 10 figs.
'Artificial tanks' (Bacine artificiale) 6 pp.
'Beikthano' 3 pp., 9 figs.
'Burma' (Birmania) 6 pp., 16 figs.
'Urbanization before Indianization at Beikthano, Central Burma,' Paper presented at the Conference of the European Association of Archaeologists of South East Asia, Paris 1994, in, Southeast Asian Archaeology 1994. (Proceedings of the Conference of the European Association of Archaeologists of South East Asia), (ed. Manguin, P-Y.). Hull, Centre for South-East Asian Studies 1998, pp. 126-138, 7 figs, 1 table.
'An Historical Atlas of South-East Asia, by Jan Pluvier,' Journal of Historical Geography, 25, 1, 1999a, pp. 104-6.
'The Forests of the Kra Isthmus, South Thailand,' with Choatip Purintavaragul. Royal Society South East Asian Rainforest Research Program Newsletter, December 1999b.
'ContrÙles et contraintes socio-Èconomiques des systËmes traditionnels d'irrigation et d'agriculture: le systËme d'Angkor dans les perspectives comparÈes,' paper presented at the Colloqium on Angkor et l"Eau, Siem Reap 1995, forthcoming in Angkor and Water, (bi-lingual French/English, ed. UNESCO). Paris, UNESCO & EFEO, 2000, 9 pp, 14 figs., 7 tables.
'Behind the Shadows: archaeological data on two-way sea-trade between Quanzhou and Satingpra, South Thailand, 10th-14th century,' in Emporium to the World: Quanzhou and Maritime Trade, 10th-14th century, (ed. Schottenhammer, A.). Leiden, E.J.Brill 2001, pp. 309-93, 6 figs, 17 pls., 4 tables.
'The Great Silver Reliquary from Sri Ksetra: the oldest Buddhist art in Burma and one of the two oldest Pali inscriptions in the world,' in Festschrift for Professor J.G.de Casparis. (eds. van Kooij, K. and M. Klokke). Groningen, Egbert Forster 2001, 33 pp., 8 pls.
'The Historical Geography of Burma; the creation of enduring patterns in the Pyu period.' Newsletter of the International Institute of Asian Studies [IIAS], Leiden, July 2001 Special Burma Issue.
'Resources - a Common Pool for Whom and How? A Review of NRSP's past and current CPR-related Projects.' Natural Resources Systems Programme Workshop on Common Pool Resources, October 2001, 33 pp.
'Don's Diary: Fieldwork in South Thailand,' Cam Magazine, November 2001.
'Die Kunst der Pyu: ein Beitrag zur Fr¸h- und Mittelalterlichen Kulturgeschichte S¸dostasiens,' Public Lecture at the Museum of Indian Art Berlin 2001, in press in Indoasiatische Kunst, due 2002.