Studying the types of rock where known edicts are located helped UCLA researchers find likely sites of additional ones. [J.W. Lehner]
Posted on 05/31/2016 3:51:48 PM PDT by SunkenCiv
For archaeologists and historians interested in the ancient politics, religion and language of the Indian subcontinent, two UCLA professors and their student researchers have creatively pinpointed sites that are likely to yield valuable transcriptions of the proclamations of Ashoka, the Buddhist king of northern India's Mauryan Dynasty who ruled from 304 B.C. to 232 B.C.
In a study published this week in Current Science, archaeologist Monica Smith and geographer Thomas Gillespie identified 121 possible locations of what are known as Ashoka's "edicts."
First they isolated shared features of 29 known locations of Ashokan edicts, which were found carved into natural rock formations in India, Pakistan and Afghanistan. They then harnessed species-distribution modeling tactics -- which includes examining sophisticated geographic information systems datasets along with Google Earth images -- to overlay those unique characteristics against a geological and population map of ancient India. They believe they have identified locations that hold the same characteristics as proven sites and are significantly accurate markers for future discovery.
Predictive modeling can be a powerful new tool for scholars and researchers, Smith said. The known edicts and other archaeological discoveries have previously come about through random discovery or comprehensive surveys of whole regions.
"With the realities of looking for artifacts on a continental scale, we need more effective tools, and a search mechanism like predictive modeling is a high-priority development," said Smith, emphasizing that many nations are facing the challenge of balancing preservation with much-needed development.
The Ashoka monuments in particular are of huge importance, especially in India, Smith said. They constitute the earliest known writings in the region. The national symbol of the modern nation of India is a sculpture that dates to the time of King Ashoka.
(Excerpt) Read more at newsroom.ucla.edu ...
Studying the types of rock where known edicts are located helped UCLA researchers find likely sites of additional ones. [J.W. Lehner]
Pakistan and Afghanistan?
Probably best if they remain hidden.
There are at least three spread across Pakisan (1) and Afghanistan (2) that are in Aramaic -- as Jacobovici put it, postcards from the Lost Tribes. There's simply no other plausible explanation for the presence of Aramaic in that region at that time.
Raiders of the lost edicts.
:’)
Is this guy trying to plagiarize Donald Trump or was it an honest coincidence? ;-)
I wonder about Ashoka’s empire — around 300 BC. What parts of India would have been populated? Most likely the Ganga-Jamuna river valley, Punjab and the coastlines. The interiors would remain non-Aryan for a long time yet and the furthest east would be Bengal.
That part ceded by Seleukus Nikator -- that was the ruler of one of the successor states after the death of Alexander the Great; I think that Ashoka's grandfather and predecessor Chandragupta Maurya was a boy when Alexander's army came through; Chandragupta was married to (among others) Seleukus Nikator's daughter, that swath of territory and the marriage cemented an alliance.
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