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ANCIENT COMPOSITE MATERIALS: an EXPERIMENTAL APPROACH to “ARTIFICIAL LATERITE” from EARLY HISTORIC POPULATION CENTERS in ODISHA Monica L

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ANCIENT COMPOSITE MATERIALS: an EXPERIMENTAL APPROACH to “ARTIFICIAL LATERITE” from EARLY HISTORIC POPULATION CENTERS in ODISHA Monica L ANCIENT COMPOSITE MATERIALS: AN EXPERIMENTAL APPROACH TO “ARTIFICIAL LATERITE” FROM EARLY HISTORIC POPULATION CENTERS IN ODISHA Monica L. Smith1 and Rabindra Kumar Mohanty2 1 Cotsen Institute of Archaeology, University of California, Los Angeles 2 Department of AIHC and Archaeology, Deccan College, Pune 411006 [email protected] Abstract The chemical and physical properties of natural materials, when combined in novel configurations or treated through processes such as fire, provide scope for humans to develop new and distinct substances. The sophisticated use of composite materials by ancient people (including concrete, plaster, and glass) enabled greater creativity in art, a greater range of architectural forms, and a more rapid production of daily-use goods. Composite materials also can be highly cost- effective as they are amenable to techniques such as molding that enables the production of novel shapes, and can make use of discarded materials as an efficient form of recycling. This paper examines the use of a composite process that was developed by ancient people to mimic solid stone at the ancient city of Sisupalgarh and its satellite town of Talapada during the Early Historic period (3rd century BCE-4th century CE) in eastern India. Introduction cooking, which physically alters foods and The first human artefacts were made from creates new flavors when ingredients are durable materials directly derived from nature combined to make stews, soup and gravy. The such as stone, wood, and bone. In many cases, finished products of cuisine often involves many those materials were used just as they were steps of input including chopping, grinding, found to assist in tasks related to acquiring mixing, and heating such that the final product food or providing shelter. Simple modifications is distinct from any of the initial ingredients. subsequently enabled people to enhance The cooking pots that were essential to this the inherent properties of those materials, process of cooking were themselves the result such as the removal of rough cortex to make of a process of combinatorial experimentation a sharpened stone tool, the shaping of wood in which clay was mixed with water and with to straighten a tree limb for architectural different kinds of temper. Other composite construction, or applying friction to make a materials were later developed: tin and copper sharpened bone point. After a long period were smelted together to make bronze, and in which materials were simply used “as-is” shells were transformed into powder through from nature, our ancestors began to create firing and then mixed with water to produce tools and other objects by combining one type plaster. of material with another. Stones were hafted Composite materials such as bronze onto twigs to make axes and adzes; bone and plaster represented the advent of new needles were used to join together sinew human-made substances that enabled people and leather; and sharp blades were encased to stretch their material repertoire and provide into wooden handles. These composite tools new opportunities for technological change became a hallmark of the Upper Palaeolithic and innovation (see Schiffer 2011). Composite age, an era that also saw the development materials also afford opportunities for creativity of non-utilitarian items such as beads that and innovation through the creation of different constitute evidence for social interaction and “recipes” for similar-looking products (e.g. trade (Stiner 2014). Miller 2008) and through further innovations The next significant shift in the human such as molding that accelerate the production use of the natural world came through the and consumption processes (Smith 2015). In combination of materials to make entirely new contrast to the relatively static parameters of creations. The earliest such transformations wholly natural materials, the human capacity would have been through the process of for combinatorial manufacturing facilitates a Smith and Mohanty et al. 2017, in Rethinking the Past: A Tribute to Professor V.N. Misra (S.G. Deo, Andre Baptista and Jayendra Joglekar Eds.), pp. 215-222, Pune. ISPQS: www.manandenvironment.org ISBN: 978-81-908330-6-6 Rethinking the Past: A Tribute to Professor V.N. Misra continual opportunity for experimentation and visible once the cement surface is “finished” novelty. and the consumer is unaware of the proportions Composites provide a particularly distinct of aggregate to cement in the finished product. mode of expression when used in architecture, The use of composite processes also can as seen in archaeological cases worldwide. In transform low-value or discarded items into some regions, the development of composite high-value items through recycling, as in the materials enabled new structural forms to be case of lime-slaking from shells discarded after envisioned and built, such as the apartment food consumption. buildings and artificial harbors of the Roman Empire that were constructed with cement Composite materials in South Asia (Lechtman and Hobbs 1986). In other regions, Archaeological sites in the Indian subcontinent the use of composite materials enabled people provide ample evidence of the development to scale up the size of existing architectural of composite products. Clay composites such forms into larger monumental structures, as pottery, mudbrick and pisé were part and as seen in the pre-Columbian pyramids of parcel of Neolithic lifestyles starting as early as the ancient city of Teotihuacan in Mexico the eighth millennium BCE (Hazarika 2013). By (Cowgill 2015). In addition to their practical the mid-third millennium BCE, there is evidence advantages, composite materials such as lime for lime plaster in pre-Harappan levels at plaster also enabled new forms of architectural Kalibangan (Thapar 1975); the subsequent aesthetics in which the bright white colour and development of urbanization in the Harappan smooth texture of human-made constructions period was accompanied by the manufacture presented a stark contrast to the rough surfaces of other composites including bronze (Park and and muted earth tones of the natural world. Shinde 2014) and faience (Miller 2008). By the mid-second millennium BCE, glass was added Composite materials have other attractive to the repertoire of composites made and used properties in addition to allowing for creativity, in the subcontinent (Kanungo 2004). experimentation and the expression of individual prowess. Composites can be made of The Early Historic cities of the Indian relatively cheap and widely-available materials, subcontinent were thus developed at a time transformed into finished products through the when all of the major composite materials application of human labor. One particularly known from South Asia had already come into good example is the use of three of the earth’s existence. The presence of cities as diverse most abundant materials (water, clay, and locales of economic, social and political organic fuel) for the production of pottery which activities provided the opportunity for people to can be done in an almost unlimited number intensify their use of composite materials, and of shapes according to the skill of the potter. also provided the opportunity for continued Similarly, glass is a composite that is made innovation in composite materials. In the case of easily-available materials (sand, soda, and study below, we identify the use of one such lime) that can be transformed into items with composite material in the form of “artificial” unique properties such as transparent vessels stone that was made from laterite waste as well as mass-produced goods such as glass products and used in the construction of beads. monumental public architecture. Composite creations also can blend Excavations at Sisupalgarh and Talapada more-valuable materials with less-valuable For the past decade, a joint research project materials to increase volume at low cost; for has been carried out between Deccan College example, cement is mixed with aggregate and the University of California, Los Angeles (stones or gravel) that increases volume, to investigate the urbanized landscapes of provides stability to the mixture as it dries, and the coastal Odisha region. Following on the mitigates unwanted fracture patterns (Chen pioneering work of Prof. B.B. Lal in the region and Liu 2004). The aggregate is no longer (Lal 1949, 1991), fieldwork has been carried 216 Ancient Composite Materials: an Experimental approach to “Artificial Laterite” out at the urban site of Sisupalgarh (Smith artefactual and environmental components of 2005; Mohanty and Smith 2008), the town- the regional transition to urbanism. sized settlement of Talapada (Mohanty, In their architecture, the ancient Smith and Matney 2014), and the village- inhabitants of Sisupalgarh and Talapada made sized settlement of Ostapur (Figs. 1 and 2). use of a variety of naturally-available building These efforts have been integrated with other materials. The landscape of Odisha’s coastal projects in the region, including excavations at zone is characterized by a laterite substrate with the Neolithic site of Harirajpur, the Neolithic occasional outcrops of sandstone. Sisupalgarh site of Golbai Sasan (Mohanty et al. 2012-13), is located in an alluvial area one kilometer and surveys of additional Neolithic and Early away from a laterite upland that rises gently to Historic sites (Behera 2013). The integration the west, with the nearest sandstone outcrop of information from these projects provides
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