D

late fourth to early third millennium BCE (e.g., Ghaleb Dams and Irrigation in Ancient Arabia 1990) and by the first few centuries AD a dam 680 m long and 16 m high diverted water (via two massive sluices at it northern and southern extremities) to MICHAEL HARROWER irrigate as much as 9,600 ha (Brunner 2000; Brunner and Haefner 1986). Interestingly, ancient Southwest ˒ Among the many scientific and technological accom- Arabian state capitals such as Ma rib developed not in plishments of ancient Arabia, dams and irrigation relatively humid highlands where rainfall agriculture systems stand out as a remarkable testament to was possible, but along the margins of the Ramlat advanced skills in hydrological engineering. Arabia’s as-Sab’atayn Desert where irrigation farming required ancient inhabitants developed sophisticated means of far more labor but could also dramatically boost agri- capturing and diverting water that not only involved cultural production. Ancient Southwest Arabian king- detailed knowledge of water flows, but also required doms of Ma’īn, Awsān, Qatabān, and Hadramawt were coordination of considerable labor for construction, part of an intricate network of trade and political operation, and maintenance. Although sometimes over- relations and utilized analogous flash-floodwater irri- shadowed by better-known Egyptian, Mesopotamian, gation technologies (Brunner 1997a, b; Francaviglia and South Asian irrigation systems that supported 2002; Gentelle 1991; Gentelle and Coque-Delhuille some of the world’s earliest and most influential 1998). By the sixth century AD the power and influence civilizations, the remains of advanced water control of the Saba had dramatically waned. Damaged by ˒ systems have also been found throughout Arabia. Some powerful floodwaters the inhabitants of Ma rib were of the ancient world’s largest dams and most advanced unable to mobilize the labor necessary to repair the dam flash-floodwater systems were constructed in Southwest and agriculture continued at only a fraction of its Arabia (Yemen) during the late first millennium BCE. former grandeur (Vogt 2004). Southwest Arabian floodwater (spate) systems irrigated Many important questions surrounding the origins thousands of hectares and supported ancient states that of irrigation in Arabia (including the degree to which gained wide recognition for trading aromatic tree resins local technologies developed independently or were including frankincense and myrrh to as far away as the inspired by developments elsewhere) remain largely Mediterranean. The tenth century AD geographer and unanswered. Unlike systems of Egypt, Mesopotamia, historian al-Hamdānī was one of the earliest scholars to and South Asia that frequently diverted water from report on irrigation works of Southwest Arabia. In the perennial flow rivers such as the Nile, Tigris, eighth book of his treatise al-Iklīl, al-Hamdānī describes Euphrates, and Indus, irrigation systems of the Arabian ancient monuments and briefly mentions a number of Peninsula involved diversion of flash-floodwaters that ˒ large dams, including the famous dam near Ma rib, typically occur only a few times a year, quickly Yemen (Faris 1938 [945]: 34–35, 67–69). Ancient appearing and disappearing in a matter of hours. Egypt Southwest Arabian irrigation systems subsequently and Mesopotamia are known to have some of the captured the attention of early western explorers, earliest and most extensive systems, and some scholars including Arnaud (1874) and Glaser (1913), and they have thus speculated that diffusion from one or both remain a topic of considerable scholarly interest today of these regions was likely responsible for systems (e.g., Brunner 1997a, b, 2000; Brunner and Haefner in Arabia (e.g., Bowen 1958). But if irrigation systems 1986; Darles 2000; Francaviglia 2000, 2002; Gentelle of Southwest Arabia did indeed diffuse from distant 1991; Ghaleb 1990; Hehmeyer 1989; Vogt 2004; Vogt regions, dramatic modifications would have been et al. 2002). required before they could operate amidst very different The dam near Ma’rib (Yemen), capital of the ancient topographic, hydrological, and social circumstances. In state of Saba, is one of the largest and most impressive Egypt and Mesopotamia, where a tremendous wealth of examples of ancient floodwater irrigation (Fig. 1). archaeological research has been conducted, a long Small-scale irrigation began in the region as early as the history of alluvial deposition and land-use make 678 Dams and irrigation in ancient Arabia

While peoples of ancient Southwest Arabia developed increasingly sophisticated flash-floodwater irrigation, other regions were simultaneously designing water control systems tailored to their own local circumstances. By the first millennium BCE underground infiltration galleries that captured water from upland aquifers (known in Iran as qanats) spread to Southeast Arabia (Oman) where they rapidly became a primary means of agricultural production (J. C. Wilkinson 1977, 1983; Lightfoot 2000). The inhabitants of Nabataean cities such as Petra (Jordan) and Meda’in Saleh (Saudi Arabia) constructed extensive hydraulic systems of dams, canals, conduits, pipes, and cisterns to provide water for domestic consumption, gardens, and fields (Akasheh Dams and Irrigation in Ancient Arabia. Fig. 1 The ˒ 2002; Ortloff 2005). Increasingly complex perennial massive south sluice of the ancient dam near Ma rib, Yemen flow systems supported long and highly productive (photo by the author). agricultural histories in Egypt and Mesopotamia. South Asian cities including Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa identifying the earliest irrigation and the precise operated some of the world’s first household water techniques first involved a significant challenge (e.g., supply systems for drinking, bathing, and to remove Wilkinson 2003). Although some of the world’s first domestic sewage (Scarborough 2003: 144–145). farmers experimented with water management in the In addition to irrigation’s importance as an example Levant during the Neolithic, possibly as early as the of ancient technological expertise, water control has seventh millennium BCE (Bar-Yosef 1986; Betts and held an enduring place in explanations of ancient Helms 1989; Miller 1980: 331–332) most relied on sociopolitical change. During the 1950s Wittfogel direct rainfall and/or naturally water-rich areas. By the (1957) and Steward (1949, 1955) became key propo- sixth millennium BCE the prevalence of irrigation nents of the hypothesis that the need for bureaucracies to had begun to increase substantially. Farming settle- coordinate large-scale irrigation was a primary factor ments were established in areas of middle and lower responsible for the rise of centralized political leadership Mesopotamia where rainfall was insufficient for and the emergence of the world’s earliest civilizations. cultivation (Maisels 1999: 125, 147–150), canal frag- Although scholars now recognize that irrigation was ments are dated to before 5000 BCE at Choga Mami certainly not the only factor responsible for the rise (Oates and Oates 1976), and linear arrangements of sites of the world’s first state societies, Wittfogel and in Mesopotamia and Iran suggest they were located Steward played an important role in emphasizing the along canals (Adams 1965:119; Sumner 1994: 57). It near ubiquity of water control among early civilizations. was not until substantially later during the fourth Their assertions prompted a wealth of research on millennium BCE that large-scale irrigation became a coordination and management of irrigation (e.g., widely predominant means of plant food production. In Downing and Gibson 1974; Hunt and Hunt 1976; Kelly both Egypt and Mesopotamia centrally coordinated 1983; Millon 1962), and irrigation continues to be a irrigation was well underway by this time (Butzer 1976; focus of cross-cultural archaeological and anthropolog- Postgate and Powell 1988). While the first appearance of ical research (Mabry 1996, 2000; Scarborough 2003). In irrigation in Southwest Arabia may have been stimulated some cases large-scale systems developed by accretion by aforementioned developments in the Levant, Meso- as individual farmers or groups of farmers constructed potamia, or Egypt, investigations in Yemen have independently devised systems, while in others large- traditionally focused on prominent large-scale systems, scale systems were designed, constructed, and operated rather than their small-scale predecessors from which by irrigation administrators with state sanctioned farmers first accumulated knowledge of water flow authority (Mabry 1996, 2000). While the so-called patterns and developed organizational means to control “hydraulic hypothesis” in its most simplistic formula- them. Recent investigations have made important strides tion is clearly flawed and long outdated, water control toward identifying Southwest Arabia’searliestsystems. undoubtedly did play a significant role in shaping the Small-scale hillslope runoff systems have now been history of many ancient societies including those of identified and dated to the late fourth millennium BCE Arabia and other arid environments. in a number of widely dispersed locales throughout Yemen’s rugged highlands (Ghaleb 1990;Harrower See also: ▶Alluvial Settlements on the Nile, ▶Qanat, 2006; McCorriston and Oches 2001; Wilkinson 1999). ▶al-Hamdānī, ▶Irrigation, ▶Water control in Petra Dams and irrigation in ancient Arabia 679

References Hehmeyer, I. Irrigation Farming in the Ancient Oasis of Marib. Proceedings of the Seminar for Arabian Studies Adams, R. M. Land Behind Baghdad: A History of Settlement 19 (1989): 33–44. on the Diyala Plains. Chicago: University of Chicago Hunt, Robert C. and Eva Hunt. Canal Irrigation and Local Press, 1965. Social Organization. Current Anthropology 17.3 (1976): Akasheh, Talal. Ancient and Modern Watershed Management 389–411. in Petra. Near Eastern Archaeology 65.4 (2002): 220–4. Kelly, William W. Concepts in the Anthropological Study of Arnaud, Joseph Thomas. Plan de la Digue et de la Ville de Irrigation. American Anthropologist 85.4 (1983): 880–6. Mareb. Journal Asiatique serie 7.3 (1874): 1–16. Lightfoot, D. L. The Origin and Diffusion of Qanats in Arabia: Bar-Yosef, O. The Walls of Jericho: An Alternative New Evidence From the Northern and Southern Peninsula. Interpretation. Current Anthropology 27.2 (1986): 157–62. The Geographical Journal 166.3 (2000): 215–26. D Betts, A. and S. W. Helms. A Water Harvesting and Storage Mabry, Jonathan B. ed. Canals and Communities: Small- System at Ibn El-Ghazzi in Eastern Jordan: A Preliminary Scale Irrigation Systems. Tucson: University of Arizona Report. Levant 21 (1989): 3–11. Press, 1996. Bowen, R. L. Irrigation in Ancient Qataban (Beihan). ---. Wittfogel Was Half Right: The Ethnology of Consensual Archaeological Discoveries in South Arabia. Ed. R. L. and Nonconsensual Hiearchies in Irrigation Management. Bowen and F. P. Albright. Baltimore: The John Hopkins Hierarchies in Action. Ed. Michael W. Diehl. Carbondale, Press, 1958. 43–89. IL: Center for Archaeological Investigations, Southern Brunner, Ueli. Geography and Human Settlements in Ancient Illinois University, 2000. 284–94. Southern Arabia. Arabian Archaeology and Epigraphy Maisels, Charles Keith. Early Civilizations of the Old World: 8 (1997a): 190–202. The Formative Histories of Egypt, the Levant, Mesopota- ---. The History of Irrigation in Wadi Marhah. Proceedings of mia, India and China. London: Routledge, 1999. the Seminar for Arabian Studies 27 (1997b): 75–85. ˒ McCorriston, J. and E. Oches. Two Early Holocene ---. The Great Dam and the Sabean Oasis of Ma rib. Irrigation Check Dams from Southern Arabia. Antiquity 75 (2001): and Drainage Systems 14 (2000): 167–82. 675–6. Brunner, Ueli and H. Haefner. The Successful Floodwater Miller, Robert. Water Use in Syria and Palestine From the Farming System of the Sabeans: Yemen Arab Republic. Neolithic to the Bronze Age. World Archaeology 11.3 Applied Geography 6 (1986): 77–86. (1980): 331–41. Butzer, Karl. Early Hydraulic Civilization in Egypt. Chicago: Millon, Rene. Variations in Social Responses to the Practice University of Chicago Press, 1976. of Irrigation Agriculture. Civilizations in Desert Lands. Ed. Darles, C. Les Structures d’irrigation du Wadi Surban au Richard B. Woodbury. Utah: Department of Anthropolgy, Yemen. Proceedings of the Seminar for Arabian Studies University of Utah, 1962. 30 (2000): 87–97. Oates, D. and J. Oates. Early Irrigation Agriculture in Downing, McGuire Gibson, ed. Irrigation’s Impact on Society. Mesopotamia. Problems in Economic and Social Archae- Tucson, AZ: The University of Arizona Press, 1974. ology. Ed. I. H. Longworth. London: Duckworth, 1976. Faris, N. A. The Antiquities of South Arabia, Being a 109–35. Translation from the Arabic with Linguistic, Geographic, Ortloff, Charles R. The Water Supply and Distribution and Historic Notes, of the Eighth Book of Al-Hamdani’s System of the Nabataean City of Petra (Jordan), 300 Al-Iklil. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1938 BCE–AD 300. Cambridge Archaeological Journal 15.1 [945]. – ˒ (2005): 93 109. Francaviglia, Vincenzo M. Dating the Ancient Dam of Ma rib Postgate, J. N. and M. A. Powell, ed. Irrigation and Cul- (Yemen). Journal of Archaeological Science 27 (2000): tivation in Mesopotamia, Part I. Cambridge: Sumerian 645–53. Agriculture Group, 1988. ---. Some Remarks on the Irrigation Systems of Ancient Scarborough, Vernon L. The Flow of Power: Ancient Yemen. Essays on the Late Prehistory of the Arabian Water Systems and Landscapes. Santa Fe, NM: SAR Peninsula. Ed. S. Cleuziou, M. Tosi, and Juris Zarins. Press, 2003. Roma: Istituto Italiano per L’Africa e l’Oriente, 2002. Steward, J. H. Cultural Causality and Law: A Trial 111–44. Formulation of the Development of Early Civilizations. Gentelle, Pierre. Les Irrigations Antiques à Shabwa. Syria 68 American Anthropologist 51.1 (1949): 1–27. (1991): 5–54. ---. Introduction: The Irrigation Civilizations a Symposium Gentelle, Pierre and B. Coque-Delhuille. La Nature et on Method and Result in Cross Cultural Regularities. l’irrigation. Une Vallee Aride Du Yemen Antique – Le Irrigation Civilizations: A Comparative Study. Social Wadi Bayhan. Ed. Jean-Francois Breton, et al. Paris: Science Monographs I. Washington, DC: Pan American Editions Recherche et Civilizations, 1998. 75–125. Union, 1955. 1–5. Ghaleb, A. O. Agricultural Practices in Ancient Radman and Sumner, William. The Evolution of Tribal Society in the Wadi Al-Jubah (Yemen). Ph.D. Dissertation, University of Southern Zagros Mountains, Iran. Chiefdoms and Early Pennsylvania, 1990. States in the Near East: The Organizational Dynamics of Glaser, E. Edward Glaser’s Reise Nach Marib; Herausge- Complexity. Ed. Mitchell S. Rothman. Monographs in geben Von D. H. Von Muller and N. Rhodokanakis. Wien: World Archaeology No. 18. Madison, WI: Prehistory Alfred Holder, 1913. Press, 1994. 47–65. Harrower, M. Environmental versus Social Parameters, Vogt, Burkhard. Towards a New Dating of the Great Dam of Landscape, and the Origins of Irrigation in Southwest Marib: Preliminary Results of the 2002 Fieldwork of the Arabia (Yemen). Ph.D. Dissertation, The Ohio State German Institute of Archaeology. Proceedings of the University, 2006. Seminar for Arabian Studies 34 (2004): 377–88. 680 Decimal notation

Vogt, Burkhard, V. Buffa, and Ueli Brunner. Ma’layba and gave as gifts cows numbering 210 or three times 70 the Bronze Age Irrigation in Coastal Yemen. Archaolo- (8.19.37). There were 21 followers of Indra, or three gische Berichte aus dem Yemen Band 9 (2002). times seven (1.133.6), and the number of horses prayed Wilkinson, J. C. Water and Tribal Settlement in South East for was thrice seven times 70 or 3 × 7 × 70 (8.46.26). In Arabia: A Study of the Aflaj of Oman. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1977. Vedic literature, besides the primary numbers, one to ---. Origins of the Aflaj in Oman. Journal of Oman Studies nine, expressed by the terms, eka, dvi, tri, catur, pañca, 6.1 (1983): 177–94 s.at.,sapta,as.t.a,andnava, the decuple terms from ten to Wilkinson, T. J. Settlement, Soil Erosion and Terraced 90, expressed by daśa, vim. śati, trim. śat, catvārimśat, Agriculture in Highland Yemen: A Preliminary Statement. pañcāśat, s.as.t.i, saptati, aśīti and navati are found. Proceedings of the Seminar for Arabian Studies 29 (1999): – These are then sequentially multiplied by ten, taking 183 91. terms from 100 to 10 to the power of 12, the terms being ---. Archaeological Landscapes of the near East. Tucson, AZ: ś University of Arizona Press, 2003. ata, sahasra, ayuta, niyuta, prayuta, kot.i, arbuda, Wittfogel, K. A. Oriental Despotism: A Comparative Study of nyarbuda, samudra, madhya, anta,andparārdha.Inthe Total Power. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1957. matter of the arrangement of decuples in compound number–names, the practice generally followed in Vedic literature was to put the term of higher denomination first, except in the case of the two lowest denomina- Decimal Notation tions, where the reverse method was followed. See, for example, sapta śātāni vim. śatih. (seven hundreds and twenty, R. gveda 1.164.11), sahasrān. i śata daśa K. V. SARMA (thousands hundred, and ten, R. gveda 2.1.8) and s.ast., sahasra navatim nava (sixty thousands, ninety and nine, Decimal notation is a system which imparts to nine 60,099 R. gveda 1.53.9). figures (digits) an absolute numerical value and also a With respect to written symbols for numbers, since positional value which latter increases their value ten no palaeographic records of the Vedic age have been times by being shifted by one place to the left. Thus, the preserved, little can be said. However, a few Vedic digits: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9, coupled with the figure passages occur where written numerical symbols are ‘0’ which stands for zero or śūnya (nothing, empty), mentioned. In the R. gveda (10.62.7) certain cows with while expressing just their individual values when the mark of ‘8’ (as.t.a-karn. ī) are referred to, and standing alone, can express also any quantity of any Yajurveda-Kāt.haka Sam. hitā makes mention of pieces magnitude by their repeated use in the same number, of gold with the mark ‘8’ imprinted on them (as.t.a- and shifting of places, as needed. The importance of this pruddhiran. yam, as.t.āmr. dam hiran. yam, 13.10). Inscrip- contrivance is apparent from the words of the great tions and manuscripts, of later ages, all over India, use French mathematician Laplace, when he says, “The numerical symbols profusely. The tendency had been, idea of expressing all quantities by nine figures whereby from early ages, to spell out the numbers or make use of both an absolute value and one by position is imparted things permanently associated with a number to to them is so simple that this very simplicity is the represent that number. For instance, eyes, hands, etc. reason for our not being sufficiently aware how much were used for 2; moon, sky, etc. were used for 1, admiration it deserves” (Srinivasaingar 1967). Halstead seasons for 6, and week for 7. Another method was to observes, “The importance of the creation of the zero attribute specific numerical values for the letters of the mark can never be exaggerated. This giving to airy alphabet and use those letters to indicate the specified nothing, not merely a local habitation and a name, a numbers, a method which was mentioned by the picture, a symbol, but helpful power, is the characteris- Sanskrit grammarian Pān.ini of the fourth century BCE. tic of the Hindu race from whence it sprang. It is like These methods were very popular in the classical age in coining the Nirvān. a into dynamos. No single mathe- India, especially with mathematicians and astronomers. matical creation has been more potent for the general on-go of intelligence and power”. See also: ▶Mathematics in India, ▶Sexagesimal In Indian tradition, the need for enumeration and System, ▶Zero decimal notation stemmed from the adoration of gods and for ritualistic purposes. From Vedic times, the Hindus used the decimal notation for numeration. References The R. gveda (ca. 2000 BCE) groups gods into three (1.105.5); there are three dawns (8.41.3); there were Datta, Bibhutibhusan and Avadhesh Narayan Singh. History of Hindu Mathematics: A Source Book. Bombay: Asia seven rays of the Sun-god (1.105.9); there were seven Publishing House, 1962. sages (4.42.8), and seven seas (8.40.5). There were 180 Gupta, R. N. Decimal Denominational Terms in Ancient and Marut-gods, or three times 60 (8.96.8); the God śyāvā Medieval India. Ganita Bharati 5.1–4 (1986): 8–15. Decimal system and measurement in East Asia 681

Halstead, G. B. On the Foundation and Technic of Arithmetic. seen in hito (1): huta (2), mi (3): mu (6), yo (4): ya (8), Chicago. Open Court, 1912. and itu (5): towo (10). Apart from Japanese, examples Ray, Priyadranjan and S. N. Sen. The Cultural Heritage of of similar multiplication systems can also be found India. Vol. VI: Science and Technology. Calcutta: Ramak- most typically in Korean (dialect: 1), Taiwanese (8), rishna Mission Institute of Culture, 1986. Micronesian (5), Melanesian (3), and Amerindian (15). R. gveda: The Hymns of the R. gveda. Trans. R. Th. Griffith. Delhi: Motilal Banarasidass, 1986. The numbers that cannot be obtained in this method are Sharma, Mukesh Dutt. Indian Invention of Decimal System 7 and 9, which can be readily given by combining the and Number Zero. Vedic Path 44.1 (1982): 32–7. approach of one-to-one correspondence. Srinivasaingar, C. N. The History of Ancient Indian Peoples using these languages belong to the Mathematics. Calcutta: World Press, 1967. Mongoloid race. It has been estimated that the cardinal D numerals between 1 and 10 emerged no earlier than 50,000 years ago, before these Mongoloids migrated outward from an area of East Asia and made their way Decimal System and Measurement to the North, East, and South. Each of the several bone pieces of 28,000 years ago in East Asia that were discovered in Shiyu site in China bears a number of lines. Each of these lines denoting a number suggests that the people used to record 20 or more SHIGEO IWATA numbers. The 22,430-year-old bone tubes excavated at the Zhoukoudian site in the southwest of Beijing bear Decimal System symbols that have been deciphered as representing 3, 5, There exists at least one root word that seems to be 10, and 13. The shape of the symbol for 10 leads us to common to all languages, namely, tik, which means a believe that its creators employed the decimal system. finger, an arm, or the numeral “one.” The word te in Presumably, the Mongoloid completed the decimal Japanese language that belongs to Sino-Tibetan lan- system 50,000 years ago when they branched into East guages refers to a “hand” and iti means “one” (Table 1). Asia, both North and South America, and the Pacific When modern humans branched out from Africa islands. The Chinese people recorded numbers as large some 150,000 years ago, they may have been aware as 30,000 in the period 3,300 years ago. of the number “one.” The Caucasoids branched off 100,000 years ago, and Australians 100–70 years ago. The Australians knew numbers as large as three before Measurement the eighteenth century. Mongoloids reached East Asia The greatest numbers of discoveries in East Asia 70,000–50,000 years ago. The Japanese islands consist of pit dwellings. In most of these cases, the constituted an integral part of continental Asia about wooden pillars no longer remain; the only evidence left 12,000 years ago. is the postholes. The center of each posthole bottom Sorai Ogyu (1666–1728) discovered that the cardinal presumably constitutes the center of gravity. Statistic numerals of one type in Japanese include a reduplica- calculations of the intervals between the centers derive tion system of the vowel-exchanging type. In other a unit. words, the replacement of one vowel with another has Table 2 indicates the age and unit length of typical the effect of doubling the value of the number as can be dwellings. The plan views of some of the dwellings are given in Fig. 1. The mean value of the length of one unit is 17.3 cm. The magnifications of the unit Decimal System and Measurement in East Asia. of lengths most frequently used are multiples of 5. Table 1 Root word and meaning In the rare case where irregular numbers only are detected, it is presumed that no ruler was used for the Family or language Form Meaning construction. Nilo-Saharan tok-tek-dik One These dwellings were designed according to a Indo-European dik-deik To indicate/point triangular standard, with the particular use of isosceles Caucasian (south) titi, tito Finger, single triangles and occasional employment of an equilateral Uralic ik-odik-itik One triangle. Later in 8000 BCE or thereabouts, rectangular Austroasiatic ti Hand, arm dwellings emerged. Sino-Tibetan tik One The era when the practice of measurement began is Indo-Pacific tong-tang-ten Finger, hand, arm considered to be the period in the middle of the range Eskimo tik Index finger with the upper limit of 50,000 years ago when the Amerind tik Finger Na-Dene tek-tiki-tak One decimal system was presumably completed and the lower limit of 25,000 years ago, which is the oldest 682 Decimal system and measurement in East Asia

Decimal System and Measurement in East Asia. Table 2 Era and unit of length

No. Site Region Year (BCE) Unit of length (cm) Standard deviation (cm)

1 Hasamiyama Japan 26,000 17.3 0.67 2 Nishi-gagara Japan 22,000 17.2 0.82 3 Shimonjo Japan 18,000 17.3 1.01 4 Kogure-higashi-arayama Japan 16,000 17.6 0.94 5 Tana-mukaihara Japan 15,690 17.4 0.54 6 Taejon Korea 13,000 18.1 0.60 7 Ushki East Siberia 12,000 16.8 0.55 8 Kuzuharazawa Japan 9,000 17.3 1.01 9 Momijiyama Japan 7,120 17.2 0.68 10 Guhu China 6,230 17.0 0.37 11 Egou China 5,950 17.2 0.73 12 Gungsan Korea 4,750 16.5 0.40 13 Uriba Japan 4,620 17.4 0.31 14 Banpo China 4,476 17.5 0.26 15 Giangzhai China 4,182 17.3 0.18 16 Ichinosaka Japan 3,875 17.4 0.34 17 Dadiwan China 3,190 17.4 0.61 18 Ogakuchi Japan 3,050 17.0 0.33 19 Wangwan China 2,842 17.6 0.29 20 Ukonjiro Japan 2,060 17.3 0.74 era indicated in Table 1. The region where measure- volume was set to 209 cm3 with the unit name of sheng, ment began in East Asia has yet to be determined. which was four times as large as the volume of a single The origin of the length 17.3 cm is not evident. At hand-cupped gowpen. present, it is considered to match the hand length of an In Japan, it is highly probable that some of the average female adult of a matriarchal society or the potteries excavated from ancient sites of a period span of thumb and middle finger. Seven rulers that were ranging from 2,800 to 2,300 BCE were made in used in the Chinese Shang dynasty in 1300 BCE or accordance with standards of length and volume. thereabout were found, of which four were made of Assuming that such a positional notation as the bone, two of ivory, and one of jade. The shortest length decimal system was established before 50,000 years of 1 chi is 15.773 cm and the longest 18.672 cm. The ago when modern humans arrived at East Asia and mean value and standard deviation of the length of branched into various directions, the first measuring of 1 chi is 17.1 ± 1.47 cm. A ruler of 1 chi bear the length was used for building dwellings in a period graduations of 1/10, namely cun and 1/100, fen. Then, between the above-mentioned era and 28,000 years the length of 1 chi significantly increased because of ago. In the upper and lower ranges than the subject the turbulence of social order. In the period from unit, one or more superior or inferior units were thirteenth century BCE to third century BCE, it took then created. With the gradual implementation of about 48 years for a measure to propagate from China measuring systems of volume and other physical to the Korean Peninsula, and 150 years or thereabouts quantities, regional or racial cultures developed, and to the Japanese Islands that were isolated from the these different cultures integrated and evolved into the Continent. entire Chinese civilization. Thus, “Measurement was The construction ruler (a ruler used for building the mother of civilization,” and “civilization began with structures) is the first standard scale of each race and measurement.” differs from others in the unit of length. The cubit in Egypt measured 52.5 cm, while the cubit in Mesopo- References tamia was 50.0 cm long, the fathom in Indus was 168 cm, and the hand length in East Asia averaged Cavalli-Sforza, Luigi Luca and Francesco Cavalli-Sforza. 17.1 cm. The Great Human Diasporas, The History of Diversity and On the Dadiwan site in China, four measures used in Evolution. Trans. Sarah Thorne. Reading: Addison-Wesley Publishing Company, 1995. 183–6. the period of 3,190 ± 170 BCE were discovered. The 3 Horikoshi, Masako, Takaaki Matusmiya, and Hiromi Naka- mean value of unit volumes was 264 cm , which was mura. Recommended Food Intake by Hand Measurement close to the volume of a gowpen (double handful). Method: Correlations of Sizes of Hand with Height, Then, 2,800 years later in China, the standard of Weight and Body Surface. Memoirs of the Faculty of Devācārya 683

Education. Otsu: Shiga University, Natural Science and it is 15° an hour or 1° in 4 min. In terms of Indian – Pedagogic Science, 42, 1992. 15 37. measures, since 60 nād.īs are equal to 24 h or two and Institute of Archaeology, Research Center of Ancient Civiliza- half nād.īs make 1 h, the rotation of 15° corresponds to a tion. Review of the Research into the Origin of Chinese period of two and a half nād.īs. Since 1 nād.ī = 60 Civilization. Beijing: Cultural Relics Publishing House, ā ī ā ā 2003. vin d. s, and 1 vin d.i =6pr n. as, the rotation will be 1° Iwata, Shigeo. The Length Standard in China, Korea and in 10 vinād.īs, or 1 min in 10 prān. as. The deśāntara Japan, (1) 300 BC–1700 AD. Bulletin of the Society of which is expressed in terms of time measure is done Historical Metrology, Japan 16.1,17 (1994): 43–58. through either nād.īs, vinād.īs or prān. as. ---. The Length Standard in China, Korea and Japan, (2) Since the planetary positions derived by Indian 5000–300 BC. Bulletin of the Society of Historical D – astronomical computation are all related to the mean Metrology, Japan 17.1,18 (1995): 53 65. sunrise at the zero meridian, viz., the Ujjain meridian, ---. The Origin of Linear Measurement in East Asia. APMF 2000 Nov. (2000): 17–24. to arrive at the positions at local places, a longitude ---. The Origin of Linear Measurement in East Asia – correction or deśāntarasam. skāra is called for. It is Especially in Japan. Advanced Measurement 2001. Science calculated in time-measures, as above, and is subtracted Council of Japan, May 2001. 1–10. if the place in question is east of Ujjain and added if it is Kobayashi, Katsunaga. Origin and Development of Number west of Ujjain. – Words. Tokyo: Seirinshas, 1998. 11 6. The deśāntara-samskāra is expressed also in terms Kuroiwa, Takashi. Studies on the Metrological Standards in . Jomon Pottery. Thesis, Shinshu University, Nagano, 2002. of the distance, i.e. in yojanas, of the desired place from Li, Di. History of Mathematics in China, Ancient Time – the Ujjain meridian in the same latitude, at the rate of Wudai. Nanjing: Tiangsu Educational Publishing Company, 55 yojanas for 10 vinād.īs or 1 min. 1997. 19–36. Nei, Masatoshi. The Origins of Human Populations: Genetic, See also: ▶Astronomy in India Linguistic, and Archeological Data. The Origin and Past of Modern Humans as Viewed from DNA. Brenner and Ed. Sydney Kazuro Hanihara. Singapore: World Scientific Publishing, 1995. 71–91. Ogiu, Sorai. Narubeshi, Mohei subaraya. Edo 2 (1762): 14. Zhao, Jiean-ling. A Preliminary Study on the Ancient Deva¯ca¯rya Measuring Tools and the Distribution System of Dadiwan. Kaogu yu Wenwu (Archaeology and Culture Relics) 6 – (1992): 37 41. K. V. SARMA

Devācārya, son of Gojanma and author of the astronomical manual Karan. aratna (lit. Gem of a Manual), hailed from Kerala in South India. The epoch Des´a¯ntara of Karan. aratna, i.e. the date from which planetary computations were instructed to be commenced in that work, is the first day of the year 611 in the Śaka era, K. V. SARMA which corresponds to February 26 of AD 689. This places Devācārya in the latter half of the seventh In Indian astronomy, the Deśāntara of a place is its century. We know he came from Kerala because he terrestrial longitude, i.e. the ‘distance of the place’ from used the Kat.apayādi system of letter numerals and a universally accepted zero meridian. In modern times, the Śakābdasam. skāra, which is a correction applied the meridian at Greenwich in England is accepted as the to the mean longitudes of the planets from the Śaka zero meridian, and the longitude is expressed in terms year 444 or AD 521, and a unique method of computing of the angle subtended, at the pole, by the Greenwich the solar eclipse, all of which are peculiar to Kerala, meridian and the meridian of the place in question. and because his work is popular in that part of the land. Indian astronomy had, from early times, taken as the Devācārya uses the elements of the Āryabhat.an school zero meridian the meridian passing through the ancient of astronomy as the basis of his work, as he himself states city of Ujjain in Central India, cutting the equator at an towards the commencement of Karaaratna. His work . imaginary city called Lankā and passing through the is based both on the Āryabhat.īya and on the second work south and north poles. Again, in order to facilitate the of Āryabhat.a, the Āryabhat.a-siddhānta,asabridgedin conversion of the local time to that of the zero meridian the Khan. d.akhādyaka of Brahmagupta. The influence and vice versa, the Deśāntara was expressed in terms of the Sūryasiddhānta and of Varāhamihira are also of time-measures like nād.ī (or ghatī), equal to 24 min, apparent. It is also noteworthy that Devācārya himself as converted from the corresponding degrees. Since the innovated several thitherto unknown methodologies and earth completes one eastward rotation of 360° in 24 h, techniques. 684 Divination: Science, technology, and the mantic arts in traditional China

In eight chapters, the Karan. aratna encompasses earlier – specialists in reading stress cracks in the bones almost all the generally accepted aspects of Hindu of various animals had already emerged as a distinct astronomical manuals. Chapter I of the work is concer- occupational group in north China. During the Shang ned with the computation of the longitudes of the sun dynasty (ca. 1500–ca. 1100 BCE), the interpretation and moon, and also the five basic elements of the Hindu of so-called oracle bones (the dried plastrons of turtles calendar (pañcān. ga). Computation and graphical re- and the scapulae of cattle) reached a high degree of presentation of the lunar and solar eclipses are the sophistication. Royal diviners sought spiritual advice on subjects of chapters II and III. Chapter IV deals with behalf of the Shang kings concerning a wide range of problems related to the gnomonic shadow, and chapter important topics, from the weather, agriculture, hunting V with the calculation of the time of the moon-rise and and travel, to civil and military administration, the allied matters. In chapter VI, heliacal rising of the moon construction of buildings, the location of cities, religious and elevation of the moon’s horns are dealt with. The sacrifices, and personal problems. last two chapters are concerned with the derivation of The inscriptions on Shang oracle bones do more than the longitudes of the planets, planetary motion, and indicate the preoccupations of rulers, however; they also planetary conjunctions. reveal patterns of thought and behavior that have lasted Several peculiarities characterize Devācārya’s work. for several millennia in China. For instance, they Among these are the computation of the sun, moon, document the early use of sexegenary cyclical char- moon’s apogee, and moon’s ascending node using the acters (“stems” and “branches;” ganzhi) for marking ‘omitted’ lunar days, the Śakābda correction, and the time – a practice that continued in all subsequent application of a third visibility correction for the moon. dynasties and can still be seen today in traditional However, what is most significant in the work is the Chinese almanacs. They also suggest a deep interest in recognition of the precession of the equinoxes and the dream interpretation that has persisted throughout rule that he gives for its determination on any date. Chinese history. Furthermore, oracle bone inscriptions Devācārya’s measure of the rate of precession is 47 s testify to an early preoccupation with astronomical per annum, its modern value being 50 s. Devācārya’s observation, astrological prediction and numerology. importance lies in the fact that his work formed a record Indeed, some Chinese scholars have argued that Shang of the astronomical practices and methodologies for the dynasty numerological concerns led to the invention of quick derivation of astronomical data that prevailed in the extraordinarily important divinatory symbols known India during the seventh century AD. as hexagrams in English (see below). Paradigmatic Chinese sources such as the Shijing See also: ▶Āryabhat.a, ▶Varāhamihira, ▶Precession of (Classic of Poetry), the Shujing (Classic of History), the Equinoxes the Yijing (I Ching; Classic of Changes), the Chunqiu (Spring and Autumn Annals), the Zuozhuan (Com- mentary of Zuo), the Liji (Record of Ritual), and the References Zhouli (Rituals of Zhou) – together with recently excavated inscribed bronzes and writings on both silk The Karan. a-ratna of Devācārya. Ed. Kripa Shankar Shukla. Lucknow: Department of Mathematics and Astronomy, and bamboo, attest to the social and geographical Lucknow University, 1979. spread of divination in the Zhou dynasty (ca. 1100– Pingree, David. Census of the Exact Sciences in Sanskrit. 256 BCE). During the early Zhou, divination remained Series A, Vol. 3. Philadelphia: American Philosophical primarily a royal prerogative, but by the Spring and Society, 1976. 121. Autumn era (722–481 BCE) it had become far more diversified and widespread. A particularly important development during this time was the “invention” of the legendary Zhouyi (Zhou Divination: Science, Technology, Changes) – a divination manual based on sequences of and the Mantic Arts in Traditional 64 six-line symbols known as hexagrams (gua). Each hexagram had a name that referred to a physical object, China an activity, a state, a situation, a quality, an emotion or a relationship – for example, Ding (The Cauldron), Shi (The Army, Dun (Withdrawal), Meng (Juvenile RICHARD J. SMITH Ignorance), Yu (Contentment), Song (Contention), and Tongren (Fellowship). Each hexagram also possessed From Neolithic times into the twentieth century, a short description of several characters called a tuan divination occupied an extremely prominent place in or guaci (usually rendered “judgment”) and a brief, Chinese culture. By the third millennium, BCE at the one-sentence “line statement” (yaoci) elucidating each latest – and some recent research suggests considerably line. Over time, the hexagrams and their two constituent Divination: Science, technology, and the mantic arts in traditional China 685

D

Divination: Science, Technology, and the Mantic Arts in Traditional China. Fig. 1 The Sixty-four hexagrams, organised in square and circular configurations based on the so-called Former Heaven (Xian Tian) sequence.

“trigrams” (also gua) came to be used in a wide variety of divinatory systems and also as scientific symbols (Fig. 1). By the late Zhou period, a great number of mantic systems had developed in China, including various “schools” of astrology (zhanxing, xingming, etc.), geomancy (dixing, xingfa, kanyu, and later fengshui), physiognomy (xiangren, kanxiang, etc.), and various computational arts (known generically as shushu). This growing interest in divination was part of a general burst of remarkable philosophical creativity in the so-called Warring States period (453–221 BCE) – an era marked by social and geographical mobility, the exchange of new ideas, increased professional specialization, and the introduction of new technologies, including advanced Divination: Science, Technology, and the Mantic Arts in methods of astronomical and calendrical calculation. Traditional China. Fig. 2 Cosmic correlations involving Also, from the late Zhou dynasty into the twenty-first the eight trigrams, the five phases and the ten heavenly century, almanacs or “day books” (rishu, tongshu, branches. huangli, etc.) – based on elaborate astrological calcula- tions and correlations – specified propitious and unpropitious times for all kinds of activities, from to mention the related realms of medicine and natural mundane matters such as bathing, traveling, and begin- science (Fig.2). A significant feature of early Chinese ning various kinds of work to extraordinarily important divinatory, medical and scientific thought is that rituals. yinyang, wuxing, and other correlations often seem to During the Han dynasty (206 BCE–220 CE), the have been more compelling than empirical observation – correlative cosmology of Dong Zhongshu (ca. 179–ca. even when the correspondences and analogies were 104 BCE) – based on concepts such as yin and yang internally inconsistent or mutually incompatible. and the five “agents” or “activities” (wuxing; identified During the early Han period, in 136 BCE, a series of with the “qualities” of wood, fire, earth, metal, and pre-existing commentaries known as the “Ten Wings” water), as well as the eight trigrams (bagua), the ten (Shiyi), attributed erroneously but convincingly to “stems,” the 12 “branches,” and the 64 hexagrams – Confucius, became permanently attached to the Zhou influenced virtually all forms of Chinese divination, not Changes, and the work became one of the court’s 686 Divination: Science, technology, and the mantic arts in traditional China officially recognized “Confucian” classics – hence the mention many local gazetteers and other such sources, new name of the document, Yijing. These “wings,” contained special sections devoted to biographies of especially the so-called “Great Commentary” (Daz- fangshi, usually called “technicians” ( fangji). huan; aka, the Appended Phrases or Xici), invested the Among the many divination techniques employed by Changes with a powerful, colorful, and inticing fangshi were increasingly varied forms of astrology, philosophical flavor. Moreover, they helped to explain “fate calculation” and numerology. Specialists also the cryptic “judgments” and “line statements” of the emerged in a myriad of related techniques: consultation basic text, attaching to both the hexagrams and trigrams of two diagrams closely associated with the Yijing and a great many new meanings and associations. These known as the Hetu (Yellow [River] Chart) and the ranged from family relationships, social roles, animals, Luoshu (Luo [River] Writing), the use of divining and parts of the body to directions, seasons, times of the boards, oracle bones, milfoil stalks, and prognostica- day, and colors. tion texts; the geomantic analysis of landforms; the Scholarly approaches to the Yijing varied substan- selection of lucky days, the analysis of heavenly stems tially during the Han – in part, perhaps, because and earthly branches; communication with spirits; different versions of the work existed. We know, for crack-making with bamboo; the interpretation of winds example, that the Mawangdui silk manuscript of the and vapors, birdcalls, and dreams; physiognomy, and Changes, produced in the early Han period, differs in eventually the divinatory evaluation of written char- several significant respects from later “standard” acters. Most of these techniques had existed in the late editions of the classic – not only in some of its judgments Zhou period or earlier in some form, and virtually all of and line statements, but also in its ordering of the them continued to be used throughout the Imperial Era hexagrams (and even some of the names attached to (up to 1912). The principal innovations of later years them). But scholarly differences in the Han were also a were the incorporation of certain zodiacal elements of function of the many ways in which the received text Indian astrology into Chinese astrology, the use in front of the Changes could be interpreted. Indeed, for the of temples and shrines of “spiritual sticks” (lingqian) next 2,000 years, literally hundreds of different and “divining blocks” ( jiao), and a particularly approaches to the Yijing developed. Although only dramatic form of oracular spirit possession known as two main interpretive lineages are usually identified “spirit-writing” (fuji or fuluan). with the “Learning of the Changes”–the “Images and From the Six Dynasties period (222–589 CE) Numbers (xiangshu)School” and the “Meanings (or onward, Chinese Buddhists and Religious Daoists Morality) and Principles (yili) School”–in practice appropriated the symbolism of the Yijing and used a scholars drew freely from both traditions, developing variety of other mantic texts in order to “know fate”– complex schemes that related lines, trigrams and even though one’s future was, in a certain sense, hexagrams to various calendrical, numerological, and ordained by behavior in both systems of belief. In any philosophical interests and orientations. case, we find a number of monks, priests and lay At the same time, the Yijing inspired a host of adherents from various periods of Chinese history who derivative works, from simple prognostication texts were experts in one or another divinatory technique. (chanwei or tuchan) to more elaborate “apocryphal” Some clerics even compiled mantic texts (bujing), such treatises such as the Qian zao du (Opening Up the as the mid-fifth century work titled Guanding jing (The Regularities of the [Hexagram] Qian; also transliterated Sutra of Consecration). One of the most famous clerics Qian zuo du). The Changes also provoked an in medieval China was Yixing (d. ca. 740), a Buddhist extremely interesting divinatory book known as the monk and official court astronomer during the reign of Taixuan jing (Classic of Supreme Mystery) by a emperor Xuanzong, who excelled in fate calculation, brilliant scholar named Yang Xiong (53 BCE–18 CE). physiognomy and geomancy as well as mathematics, This eclectic work reflects standard Han dynasty calendrical science and classical studies. He is well cosmological assumptions and intellectual fashions, known for his studies of Han scholarship on the Yijing but instead of using 64 hexagrams and 384 lines it and as the author or editor of several books on employs 81 tetragrams (shou) and a total of 729 lines – astrology and other forms of divination. He also served each with an “appraisal” (can) loosely patterned on the as a trusted adviser and interpreter of portents for his line texts of the Yijing. imperial patron. The wide circulation of Han divination texts From the Song dynasty (960–1278) onward, diviners suggests the ever-growing appeal of fortune-telling at increasingly relied upon a new device, the geomantic all levels of Chinese society. Occult specialists known “compass” (luopan, luojing, etc.), to ascertain the generically as fangshi dominated the mantic landscape relationship between “heavenly patterns” (tianwen) in the Han and immediate post-Han periods, and as a and “earthly forms” (dixing). This invention, derived result, every subsequent dynastic history, not to in part from Han dynasty divining boards (shi), Divination: Science, technology, and the mantic arts in traditional China 687 delineated celestial and terrestrial relationships by came to be known as one’s “eight characters” (bazi), an means of a series of concentric circles marked with extremely common term in Chinese divination up to standard Chinese symbols of time and space. Among the this very day. Yijing-related symbols regularly employed in these The many hundreds of life stories contained in Yuan devices were the eight trigrams, the stems and branches Shushan’s massive and fascinating Zhongguo lidai of the sexegenary cycle, the 28 lunar “lodges” (xiu) and buren zhuan (Biographies of Diviners in China by other such cosmic variables 3).(Fig. Dynastic Periods; 1948) abundantly testify to the A Song dynasty poem reproduced in a famous central role divination has played in nearly all aspects Chinese encyclopedia testifies to the importance of the of Chinese life for thousands of years. Many of the compass to the geomancer’s craft. It contains the mantic specialists discussed by Yuan were employed D following lines: by Chinese officials as formal or informal advisers, and many served in some sort of military capacity. A Between the lodges Xu and Wei points clearly the number made calendrical calculations and/or predicted ’ needle s path, weather, droughts and famines. Physiognomers in the But to the south the lodge Zhang “rides upon all employ of bureaucrats often evaluated personnel and three”. sometimes also interrogated witnesses and prisoners. A few even served as negotiators with dissident groups. The trigrams Kan and Li stand due north and Diviners also assumed active roles in law enforcement, south, though people cannot recognize [their assisting with difficult legal cases, solving crimes, and subtleties], helping to apprehend suspects or escaped prisoners. A And if there is the slightest mistake there will be great many fortune-tellers gave useful advice to officials no correct predictions. concerning water management, public works, and the construction or repair of city walls, temples, schools and Over time, compasses became increasingly sophisti- yamens (the office or residence of an official). cated, with up to 24 concentric rings and a host of What made diviners effective enough in these roles symbolic variables that applied to several different to warrant biographies in local gazetteers and other divination systems. Similarly, fate calculation based on such sources? Putting aside claims to supernatural the time of one’s birth grew more complex. Whereas power, the answer seems to be their technical exper- pre-Song techniques involved at most a consideration tise and social value – the product of both experience of the year, month and day of birth, later diviners took within their communities and psychological insight. into account the hour as well. These “four pillars” Although experts in analyzing wind, rain, and clouds (sizhu) of destiny, each designated by two characters, ( fengjiao, xiangyu, zhanqi, etc.) – like all Chinese

Divination: Science, Technology, and the Mantic Arts in Traditional China. Fig. 3 A geomantic compass, with concentric rings reflecting various cosmic variables, including trigrams. 688 Divination: Science, technology, and the mantic arts in traditional China fortune-tellers (and most of the rest of the Chinese being. Clients of both doctors and diviners were population as well) – they believed in the influence therefore advised to cultivate good thoughts and to of supernatural forces, including “star-spirits.” They banish selfish desires. were also careful observers of natural phenomena. As “technicians,” physicians and fortune-tellers Geomancers used compasses to identify auspicious occupied the same status in Chinese society. Scholars sites and times for building and making repairs, but conventionally described both professions as “minor they also knew a great deal about landforms and employments” (xiaodao), to be investigated, perhaps, hydraulic systems – information of value in public but not to be earnestly pursued. They also suffered works as well as military affairs. many of the same criticisms. These had to do primarily Exponents of numerological techniques such as with inconsistent theories, inaccurate predictions, and liuren (“the six yang waters”), dunjia (“evasive fraudulent therapies. techniques”) and Taiyi (“method of the Great Unity Scholars were particularly critical of fortune-tellers [Spirit]”) – although concerned primarily with calcula- for their exploitation of the “ignorant” masses, and for tions to determine proper times and locations, often their obviously mercenary motivations. They could not, studied the arts of war as part of their training. And all of course, assail the idea of divination itself, for the diviners – fate calculators and physiognomers in practice had far too long and illustrious a pedigree in particular – were quite naturally careful observers of China’s classical tradition to ignore. But elites made a human behavior. In short, well-cultivated talents of sharp (albeit rather artificial) distinction between their empirical observation and psychological insight gave own “enlightened” beliefs and the “crude” customs of fortune-tellers a substantial role to play in Qing the populace at large. In short, the bias against certain administrative affairs. “popular” forms of divination was fundamentally a In local communities, quite apart from their service class prejudice, masked by the rhetoric of Confucian to Chinese officials, diviners played important roles in morality. This elitist view of divination is reflected in helping to resist rebel invaders and bandits. Fortune- a well-known adage attributed to the famous Song tellers provided technical assistance to their local dynasty scholar Zhang Zai: “The (Classic of ) Changes communities in other ways as well. Some undertook is for the planning of the superior person, not the famine relief, managed schools, or supervised public planning of the petty person.” works projects. Others used their special talents in Yet Chinese intellectuals made no significant liuren, dunjia, and Taiyi predictions to help neighbors headway in their effort to eradicate popular mantic find lost or stolen property. practices during imperial times. Why? In the first place, In a number of significant ways, fortune-tellers most divination systems, like the cosmology on which were like physicians in traditional China – an affinity they were based, had a high degree of complexity. This too seldom acknowledged by historians of medicine. provided conceptual flexibility, and made “scientific” At least 170 of Yuan Shushan’s 1,115 biographical falsification all but impossible. In the minds of many, entries refer to individuals who knew both medicine wrong predictions simply indicated that someone had and divination ( yibu). One common denominator misinterpreted the huge number of cosmic variables between the two diagnostic and prescriptive approaches involved, or that either the diviner or his client was was a shared cosmology, centered on theories of “res- insufficiently “sincere” (cheng). ponsive correspondence” ( ying or xiangying). These In the second place, as indicated above, fortune- correspondences involved considerations of time, place tellers played important social roles in premodern and spirituality (or demonology) as well as notions of China, serving as the equivalents of modern-day physiology and psychology. Discourses in divination scientists, technicians, doctors, psychologists, and social and medicine almost invariably revolved around the workers. Moreover, divination drew strength from the same basic cosmological concepts, including yinyang fact that so many of its features resonated powerfully and wuxing, the eight trigrams and 64 hexagrams, the with other aspects of traditional Chinese culture, sexegenary stems and branches, positive and negative including philosophy, religion, art, literature and social spirits (shen and gui, respectively) and so forth. customs. It reflected, for example, the eclectic, synthetic The four standard categories of Chinese medical features of Chinese thought, the importance of writing examination – visual inspection, listening and smell- (evident in mantic messages of all kinds, as well as ing, questioning the patient, and touching the body – charms, and the analysis of written characters), aesthetics correspond closely to the approach of many diviners, (particularly evident in the case of geomancy), mythol- physiognomers in particular. From the standpoint of ogy, medicine, cosmology and popular symbolism treatment, practitioners of traditional Chinese medicine (notably the popular yinyang illustration known as the and divination often considered a patient’s moral “Diagram of the Supreme Ultimate” (Taiji tu)and behavior to be a significant factor in that person’s well the ubiquitous eight trigrams. Divination: Science, technology, and the mantic arts in traditional China 689

Finally, we should remember that the Chinese suffered a mortal blow. During the so-called New government reinforced the inherited cosmology and Culture Movement (ca. 1915–1925), which followed in sanctified orthodox practices of divination in every way its wake, modern-minded intellectuals such as Chen possible, at all levels. Officials and emperors sought Duxiu (1879–1942) railed against Confucian values mantic assistance in a wide variety of circumstances, and ridiculed old-fashioned “superstitions” (mixin). determined to find the right time and the right place for He wrote in 1918, for example, that only by first casting all ritual events, large and small, the conduct of war, the away practices such as geomancy, fortune-telling, spirit construction of buildings, and so forth. Perhaps the writing and the use of charms, spells and alchemy, could single most significant manifestation of this adminis- the Chinese people begin to “put their minds right.” He trative attitude was production of the state calendar, was not attacking a straw man, for old-style mantic D which dictated auspicious and inauspicious activities techniques and cosmological assumptions remained in for each day of every year, based on the calculations of force, judging from the remarks of a well-informed official diviners at the capital, who were located in the foreign observer in the midst of the New Culture Imperial Bureau of Astronomy (Qintian jian)4). (Movement:Fig. “At the present day,” he wrote, “sooth- During the late nineteenth century, Western imperial- sayers, diviners and fortune-tellers abound throughout ism brought new challenges to China, as well as the land, and the people place implicit faith in their vain new political, social and cultural options to Chinese forecasts.” intellectuals. Under these unprecedented circumstances, Periodic efforts were made by the Republic of China a new kind of cosmological critique arose – a political (from 1912 to 1949 on the Mainland and from 1949 – attack on the cosmological foundations of Chinese present on Taiwan) and the People’s Republic of China kingship itself. It was successful, and when the Qing (1949 – present) to discourage or eradicate “supersti- dynasty finally fell in 1912, state-sponsored cosmology tious” mantic practices, but with only limited success.

Divination: Science, Technology, and the Mantic Arts in Traditional China. Fig. 4 A map of Heaven (round) and Earth (square), showing the influence of the eight trigrams and various heavenly bodies, including the sun, the moon, and the twenty- eight lunar lodges (xu). 690 Divination: Science, technology, and the mantic arts in traditional China

Virtually all forms of traditional Chinese divination the authors of general studies such Wang Shusen’s have flourished in both Hong Kong and Taiwan, Zhouyi yu Zhonghua wenhua (The Zhou Changes and and even in the People’s Republic, despite sometimes Chinese Culture), Zhai Tingpu’s Zhouyi yu Huaxia fierce “antisuperstition” campaigns, particularly during wenming (The Zhou Changes and Chinese Civiliza- the fanatical and destructive Cultural Revolution tion), and Ying Dingcheng’s Zhongguo wenhua zhi (1966–1976). Popular divination is alive and well, benyuan (The Origins of Chinese Culture). especially geomancy ( fengshui). Meanwhile, a number of more narrowly focused Moreover, the so-called “Open Policy,” inaugurated works have also appeared in a spate of recent scholarly on the Mainland in 1978, has encouraged a dramatic series – notably the Yixue wenhua congshu (Collectanea revival of interest in, and publications on, divinatory on the Culture of Changes Studies) and the Yixue zhihui works such as the Classic of Changes. During the congshu (Collectanea on the Wisdom of Changes 1980s this enthusiasm was known widely in the Studies). The individual volumes in these two series Chinese press as Yijing re (“Yijing Fever”). Part of alone cover topics such as the relationship between the the reason for this fever, which touched virtually every Yijing and Confucianism, Daoism, Buddhism, mathe- sector of Chinese society on the Mainland, is a matics, medicine, astronomy, the humanities, historiog- profound spiritual crisis ( jingshen weiji), which has raphy, aesthetics, geomancy, architecture, business induced many people to reexamine the contemporary management, the environment, qigong, and other relevance of their ancient past5). (Fig. forms of traditional physical and mental cultivation The result has been a burst of new and creative Yijing (yangsheng), and so forth. scholarship, fueled by dramatic recent archaeological In addition, there are a great many individual discoveries. On both sides of the Taiwan Straits, monographs with titles such as Xu Daoyi’s Zhouyi encyclopedias, dictionaries and other comprehensive kexue guan (The Scientific Outlook of the Zhou compilations – as well as compendia produced by Changes) and his Zhouyi yu dangdai ziran kexue (The literally dozens of scholarly organizations devoted to Zhou Changes and Contemporary Natural Science) – Changes studies – have chronicled at great length the two of many similarly titled books and articles – He Yijing’s wide-ranging cultural contributions. So have Shiqiang’s Yixue yu shuxue (Changes Studies and Mathematics); Jiang Chengqing’s Yijing yu Zhongguo yishu jingsheng (The Classic of Changes and the Spirit of Chinese Art); Chen Liangyun’s Zhouyi yu Zhongguo wenxue (The Classic of Changes and Chinese Litera- ture); Wang Zhenfu’s Zhouyi di meixue zhihui (The Aesthetic Wisdom of the Zhou Changes); Shao Xuexi’s Yixue yu bingfa (Changes Studies and the Art of War); and Tang Mingbang’s Dangdai Yixue yu shidai jingshen (Contemporary Changes Studies and the Spirit of the Times). One of the most powerful and persistent tendencies in recent Yijing scholarship has been the tendency to look at the Changes as a “scientific” document. During imperial times, a great many Chinese thinkers tried to approach the Yijing by way of mathematics, or at least a highly sophisticated numerology – notably Jing Fang in the Han, Shao Yong in the Song, and Jiao Xun in the Qing. And, as indicated briefly above, the symbolism of the Changes also came to be used as an explanation for various phenomena in the natural world. But efforts to link the Yijing to math and science in the twentieth century are now predicated on modern “Western” understandings of these two related realms of knowl- edge. Thus, impelled in part by national pride, Chinese scholars today – especially those educated in the West – have begun to use “data” from the Yijing to Divination: Science, Technology, and the Mantic Arts in show connections to a number of different realms in Traditional China. Fig. 5 Examples of books on divination modern mathematics and science, from linear algebra in Mainland Chinese bookstores and bookstalls. and quantum mechanics to molecular biology and Divination: Science, technology, and the mantic arts in traditional China 691 computer coding. A readily available example in Li, Ling. Zhongguo fangshu kao (An Examination of the English is Johnson Yan’s DNA and the I Ching. Chinese Predictive and Prescriptive Arts). Beijing: Dong- fang chuban she. Revised edition, 2000. ▶ ▶ Li, Ling. Zhongguo fangshu xukao (Continuation of an See also: Fengshui; Geomancy in China Examination of Chinese Predictive and Prescriptive Arts). Beijing: Dongfang chuban she. Revised edition, 2000. Li, Jianmin (n.d.). An Introduction to the Occult Arts in References China. ▶http://saturn.ihsinica.edu.tw/bencao/0309.htm; accessed 8/24/02. Bruun, Ole. Fengshui in China: Geomantic Divination Liu, Zheng. The Dilemma Facing Contemporary Research in Between State Orthodoxy and Popular Religion. Honolulu: the I-ching. Chinese Studies in Philosophy 24.4 (1993): D University of Hawaii Press, 2003. 47–64. Cao, Fujing and Zhang Yueming. Da liuren jingjie. (Essential Loewe, Michael. Divination by Shells, Bones and Stalks Explanation of the Great Liuren). Harbin: Heilongjiang during the Han Period. T’oung Pao 74 (1988): 81–118. renmin chuban she, 1995. Loewe, Michael. Divination, Mythology and Monarchy in Chemla, Karine, Donald Harper, and Marc Kalinowski eds. Han China. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994. Divination et rationalité en Chine ancienne. (Vol. 21 of Loewe, Michael. The Almanacs (jih-shu) from Shuihudi. Extrême-Orient/Extrême-Occident: Cahiers de recherches Asia Major n.s. 1.2 (1988): 1–28. comparatives). Saint-Denis: Presses Universitaires de Loewe, Michael and Carmen Blacker eds. Oracles and Vincennes, 1999. Divination. Boulder: Shambala, 1981. Clart, Philip. Moral Mediums: Spirit-Writing and the Cultural Lupke, Christopher ed. The Magnitude of Ming: Command, Construction of Chinese Spirit-Mediumship. Ethnologies Allotment, and Fate in Chinese Culture. Honolulu: 25.1 (2003): 153–90. University of Hawai’i Press, 2005. Clart, Philip. Bibliography of Western Language Publications Ngo, Van Xuyet. Divination, magie et politique dans la Chine on Chinese Popular Religion (1995 to present). ▶http:// ancienne. Paris: Presses Universitaires de France, 1976. www.missouri.edu/religpc/bibliography_CPR.html. Nickerson, Peter. Shamans, Demons, Diviners, and Taoists: De Woskin, Kenneth. Doctors, Diviners and Magicians of Conflict and Assimilation in Medieval Chinese Ritual Ancient China. New York: Columbia University Press, Practice (c. A.D. 100–1000). Taoist Resources 5.1 (1994): 1983. 41–66. Ding, Zhaowu. Yijing kexue tan (An Investigation into the Nielsen, Bent. The Qian zuo du: A Late Han Dynasty (202 Science of the Classic of Changes). Shanghai: Sanlian BCE-AD 220) Study of the Book of Changes, Yi jing. Ph.D. Shudian, 1996. Dissertation, University of Copenhagen, 1995. Farquhar, Judith. Medicine and the Changes Are One: An ---. A Companion to Yi jing Numerology and Cosmology: Essay on Divination Healing with Commentary. Chinese Chinese Studies of Images and Numbers from Han (202 Science 13 (1996): 107–34. BCE–220 CE) to Song (960–1279 CE). London: Routle- Field, Stephen L. The Numerology of Nine Star Fengshui: A dgeCurzon, 2003. Hetu, Luoshu Resolution of the Mystery of Directional Robinet, Isabelle. Les marches cosmiques et les carres Auspice. Journal of Chinese Religions 27 (1999): 13–33. magique dans le Taoism. Journal of Chinese Religions Gao, Guofan. Zhongguo wushu shi (A History of the Chinese 23 (1995): 81–94. Magical Arts). Shanghai: Shanghai sanlian shudian, 1999. Sakade, Yoshinobu. Divination as Daoist Practice. Daoism Harper, Donald. Physicians and Diviners: The Relation of Handbook. Ed. Lydia Kohn. Leiden: Brill, 2000: 541–66. Divination to the Medicine of the Huangdi Neijing (Inner Shen, Zhi’an. Zhonghua xiangshu (The Physiognomic Arts of Canon of the Yellow Thearch). Extreme-Orient, Extreme- China). Taibei: Wenjin chuban she youxian gongsi, 1995. Occident 21 (1999): 91–110. Smith, Richard J. Fortune-Tellers and Philosophers: Divina- Henderson, John B. The Development and Decline of Chinese tion in Traditional Chinese Society. Boulder: Westview Cosmology. New York: Columbia University Press, 1984. Press, 1991. Revised paperback edition, 1993. Both Ho, Peng Yoke. Chinese Mathematical Astrology: Reaching editions are now out of print, but an on-line version of Out to the Stars. London: RoutledgeCurzon, 2003. this book is still available at ▶http://www.questia.com. Kalinowski, Marc ed. Divination et société dans la Chine This version, however, lacks illustrations, notes, and médiévale: Étude des manuscrits de Dunhuang de la glossaries. Bibliothèque nationale de France et de la British Library. Smith, Richard J. Chinese Almanacs. New York: Oxford Paris: Bibliotheque nationale de France, 2003. University Press, 1992. Kalinowski, Marc. Technical Traditions in Ancient China and Smith, Richard J. Divination in Ch’ing China. Cosmology, Shushu Culture in Chinese Religion. Religion and Chinese Ontology and Human Efficacy: Essays in Chinese Society. Hong Kong. Ed. John Lagerwey. Hong Kong: The Thought. Ed. Richard Smith and D. Y. Y. Kwok. Honolulu: Chinese University Press and Paris: École française University of Hawaii Press, 1993. d’Extrême-Orient, 2004: 223–48. Smith, Richard J. The Place of the Yijing (Classic of Kuo, Li-ying. Divination, jeux de hasard et purification Changes) in World Culture: Some Historical and Contem- dans le bouddhisme chinois. Bouddhisme et cultures porary Perspectives, Journal of Chinese Philosophy locales: quelques cas de reciproques adaptations. Ed. (1998): 391–422. Fumimasa Fukui and Gerard Fussman. Paris: École Smith, Richard J. The Yijing (Classic of Changes) in française d’Extrême-Orient, 1994. Comparative Perspective: The Value of Cross- Cultural Li, Shenglong ed. Zhanxing shu (The Astrological Arts). Investigations. International Journal of the Humanities 1 Haikou: Hainan chuban she, 1993. (2003), 776–801. 692 Dwellings and settlements

Smith, Richard J. Divination in Late Imperial China: New Light on Some Old Problems. Rethinking Chinese Dwellings and Settlements Thought: Hermeneutics, Onto-Hermeneutics, and Com- parative Philosophy. Ed. Ng On-cho, Forthcoming. Tang, Mingbang. Recent Developments in Studies of the Book of Changes. Chinese Studies in Philosophy (1987): NEZAR ALSAYYAD,ROMOLA SANYAL 46–63. Wei, Shaosheng. Zhongguo gudai zhanbu shu (The Divina- Traditional dwellings and settlements are the built tory Arts of Ancient China). Zhengzhou: Zhongzhou guji expressions of a heritage that continues to be transmitted chuban she, 1992. from one generation to another. Usually the product Xiao, Ai. Zhongguo gudai xiangshu yanjiu yu pipan of common people without professional intervention (Research and Criticism on the Ancient Physiognomic ’ Arts of China). Changsha: Yuelu shushe, 1996. they provide the habitat for much of the world s Xiong, Victor Cunrui. Astrological Divination at the Tang population. In fact, it is argued that professionally Court. Paper for the Princeton Tang Conference, Prince- designed dwellings account for less than 1% of the total ton, New Jersey, April 18–20, (2002). 1–33. ▶http://unix. housing stock in the world. According to one estimate, cc.wmich.edu/xiong/Tang%20Divination.pdf. traditional dwellings and settlements house between Xu, Daoyi. Zhouyi kexue guan (The Scientific Outlook of the eight and nine million households in a variety of urban Zhou Changes). Beijing: Dizhen chuban she, 1992. and rural settings (Oliver 1987). Xu, Daoyi. Zhouyi yu dangdai ziran kexue (The Zhou Changes and Contemporary Natural Science). Guangzhou: In the twentieth century, interest in the social and Guangdong jiaoyu chuban she, 1995. cultural values, images and perceptions underlying Yan, Johnson. DNA and the I Ching. Berkeley: North Atlantic traditional dwellings and settlements has become Books, 1991. widespread among scholars in various disciplines. Yao, Weijun. Shenmi di zhanmeng (Mysterious Dream Specific labels, such as “vernacular,”“indigenous,” Divination). Shuquan chuban she, 1996. “primitive,”“tribal,”“folkloric,”“popular,” and “anon- Yu, Xiaoqun. Shushu tanmi (An Investigation into the Secrets of ymous” have been introduced to describe the subjects of the Computational Arts). Beijing: Sanlian shudian, 1994a. Yu, Xiaoqun. Shushu tanmi (An Investigation of the Secrets a variety of inquiries. Nevertheless, the inability to come of the Arts of Calculation). Beijing: Sanlian shudian, up with a single appropriate label should not prevent a 1994b. categorization of these dwellings and settlements as one Yuan, Shushan. Zhongguo lidai buren zhuan (Biographies of analytical group. One thing common to all the above Diviners in China by Dynastic Periods). Shanghai: Rude qualifiers regarding buildings and spaces is that they shuju, 1948. A new edition has been published recently in describe a process that becomes a norm when enough Taibei by the Xingwenfeng chuban gongsi 1998. Zhang, Guiguang. Zhouyi zhanbu cidian (A Zhou Changes people in a given society adopt it. In this regard, Divination Dictionary). Jieyou chuban she, 1994. traditional settlements exist in every part of the world Zhang, Qicheng. Yijing yingyong da baike (A Practical and cannot be regarded as being simply primitive or Encyclopedia of the Classic of Changes). 2 vols. Taibei: exclusively a product of the developing world. Dijing qiye gufen youxian gongsi, 1996. Since adoption of a practice into a norm is one of Zhang, Qicheng. Yixue yu Zhongyi (Changes Studies and the fundamental qualities of tradition in built form, it Chinese Medicine). Beijing: Zhongguo shudian, 1999. is legitimate to use “tradition” as an all-encompassing Zhang, Qicheng, et al. eds. Yixue da cidian (A Dictionary of Changes Studies). Beijing: Huaxia chuban she, 1992. umbrella term. Used this way, the term may also be Zhang, Ronghua. Zhongguo gudai minjian fangshu (Pre- useful in an age when scholars are beginning to recog- scriptive Arts of the Common People in Ancient China). nize that the study of those dwellings and settlements, Anhui renmin chuban she, 2000. whose form originated as part of everyday processes Zhang, Yongtang ed. Zhongguo lidai shushu chubian – rather than specialized professional aesthetic judg- zhengshi pian (Index to the Arts of Calculation in China by – ments, is an interdisciplinary arena. Unlike professional Period, First Series Orthodox Histories). Taipei: Qinghua traditions like those of science or medicine, or pro- daxue, 1992a. Zhang, Yongtang. Guanzang Zhongguo shushu chubian – fessional architectural practice, the traditions of dwell- zhengshi pian (Index to Archives on the Arts of ings and settlements will remain an open field subject to Calculation in China, First Series). Taiwan: Qinghua great changes in position. daxue, 1992b. One may argue that a thing is traditional if it satisfies Zheng, Wan’geng. Zhouyi yu xiandai wenhua (The Zhou two criteria. First it should be the result of a process of Changes and Modern Culture). Beijing: Zhongguo guang- transmission from one generation to the next; second it bo dianshi chuban she, 1998. Zheng, Xiaojiang. Zhongguo shenmi shu daguan (An Over- should have cultural origins mainly involving common view of the Mystical Arts of China). Nanchang: Baihua people. As such, traditional dwellings and settlements zhou wenyi chuban she, 1993. are those buildings and spaces which provide for the Zhu, Bokun. Yixue zhexue shi (A History of the Philosophical ordinary activities of common folks and which are Aspects of the Study of the Changes). 4 vols. Beijing: produced by both utilitarian logic as well as local Huaxia chuban she, 1995. aesthetics. Dwellings and settlements 693

The vast numbers of traditional dwellings and low-income backgrounds. Cave and pit dwellings settlements also allow for such built forms to be therefore allow them to not only save precious farmland, legitimately classified under the different names and but also to save substantially on the cost of building qualifiers mentioned above. Many of these qualifiers a house as digging is the cheapest form of labor in the originated from particular disciplinary bases and may region. The Tunisian troglodyte dwellings, some 10,000 not be interchangeable. For example, vernacular miles away, are primarily habitats of the ethnic Berbers. architecture in many parts of today’s world often Largely found in the Matmata plateau area, in the south cannot be regarded as indigenous because it relies on of the country which is part of the Sahara desert, these imported materials to achieve local styles. “Indige- dwellings were claimed to have been built for purposes nous” means of place, and has to do with origin. of defense against the invading Romans and later the D “Vernacular” means of the masses and hence does not Arabs (Fig. 2). As the threat increased or decreased, so have to be indigenous. It is also a category that has an underlying basis in class and social grouping. “Tradi- tional” as a description is appropriate to use when discussing a system of core values that are transmitted from one generation to another. It is about process; as opposed to vernacular and indigenous, which are descriptions of how things are put to use (AlSayyad and Bourdier 1989). The study of traditional dwellings and settlements as a field is not new – it was started in the early nineteenth century by Morgan and Morris. Bernard Rudofsky’s famous exhibition at the New York Museum of Modern Art entitled Architecture without Architects and an accompanying book further popularized the study of vernacular architecture in the 1960s. The latter part of the decade saw further developments in the field with Dwellings and Settlements. Fig. 1 Cave and pit the publication of such ground breaking books as dwellings, China (Source: Paul Oliver, Encyclopedia of Vernacular Architecture of the World, p. 875) (Courtesy of House Form and Culture by Amos Rapoport culminat- Paul Oliver). ing in the Encyclopedia of Vernacular Architecture of the World by Paul Oliver. Some more recent publica- tions include Paul Oliver’s Dwellings: The House Across the World and Enrico Guidoni’s Primitive Architecture. The study of traditional dwellings and settlements can be defined less by subject than by method. Different means of analyzing traditional dwellings and settlements such as anthropological, architectural, archaeological, behavioral, structural, and so forth use different lenses to understand the ways and means by which people build dwellings and the symbolism and utilitarianism involved in building and conceptualizing these structures. Such varying approaches to studying traditional dwellings and settlements points to the fact that elaborate methods and meanings dictate the form and process by which dwellings are constructed. Factors such as culture, religion, gender relations, privacy matters, climate, security, economic condi- tions, and so forth intersect to produce dwellings that become part of the popular culture of a place. Using such varying methods points to the various forms of settlements that are viewed as being “tradition- ” al. For example, in China, cave and pit dwellings found Dwellings and Settlements. Fig. 2 Troglodyte dwellings in the Hunan region are viewed as traditional forms of in the Matmata plateau area, Tunisia (Source: Paul Oliver, settlements (Fig. 1). Many of the people who live in these Encyclopedia of Vernacular Architecture of the World, dwellings are peasant farmers who come from relatively p. 135) (Courtesy of Paul Oliver). 694 Dwellings and settlements did the height at which these dwellings were carved or surrounding the courtyard keeping them cool till the constructed. Thus these dwellings are a product of next afternoon (Oliver 1987:119–120). not only a traditional way of life but also climatic Similar to climatic constraints are constraints and topographic constraints under conditions of war and presented by the environment as well. This includes peace. the constraint of finding appropriate building materials. Such climatic and cultural conditions have also been In the Altiplano and high Punda regions in Northern used to explain the forms of Tharu homes in the Terai Chile, the only source of wooden building material is a region of Nepal (Fig. 3). These homes are closely built cactus commonly known as cardon or pasacana. The together not only because the Tharu people live plant once cut and dried produces a wood that is not predominantly in forested regions where they are prone only very strong, but resistant to rotting. It is cut into to animal attacks, but also because of their traditional boards and bound together to construct doors, ceilings beliefs in ghosts and the notion that anyone who sleeps and floors. The bark, which is denser material, is used alone is prone to attacks by evil spirits. for window frames, rafters, and furniture-making Additionally, climate has often been cited as the (Sainsbury 1997: 223). primary condition for the development of courtyard Questions of privacy are important factors in houses through much of the Middle East. While this determining the form of space in traditional dwellings type of building is associated primarily with Arab and settlements. How societies regard their relationship culture, its distribution extends from North Africa to to external or public space is often a measure of the South Asia where the haveli or atrium house is importance that they place on privacy. The delineations common to cities such as Jaipur and was developed of public and private spaces vary from one culture to under Mogul influence. The basic courtyard plan of the another. In some cultures such as that of the Ashanti, Ancient Egyptian peasants which partially survives one finds most of the domestic tasks along with today includes long single-storeyed rooms on three economic ones taking place outside the house itself, not sides of a yard, the fourth being closed off by a wall as inside as it is in most other cultures (Oliver 1987: 142). high as the buildings. Constructed of mud, the walls As noted earlier, values and symbols play an are the thickest where they are exposed to the sun. The important role in the development of traditional dwell- courtyard plays a climatically important role regardless ings and settlements. One example of such practices is of the height of the building. At midday, the sun that of the Navajo Indians and the symbolic meanings may reach the courtyard floor but the thickness of the of spaces in their hogans (Fig. 4). Here, the floor walls and the adjacent buildings prevent excessive slightly dished represents the female (earth) and the roof solar heating. Cool air in the rooms is drawn into the slightly concave represents male (sky). Pollen smeared courtyard and warm air begins to rise, causing on the house posts supporting the roof symbolizes convection currents. The deep shadows created by the poles that support the sky. In the middle is the hearth low angle of the sun offset the circulation of the air which symbolizes the center of the world. Movement currents. When the sun sets, the temperature drops through this space is sun-wise (Oliver 1987: 142). rapidly and the air circulates through the various rooms Aesthetics play an important symbolic role within vernacular architecture practices. In Sumatra, the Toba Batak huta (village) comprises of two rows of buildings

Dwellings and Settlements. Fig. 3 Tharu homes in the Dwellings and Settlements. Fig. 4 Hogan of the Terai region, Nepal (Source: Paul Oliver, Encyclopedia of Navajo Indians in Chinle, Arizona (Source: Paul Oliver, Vernacular Architecture of the World, p. 1041) (Courtesy of Encyclopedia of Vernacular Architecture of the World, Paul Oliver). p. 1935) (Courtesy of Paul Oliver). Dwellings and settlements 695

D

Dwellings and Settlements. Fig. 5 Toda Batak house, Dwellings and Settlements. Fig. 6 Decoration on the ’ Sumatra, Indonesia (Source: Paul Oliver, Dwellings: The façade of a Hausa merchant s house, Zaria, Nigeria (Source: House Across the World, p. 199) (Courtesy of Paul Oliver). Paul Oliver, Encyclopedia of Vernacular Architecture of the World, p. 581) (Courtesy of Paul Oliver). facing the halaman or village plaza which in turn is namely: object-oriented studies, socially oriented always oriented east–west (Fig. 5). The massively studies, culturally oriented studies and symbolically constructed Toba Batak house has saddle-back pointed oriented studies (Upton 1993). While the first type tries roofs and curving eaves which convey an impression of to interpret the intention of a dwelling’s creator and the lightness and gable fronts that give shade. Planked second is concerned with overall social history, the panels are fixed over the external gable which comprise third and fourth suggest a shift toward a typologized of three levels including a stair and balcony. These study of dwellings within certain socio-cultural and panels take on decorations which include finely carved historic contexts, with the purpose of uncovering the spiral and foliated volute patterns and painted in black, enduring values of their builders and the symbols that red, and white. Female breasts and the boraspati,a signify deeper structures of society. A possibly fifth local lizard, are also carved on to the façade, possibly as avenue of inquiry is that possibly qualified as “design- fertility signs. Batak houses are meant to be seen oriented studies” which include the work of those and admired from the halaman, the hierarchies of people who seek better ways of understanding the past the village evident in the size of the dwelling and the without accepting a simplistic return to earlier tradi- quality of workmanship exhibited, which can be tions. While the above methods have been largely restricted by the village heads (Oliver 1987: 173–174). utilized to examine the American vernacular scene, one Parallel to the Batak traditions of using aesthetics as a can easily apply such approaches to the larger field of marker of social hierarchy is the Hausa practice of using traditional dwellings and settlements (Upton 1993). external decorations to show wealth and prosperity The various methods of analyzing traditional dwell- (Fig. 6). The characteristic external house decorations of ings and settlements also require a parallel study of the the Hausa appear to have developed in this century when meaning of tradition itself. Some have argued that attitudes to azziki or the gaining of prosperity and tradition is something that we value and pass on. respect, which had thus far been restrained, were The value attached is the element of “traditionality” relaxed. Displays of success by homes of merchants sanctioned by history or nature itself. Intrinsic to and traders appear to have been condoned until 1930s by tradition is the constraint of choice. The inability to which time many houses had been elaborately decorated choose the possibility of waiting is what provides value in zanen gida fashion and were seen in such cities such to an object or a practice. Unique to this concept is the as Kano and Zaria. Over the mud walls, the finishing introduction of time and of waiting to the concept of mud plaster was molded into the desired shapes by hand tradition. At some level, traditions emerge simply as a and coated with water-resistant layer of local cement result of the absence of choice. It is the practice made from mud, dung, and laso-mixed animal hair, and evolving out of constraint and that which we are able to dye-pit residues. The pattern scribed with fingers with reproduce that ultimately becomes tradition and is the unwanted parts scooped away left figures that stood passed down from generation to generation. In modern in relief against the background. This was finished with societies, consumerism has eliminated many of the local cement and whitewashed or painted in earth colors constraints folk societies faced and overcame by build- or in commercial paints (Oliver 1987: 180–181). ing on and creating traditions (Tuan 1989). Methods of defining vernacular architecture have It can also be argued that there is no such thing as a been categorized by others into four avenues of enquiry “traditional building” but that there are only buildings 696 Dwellings and settlements that embody traditions. The idea that a building and traditional forms as a means of creating a sense of embodies tradition rather than it being the means by community by creating highly coded and zoned which the building came to be allows us to see the communities that reflect a continuity with the past. continuities between form, content, and process. Designs borrowed from the traditional homes of the The application of the term traditional is vast and all American South, for example, are used to invoke a sense encompassing. For this reason, defining a dwelling as of history. Here, the idea of invented tradition becomes being “traditional” requires an understanding of the intricately linked to the sense of identity and heritage attributes that lead to its being qualified in this manner. that a community wants to project to outsiders. Pound- These attributes may include scale, temporality, con- bury, an experiment in town planning and architecture tinuity, economy, and technology. They may also be undertaken by the Prince of Wales, is a good example expanded to include the process and the product of this trend, produced under the belief that the best characteristics of built environments ranging from the of architectural progress can be achieved by simply identity of the designers and their interest on one hand remaking new buildings in a traditional garb. Among the to the degree of cultural specificity and morphological criticisms leveled at Poundbury has been the accusation integration on the other hand (Rapoport 1989). The of it being un-modern and nostalgically harking back to term traditional has almost always been seen as the a past. Its praises have included the sentiments of its opposite to the modern. Hence, in the view of some, it residents decrying contemporary architecture as being is not uncommon to view the traditional as being alienating and out of touch with the needs and aesthetics precontact and preliterate. This view, however, does not of the common people. take into account how traditions emerge. Today, and in many parts of the Third World An important concern that lies at the heart of following independence, many of the former colonies studying traditional dwellings and settlements is the engaged in the exercises of modern nation-building. common mistaken assumption that such built environ- Their attempt to articulate a unique national identity ments mainly exist in the Third World. It is interesting became an important requirement for maintaining to note that those who study such places almost sovereignty. Traditions, whether new or invented, invariably do so by going elsewhere rather than looking became part of a nation’s identity and of the character at home. The Eurocentric view that modernity is of its physical spaces allowing these nations to create fundamentally a Western project created an unjustified markers of uniqueness in an increasingly diversifying duality between the developed and the developing and competitive world. worlds when it came to viewing built environments. One important cause of debates around using Begun earlier under British and French colonial rule, tradition as a means for designing and maintaining the “respect for the native” and the discussion around buildings and settlements has been the rise of global “traditional” forms was the outcome of the romanticism tourism. Some have argued that modernity depends in attached to the exercise of imperialism. Hence, modern its very essence on instability and inauthenticity. For was equated with Western, which has lead to an moderns, authenticity is thought to be elsewhere – in ongoing nostalgia particularly in the West for “authen- other historical periods and other cultures, in purer, ticity” and “tradition” (Abu-Lughod 1995:7–10). simpler life-styles. The need for people to overcome the Similarly, this romantic view of traditional dwellings discontinuity of modernity materializes in their desire and settlements has led those who study and admire to see the authentic, the primitive, and the historical. In them to call for their preservation. But in many Third many instances, this desire materializes in the form of World societies, the rejection of the so-called tradition- visiting the spaces of the “authentic” or “primitive” al way of life should be seen as a natural evolutionary people and to view their ways of life (MacCannell or reactionary process as opposed to a destructive one. 1976). It has also been argued that the categorization of The search of tourists for authenticity and traditional buildings and settlements into a “traditional” category lifestyles has become an important means by which has been a deliberate exercise on behalf of the countries and localities are able to generate substantial community of architectural researchers. The idea of incomes. The preservation of traditional dwellings and the architect as an aesthetic expert depended on dis- settlements hence is not only a means of constructing tinguishing between professionally designed, aesthe- local and national identity, but has emerged as an tically pleasing architecture, and the mundane structures important mechanism to survive within the global produced by the masses for purely functional uses. economy. In this sense, “tradition” fulfills the multiple Today, the search for the “traditional” must be seen roles of identity creation, economic stimulus, and in through the need for differentiated products in a some cases a tool for physical development. postfordist era. New movements in architectural prac- Finally, the discussions about the consumption of tice such as New Urbanism attempt to use vernacular tradition and the manufacture of heritage in a global era Dyeing: Indigo Dyeing in Sierra Leone 697 have led to calls for the end of tradition (AlSayyad from Isatis tinctoria (woad) but later Indigofera from 2001, 2004). Tradition, however, does not end. What India and other Eastern countries. Indigofera tinctoria may have ended, however, was our conception of it as a is native to India and Africa, while Indigofera anil of reservoir for revered authentic values. Today tradition Central and South America, and I. suffructicosa is a may be found not only in real places but equally in the native tropical American species adopted in Africa simulated and virtual world we inhabit. Tradition in (Pettit 1974). Indigo is a vat dye (Vat Blue1), produced built form will always be what we make and sustain without mordants by a process consisting of a complex everyday and everywhere through the occasionally series of chemical reactions for the dye to be successful. contemptuous and ever-changing act of living. A lot of care and patience is required. It shows fastness to light and water, it is insoluble and will dye all types D of fibers (Adrosko 1968). References Now synthetic indigo used to dye blue jeans has almost totally replaced the natural one in most societies. Abu-Lughod, Janet. Creating One’s Future from One’s Past: This is because it is thought that synthetic indigo is Nondefensively. Traditional Dwellings and Settlements cheaper to produce and more uniform in concentration – Review 7.1 (1995): 7 17. than natural indigo. Natural indigo tends to be used AlSayyad, Nezar ed. Consuming Tradition, Manufacturing today primarily by artists and craftsmen producing Heritage. New York: Routledge, 2001. ---. The End of Tradition. New York: Routledge, 2004. specialty products and by those dyers involved in textile AlSayyad, Nezar and Jean-Paul Bourdier eds. Dwellings, conservation or historical recreation, or on ceremonial Settlements and Tradition: Cross-Cultural Perspectives. occasions notably weddings and funerals, and in Lanham: University Press of America, 1989. traditional medicine (Abbiw 1990; Balfour-Paul MacCannell, Dean. The Tourist: A New Theory of the Leisure 2001). These days some add a few crystals of synthetic Class. New York: Schocken Books, 1976. indigo to the final dye in order to darken the hue. Oliver, Paul. Dwellings: The House Across the World. Oxford: Phaidon, 1987. Indigo dyeing using the plant species Lonchocarpus Rapoport, Amos. On the Attributes of Tradition. Dwellings, cyanescens or Indigoferrra suffructicosa, or other Settlements and Tradition. Ed. Nezar AlSayyad and Jean- Lonchocarpus and Indigoferra species, such as Paul Bourdier. Lanham: University Press of America, I. tinctoria and I. arrecta all of which grow wild, were 1989. 77–106. the most common and popular sources of color Sainsbury, Christopher. Encyclopedia of Vernacular Archi- throughout West Africa (Polakoff 1982). Both Anglo- tecture of the World. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge Univer- phone and Francophone countries were quite active in sity Press, 1997. Tuan, Yi Fu. Tradition: What Does It Mean? Dwellings, this indigenous technology, e.g. Mali, Nigeria, Senegal, Settlements and Tradition. Ed. Nezar AlSayyad and Jean- Guinea, Gambia, Liberia, and Ivory Coast. Research Paul Bourdier. Lanham: University Press of America, on excavations from caves in Mali has shown that 1989. 27–34. the indigo dyed cotton garments dated between the Upton, Dell. The Tradition of Change. Traditional Dwelling eleventh and the sixteenth centuries, indicating that by – and Settlements Review 5.1 (1993): 9 15. the eleventh century, weaving and indigo dyeing had already reached a high standard in West Africa. Many of the tie-dye designs found are similar to those still in use today (Balfour-Paul 2001). Though the process is quite arduous, it provided a Dyeing: Indigo Dyeing in Sierra Leone rich color usually missing in synthetically dyed fabric. The basic method of dye production is quite similar throughout the West Coast of Africa with some CYRUS MACFOY variation (Polakoff 1982). In Sierra Leone, the word gara was once reserved Although many crops have played colorful roles only for indigo dyeing, but now it is used more widely throughout history, indigo appears to be the most for any form of dyeing, natural or synthetic. Since the colorful. Dyeing with indigo can be traced as far back 1960s, when commercial dyes started to be imported as 7000 BCE, and is still widespread even today. This into the country from Germany, U.K. and Nigeria, form of dyeing using various plant species is practiced various colors (violet, green, blue, red, brown, mauve, in many countries and continents throughout the world, yellow etc.) became available in the market, apart from for example, in Mexico, Europe, Egypt, West Africa, the blue “gara” color. The preparation of the commercial Sumatra, Central Asia, Japan, the Americas and China dyes and their application are far less complex and less (Adrosko 1968; Fox and Pierce 1990; Pettit 1974). time-consuming, but they are more expensive. Thus an Ancient Britons and other Europeans obtained the dye improvement of the local natural dyes industry, taking 698 Dyeing: Indigo Dyeing in Sierra Leone due cognizance of the environment, will be invaluable 1985) and preliminary laboratory work on “gara” in reducing the price. This latter unfortunately is now leaves (Wright and Cole 1988). In view of this paucity, rarely used except by a few traditional dyers. further work on various plant species has however been The gara industry, a local craft industry, has expanded conducted by MacFoy, Pratt, McEwen and Johnson at over the years, giving an additional sense of economic Fourah Bay College, University of Sierra Leone; and satisfaction and self worth to these mainly female by MacFoy in the U.K. and USA. entrepreneurs who are self-employed. On occasion, men Some of the results obtained from this work are and children are also involved in the industry. Some gara reported in detail elsewhere (MacFoy 2003, 2005)on dyers are full-time employees in other establishments the ethnobotanical survey of the natural dyes used in but do the gara dyeing on a part-time basis. Some have Sierra Leone and on the history of indigo dyeing. In this even been trained at the Crystals Youth Club, a West African country there is a wide gap between the vocational center in Freetown. Other centers in different rich and the poor and this latter group could benefit parts of the country include those sponsored by World immensely from the development of natural dyes as a Vision programs funded by the Canadian International source of income generation. This research involved Development Administration (CIDA) (CIDA Update interviewing dyers, surveying the literature, cataloguing 2001); CADS i.e. Center for Alternative Development and collecting the plants used for preparing the dyes, Strategies for training and production of dyed goods; obtaining knowledge of how the dyes are produced and United Nations Mission in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL) the fabric dyed, and botanical identification of the Trust Fund for training; Commonwealth Human plants. Ecology Council who funded a gara project; and the Christian Reformed Church of North America. These regard the art of gara dyeing as more than a craft; it Process for Indigo Dye Production and signifies hope. Displaced women as a result of the civil Dyeing of Fabric war, combatant girls and women have all benefited from This indigo dye is the most common natural dye in such income generating tie-dye and batik training inter Sierra Leone, and several methods (seven identified in alia. Some non-governmental organizations (NGOs) this study) are used with varying degrees of similarities have initiated microcredit schemes of which gara dyeing for its production and subsequent use in fabric dyeing. is one of the most commonly supported, but availability In general, they involve production either from fresh does not satisfy demand (Walker 1997). Since 80% of leaves in the dyepot, leaf fermented into leaf balls but the dye producers are women and 95% of their raw dye not extracted, indigo dye extracted into an insoluble materials imported, improvements of this dyeing lump, or use of the synthetic dye. In some cases up to technology will inevitably help improve the status of four other plant species are added to the dye bath, for women and the environment. example, Morinda germinata (wanda) roots, and Cola Whatever the source of the dye, the beauty of the nitida fruits (cola), Mangifera indica, Rhizophora finished products obtained gives a great sense of pride recemosa, Jatropha curcas (fignut), Capsicum frutes- and satisfaction to the dyers. This is more so with cens (pepper); and caustic soda (sodium hydroxide), natural dyes since it gives some kind of connection to which creates an alkaline pH environment for the nature. Although attempts have been made to develop fermentation to proceed from 3–7 days; local alum or other colors such as green, brown and pink from local ash from the ‘Kobe’ tree (Sterculia tragacantha); a black plants, these have not been followed up, mainly powder called colmet. Rusty nails or metal cups, or because of time and labor constraints. Alchornia cordifolia (Christmas bush) are also some- Gara dyers also frequently investigate by trial and times added to darken the shade. Another method error. Innovative dyers sometimes investigate different involves mixing the indigo dye with sodium hydroxide types of fabrics, e.g. cotton, wool, polyester, viscose (caustic soda) and sodium hydrosulphite in a ratio of and rayon, rugs; different combinations of plants, and 1:1:1 in water. color fastness. Some even investigate adding the dye at Dyeing is achieved by first washing the fabric with various stages in the production of a garment (to fiber soap and water and then immersing the cloth (a special before it is spun, to yarn before it is woven or knitted white fabric called bryleon of varying quality, or poplin into a fabric, or to the finished fabric or garment). (cotton/polyester) in the dye for different periods of Even though there is tremendous usage and potential time (sometimes varies from hours to 3–4 days) drying, for development, especially for a country just coming dipping again, drying and so on, until the desired shade out from a ten-year war, very few research investiga- is obtained. After this, the dyed fabric is washed, dried tions have been conducted in Sierra Leone on dyes, in the sun and ironed by traditionally pounding with a apart from reporting the methods used for indigo stick on a wooden slab to produce a glossy shine on the dyeing (Cole and Hamilton 1978; Crystal Youth Club cloth or by using other modern forms of ironing. Dyes 699

Pattern Production Apart from dyeing the whole material uniformly, Dyes various patterns can be produced by dyeing only parts of the fabric, leaving the remainder undyed. These methods are known as sewing, tie-dyeing, knotting, MURDO J. MACLEOD folding, and resist dyeing or the use of candle wax/batik. The full details of these are reported in MacFoy The human urge to paint the body with symbolic, 2005. warlike, or identifying colors may have been among It is clear from the above that natural dyes have a the earliest impulses which led to the discovery of tremendous potential in Sierra Leone and other color-yielding clays and plants. The dyeing of human D developing countries. There is a high demand for clothing followed. Encounters, both warlike and natural dyes in textile dyeing and in the food, beverage peaceful, between groups then led to the identification and cosmetics, paper and pulp industries in the US, of certain colors with specific regions or groups of Europe and Japan. Natural dyes can also serve as useful producers, and exchanges began. This specialization materials for teaching and experimenting in Adult and trade eliminated many of the poorer dyes of Education Programs, and in schools and colleges. prehistoric times, which may have numbered many Apart from dyeing fabrics, the colors obtained from hundreds, and by the time recorded history took note of the natural dyes could also be used as watercolors dyes only a relative few still saw widespread use. on paintings by making them thicker as well as Dye exchanges at first were very local. The major experimenting on them for their use as food colorings, ones in ancient times were usually confined to the great biological stains, inks, hair dyes, indicators in titration, areas of early culture and urbanization such as China, in addition to their use in soaps, photography, paper, northern India, and the eastern Mediterranean. Later, leather, medicine, eggs, plastics, rubber, automobile trade in dyestuffs became more long distance, and, with finishes, cosmetic industries, rugs, and table mats. European intrusions into Asia and invasion of the Natural dyes can also be used to redye old clothing. Americas, transoceanic and worldwide. This huge trade in natural dyes was destroyed and again reduced to a local level by the invention of coal tar or aniline dyes References and other chemical dyes, in the mid-nineteenth century. The production and exchange of colorants were Abbiw, D. Useful Plants of Ghana, London: Intermediate always associated with certain other industries. Cloth Technology Publications Ltd. U.K., 1990. manufacture and weaving were certainly the main ones. Adrosko, R.J. Natural Dyes in the United States. Washington Others arose out of the limitations of some natural DC: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1968. “ ” Balfour-Paul, J. Dyeing with Indigo and Mud in Senegal and dyes. Many were not fast ; i.e., they tended to fade Mali. Dyes in History and Archeology 17 (2001): 63–71. or discolor when exposed to light, frequent washing, or CIDA (Canadian International Development Administration) wear and tear. Accordingly, much effort was histori- CIDA, Update, 2001. cally expended in the search for mordants (dye fixers). Cole M. and D. Hamilton. Indigenous Technology in Sierra Many of these were readily available, such as blood, Leone. Sierra Leone: Ministry of Social Welfare, 1978. dung, or urine. Various acids, alkalis, and wetting Crystals Youth Club. Manual on the art of Gara dyeing in agents were widely used. Alum, an astringent, was Sierra Leone. Freetown, Sierra Leone: Crystals Youth Club Secretariat. 1985. probably the most common, and large cargoes were Fox, M. R. and J. H. Pierce. Indigo: Past and Present. Textile mined and shipped to dye factories and market towns. Chemist and Colorist 2. 4 (1990): 13–5. Minerals such as copper, tin, and iron also came to be Mac Foy, C. A. History of Traditional Indigo dyeing in Sierra used for mordanting, and thus added to the importance Leone. AATCC Review 3.7 (2003): 3–16. of mining for these minerals. Tree-borne dyes led to ---. Ethnobotany and Sustainable Utilization of Natural Dye forest cultivation and above all, to extensive and Plants in Sierra Leone. Ethnobotany 58 Suppl. (2005): 66–76. destructive logging industries. The dye-yielding attri- Pettit, F. H. America's Indigo Blues. Hastings House butes of plants such as indigo stimulated the creation of Publishers, New York, 1974. plantation complexes. Polakoff, C. African Textiles and Dyeing Techniques. The production of natural dyes and their use in London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1982. dyeing textiles were often complicated skills requiring Walker, G. (1997) Microfinance in Sierra Leone. In UNDP apprenticeships and years of training. Certain towns ▶ Microfinance Assessment Report. http://www.fenu.borg/ became known as dye centers or markets, such as sum/reports/assessments/country-reports/sierradb.html Wright, E. H. and S. B. Cole. Studies on the Chemical and ancient Tyre or medieval Venice in the Mediterranean, Physicochemical Nature of “Gara” Dyeing. Chemistry in or Oaxaca in colonial Mexico. Guilds of dyers and Sierra Leone 7 (1988): 43–59. castes devoted to weaving and dyeing were of 700 Dyes considerable importance in European and Indian many areas this fast, blue to purple dye was restricted to societies from medieval times. the clothing of high ecclesiastics, the aristocracy, or Before European intrusion reached sub-Saharan simply the ruling family. This colorant is extracted Africa, Asia, Australia, and the Americas, there were from a gland found in several shellfish, most notably several dyes which were produced and distributed over Murex trunculus. A few similar dyes were used in the large areas. Perhaps the best known of the early root Americas before and after the European invasions, dyes was madder (from the Rubiaceae, of which there especially in Nicoya (Costa Rica) and on the Peruvian are over 30 species). Rubia tinctorum roots were used coast, but the American sources never produced to obtain red dye in India, and were also known to the enough dye to be of importance beyond local markets. ancient Persians, Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans. For Insects have also been significant to the natural dye centuries Baghdad was the center of the madder trade, industry. Kermes is the oldest and most widespread of and it was cultivated extensively – rather than gathered these dyestuffs. The insects harvested, Coccus arborum as elsewhere – in Mesopotamia. After its use spread to and Coccus ilicis, live on the holm oak (Quercus ilex), Western Europe, the Dutch became the most systematic the shrub oak (Quercus coccifera), and a few other and scientific madder growers, combining it with their trees. Kermes is Armenian for “little worm” and is a leading role in cloth making (wool) and cloth importing scarlet dye. It is mentioned in the Old Testament and in (silks and linens). The French began to compete in the the writings of ancient Greece, but its origins are eighteenth century, but the French revolution damaged probably Asiatic and it was much used in India. the industry and it never revived. The European invasions of South and Southeast Asia Before the European expansion, the most widely and of the Americas greatly changed dye usage by used dye made from plant leaves was woad (Isatis bringing new and better colorants into the international tinctoria of the Cruciferae family). It yielded various markets. Indigo, which produces a range of blues, blues and grays. Although easy to produce in the became for about two centuries the most important of temperate areas of Europe and Asia, it was not a very all dyestuffs. It is a vegetable dye of considerable brilliant or fast dye. Woad in medieval and early fastness, and has been known in parts of Asia for over modern Europe was manufactured and marketed 4,000 years. Indigofera tinctoria, of which only the by powerful guilds which – by monopolies, boycotts, leaves bear dye, is of the order leguminosae, and and powerful legislation – managed to prevent large- belongs to the pea family. It was found in India, scale intrusions of other blues, especially indigos, from Southeast Asia, Africa, and America. It has been America and Southeast Asia, until the seventeenth discovered in both Egyptian and Inca tombs, and its century. continent of origin is obscure. The leading dye made from woad has always come Dutch ships carried indigo throughout the Indian from brazilwood (Caesalpinia echinata), although Ocean, and then, in the seventeenth century, to many other trees such as lima, sapan, and peachwood, Europe, where, despite a struggle, it eventually all soluble redwoods, are often lumped together as displaced woad. Bengal supplied large quantities in brazilwoods. These medium-sized trees have been the late eighteenth century to the British textile widely used for dyestuffs in many parts of the world. industry. When American indigo, mostly produced They are cut into small logs, ground to powder, then in Central America, the Carolinas, and Georgia, began soaked and fermented, often with an aluminum or other to flood the market in the eighteenth century, the woad metal ore mordant. They yield reds and browns, except industry collapsed in the face of this cheaper and on silks. Before the sixteenth century, India, Sumatra, better dyestuff. and Ceylon (Sri Lanka) were the main producers. Cochineal, a scarcer and more expensive dye, had a Other woods, such as camwood from India, which similar history. It is made from an American insect, imparted a rough feeling to cloth because of its resins, Coccus cacti, which feeds on a cactus (Nopalia or were also traded. Cutch or kutch, a brown dye, has been Opuntia cochinellifera), and was used in Mesoamerica, manufactured in India for over 2,000 years and comes especially in the Oaxaca region, long before the from the leaves and twigs of various acacia and Europeans arrived. While its production is elaborate mimosa trees. and costly, the result is a superior scarlet or crimson Humans have elaborated dyes from the bodies of dye, and it soon replaced kermes in Asian and insects and animals for millennia. The most expensive, European markets and dyeworks. After bullion it prestigious dye of ancient times was Tyrian purple. It was the most expensive item carried by the Spanish was manufactured in Crete by 1600 BCE, but is usually treasure fleets. associated with the Phoenicians. Tyre became the great The brazilwood industry grew after the products of market center for this dye until captured by the Arabs in the American continents began to enter world com- AD 638. Phoenician traders had spread its use all over merce. Vast new stands were found in Brazil – hence the Mediterranean. It was so rare and costly that in the name – and to this was added logwood or Dyes 701 campeachy wood, a large, tropical American tree overwhelmed by the new coal tar or aniline dyes (Haematoxylon campeacheanum) found especially invented in the mid-nineteenth century. Many of the in Campeche, Tabasco, and Belize. It yields black natural dyes, however, remain in use in local and peasant or blue dyes, plus edible seeds called allspice.By economies. the seventeenth century it was in use in Africa and Europe. One crop from America moved to Asia. Annato References (Bixa orellana) was used by Mesoamerican peoples Cannon, John. Dye Plants and Dyeing. Portland, Oregon: largely as a food additive and colorant, but when taken Timber Press, 1994. to Southeast Asia and India this dye, which is a Donkin, R. A. Spanish Red: An Ethnographic Study of D poor, fugitive yellow to red, was used for cloth, Cochineal and the Opuntia Cactus. Philadelphia: Ameri- especially monks’ robes. It is so culturally accepted in can Philosophical Society, 1977. these regions today that many writers describe it as Leggett, William Ferguson. Ancient and Medieval Dyes. indigenous. Brooklyn: Chemical Publishing Co., 1944. Robinson, Stuart. A History of Dyed Textiles. Cambridge, The new dominance achieved by Asian and above Massachusetts: MIT Press, 1969. all American dyes such as indigo and cochineal, both Zanoni, Thomas A. and Eileen K. Schofield. Dyes from of which were spread by European expansion, lasted Plants: An Annotated List of References. New York: The less than two centuries. They, in their turn, were New York Botanical Garden, 1983.