Janice Stargardt, MA DLett

Affiliated Lecturer, PACSEA Foundation Professorial Research Fellow in Asian Historical Archaeology & Geography, Fellow, Tutor and Director of Studies at Sidney Sussex College, (concurrently Foreign Professor, Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes, Sorbonne)

Biography

Career:

2006-: PACSEA Professorial Research Fellow in Asian Historical Archaeology and Geography, Department of Geography.
2002-: concurrently, Fellow, Tutor and Director of Studies in Geography and Archaeology, Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge.
1993-2006: PACSEA Senior Research Fellow (Readership level), Department of Geography.
1976-1993: Senior Research Fellow, Needham Institute, Cambridge.

Qualifications

B.A.Melb.
M.A. Cantab.
D.Lett. Paris

Research

Janice Stargardt works on the environmental and historical geography and archaeology of South and South East Asia, especially on the long record of interactions between societies and their environments and on the cultural and commercial exchanges linking India, South East Asia and China. With her research group she carries out annual surveys and excavations in Burma and Thailand, where she has discovered ten archaeological sites, four systems of ancient irrigation and navigation canals, and traced the changing structure of the ancient rainforest over the past 10,000 years, especially its economic plants. Her research on an ancient irrigation system in South Thailand led directly to its recent rehabilitation conferring visible benefits on the farming families of Songkhla Province in Southern Thailand.

A major theme in Janice Stargardt's research has been the transition of societies in South-East India, Burma and Thailand from Iron Age villages to complex, literate and urbanized communities. She has done basic research on the factors involved in this transition, including the natural environments and resources, environmental change, the role of ancient irrigation in assuring reliable agricultural surpluses, the contribution of maritime trade to prosperity and the cultural changes it caused. She has discovered ten archaeological sites of the early historic period in South Thailand which were engaged in high-value, long-term sea trade with South China, and four large ancient irrigation systems in Thailand and Burma associated with early cities. Currently she is working on maritime trade in Asia, tracing key examples of its value and volume from the 11^th - 16^th cent., and considering their significance in the broader context of other trading regions. A second long-term theme is her research on the early spread of Buddhism into South India and Burma, where she has uncovered new evidence on its encounters with indigenous religions which challenge previous models of Indianisation . She has shown Indianisation to have been a long, complex process involving creative, mutual and highly selective assimilations rather than the cultural imposition previously envisaged. With her research group she has developed new applications for aerial photography and remote sensing to archaeological research in the humid tropics, producing new maps of her research areas which have been adopted by the Royal Ordinance Survey of Thailand and are widely used in teaching and research in Thailand, Burma and outside the region. She applies insights gained from the lengthy time perspectives of this research to the problems of environment and development in contemporary societies of the Third World, especially Asia.

Her research is supported by grants from the University of Cambridge, the British Academy, the Royal Society, the Natural and Environmental Research Council [NERC], the Department for International Development [DFID] and the British Council offices in Thailand, Burma and Malaysia among others.

In the Department of Geography, Janice Stargardt cooperates with the following research groups:

Quaternary Palaeoenvironments Group

With Dr Phil Gibbard and Thai colleagues from the Prince of Songkla University, Hat Yai she works on Quaternary geological, biological and archaeological change in the Kra Ecotone of South Thailand, particularly the interactions between people, rainforests and cultivated plants within a changing geological context around the Songkhla Lakes.

Political Ecology group

She participates in the research discussions of this group and works in Thailand with members of the Wetlands Centre and the Department of Biology, Prince of Songkla University, in action research on damaged environments together with female-led village households in self-help projects.

Historical and Cultural Geography Research cluster

A member of this research cluster, Janice Stargardt is coordinator of a 5-year British Academy research project on Relics and Relic Worship in Early Buddhism in India and Burma [2002-], while conducting research on two major projects: cultural change in South-East India and Burma, and pre- and early modern Asian maritime trade in the South China Sea and the Indian Ocean.

Publications

Books and Monographs

Stargardt, J. 2008: The Sea Unites; essays in the maritime archaeology and remote sensing of South East Asia. Cambridge, PACSEA, 150 pp (paperback).
Stargardt, J. 2001: Resources - A Common Pool for Whom and How? A review of NRSP's past and current CPR-related projects. DFID NRSP Programme Development Report PD107, 31pp..
Stargardt, J. 2000: Tracing Thought through Things: the Oldest Pali Texts and the Early Buddhist Archaeology of India and Burma. Seventh Annual Gonda Foundation Lecture 1999; [revised and expanded] Monograph of the Royal Netherlands Academy, Amsterdam, 2000, 60 pp., 23 figs. & pls.
Stargardt, J 1990, 1991: The Ancient Pyu of Burma. Vol. I, Early Pyu Cities in a Man-Made Landscape. PACSEA, Cambridge, in association with ISEAS, Singapore, (hardcover) December 1990, (paperback) April 1991, xxix + 436 pp., 135 figs., 32 pls.
- (1993: Translated into Japanese, University of Tokyo, Faculty of Letters, Graduate Programme in South East Asian History)
- (1994: Translated into Burmese, University of Yangon (Rangoon), Faculty of Arts, Department of Archaeology, 1994.)
Stargardt, J. et al. 1988 : Histoire du paysage, archéologie et télédétection. [History of the Landscape, Archaeology and Remote Sensing], with Jacques, C., M. Terrasse. J. Legorgeu. Paris, EPHE/CNRS, Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes IV, 1988, 98 pp., 12 figs, 19 pls.
Stargardt, J. 1983: Satingpra I, the Environmental and Economic Archaeology of South Thailand. British Archaeological Reports (BAR), Oxford in association with the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies (ISEAS), Oxford, 1983, xxiii+381 pp., 66 figs. &. pls.
- (Translated into Thai, Silapakorn University, Department of Archaeology, 1985.)

Selected Articles (2007-1992 only)

Stargardt, J. 2007: 'Buddhist Archaeology', Encyclopedia of Archaeology, Deborah Pearsall (Gen. Ed.) Elsevier/Academic Press, N.Y., Vol. 1, pp. 670-83.
Stargardt, J. 2005a: 'The Hindu-Buddhist Period', in Southeast Asia: A Historical Encyclopedia from Angkor Wat to East Timor. ABC-Clio.
Stargardt, J. et al. 2005b: 'Holocene sea levels and palaeoenvironments, Malay-Thai Peninsula, southeast Asia, The Holocene, 15, 8, 1199-1213 (with R.P.Horton, P.L.Gibbard, G.M.Milne, R.J.Morley, C. Purintavaragul).
Stargardt, J. et al 2004a: Poster with same title, presented at the Annual Conference of the American Geological Society.
Stargardt, J. et al. 2004b: 'Reconstructing the Ancient Landscape of South Thailand by Means of Remote Sensing', (with Choathip Purintavaragul) invited paper, Conference on Remote Sensing Archaeology, Beijing October 2004, published online by the Institute of Remote Sensing Applications, Chinese Academy of Science, Beijing. 13pp, 8 pls 2004b.
Stargardt, J. and D. Twitchett 2004c: 'Chinese Silver Bullion in a Tenth-Century Indonesian Wreck', . Asia Major (3^rd Series), XV, I, 2002 (pub. 2004c), pp. 23-72. 14 Figs & Pls.
- Translated into Chinese, 'Chenchuan yibao: yisou shi shiyi Chenchuan shuang de Zhongguo yinding,' in Tang Yanjiu (Tang Studies - Beijing University), 2004.
Stargardt, j. 2002-3: 'City of the Wheel, City of the Ancestors: spatial symbolism in a Pyu royal city of Burma', Indo-asiatische Zeitschrift [Berlin] 6/7, pp. 144-167, 7 figs.
Stargardt, J. 2003: 'Mapping the Mind; some cultural cargos of ancient South East Asian maritime trade', in Fishbones and Glittering Symbols Ed. A. Kallen, and A. Karlstrom, Stockholm, Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities, pp. 103-118, 22 figs. & pls.
Stargardt, J. 2001a: 'The Historical Geography of Burma; the creation of enduring patterns in the Pyu period.' Newsletter of the International Institute of Asian Studies [IIAS], Leiden, July, Special Burma Issue, 2 figs.
Stargardt, J. 2001b: 'The Great Silver Reliquary from Sri Ksetra: the oldest Buddhist art in Burma and one of the two oldest Pali inscriptions in the world,' in Festschrift for Professor J.G.de Casparis. (eds.K. van Kooij and M. Klokke). Groningen, Egbert Forster, pp. 487-519, 13 pls.
Stargardt, J. 2001c: 'Behind the Shadows: archaeological data on two-way sea-trade between Quanzhou and Satingpra, South Thailand, 10th-14th century,' in Emporium to the World: Quanzhou and Maritime Trade, 10th-14th century, (ed. Schottenhammer, A.). Leiden, E.J.Brill, pp. 309-93, 23 figs, & pls., 4 tables.
Stargardt, J. 2000 : 'Contrôles et contraintes socio-économiques des systèmes traditionnels d'irrigation et d'agriculture: le système d'Angkor dans les perspectives comparées,' in Angkor and Water/Angkor et l'Eau, (bi-lingual French/English, ed. UNESCO). Paris, UNESCO & EFEO, n.d. [2000], 9 pp, 14 figs., 7 tables.
Stargardt, J. 1999a: 'An Historical Atlas of South-East Asia, by Jan Pluvier,' Journal of Historical Geography, 25, 1, pp. 104-6.
Stargardt, J. and Choathip Purintavaragul 1999b: 'The Forests of the Kra Isthmus, South Thailand,' Royal Society South East Asian Rainforest Research Program Newsletter, December.
Stargardt, J. 1998: 'Urbanization before Indianization at Beikthano, Central Burma,' in Southeast Asian Archaeology 1994. (Proceedings of the Conference of the European Association of Archaeologists of South East Asia), (ed. Manguin, P-Y.). Hull, Centre for South-East Asian Studies 1998, pp. 126-138, 7 figs, 1 table.
Stargardt, J. 1995: 'The Four Oldest Surviving Pali Texts: the Results of the Cambridge Symposium on the Golden Pali Text of Sri Ksetra (Burma), April 1995,' Journal of the Pali Text Society, pp. 199-213.
Stargardt, J. 1995 and 1998: 'Earth, Rice, Water: Three Essays in "Reading the Landscape" as Historical Record on Satingpra, South Thailand,' in Sediments of Time: Environment and Society in Chinese History , (eds. Elvin, M. and Liu T-j.). Taipei, Academia Sinica, 1995 (in Chinese, translated by Academia Sinica), pp. 209-70, 10 figs., 14 tables.
English version of above, in Nature and The Orient; the environmental history of South and Southeast Asia. (eds. Grove, R., V. Damodaran & Satpal Sangwan). Oxford & Delhi, Oxford University Press, 1998, pp. 125-183, 7 figs., 14 tables.
Stargardt, J. 1992a : 'Assimilations reciproques entre le rituel funéraire autochtone et le bouddhisme en Birmanie ancienne, du 2ème s. av. J.C. au 8ème s. ap. J.C,' Lecture for the Centenary of the Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes V, Collège de France, 1987, in Le Rituel, vol. II, (eds. Schipper, K. & A.M.Blondeau). Louvain, Peeters, 1992a, pp. 89-106, 10 figs.
Stargardt, J. 1992b : 'Le cosmos, les ancêtres et le riz; l'eau dans l'espace urbain des pyus en birmanie,' in Disciplines croisées, hommage à Bernard-Philippe Groslier, (eds. Condominas G. et al.). Paris, Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, pp. 311-35, 13 figs.
Stargardt, J. 1992c: 'Water for Court or Countryside? Archaeological Evidence from Central Burma and South Thailand Reconsidered,' in The Gift of Water, (ed. Riggs, J.). London, School of Oriental and African Studies, pp. 59-72, 2 figs.
Stargardt, J. 1992d: 'Muang Fa Daed: from prehistoric moated villages to Mon-Khmer style city; new archaeological studies of aerial images.' in Ancient Khmer Cities of Lower North-East Thailand, (eds. Ishizawa, Y. and T.Kano). Tokyo, Sophia University, Institute of Asian Culture, in association with the Fine Arts Department of Thailand, pp. 107-128, 6 figs.

Teaching

Undergraduate tripos

Supervises IA Historical Geography, IB Development,1B Cities.
Lectures and supervises Part II South Asia

Graduate

Advises M..Phil. students in Environment and Development in South East Asia in the Department of Geography
Advises Ph.D. students on South East Asian topics in the Department of Geography
Advises Ph.D. students in South and South East Asian Archaeology in the Department of Archaeology, University of Cambridge

External activities

2005-, UK representative on the International Expert Group for Remote Sensing Archaeology, under the auspices of UNESCO and the Chinese Academy of Science.
2000-, Member of the International Policy Panel, Tropical Rainforest Forum of the UK.
1999-, Member of the Royal Society's Rainforest Research Programme.
1989-, Series Editor, South East Asia, PACSEA, Cambridge.
1983-, Member Management Committee Asian Studies Centre, St Antony's College, University of Oxford.
1981-, Consultant to UNESCO, UNDP and the British Council and Visiting Professor at numerous universities in the UK and continental Europe.
1976-, Foreign Professor for Life by Decree of the President of France, Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes IV [national research institute of history and philology], Sorbonne, Paris
1974-, research collaboration with Prince of Songkla University, Thailand on modern and ancient environmental studies, with the University of Andhra, India, on early Buddhist archaeology, with the Tamil University, Thanjavur on the late Iron Age of South India, with the Chinese University of Hong Kong on GIS and Remote Sensing, the history of maritime trade and on ancient ceramics, with Xiamen University, China on Southeast Asian historical geography and with the Institute of Remote Sensing, Beijing on the application of remote sensing to archaeology.