Multi-Period Regional Survey Data from Vidarbha, Maharashtra, India

Abstract

Presented here are the data collected during regional surveys of Vidarbha, India, which were collected to reconstruct the societal and cultural changes that took place in this region during the mid-first millennium CE. Following an overview of the data and their research context, we describe the methods that were used to collect, process and analyse them. This is accompanied by a critical assessment of the factors that constrained the survey and our results. The dataset is then described in detail, with a thorough account of each data group and how they are arranged, presented and archived. Finally, we discuss how these data can be reused in the continued archaeological study of this region, and comparative studies of site distributions. Funding statement: Fieldwork and research were part of the 'Asia Beyond Boundaries' project, an ERC Synergy project funded by the European Research Council under the European Union’s 7th Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013)/ERC grant agreement no. 609823, awarded to Dr Michael Willis.

Keywords

• archaeology
• early historic
• early medieval
• megalithic
• settlement patterns
• south asia
• survey
• vakatakas
• vidarbha