The dry tank : development and disuse of water management infrastructure in the Anuradhapura hinterland, Sri Lanka.

摘要

We identify and offer new explanations of change in water management infrastructure in the semi-aridudurban hinterland of Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka between ca. 400 BC and AD 1800. Field stratigraphies andudmicromorphological analyses demonstrate that a complex water storage infrastructure was superimposedudover time on intermittently occupied and cultivated naturally wetter areas, with some attemptsudin drier locations. Our chronological framework, based on optically stimulated luminescence (OSL)udmeasurement, indicates that this infrastructure commenced sometime between 400 and 200 BC,udcontinued after Anuradhapura reached its maximum extent, and largely went into disuse between ADud1100 and 1200. While the water management infrastructure was eventually abandoned, it was succeededudby small-scale subsistence cultivation as the primary activity on the landscape. Our findings have broaderudresonance with current debates on the timing of introduced ‘cultural packages’ together with their socialudand environmental impacts, production and symbolism in construction activities, persistent stresses andudhigh magnitude disturbances in ‘collapse’, and the notion of post ‘collapse’ landscapes associated withudthe management of uncertain but essential resources in semi-arid environments.