Anuradhapura: Volume III: The Hinterland

Anuradhapura's hinterland reveals a unique model of 'Tropical Forest Low Density Urbanism,' characterized by the absence of towns and the division of settlements into Buddhist monasteries or agricultural villages. This interdisciplinary study, spanning six years, combines settlement survey, excavation, and geoarchaeology to trace the growth of rural communities in response to Anuradhapura's rise as a capital and pilgrimage center from the first millennium BC onwards. It also documents the collapse of this hinterland by the eleventh century AD, providing the most detailed archaeology study of a South Asian urban hinterland's dynamic and contested nature.

Coningham, R., & Gunawardhana, P. (2013). Anuradhapura: Volume III: The Hinterland. https://doi.org/10.30861/9781407311890