Traditional Knowledge Systems and Archaeology in India: Problems and Perspectives

The present chapter attempts to establish a linkage between traditional knowledge systems and Indian archaeology, raising some problems and perspectives. To begin with, there is a clear distinction between the Indigenous population and the settler population with regard to the United States, Canada and Australia. However, In India, it is difficult to get such a clear division since migration and population movement have taken place in various phases in historical periods. Therefore, either the term ‘Indigenous’ is not appropriate, or even if used, its connotation is not the same in India as in the West. Hence, in the Indian context, it is perhaps more useful to use the term ‘traditional’ knowledge systems (TKS), although the term ‘traditional’ is also not full proof. In order to appreciate the theme of unsettling archaeology in India, three issues are discussed as background: traditional knowledge system with the possibility of more diverse interpretations in archaeology; ‘new museology’ with a bearing on more community engagement and lastly, autoethnography—which contextualises and interrogates colonial stereotypes in colonial ethnography—paving the way for the emergence of autoarchaeology in India. The consequence of all these would hopefully lead to a more inclusive and more democratising form of archaeological practice and knowledge system in India.