Towards an Urban Mosangi: Long-Term Settlement History and the Development of a Medieval City in Northern Karnataka, South India

Peter Johansen1*, Andrew M. Bauer2, and Hemanth Kadambi3

Early urbanism in northern Karnataka is less well-understood than in other regions of South Asia, yet by the early Medieval Period (CE 500-1000) a number of urban settlements are known from both archaeological and epigraphic records. Recent archaeological investigations at Maski in the South Indian state of Karnataka’s Raichur Doab region by the Maski Archaeological Research Project (MARP) has documented a large, sprawling, multi-faceted medieval urban settlement through several seasons of systematic survey and targeted excavations. Surface remains show a variety of architecture, infrastructure, and other structural debris indicative of distinct residential areas suggestive of an extensive and diffusely organized urban environment. MARP results show that ‘Mosangi’, as the city and one-time capital of the Late Chalukyan state (c. CE 973-1200) is named by medieval inscriptions, developed slowly and gradually from a settlement occupation with a deep history extending back to at least the second millennium BCE. This paper reports on this long-term settlement history at Maski and the development of an urban environment during the Medieval Period, documented through systematic survey, results of excavations at multiple residential localities (MARP-23 and MARP-30), and more than 60 radiocarbon assays. We discuss the development of Medieval Mosangi’s dynamic urban landscape through the intersection of local and regional scale socio-political, ritual and environmental histories.