ABSTRACT
In historical archaeology, material remains were until recently commonly viewed as secondary sources, which were used to illustrate and verify written evidence. However, as far as the interpretation and re-establishment of former ancient cities was concerned, such an approach tended to eradicate what Lewis Mumford defined as the dramatic dialogue, one of the typical features characterising cities. With a focus on the premodern city of Vijayanagara in southern India, this chapter therefore intends to let archaeological evidence of material conditions in the city be considered in conjunction with readings of textual records, with the aim of teasing out new interpretations of the history of this particular city by examining this dialogue. The written accounts constitute highly influential sixteenth-century European travel writings on the city. The archaeological material consists of engraved game boards which appear all over the former urban landscape. The dialogue is analysed with concepts from play theory. The results show how a dialectic approach can provide opportunities to rediscover the game places and the travel narratives both in terms of former emergent worlds with imaginative, experiential properties and as the material signatures of a city experienced – a city emerging from, and feeding into, dramatic dialogue.
