ABSTRACT
This introductory chapter to Section IV (Temple Landscapes) discusses how the meaning(s) of the material form of the temple emerges out of an analytical consideration of spatial and temporal patterns and processes, and particularly through an understanding of how landscapes are invested with meaning through human activity. Following a brief historiographical survey of early studies of the materiality of the Hindu temple, the chapter highlights how an archaeological approach focusing on sacred landscapes, both material and intangible, is a powerful analytical tool that allows for the contextual analysis of material culture and the interdisciplinary integration of multiples lines of evidence about the past.
