Description: This multi-disciplinary study of early archetypal Brahmanic, Hindu and Buddhist temple architectures examines how the styles from northwest India were adapted as they spread into Southeast Asia. It unravels the specifically compositional and architectural linkages along the trading routes of South and Southeast Asia, and the common themes and influences to be seen in the early temples of Java, Cambodia and Champa. Using digital reconstruction and recovery of three-dimensional temple forms, the authors have developed a digital dataset of early Indian antecedents, tested new technologies for the acquisition of built heritage and developed new methods for comparative analysis of built form geometry.
Review Quotes: 'Datta and Beynon demonstrate the substantial benefits that digital methods can bring to the analysis of architectural and cultural history. Asian scholars will particularly welcome their new insights into old questions about the historical connections between the various South and Southeast Asian polities and the processes of Indianisation that are thought to have shaped Southeast Asian cultures.' William Logan, Deakin University, Australia 'Digital Archetypes redefines the possible of what we can know about these monuments.' Michael W. Meister, University of Pennsylvania, USA 'The book is likely to be of interest to historians of art and architecture in general, and to scholars of South and Southeast Asia in particular. Researchers and students interested in exploring digital techniques for studying architecture would also find this book helpful as an example of a systematic methodology of analysis.' South Asia: Journal of South Asian Studies