From the American Southwest to India’s Deccan Plateau: John M Fritz at Hampi Vijayanagara

The late Dr John M. Fritz was the first American archaeologist to survey the ruins of Hampi Vijayanagara. Trained at the University of Chicago as an anthropologist with a special interest in prehistoric, Native American sites in New Mexico and Arizona, Fritz brought an entirely new perspective to South Asian urban studies. Together with Dr George Michell, Fritz directed a team of volunteer architects and archaeologists to investigate the meaning of Hampi’s city plan. Building on more than twenty years of fieldwork during the 1980s and 1990s, he concluded that the Hindu god Rama dominated the layout of  Vijayanagara’s Royal Centre by acting as a mediator in the everyday activities and ceremonial life of the Vijayanagara rulers. It is this innovative interpretation that Dr. George Michell will discuss in this illustrated lecture.