ABIA - Index of South and Southeast Asian Art and Archaeology

Cover image ABIA

The ABIA Online bibliography (South and Southeast Asian Art and Archaeology Index) helps scholars and students trace publications on the art and architecture, archaeology, inscriptions, coins and crafts of South and Southeast Asia. Its coverage includes the shared cultural heritage of Buddhism, Hinduism and Islam. It also brings out the bonds between South and Southeast Asia in societal traditions and ceremonies, as evident in inscriptions, trade and craft specializations, right from the prehistoric past up to the present.

ABIA's geographic and topical reach is wide. Its coverage ranges from excavations at the early cities of the Indus Valley in Pakistan to the sculptural richness of Angkor’s temples in Cambodia; from Buddhist manuscript art in Nepal and Tibet to contemporary painting in Bali; from textiles woven for early kings of Thailand to present day fashion in the booming cities of India. Timewise, ABIA's coverage spans from the time when human activity becomes archaeologically manifest, to modern times.

Specialist bibliographers have compiled over 65,000 records since 1928. Many of these carry annotations that concisely explain their contents. All records come with field-specific keywords. Recent records often offer direct links through DOI or http addresses to the articles. The ABIA Online is updated on a quarterly basis to keep up with new academic publications.

For information and subscriptions: see Brill.com

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The ABIA contains the following key features:

Key Features

  • Unique and up-to-date specialist academic bibliography dedicated to South and Southeast Asian art and archaeology.
  • Extensive coverage of publications from the 1920s onwards.
  • Coverage of monographs, journals, articles in edited volumes, conference proceedings and grey literature.
  • Compiled by an international team of specialists in both Europe and Asia.
  • Records up to 2011 are richly and extensively annotated.
  • Rich keywording.
  • Inclusion of references to hard-to-access locally published Asian works.
  • References to publications in a multiple variety of languages.
  • Includes all bibliographical references of the printed Annual Bibliography of Indian Archaeology (published between 1928-1984) and the ABIA South and Southeast Asian Art and Archaeology Index (published between 1999-2011), as well as recent up-to-date online only material.
  • Covers scholarly publications by specialists for specialists and non-specialists.

Key Figures

  • 40,000 records
  • Quarterly updates (9,000 new records per year)
  • 425 journals
  • 200 book series
  • 19 languages
  • 22 countries
  • 12 major subject categories per country

Regions Covered

  • South Asia: Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Maldives
  • Southwest Asia - as related to South Asia (e.g. Afghanistan and eastern Iran)
  • Central Asia - as related to South Asia (e.g. Turkmenistan and Tajikistan)
  • East Asia - as related to South Asia and Southeast Asia (e.g. the region of Tibetan culture and South China)
  • Southeast Asia: Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam
  • The Pacific - as related to Southeast Asia (e.g. the region of Austronesian culture)

ABIA offers search options by means of:

  • 3500 geographic keywords
  • 5,800 general keywords
  • 950 personal names as keywords
  • 5,500 unique authors and editors
  • 15,000 records of the ABIA Index in the online database
  • 25.000 records of the Annual Bibliography of Indian Archaeology (the Kern ABIA)

Materials

  • Books
  • Contributed articles in books
  • Articles in periodicals (including reviews and obituaries)
  • Electronic books
  • Electronic articles
  • Unpublished PhD theses and Habilitationsschriften
  • ‘grey’ literature of academic level

ABIA Online: A Unique Reference Tool For:

  • Scholars and students of Asian Studies, Art History, Archaeology, Comparative Religions, Buddhist Studies, Hindu Studies, Asia studies in general, Anthropology, History, Heritage Studies and Museum Studies; and in subfields such as Epigraphy, Palaeography, Numismatics and Sigillography.
  • Museum curators and collectors of Asian arts and coins.

The ABIA Online presently cooperates with partner institutes in New Delhi (the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts) and Colombo (Postgraduate Institute of Archaeology). It maintains and develops a network of contributors and potential contributing institutions in South Asia (e.g., The International Institute for Studies in Bengal Art, Dhaka, Bangladesh; Kathmandu, Nepal) and Southeast Asia.

ABIA is partly supported by the Institute for Asian Studies (IIAS) and the Jan Gonda Fonds.

Copyright information

The digitization of volumes 22 and 23 of the Annual Bibliography of Indian Archaeology has been authorized by Springer Science + Business Media for distribution through Brill’s online platform.

Copyright © 1982 and 1984, being a part of Springer Science+Business Media

Annual Bibliography of Indian Archaeology. For the Years 1967–1969
Volume 22 (1982)
Edited by E.C.L. During Caspers
ISBN: 978-94-009-7824-9 (Print) 978-94-009-7822-5 (Online)

Annual Bibliography of Indian Archaeology. For the Years 1970–1972
Volume 23 (1984)
Edited by E.C.L. During Caspers
ISBN: 978-94-009-6273-6 (Print) 978-94-009-6271-2 (Online)