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@article{183710,
        author = {Dr. Gautam V. Desai},
        title = {Archaeology, Architecture, and Memory : Goa’s Built Heritage in Context},
        journal = {International Journal of Innovative Research in Technology},
        year = {2025},
        volume = {12},
        number = {3},
        pages = {2853-2858},
        issn = {2349-6002},
        url = {https://ijirt.org/article?manuscript=183710},
        abstract = {Goa’s architectural heritage is often celebrated through iconic churches and picturesque streetscapes, yet the region’s-built environment is better understood as a layered palimpsest where pre-Portuguese sacred sites, Islamic water structures, colonial ecclesiastical and defensive works, and agro-maritime landscapes co-produce a distinctive cultural fabric. This paper argues for an explicitly archaeological reading of architecture in Goa one that integrates building archaeology, materials characterization, landscape and viewshed analysis, and archival study with living social practices to reveal construction phases, material technologies, and networks linking forts, churches, temples, mosques, and khazan fields. Drawing on representative case studies, Tambdi Surla (Kadamba temple), Safa Masjid and tank (Ponda), the Churches and Convents of Old Goa, coastal forts such as Aguada and Reis Magos, and the khazan agro-maritime system, the paper illustrates how stratigraphic phasing, mortar typologies, laterite stone signatures, timber systems, and hydrological infrastructures can be mapped to reconstruct technological transfer, adaptation, and repair over time. The analysis connects fabric-level observations to policy and management frameworks (AMASR Act; Goa state heritage law; CRZ norms; international charters), climate risk (salts, capillary rise, cyclonic exposure, sea-level rise), and tourism pressures, and proposes site-specific and landscape-scale conservation strategies. The study contributes (1) a replicable building-archaeology protocol adapted to tropical laterite–lime contexts; (2) a multi-scalar approach that links monuments to working cultural landscapes; and (3) governance recommendations for co-management among state agencies, ecclesiastical trusts, comunidades, and local stakeholders.},
        keywords = {Goa, building archaeology, architectural heritage, laterite, lime mortars, forts, Old Goa, khazan, conservation, coastal heritage},
        month = {August},
        }