Prehistoric India to 1000 B.C. c11.56

c11.56

In such Baluchistan sites as Nundara, where the pottery is domestic and does not present the high degree of stylization present in the funerary vessels from the Nal cemetery, a straight-sided ‘bucket’ type occurs together with simple beaker forms, less globular than the norm of Amri ware. Neither of these forms appears in the Nal cemetery, where the bulk of the vessels are variations on bowl types with the diameter greater than the height. Actual bowls range from shallow open forms (also characteristic of a dark ware peculiar to the site), globular bowls in which the rim incurves so that the shoulder diameter exceeds that of the mouth, small straight-sided cups, and squat shouldered pots rather similar to the bowls. A very remarkable form, found not only at Nal but also at many other sites of the culture in Baluchistan and in Sind, is the straight-sided ‘canister’ type of vessel, which is the most distinctive of all the Nal pottery types. Most of these types recur at the cemetery of Damb Buthi, mixed with other forms, such as tall beakers, more specifically characteristic of Amri ware. Peculiar to Nal itself are small saucers, pinched in on four sides to form vessels like the modern Indian *chiragh* that one may assume that they, like their recent analogues, were used as lamps. A couple of double cylindrical pots from Nal may also be noted.