Prehistoric India to 1000 B.C. c11.86

c11.86

When we turn to the prehistoric cultures of Persia or of Mesopotamia for parallels to the Amri-Nal Culture we meet with vague correspondences, but never more. The pottery is clearly a member of the Buff-ware group, but while there is a generalized resemblance in motifs (especially in Amri ware) there is nothing of the precision which exists between Quetta ware and that from Fars. Indeed, the Fars material is akin to Amri only in the broadest terms, and the almost constant use of ancillary red paint in the Indian pottery divides it off completely from the rest of the Persian series; the Jemdet Nasr wares of Mesopotamia provide the only parallel, and those again only in very general terms. The drawing of the animals at Nal and Nundara might be compared with the firm, competent outlines seen on engraved bone and shell plaques in Early Dynastic Sumer, but in no other respects can Sumerian contacts be traced. If, in its early stages, the Amri-Nal Culture has a vaguely Iranian origin, its later developments either took place in isolation or were the result of contact with the Harappā Culture to the east. The firm, assured style of Nal, with its sense of design and spacing, is very remarkable, and unlike most Western Asiatic painted pottery. There is more than a suggestion of familiarity with incrustation and inlay techniques such as those of Early Dynastic Sumer, and the total effect is extremely sophisticated and competent.