Prehistoric India to 1000 B.C. c11.s1.7

c11.s1.7

The occupation of RG II does not seem to have been of very long duration, and only one building level can be traced, followed by sterile material implying temporary abandonment of the site. RG III, however, is a period of some length, with three phases of building and a continuous pottery evolution which in its turn is derived from the wares of RG II. In RG IIIa the fine brush-work of RG II continues and becomes almost an affectation—one could almost use the terms applied to a similar stylistic sequence in Danish Neolithic pottery and talk of a ‘grand style’ followed by a ‘pretty style’—and red paint appears, being used as a second colour, even though the background is itself a red slip, producing a curious ‘red-on-red’ technique. Among other patterns executed in this two-colour style are multiple-lined squares in red and black, which recall those of Amri and which might indicate approximate contemporaneity and interchange of ideas; in Amri ware too there are small pedestal feet with groups of vertical lines just in the manner of RG II and IIIa. The main occupation of the Sur Jangal site seems to be comparable with RG IIIa and with the succeeding IIIb, where tall carafe-like vessels appear, which occur also at Sur Jangal (Fig. 14). In this phase and in the