The Personality of India: Pre- and Proto-historic Foundation of India and Pakistan c17.s3.4

c17.s3.4

We have already described its distinctive method of firing. Taking the entire area, there is a wide range of coarse and fine wares at any site. But there is a tendency towards the appearance of thinner wares as one moves southwards. As regards the surface treatment, all these wares have burnished slips. The archaeological chemist of India thought that the sherds from Arikamedu were subject to salt glazing as there was "the characteristic crackled surface or 'crazing' under the microscope".³ This effect results from the difference in the coefficient of expansion between the body and the slip, and in itself, does not provide evidence of salt-glazing. Actually, if this criterion were accepted, the pottery from Timbarva (Gujarat) and Maheshvar shows definite evidence of crackling. Dr. Wheeler, in trying to compare this pottery with the N.B.P., also asserted that the Brahmagiri wares were made on a 'slow wheel'. But this term is Fig. 43. Painted decorations on the Black-and-red ware from Perumbair and Madura. The numbers refer to those in the Madras Museum catalogues.