Early India and Pakistan to Ashoka c6.12

c6.12

It was however in the first centuries B.C. and A.D. that the classical West contributed most emphatically to the repertory of the Indian archaeologist. The consolidation of the Roman Empire by Augustus and his successors brought Roman coinage and Graeco-Roman wares in great quantities to the Indian peninsula, where spices, gems and a middleman-trade with China were the main objectives. Backed by a considerable and circumstantial literature—Greek, Roman, Indian, Chinese—these imports of known date and origin have been identified archaeologically and have lent their precision to associated Indian cultures. It is no exaggeration to say that in recent years they have provided a fresh starting-point for the study of central and southern Indian materials of which the context was otherwise unknown. In particular the widespread 'Rouletted Ware' (p. 31) is due to them, and its association with Italic (Arretine) pottery and coins of the Roman principate gives it a valuable initial date in the first half of the 1st century A.D.