An Encyclopaedia of Indian Archaeology v1.c16.s1: 11.1 Neolithic

An Encyclopaedia of Indian Archaeology v1.c16.s1

Language: English

11.1 Neolithic

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*11.1.1 N.-w. region.* See 4.6.1, BURZAHOM.

*11.1.2 Vindhyan region.* The Neolithic sites in the Vindhyan region [4.6.3] have produced a homogeneous ceramic assemblage, entirely handmade with straw and rice-husks mixed in the clay which is not levigated as is evident by gritty core and porous surface of the pots. The assemblage as a whole is of thick fabric and is ill-fired. It can be divided into three groups, viz. the corded ware, the rusticated ware and the burnished ware, the last further sub-divided into burnished red and burnished black. Most of the pots belong to the corded ware group.

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Typologically the corded and rusticated wares are represented by: the straight-sided, deep and shallow bowl with featureless, everted, thickened or sharpened rim; storage jar; basin; and vase with broad mouth and carinated neck. The burnished red ware consists of the straight-sided deep and shallow bowl; jar; small vase; *hāṇḍī*; and basin. The burnished black ware has the bowl alone. The spouted bowl is shared by corded and burnished wares. The pottery is devoid of painting. Decoration is confined to corded patterns and incised and applied designs. The incised motifs consist of criss-cross, zigzag and oblique, horizontal or vertical parallel lines. The thumb impression or criss-cross lines constitute the applied pattern. Decoration by finger-imprints directly on the outer surface of pots has also been found on a few pieces.

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—V.D. MISRA

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*11.1.3 The middle Ganga region.* In the middle Ganga valley CHIRAND is the only known site with a Neolithic deposit [4.6.4]. The Neolithic pottery of the site has a coarse to medium fabric, the clay mixed with mica and sand. It is generally handmade, specimens made by the turntable method being very rare. It is a predominantly red ware industry, although examples of grey, pale yellow, black and black-and-red wares are not altogether lacking. It is significant that the types in the black-and-red ware are different from their Chalcolithic [11.6.4] counterpart. Numerous pots of grey ware show lustrous burnishing on their exterior, but their interior is usually rough and hard-brushed. The variety of types shows a clearly developed stage: for example the vase with broad mouth and narrow neck; the spouted vase; the vase with rusticated base; the bowl, including lipped one; the perforated bowl; the footed bowl; the oval bowl with broad lip; the bowl-with-stand; the 'begging' bowl; the footed cup; the channel spout; the miniature pot; the spoon or ladle; a knobbed sherd (shape unascertainable); the miniature handmade dish in red ware with double perforation at four points representing a toy balance, etc. The neck portion of the vase usually has an applied decoration which conceals the luting of the neck with the body. Specimens with mat impression and post-firing graffiti are also present. Some vessels show applied notch-designs and engravings. Painted specimens and slipped and plain sherds are also not lacking. Post-firing paintings in ochre colour are usually noticed on blackish-grey bowls and a few black-and-red pieces but rarely on red ware specimens. The common painted designs include the cross, concentric semicircles, wavy lines and dots.

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—S.R. ROY

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*11.1.4 E. region.* Neolithic pottery has been found at three different sites, viz. DAOJALI HADING in North Cachar Hills and SARUTARU in Dt Kamrup, both in Assam, and SELBALGIRI in Garo Hills, Meghalaya [4.6.6]. At all the sites sherds of indeterminate shapes (complete vessels being absent) occur along with smooth and ground stone tools [4.6.6] in stratigraphic contexts which are free of metal. The largest quantity of ceramic material is available from DAOJALI HADING (Sharma, 1967, pp. 126-8), where a limited excavation yielded over 600 shapeless sherds. An analysis of the material reveals that a large number of vessels are made of coarse and impure clay, heavily tempered with large quartz and sandstone grits. A small percentage (2%) of plain red ware, made of a well-prepared fine clay and seemingly turned on a mechanical device, appears to be extraneous to the dominant ceramic tradition at the site, about 98% being handmade. In some cases the coil or ring-building method is used for heightening the wall of the pots. The final shape of the pot is given by beating with a beater, generally a slat of wood often wrapped with a string or a cord or made rough by engravings—a device adopted by primitive potters in order to prevent the instrument from sticking to the wet clay, as demonstrated by Wu (1938, pp. 32-3) with reference to the cord-marked pottery in China. Pots made by this process show on the outer surface impressions of string or cord as well as the impressed designs of the grooved beaters, while the inner surface bears marks of the pad, which was used to support the wall of the pot at the time of beating [cf. potters' dabbers, 16.11]. The pad may be a pebble wrapped with hide or cloth, but sometimes the potter would use the back of his free hand for this purpose. The cord-marked pottery is predominantly grey in colour. Brown and chocolate brown sherds show evidence of smoothing on the interior surface of the wall. A small percentage (3%) of grey ware has incised herring-bone designs.

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The pottery of SARUTARU also does not show any complete shape. The whole range of pottery is handmade, coarse, gritty and unslipped. Brown pottery predominates, grey one being in a minority. On the exterior the pottery is sometimes decorated with cord-impressed basket designs (Rao, 1973, pp. 4-6).

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The pottery found at SELBALGIRI is handmade, coarse and gritty in fabric and grey, grey-brown or dull brown in colour, with a very rough texture due to the presence of quartz grits in the clay. The pottery is without decoration and impressed designs (IAR 1967-8, p. 8).

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Fig. 24. Daojali Hading: cord-impressed, basket-pattern and beater-impressed pottery

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The distribution and cultural significance of the cordmarked pottery is well known. It occurs as a dominant ceramic ware in association with chipped and ground stone tools including shouldered celts over a wide region in e. Asia comprising China and S.-E. Asia (Cheng Te-k’Un, 1959, p. 80; Chang, 1963, p. 129; Gorman, 1971, p. 303). The cord-marked Neolithic pottery of Assam no doubt belongs to this e. Asian Neolithic tradition.

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Chang, K.C., 1963, *Arch. of Ancient China*, New Haven. Cheng Te-k’Un. 1959, *Arch. in China*, I, *Prehistoric China*, Cambridge. Gorman, C., 1971, in *World Arch.*, 2, pp. 300-20 (for early subsistence pattern in S.-E. Asia). Rao, S.N., 1973, in *Bull. Dept of Anthropology Dibrugarh Univ.*, 2, pp. 1-9 (for Sarutaru). Sharma, T.C., 1967, in *Man*, N.S., 2, pp. 126-8 (for Neolithic pottery of Assam). Wu, G.D., 1938, *Prehistoric Pottery in China*, London.—T.C. SHARMA

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*11.1.5 The Deccan and s. region.* The distribution of the Neolithic pottery in the Deccan and s. India is naturally conterminous with that of the Neolithic cultures in the regions [4.6.7-10] and encompasses large tracts of Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, with the Bhima and Kaveri forming the n. and s. limits respectively, Dt Dharwar the w. and the Krishna delta the e. Notwithstanding certain minor regional differences, the ceramic industry presents a fairly homogeneous picture Such pottery has also been found as one of the elements of the ceramic industry at several Chalcolithic settlements in Maharashtra [4.14.6]. In fact there is a possibility that at sites like DAIMABAD it represents a truly Neolithic phase. The chief excavated Neolithic sites (some of them in reality Neolithic-Chalcolithic) are: KODEKAL, MASKI, PIKLIHAL, TERDAL, TEKKALKOTA, SANGANAKALLU, HALLUR, BRAHMAGIRI, Ț. NARSIPUR, HEMMIGE, UTNUR, SINGANAPALLI, PALAVOY, NAGARJUNAKONDA and PAIYAMPALLI.

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The clay used for this pottery is generally micaceous and mixed with grit or sand. The wall thickness ranges from 0·5 to 2 cm. Almost the whole range is handmade; the turntable and the dabber and anvil are the two main techniques employed. Scraping of the inner surface with a bunch of grass is another technique, more particularly in the black-on-red painted pottery of the A~3~ fabric. In many cases the rim and the base are made separately and luted to the body later on. Secondary devices like the knob, lug, loop-handles, lips, spouts, legged stands and ring bases are made separately and subsequently affixed to the body. The pots are baked in an open kiln at temperatures ranging between 500°C and 800°C. Blotchiness on the surface is a constant feature of this pottery. Grey and buff wares are the two chief fabrics of the industry. Coarse and burnished varieties occur in both these fabrics, burnishing being sometimes done over a thin slip. In some cases the outer surface is intentionally roughened. Black ware is found in small quantities at some sites. Typical white-painted black-and-red ware has been found in Phase II at TEKKALKOTA.

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Apart from these fabrics the industry is characterized by the occurrence of two varieties of painted pottery, viz. the A~3~ and AB wares. The A~3~ ware occurs in small quantities at almost all sites and right from the lowest levels. In certain localities like Dt Kurnool it forms one of the chief fabrics, thereby bespeaking some sort of local specialization. The outer surface is treated with a red, brown or chocolate-coloured dressing and painted in purple or black before firing. The AB ware, also a black-on-red variety closely recalling the Jorwe Ware of Maharashtra [11.11], occurs at a few sites in n. Karnataka. In fact, the typical Jorwe Ware is also known from certain sites in Dts Bijapur and Gulbarga.

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The surface decorations consist of (i) paintings, (ii) incised decorations, and (iii) other decorations. The paintings are either post-firing or pre-firing. The former is found on vessels of grey and buff wares and takes the form of red ochre bands applied on the neck and rim. Pre-firing paintings are found on the A~3~ and AB wares. The designs are essentially geometric and consist of vertical, horizontal or oblique lines and criss-cross patterns. Incised decoration is known from practically every Neolithic site, the designs including vertical, horizontal or oblique strokes and lines and herring-bone pattern. Of other decorations mention may be made of applied, finger-tip and combed ones.

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The vessels can be classed into over 60 shapes. The most common are the bowl and basin of various forms and sizes, shallow platter and dish, lipped and channel-spouted bowl, open-mouthed jar, narrow-necked jar, bell-shaped jar and spouted pot. These were put to a wide range of domestic uses—storing and carrying liquids, storing grain, cooking and serving of foods, etc. Mention should also be made of the wide-mouthed jar with rounded base used for burying the dead. Over and above are certain rare types like the legged and pedestalled bowl, perforated bowl and pot with collared neck which were apparently meant for some specialized uses.

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About two dozen available ^14^C dates would place the culture between *c.* 2400 and 1000 B C. Two phases can be distinguished within this time-span: a lower phase extending between 2400 and 1800 and an upper phase dating between 1800 and 1000 BC The A~1~ pottery is very typical of the lower phase, while the AB and Jorwe wares and black-and-red ware occur towards the close of the upper phase. The other fabrics are found in both the phases.