[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Studies](https://indike.org/pramana/ins) › [Reference works](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference) › [An Encyclopaedia of Indian Archaeology](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.ghosh-1989) › v1.c16.s2 # An Encyclopaedia of Indian Archaeology v1.c16.s2: 11.2 Pre-Harappa An Encyclopaedia of Indian Archaeology v1.c16.s2 - **Language:** English ### 11.2 Pre-Harappa ### [v1.c16.s2.1](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.ghosh-1989.v1.c16.s2.1) Pre-Harappa \[4.8\] pottery was identified within the limits of India first by Ghosh, 1952, at SOTHI, a small mound located on the ancient bank of the DṚṢADVATĪ, though on this single-culture mound it was not possible to recognize it as pre-Harappan—a fact which was established in the later excavation at KALIBANGAN. Subsequent explorations have found this Sothi/Kalibangan I Ware distributed practically all over the Indo-Ganga divide, its spill-over being located at various sites in Pakistan, such as Bhoot on the Hakra, the continuation of the Ghaggar, Nara, Jalilpur on the Ravi and Gumla on the Gomal. Significantly enough there is hardly any Harappa site in the Indo-Ganga divide from where this ware is not reported. ### [v1.c16.s2.2](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.ghosh-1989.v1.c16.s2.2) Stratigraphically the Sothi Ware is found not only in the pre-Harappa levels but also in the Harappa \[4.9\] levels, at times even in the levels which appear to be late Harappa \[4.10\] and also post-Harappa, as at MITATHAL, Dt Hissar. It therefore covers at least the latter half of the 3rd to the first half of the 2nd millennium B.C. A few uncalibrated ¹⁴C dates place one of its early phases in the middle of the 3rd millennium. Besides KALIBANGAN, the excavated sites which have yielded this ware in the pre-Harappa levels are BANAWALI and SISWAL on the SARASVATĪ. ### [v1.c16.s2.3](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.ghosh-1989.v1.c16.s2.3) The ceramic assemblage is characterized by a bichrome painted ware turned on the wheel. The surface is dull red on which the decoration is done in black and white pigments. The latter is however used mainly as a subsidiary colour for adding dots and dashes or for filling in solid blanks in order to heighten the effect of paintings by bringing them in relief. The painted designs include a large number of geometric patterns, such as horizontal bands (sometimes as thick as the height of the neck), loops, wavy lines, concentric arches and meanders, 'moustache motif', rows of dots, cross-hatched triangles and semicircles, solid opposed triangles or 'butterfly' lenticulars, horizontal and vertical chains, tridents and squares, as well as a dozen faunal and floral motifs, such as the stag, ibex, duck, cock, scorpion, fish, bull-head, pipal leaf, cacti-like plant, flower bunds, tall grass and tree, including the palm. The geometric patterns and floral motifs have often been placed side by side to increase the pictorial effect. As a rule the geometric patterns are arranged in friezes although they frequently occur in panels also. Some pots are decorated with incised patterns like wavy lines and criss-cross designs. By and large the fabric is fine, the firing is good and the section is thin, except in large pots. While some of the medium-sized globular vessels are with high pedestals and ring bases others are characterized by flat bases. ### [v1.c16.s2.4](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.ghosh-1989.v1.c16.s2.4) There are however a number of cognate wares, each distinguished mainly by its characteristic fabric, since in forms and decorations they share each other's repertoire. At KALIBANGAN where the pre-Harappa pottery has been found in large quantities in a well-stratified context the pottery has been grouped into six categories—Fabric A to Fabric F (\*IAR 1962-3\*, p. 20). ### [v1.c16.s2.5](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.ghosh-1989.v1.c16.s2.5) Fabric A includes vessels made on the wheel somewhat carelessly. Comparatively light and thin in section and red to pinkish in colour, the pots—usually the vase and bowl—are painted in black interspersed with white in a somewhat free style. The painted designs are by and large geometric. ### [v1.c16.s2.6](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.ghosh-1989.v1.c16.s2.6) Fabric B includes vessels made carefully, generally on the wheel. Comparatively heavy and thick in section and dull red in colour, the pots—usually the storage jar—are slipped up to the shoulder and rusticated below, i.e., the lower surface is first covered with a clayey solution, often mixed with sand, and, while wet, roughened by horizontal wavy combings or by tortoise-shell or dendritic impression. The pots bear faunal and floral representations. ### [v1.c16.s2.7](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.ghosh-1989.v1.c16.s2.7) Fabric C includes vessels turned on the fast wheel in a very careful manner and betray sophistication. They are made of a very fine clay and slipped smoothly in shades of red and plum or purple-red. The pots—the globular and ovoid vase, straight-sided bowl, dish, and dish-on-stand—are painted essentially in black in designs usually geometric but sometimes combined with naturalistic motifs. ### [v1.c16.s2.8](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.ghosh-1989.v1.c16.s2.8) Fabric D includes vessels, extra thick and sturdy, often partly handmade and partly moulded and wheel-thrown. The pots—the heavy jar, bowl, basin and trough—are dull red and decorated usually with deeply incised patterns executed with a reed, generally wavy lines but sometimes with other patterns also, geometric as well as floral. The pots are painted sparingly, only with horizontal bands and loops. ### [v1.c16.s2.9](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.ghosh-1989.v1.c16.s2.9) Fabric E includes vessels slipped with buff or reddish-buff solution. The texture is medium. The pots—the jar, dish, bowl, dish- and bowl-on-stand, chalice, etc.,—are dull red to pink in colour with paintings executed in black to purple pigment interspersed with white. The designs and motifs are both geometric and naturalistic. ### [v1.c16.s2.10](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.ghosh-1989.v1.c16.s2.10) Fabric F includes grey-coloured pottery of medium fabric. The pots—the basin, dish-on-stand, bowl, vase, etc., as met with in other fabrics also—are found painted in black and white pigments. The decorations include geometric designs. ### [v1.c16.s2.11](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.ghosh-1989.v1.c16.s2.11) It appears that the Sothi Ware in India is not the only one immediately underlying the Harappa. In Punjab its counterpart has been called the BARA Ware, after a site located on the Sutlej. Like the Sothi, the Bara Ware also continued to be in vogue during the Harappa and late Harappa phases at sites like ROPAR, KOTLA NIHANG KHAN, SARANGPUR and SANGHOL. It is also a wheelturned red ware with paintings executed in black, but by and large it is thicker and sturdier and also deeper in colour than the usual Sothi Ware. Decorative motifs are generally geometric but are restricted in variety. It may however be pointed out that the Bara Ware is not likely to have flourished in isolation. On the one hand a few of the decorative motifs show similarity with those found at some of the well-known sites in Baluchistan and Sind, such as Damb Sadaat and Kot Diji, and on the other a few show similarity with those occurring on pots in Fabrics B, D and F of KALIBANGAN. ### [v1.c16.s2.12](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.ghosh-1989.v1.c16.s2.12) \*\*Fig. 25. Kalibangan: painted motifs on pre-Harappan pottery\*\* ### [v1.c16.s2.13](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.ghosh-1989.v1.c16.s2.13) In Gujarat a pre-Harappa ware found at LOTHAL is called the Micaceous Red Ware with simple linear designs in black, executed occasionally on the exterior. At sites like KAYATHA in Malwa some decorative elements resembling the Sothi Ware decorations occur on pots from levels which are likely to have been a late contemporary of the Harappa. In w. Uttar Pradesh also some elements of painted and incised decorations appear to have continued in the OCW \[4.12\] at sites like Lal Qila. ### [v1.c16.s2.14](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.ghosh-1989.v1.c16.s2.14) Fig. 26. Kalibangan: pre-Harappan pottery ### [v1.c16.s2.15](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.ghosh-1989.v1.c16.s2.15) Ghosh, A., 1952, in \*Bull. National Inst. of Sciences in India\*, 1, pp. 37-42. For sites see respective entries in vol. II—S.P. GUPTA ## Linked texts (9) - [Lothal](https://indike.org/pramana/inp.site.lothal) - [Kālībangan](https://indike.org/pramana/inp.site.kalibangan) - [Banawali](https://indike.org/pramana/inp.site.banawali) - [Kot Diji](https://indike.org/pramana/inp.site.kot-diji) - [Mitathal](https://indike.org/pramana/inp.site.mitathal) - [Kāyathā](https://indike.org/pramana/inp.site.kayatha) - [Lal Qila](https://indike.org/pramana/inp.site.lal-qila) - [Koṭla Nihang Khān](https://indike.org/pramana/inp.site.kotla-nihang-khan) - [Siswal](https://indike.org/pramana/inp.site.siswal) --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.ghosh-1989.v1.c16.s2](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.ghosh-1989.v1.c16.s2) · Pramāṇa