An Encyclopaedia of Indian Archaeology v1.c9.s1.16

v1.c9.s1.16

The next section [4.15] deals with the PGW culture. To name any culture after a ceramic industry is theoretically questionable but is a well-established archaeological practice, particularly as along with the diagnostic pottery there are some recurring industries. It is with the PGW 'that one treads on a culturally secure ground in the upper Ganges valley . . . . The basic importance of this level is that it provided the immediate background to the early historic period.' (Chakrabarti, 1972, pp. 216-17.) Not only that, the pottery has, in addition to its distinctive colour, fabric and paintings, its own background in the black-and-red ware [4.13] and black-slipped ware [11.13] of the upper Ganga valley which precede and are invariably found mixed up with it at all excavated sites (cf. Tripathi, 1976, pp. 69-92). It is essentially an Iron Age culture, though recent discoveries at such sites as Bhagwanpura, where it co-occurs with the late Harappa pottery [11.4], may suggest its pre-Iron Age antecedents, the only justification for the section on Iron Age [4.16] following it in this work.