An Encyclopaedia of Indian Archaeology v1.c9.s13.1

v1.c9.s13.1

The black-and-red ware, the black-topped ware in w. terminology, occurs in India in different archaeological contexts—from the Gujarat Harappa [11.3] to the Megalithic in s. [11.15.3]. Apart from the common technique of its manufacture—inverted firing of the pots, though double firing has also been suggested (Mujumdar, 1968),—it is widespread practically all over India in different cultures (Tripathi, 1976, pp. 50-1), including the Neolithic levels of CHIRAND where it is different in types from its Chalcolithic counterpart [11.1.3], as also in the latest phase of the Neolithic in s. India [11.1.5], makes it difficult to believe that it represents a distinctive diagnostic trait of a single culture, though attempts have been made to find parallelisms in the shapes of the ware in all the regions of its occurrence (Subbarao, 1958, pp. 173-9; 1961). Agrawal, 1971, pp. 106-7, traces two routes of the migration of the ware in the wake of rice cultivation—itself an uncertain process: one route deflecting from Gujarat to the w. doab and e. Punjab and the other going to w. Bengal via c. India to Bihar and e. Uttar Pradesh, with cross-connections. In some contexts the vessels have elementary paintings on the exterior (e.g. in the Gujarat Harappa); in the Banas [4.14.1], Malwa [4.14.5] and Jorwe [4.14.6] cultures they are painted on both the exterior and interior and in the middle and lower Ganga Chalcolithic [4.14.3, 4] generally on the interior. In the upper Ganga they are unpainted and it has been thought that the tradition of painting on the ware disappeared with the passage of time (Subbarao, 1961). Stratigraphically the ware occurs freely in the SARASVATĪ and upper Ganga valleys with the PGW [11.14], but at sites in the Deccan it even post-dates the NBPW [11.16]. It is only at two sites in the second-mentioned region—NOH and ATRANJIKHERA—that the ware is found in thin but distinct deposits, sandwiched between those with the OCW [4.12] and PGW, but continuing well into the PGW levels. This viability of its occurrence affords some justification of the ware being regarded as typifying a separate culture in the region. The favourite shapes in the ware at both the sites are the bowl, basin and dish, which occur in the PGW and Black-slipped Ware [11.13] as well. The occurrence of beaded rims in some vessels has been thought to relate this ware with its AHAR² counterpart (Gaur, 1969, p. 114), and a sort of genetic connection between AHAR² and NOH has been thought probable, though there was no slavish imitation of each other (Srivastava, 1969). At ATRANJIKHERA the associated finds are microlithic cores with ripple flaking and flakes