An Encyclopaedia of Indian Archaeology v1.c9.s14.t1.21

v1.c9.s14.t1.21

Banas culture: First identified in the Banas valley of Rajasthan, AHAR² is its type site where the Deccan College carried out excavations in 1961-2. Although some of its traits like the black-and-red ware [11.6.2] had been noticed earlier at sites like NAVDATOLI, it is the excavation at Kayatha that revealed this culture as a distinct entity in c. India. Although mainly confined to the Chambal valley it appears to have spread as far s. as the Narmada-Tapti valleys. In c. India as in the Banas valley, the culture is distinguished by a characteristic black-and-red ware. Although coarse in fabric, this pottery is wheel-turned and painted in dull white colour. The designs are essentially geometric and are generally confined to the outer surface. They take the form of grouped lines or dots executed in horizontal, vertical or oblique directions; circles and lattice design also occur, albeit infrequently. The bowl and dish are the common shapes; the former has an additional decoration in the form of thin incised lines or grooves around the neck. The second major ware is a highly burnished pottery with a distinct slip, which may be red, tan, orange or chocolate in colour. The vase with pedestalled base, corrugated shoulder and long corrugated neck is an important shape in this fabric. Handmade pottery of red and grey fabrics completes the ceramic industry of the culture. The culture as represented in c. India has two additional traits which are not so well-represented in Rajasthan. As against the paucity/absence of stone tools at sites like AHAR² and GILUND, Kayatha has produced a full-fledged lithic blade industry—a development due to the paucity of copper ore in c. India. The second feature is the rich number of terracotta figurines made of fine clay and baked at a consistently high temperature so as to avoid blotchy surfaces. The bull is the common theme of this art; it is depicted in both naturalistic and stylized forms which occur side by side right from the beginning. In some cases the body is ornamented with nail-marks. From the prolific number of these objects it is surmised that a bull cult was in vogue during this period in c. India. Among personal ornaments mention must be made of biconical beads of terracotta and short cylindrical shell beads. The authors of this culture probably lived in simple houses similar to those of the Kayatha culture.