An Encyclopaedia of Indian Archaeology v2.c34.281

v2.c34.281

No ¹⁴C dates are available for Pd I. But a comparison of the Gilund pottery with that of NAVDATOLI shows that whereas the black-on-cream ware, with its typical designs of dancing figures and spotted animals, occurs in the upper levels of Pd I of Gilund, at NAVDATOLI it is confined to the lower levels only. Again, the painted black-and-red ware occurring throughout at Gilund is limited to the lower levels of NAVDATOLI. All this would indicate that Pd I of Gilund is in the main earlier than the occupation at NAVDATOLI, with an overlap towards the end of the former. Since on the basis of ¹⁴C dates the early levels of NAVDATOLI are assignable to a period around the middle of the 2nd millennium B.C., Pd I of Gilund may broadly be placed in the second quarter of that millennium, with a probable margin on the earlier side. Pd II of Gilund seems to have begun about the middle of the 1st millennium B.C., as indicated by the presence of bowls and dishes of grey ware. In the successive strata have been found Śuṅga and Kushan bowls in red ware, sprinklers in the Red Polished Ware [11.23], bowls in kaolin ware and knife-edged bowls in red ware, indicat- ing that this occupation continued up to the end of the 1st millennium A.D. This dating on the basis of pottery is supported by the occurrence in the upper levels of a potsherd inscribed in characters of *circa* 9th century. Since the cultural equipment of this age is well known from other historical sites it is not being repeated here. —B.B. LAL