History of Technology in India, Vol. I: From Antiquity to c. 1200 A.D. v1.c15.s1.1

v1.c15.s1.1

The black-and-red ware is one of the most important ceramic industries of ancient India (Srivastava, pp. 372-417). The vessels of this ware are usually black inside and on the rim on the exterior, while the remaining part of the external surface is red. This result in the colouration of the ceramic has generally been ascribed to the peculiar firing technique. Till recently the black-and-red pottery was taken to be characteristic of the megalithic burials of South India, but recent discoveries in different parts of the country indicate that the antiquity of the pottery goes back to the latter half of the third millenium B.C., as it has been found at Harappan sites in Saurashtra. Moreover, it is also a distinguishing feature of the Ahar culture of the Copper/Bronze Age, datable to the first half of the second millenium B.C. In Central India and the Deccan the black-and-red pottery has been found to be associated with the chalcolithic painted black-on-red pottery. (Fig.1) The ceramic also occurs in the early historical levels almost all over the country, and above all, it is a distinguishing feature of the megalithic culture of South India belonging to the latter half of the first millenium B.C. All this goes to show that the pottery was in use in India from the middle of the third millenium B.C. till about the beginning centuries of the Christian era. Its distribution is equally widespread; it is found almost all over the country from Gujarat in the west to Bengal in the east and from Punjab in the north to Kerala in the south. It will thus be clear that the BR ware has a wide distribution in the country both in terms of time and space. It may, however, be stated that it does not occur anywhere in the country after the opening centuries of the Christian era. The ware thus has a long history of 2500 years and it can be called the most important ceramic of ancient India.