History of Technology in India, Vol. I: From Antiquity to c. 1200 A.D. v1.c15.s4.t3: Jorwe Ware
History of Technology in India, Vol. I: From Antiquity to c. 1200 A.D. v1.c15.s4.t3
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Jorwe Ware
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The Jorwe culture, named after the type site in Dist. Ahmednagar, Maharashtra, was accidentally discovered in 1950 but its chronological position was fixed by the excavation at Nasik where the remains of this culture were found in the lowest levels assignable to the first half of the first millenium B.C. A number of Jorwe settlements have since been excavated during the last thirty years which has increased our knowledge of the material culture of these first farmers of Maharashtra. They were spread almost all over the present state of Maharashtra save the coastal strip of Konkan on the west and parts of Vidarbha in the east. A series of radio-carbon determinations suggest that the culture can now be dated to Circa 1400-1000 B.C.
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The most distinguishing feature of the Jorwe culture is its black-on-red painted pottery. It is wheel thrown and of thin to medium fabric. It is made of well levigated clay which is devoid of impurities. The vessels have a mat surface and are treated with orange to red wash. The most distinctive vessels are a concave-sided carinated bowl with a round bottom and a spouted jar with carinated profile and a wide flaring mouth. Besides these, there are high necked globular jars and storage jars with constricted neck and bulging belly. The painted decoration is in black and repertoir of designs is extremely limited. The patterns are mostly linear and geometric such as sets of lines, triangles, lozenges loops etc. (Fig. 6).
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Fig.6 Jorwe ware
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An interesting feature is the occurrence of some peculiar symbol on each and every vessel which has been taken to be the potter’s mark. Associated with this is a crude handmade red/grey ware which is characteristic of the southern Neolithic.
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A potter’s kiln was uncovered in the course of excavations at Inamgaon (Dist. Poona). It belongs to Early Jorwe period (Circa 1400-1000 B.C.). It is like a huge trough made of clay and embedded in the ground on stone foundations (Dhavalikar et al 1988; Vol.1, pt.i, pp.255ff). It appears to have been built in situ. Its maximum diameter is 1.75 m and at a depth of 60 cm from the top were found clay cushions in the kiln placed over the fire chamber. These cushions are oval in shape and have a hole in the center and a groove on the middle of each side; the holes in the center obviously served as outlets for the hot gas. In the base of the kiln were flues or air ducts radiating from the center. To the north east of the kiln was the fire passage lined with stones and reaching below the bottom of the kiln where an andiron or firedog of clay was placed. It is rectangular in shape with projecting corners and curved upper sides for supporting firewood. At the time of baking pottery the firewood on the andiron was lit and the resulting hot gas would be passed above through the flues and holes and grooves in the clay cushions. It is thus a unique kiln which has so far no parallel within the country or even beyond. But in principle it is akin to those from Indus cities which were provided with several holes for the hot gas (Mackay, 1938). The clay and iron inside the fire chamber has, however, parallels in West Asia where they have been dated to Circa 2700-200 B.C (Braidwood, Jr, pp. 371-73, Fig.290-91,A&B)
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A coarse variety of the Jorwe ware has been found recently in the excavations at Inamgaon and at a few sites in the Bhima valley. The coarser fabric is due to a lot of gritmixed as the tempering material and the tradition of painting is also on the decline. This late Jorwe ceramic is datable to Circa 1000-700 B.C.