Pottery

Pottery means the creation of objects that are made up of hard brittle material produced from non-metallic minerals by molding them while the material is wet and then firing them at high temperatures.

Evolution of Pottery through the Harappan to Vedic Period Harappan Pottery:

• The Harappans mainly used Polished Ware Pottery with rough surfaces. However, both polished and unpolished types of pottery existed. The Harappan pottery was mostly Redware pottery painted with black designs. Geometrical design along with paintings depicting flora and fauna are observed.
• Pottery generally had a red surface and was wheel thrown although handmade ones also existed.
• Most of the pottery is polychrome meaning more than two colors are used to color the pottery.
• Since pottery had everyday use, they usually had flat bases.

Late Harappa

• Ochre Coloured Pottery (OCP): Since the late Harappan cultures (1900 BC 1200 BC) were primarily chalcolithic, some chalcolithic sites show elements of the late Harappan era like the use of burnt bricks, etc. These sites had OCP which was produced on slow wheels.
• Black-on-red painted and wheel-turned pottery was also found in Swat Valley.
• Grey-ware and Painted grey ware, generally associated with Vedic people, have been found in conjunction with some late Harappan pottery.

Vedic Era Pottery

• The Vedic Era saw the emergence of Painted Grey Ware (PGW) Culture.
• It was found in the Gangetic plain and Ghaggar-Hakra valley, lasting from roughly 1200 BC-600 BC. Mathura was the largest PGW site.
• It is characterized by a style of fine, grey pottery painted with geometric patterns in black.
• It remained confined to a few geographical locations, namely – Punjab, Haryana, and the upper Ganga Valley.

Later Vedic Era – NBPW

• The later Vedic people were acquainted with 4 types of pottery – Black-and-red ware, black-slipped ware, painted grey ware, and red ware.
• The end of the Later Vedic Age around the 6th century BC marked the beginning of the Northern Black Polished Ware (NBPW) which was a glossy, shining type of pottery.
• It is considered deluxe pottery because it was only found with the elites revealing societal stratification.
• There were both monochrome which has fine and thin material as well as bichrome pottery showing a combination of two colours.

Relationship between pottery and the socio-cultural life of the people Pottery plays an important role in studying culture and reconstructing the past. The style of pottery and the designs on this pottery portray the differences in class of the people. The more intricate the designs are, the higher is supposed to be the class of the person, for instance, NBPW. Rare objects and pottery of intricate designs were mainly concentrated in large settlements which reflected the prosperity of the people of these settlements. Some burial sites also have pottery and ornaments. Since the people used burials to cremate their dear ones and put their belongings, these burials provide a window to know the social differences among people. Evidence from pottery helps validate the associations between different civilizations. For instance, Black-grey burnished ware found in Swat Valley resembles pottery from the north Iranian plateau. Similarly, Black-on-red painted and wheel-turned pottery was also found in Swat Valley and shows the association of Swat Valley with Harappan culture.