Northern Black Polished Ware is the characteristic pottery of which phase?
- A.The Neolithic villages of Mehrgarh
- B.The Chalcolithic cultures of the Deccan
- C.The Mahajanapadas and the Mauryan empire
- D.The Delhi Sultanate
Correct answer
Explanation
The correct answer is C, the Mahajanapadas and the Mauryan empire. Northern Black Polished Ware, usually shortened to NBPW, is a very fine clay pottery with a glossy, almost mirror like surface in steel grey to jet black. It is dated roughly between 700 and 200 BCE and is treated as the type fossil of the second urbanisation, the age of the sixteen Mahajanapadas, the Nandas and the Mauryas, found from Taxila in the north west to Bengal and as far south as Amaravati.
Option A is wrong because Mehrgarh belongs to the Neolithic and its pottery is early handmade and then simple wheel made ware. Option B is wrong because the Deccan Chalcolithic is marked by Jorwe and Malwa wares, which are matt painted black on red. Option D is wrong because NBPW had disappeared more than a thousand years before the Delhi Sultanate, whose characteristic ceramics are glazed tiles and wares.
Read the full article: Pottery Traditions of India: Harappan Ware to NBPW
Practice Questions
View allPainted Grey Ware is generally associated with which period of Indian history?
- A.Mature Harappan period
- B.Later Vedic period
- C.Mauryan period
- D.Gupta period
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Painted Grey Ware is a fine, thin, wheel made grey pottery decorated with simple black lines, dots and spirals, dated roughly between 1100 and 600 BCE.
Read the full explanation →Ochre Coloured Pottery has mainly been found in which region of India?
- A.Upper Ganga and Yamuna doab
- B.Kerala coast
- C.Brahmaputra valley
- D.Konkan coast
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Ochre Coloured Pottery, usually abbreviated to OCP, is a worn, ill fired, orange to ochre pottery whose colour rubs off on the fingers because the surface has been damaged by water.
Read the full explanation →Which statement best describes the pottery of the mature Harappan civilisation?
- A.Handmade grey ware painted in white
- B.Wheel made red ware with designs painted in black
- C.Glazed blue ware made of quartz powder
- D.Unpainted glossy black deluxe ware
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Mature Harappan potters used the fast wheel and fired their pots well, producing a sturdy red ware on which they painted in black over a red slip.
Read the full explanation →Rouletted Ware found at Arikamedu is evidence of which kind of contact?
- A.Trade with the Roman world
- B.Trade with Central Asia over the Silk Route
- C.Migration from the Tibetan plateau
- D.Contact with the Harappan cities
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Rouletted Ware is a wheel turned dish with concentric rows of small impressed dots on the inner surface, made by holding a toothed tool against the turning pot.
Read the full explanation →Jorwe ware, a matt painted black on red Chalcolithic pottery, is mainly associated with which present day state?
- A.Maharashtra
- B.Odisha
- C.Punjab
- D.Assam
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The Jorwe culture is named after the village of Jorwe in Ahmednagar district of Maharashtra, and its pottery is a matt surfaced, black on red painted ware found in large quantities at Inamgaon, Daimabad, Nevasa and Chandoli.
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