Painted 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
Correct answer
Explanation
The correct answer is B, the Later Vedic period. 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. Its sites, Hastinapur, Ahichhatra, Atranjikhera, Mathura and Kurukshetra, lie in the upper Ganga valley, exactly the region the Later Vedic texts describe, which is why archaeologists connect the ware with that age.
Option A is wrong because the mature Harappan phase, 2600 to 1900 BCE, is marked by wheel made red ware painted in black, not by grey ware. Option C is wrong because the Mauryan period belongs to Northern Black Polished Ware, a glossy deluxe pottery of about 700 to 200 BCE. Option D is wrong because by Gupta times the characteristic clay product is the moulded terracotta panel of Bhitargaon and Ahichhatra, and no distinct painted grey ware survives.
Read the full article: Pottery Traditions of India: Harappan Ware to NBPW
Practice Questions
View allNorthern 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
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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.
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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