Ancient Ceramics: Historical Enquiries and Scientific Approaches (An Old and Rare Book)

There cannot be two opinions about the great potentialities of pottery as one of the fundamental source of historical reconstruction Forceramics types were closely related to the day-to-day life of the society. This volume on Ancient Ceramics which covers important aspects of pottery from Neolithic to the Northern Black Polished Wate periods is authored by number of experts and research scholars. For instance,Dr Birendra Pratap Singh's paper is based primarily on the recently excavated ceramic collections from Benuwar. Prot 5.B. Ded's paper discusses Important aspects of two fold chrono-cultural divisions of the Chaclolithic communities of the Deccan The study of the pottery by Shri Anil Kumar, distinguishes the regional triats from the general characteristics of the ceramics of Neolithic times Dr Vibha Tripathi successfully points out the role of iron technology vis-a-vis economic and cultural set-up of the Painted Gray Ware using people. Ms Suchandra Mukherjee has discussed some vital sociological issues related to the overlap phase of the Harappan and the Painted Grey Ware Cultures That Magadha (Bihar) was the original home of the Northern Black Polished: Ware is the basic hypothesis of Prof B. P. Sinha.On account of the description of pots in the ancient literary text,Dr (Ms) Meera Sharma has suggested a useful line of interpretation of utility of ancient pots. Aspects showing inter relationship between the culture patterns and the pots of negative period have been undertaken by Dr LK. Sarma. Dr Rama Krishna Pisipaty provided main traits of post Megalithic pottery of the Deccan, which is based on his first hand study of the material of Andhra and Sarvahana periods. Prof Asok Ghosh and Subhra Bhattacharya discuss the ethnographic instance of pots used by the tribals. Dr (Ms) Renu Bala has shown that the utility of earthen ware in the modern urban and rural set-ups can provide useful clues for Interpreting archaeological cultures. Scientific analyses of earthen wares by Dr K. Krishnan, and Dr Ravindra Kumar, demonstrate that such attempts are very useful. The book not only provides an upto date review of the pottery findings, but, it also includes fresh. Interpretation of historical enquiries.

Professor P.C. Pant is an eminent Archaeologist of the Banaras Hindu University. Educated and trained at the Banaras Hindu University, the Deccan College Post-graduate and Research Institute, Pune, and the University of Cologne (Germany) Professor Pant has carried out archaeological field work in various parts of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. Besides several research papers, his noteworthy publications are - Prehistoric Uttar Pradesh (A study of Old Stone Age), and Paisra: The Stone Age Settlement of Bihar (Jointly with Dr Jayaswal).

Dr Vidula Jayaswal, faculty member at the Banaras Hindu University is a well known scholar of Prehistory and Archaeology. As a national scholar of the Government of India, she received specialised training in Archaeology and Anthropology at the University of California, Berkeley, USA. Before joining B.H.U.,she also served Archaeological Survey of India.

Dr Jayaswal carried out noteworthy archaeological field investigations in various parts of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. She successfully, completed study of pottery and terracotta producing centres of the Ganga Plains. She is author of five books in English viz., Palaehistory of India, Chopper-Chopping Component of Palaeolithic India, Kushana Clay Art of Ganga Plains, An Ethno-archaeological View of Indian Terracottas and from Stone Quarry to Sculpturing Workshop, and, three text books in Hindi Bharatiya Itihas Ke Adi Charan KI Roop Rekha (Pura-Prastara Yuga), Bharatiya Itihas Ka Madhya Prastar Yuga and Bharatiya Itihas ka Nav Prastar Yuga.

Book's Contents and Sample Pages