Pottery

Articles on ceramic production, artisan crafts, pottery and material culture in the ancient Indus Valley Civilization.

Indus potters in central Oman in the second half of the third millennium BC. First results of a technological and archaeometric study

Sophie Mery
"A wide range of Indus artefacts have been found over the past forty years at many coastal and inland sites in the Oman peninsula, including utilitarian and ritual pottery, ornaments, seals, weights and, more recently, terracotta toys for children," write the authors.

Lipid residues in pottery from the Indus Civilisation in northwest India

Akshyeta Suryanarayan
An exciting new study that looks at food residues ancient Indus pots found in sites around Rakigarhi to decode the foodstuffs that once were in those pots. By examining the lipids or fatty acids that can be extracted from pots and pottery fragments, investigators were able to determine some of the foodstuffs in the pots.

The use of colour in the Protohistoric pottery from Pakistani Balochistan and from Mundigak (Afghanistan): Cultural Identities and Technical Traditions

A. Didier
A rare article looking in detail at something archaeologists usually do not focus on, but was and is of immense importance in art and human experience. Ancient Balochistan before the Indus period was known for some of the most vibrant colour pottery in South Asia.

Setting the wheels in motion: Re-examining ceramic forming techniques in Indus Civilisation villages in northwest India

Alessandro Ceccarelli
"The discovery of the rotational capabilities of the wheel was one of the most significant human inventions, and wheel-enhanced rotation is now pervasive in the tools and machines that we use in our everyday lives. Importantly, the wheel was a major contributor to a range of developments in craft production technology, perhaps most visibly in the various forms of potter’s rotational devices and wheels."

Painted Indus Script on Ceramics and Steatite: New Insights on Indus Script Calligraphy and Function

Jonathan Mark Kenoyer
A careful look at one of the least studied forms of Indus writing. "The painting of script on pottery. Painting script requires a specially prepared brush that could have been the same as that used for decorating pottery, but would have been selected to have the appropriate size and shape for the size of the script being painted."

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