Black and red ware (BRW) is a South Asianearthenware, associated with theNeolithic phase,Harappa,Bronze Age India,Iron Age India, the Megalithic and the early historical period.[1] Although it is sometimes called anarchaeological culture, the spread in space and time and the differences in style and make are such that the ware must have been made by several cultures.[2]
In the WesternGanges plain (westernUttar Pradesh) it is dated toc. 1450–1200 BCE, and is succeeded by thePainted Grey Ware culture; whereas in the Central and Eastern Ganges plain (eastern Uttar Pradesh,Bihar, andBengal) and Central India (Madhya Pradesh) the BRW appears during the same period but continues for longer, untilc. 700–500 BCE, when it is succeeded by theNorthern Black Polished Ware culture.[3]
In the Western Ganges plain, the BRW was preceded by theOchre Coloured Pottery culture. The BRW sites were characterized bysubsistence agriculture (cultivation of rice, barley, and legumes), and yielded some ornaments made of shell, copper,carnelian, andterracotta.[4]
In some sites, particularly ineastern Punjab andGujarat, BRW pottery is associated withLate Harappan pottery, and according to some scholars like Tribhuan N. Roy, the BRW may have directly influenced thePainted Grey Ware andNorthern Black Polished Ware cultures.[5] BRW pottery is unknown west of the Indus Valley.[6]
Use of iron, although sparse at first, is relatively early, postdating the beginning of the Iron Age inAnatolia (Hittites) by only two or three centuries, and predating theEuropean (Celts) Iron Age by another two to three hundred years. Recent findings in Northern India show Iron working in the 1800–1000 BCE period.[7] According to Shaffer, "the nature and context of the iron objects involved are very different from early iron objects found in Southwest Asia."[8] From Sri Lanka, a variant of Black and red Ware has been discovered from its early iron age (900–600 BCE) which is also marked by appearance of horses, paddy fields, iron tools etc.[9]
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