Chronology of Gujarat

SR No.: 006799
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: M R Majumdar
Publisher: Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda
Publication Year: 1960
Total Pages: 494
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 10 MB

Page 43

PRELUDE TO HISTORY
I-b. “Transitional' and 'Late' wares of Rangpur (2-b and 2-c) occur with an
entirely new ceramic fabric and forms in curved bowls with panelled decorations. The painting is done in black, or purple, over red and tan backgrounds or red greyish background. Some of the decorations occur at Maheśvar (Dist. Nimād, Madhya Bharat) and Ahar (Dist. Udaipur,
Rajasthan ). II. Lustrous red wares. This phase has been divided into two sub-periods on
the basis of the changes in ceramic decorations and changes in fabrics in the upper levels. Here it seems to be an intrusion as there is a tendency for the
earlier motiffs on the new ware. III. This is very important on account of the occurrence of the Northern Black
Polished ware which enables us to identify the Pre-Mauryan and Mauryan horizons. From other antiquities also, we can definitely date this phase to
a period from 500 to 100 B.C. IV. A coarse gritty and thick Black-and-Red ware: this phase can be linked
up with the rest of Gujarat from excavations at Vadnagar and Timbervā,
and can be dated to about 100 B.C. to 100 A.D. V. The well-established era of contact with the Mediterranean region by the
occurrence of the Red-Polished Ware, which can be dated to between 100 to 600 A.D: The occurrence of large number of Gupta and Valabhi coins
vouches for this date.
Thus the sequence at Somanāth begins to supply important data, which would ultimately help us in tackling the problems of Saurāṣtra. These results are based on the joint work carried out by Dr. Subbarao and Shri P. P. Pandya in 1955, and continued by Pandya in 1956-57.
In conclusion, it is very interesting to note that in Gujarat, as in the other Littoral provinces, separated from the mainland, by difficult communications, the maritime influences have kept the window open and enabled a local or provincial development. Even the earlier Harappan element seems to have penetrated by sea from Kaccha and Sind. Finally the story of the sequence of cultures based on the excavations at Lothal, Rangpur, Somanāth, Amrā and Lākhābāwal gives us a very fine sequence of cultures from about 1500 B.C. or earlier to about 700 A.D. The exact relation between the Harappan culture of Kathiawad to its parent culture in the Indus basin cannot be defined exactly at the present stage of our knowledge.
But a provisional chronology can be reconstructed on the basis of relative stratigraphy. The appearance of iron and the associated dominance of black-and-red ware over such an extensive region covering Central India and the Deccan peninsula, and now its extension into coastal Gujarat, as well as Kathiawad, is of great significance. Even if we assume the beginning of iron about 500 B.C., a reasonable time-scale would be to allot