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KSATRAPA PERIOD
with visible petals, held near the nose, as if smelling it. The motif on it which may be a wine-glass held to drink, looks like an imitation of some Roman figure.-(Ibid, p. 32) -(Plate XVIII b)
The excavations at Akota, the site of old Ankottaka, near Baroda, conducted by Dr. B. Subbarao in 1951-52, laid bare two clay-seals struck from the same die, probably made of stone, with prancing horses either fighting or in a romantic posture with a star of a typical Graeco-Roman style. The great vigour and the realistic representations speak highly of the art. One of these seals actually bears the string-marks at the back, showing that the seal was affixed on a lump of clay put on the string.--(Baroda Through the Ages, 1953, pp. 87, 109)--( Plate XVIII c).
A lead seal from Navsari ( in the Baroda Museum ) is in a mixed style ( the Iranian horse, but with an Iranian dragon tail), engraved by a Hellenistic Artist.-(H. Goetz, Handbook of Baroda Museum Collections, 1952, p. 16)-(Plate XVIII d).
Terracottas : The terracottas which reveal the complex cultural and ethnic set-up of the age are the different types of clay figures which were made for definite vratas, pūjās and socio-religious festivities, and were, according to custom, immersed in ponds and rivers immediately afterwards. Terracotta figurines have been found from Junagadh, Amreli, Vala, Rangpur, Prabhasa, Vadnagar, Karvan, Baroda and Kamrej. Terracottas of Ganesa, the Buddha and figures of animals like the ram, the elephant, the dog and the camel were found from Gohilvad Timbo, Amreli, the latter of which appears to have been inhabited about the early centuries of the Christian era.
Excavations in 1935-36 at Gohilvad Timbo, outside the town of Amreli, situated between two rivulets, the Thebi and Vadi, yielded two fragmentary terracotta figurines of Buddha and a Bodhisattva, which have been assigned to the beginning of the Christian era. -(ARADBS. 1935-36, p. 21: Pl. VII, fig. 3-4)-( Plate XIX)
Conch-shells : Conch-shell ornaments have been found in abundance from Gohilvad Timbo, which is outside the town of Amreli; and it appears, a factory of cutting, polishing and decorating conch-shells was in evidence in this area, the supply of the best conches being from the sea near Bet Sankhoddhāra. Pieces of shell-bangles of various type and design are found from all the ancient sites, to which may be added the names of Koțyarka-Mahudi, Vadnagar, Karvan, Nagar, and otlier places-(ARDABS. for 1935-36, 1936-37, 1938 and 1939).
In the Kştrapa levels at Vadnagar were found large number of sankhu-conches in various stages of manufacture. The varieties of decorations and designs found here have not yet been recovered from any site in India so far.
Red Polished Ware : The Red Polished Ware, the crude red, red and black ware and painted red ware with designs in black are found from layers of the Kșatrapa period at Baroda, Timberva, Vadnagar, Vala and other places which suggests the import and successful imitation of the technique of making a fine pottery resemblying the Roman Samian ware, Red polished ware sites in Saurāșțra were discovered at Kālāvad (Dist.
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