Ancient Indus Valley Mehrgarh Polychrome Wheel-Thrown Bowl

South Asia, Pakistan, Baluchistan, Indus Valley, Mehrgarh culture. A wheel-thrown earthenware bowl with a rounded body, a gently incurving rim, and a flat disc base. The interior is left plain, with concentric throwing rings spiraling toward the center. The upper exterior carries a painted band of alternating trapezoidal panels. Panels filled with brick-red pigment hang from the rim and alternate with panels of yellow set below them, the two rows interlocking. Each panel is framed by a broad black outline around the bowl. Mehrgarh sits at the foot of the Bolan Pass in Baluchistan. A French archaeological mission led by Jean-Francois Jarrige began excavating there in 1974. The site was occupied from about 7000 BCE and is one of the earliest farming settlements in South Asia. Its deep sequence records the move from early farming villages to communities making pottery for trade. Its later levels, with wheel-made painted wares, are the ones that lead directly into the urban Harappan civilization of the Indus Valley. Item # 205713

Estimate:$500

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