A Micro Study of Pottery Traditions from the Early Medieval Brahmaputra Valley (c. 7th ‐ 13th Centuries CE) Preetee Sharma1 1. Department of History, Cotton University, Panbazar, Guwahati – 781 001, Assam, India (Email: [email protected]) Received: 20 August 2018; Revised: 26 September 2018; Accepted: 14 October 2018 Heritage: Journal of Multidisciplinary Studies in Archaeology 6 (2018): 310‐332 Abstract: In this paper, I have attempted a systematic classification study of the pottery from six sites of the Brahmaputra Valley belonging to the early medieval period. The six sites are Ambari (Kamrup District of Assam), Bhaitbari (West Garo Hills of Meghalaya), Garhdol (Sonitpur District of Tezpur), Paglatek (Goalpara District of Assam), Rajpat (Koch Behar District of West Bengal) and Suryapahar (Goalpara District of Assam). It is an attempt to engage with the predominant historical narrative of the region and augment it with certain new findings in the field of archaeology specifically related to the pottery traditions. To develop a comprehensive understanding of the socio‐economic and political processes of the early medieval Brahmaputra Valley it is necessary to engage with all the available sources in a holistic manner. Keywords: Pottery Tradition, Early Medieval Period, Brahmaputra Valley, Celadon, Green Glazed Ware, Sites, Gangetic Valley Introduction The historical period of Assam begins with the discovery of the Umachal and Nagajari‐ Khanikargaon rock inscriptions in the 5th century CE. The sanskritic sources such as the inscriptions and texts refer to the region of Brahmaputra Valley as Pragjyotisha‐ Kamarupa state. Scholars inter changeably use various terms to refer to the period from 5th to 13th centuries CE such as Ancient Assam (till about 7th century CE), Early Assam, Early Medieval Assam (from 7th‐13th century CE) and Pre‐Ahom Assam. Historian Nayanjot Lahiri (1991) popularized the term ʹPre‐Ahomʹ for the early medieval period which refers to the advent of the Ahoms in the Brahmaputra Valley. The Ahoms are believed to have entered the valley in 1228 CE which can be called a major break in the socio‐political processes of the region. The term ‘Pre‐Ahom’ Assam I have used here not as an affirmation but to highlight the problems embedded in this terminology. The historical period at Assam begins at a very later period, so in this scenario the usage of the term ancient and early medieval is not very convenient. The term ‘Pre‐Ahom’ ends up giving significance and centrality to the medieval state formation of Ahoms while in reality there were many other parallel Sharma 2018: 310‐332 political entities of the Ahoms such as the Dimasa kingdom, Bodo‐Kachari kingdom and so on. Thus, it is problematic to use such terminology to describe the period from 5th to 13th centuries CE. Many scholars prefer using the term Early Assam to describe this period due to the above cited issues. Among the historical researches done in this period one can see that beyond creating a political historical narrative of the region, not much has been attempted. The source mainly used by the historians to write the political history of the Brahmaputra Valley is epigraphs. An attempt to have an alternate reading of this source has been attempted only by a handful. Another aspect that comes across is the failure of this historical narrative to include the archaeological data. There are a number of archaeological sites excavated in the region of Brahmaputra valley (Figure 1) in the period of my study which I will be discussing in my paper. The rich material culture of sites such as Ambari, excavated for more than 10 seasons beginning in 1960 till 2010, need to be incorporated in the historical narrative of the region and period under study. I will attempt to initiate a dialogue between the two disciplines of history and archaeology by using pottery and certain epigraphic information to throw light on the political, social and economic processes of early Assam. Figure 1: Location of the ʹPre‐Ahomʹ Sites Introduction to the Archaeological Sites The site of Ambari (26˚11.089’N 91˚45.207’E) is situated in the city of Guwahati in Assam, close to the Brahmaputra River (Figure 1). It has been excavated from 1969 to 2010 which were conducted by State Directorate of Archaeology (Assam) and the last 311 ISSN 2347 – 5463 Heritage: Journal of Multidisciplinary Studies in Archaeology 6: 2018 season was a joint venture of Archaeological Survey of India (hereafter ASI), Guwahati circle and State Directorate of Archaeology, Assam (hereafter ASI). The stratigraphic study at Ambari has shown chronologically two periods in the excavations. Period I can be approximately dated from circa 7th‐12th century and Period II from 13th to 17th century CE. This dating is done on the basis of evidence of pottery, stylistic pattern of sculptures, other antiquities collected and C‐14 dating at Ambari. The C‐14 test of a charcoal sample collected from a depth of 1.2 m or layer 3 has given a date of 1030 + 150 CE (Indian Archaeology: A Review, 1970‐71: 4). The natural soil could not be reached in any of the excavations due to rising water level. Bhaitbari is situated in the West Garo Hills District of Meghalaya (Figure 1). The site has been excavated for a season in 1992 by the Prehistory Branch of ASI, Nagpur. The excavators on the basis of excavations have dated the site to ‘beyond second century BC’. The basis of these dates seems to be handmade pottery which A K Sharma, Director of the aforesaid excavations found similar to Sekta in Manipur and the sites in Indo‐Gangetic plains. On the basis of my reading of the pottery, the site seems to belong to early medieval period of 10th‐12thcentury CE. A similar date has been given by G N Bhuyan on the basis of his reading of the stylistic pattern of the terracotta tiles of Bhaitbari (Bhuyan 1972: 11‐12). Garhdol is situated at Tezpur in the Sonitpur district of Assam (Figure 1). This site has been excavated for two seasons in 2006 and 2007 by State Directorate of Archaeology, Assam. It has been dated to the period from 4th century CE to 11th century CE on the basis of the pottery. Paglatek (26˚.30’N 90˚ 30’E) is situated on the Goalpara‐Pancharatna road in Goalpara district. It is situated on the south bank of Brahmaputra on a hillock overlooking the river (Figure 1). It is situated within 5 km radius from the site of Suryapahar. Similar to Suryapahar, Paglatek has yielded two rock cut caves facing the river on the hill. It has been excavated for two seasons in the years 1997‐98 and 2004‐05. On the basis of archaeological evidence the site is said to have flourished earlier then 8th‐9th century CE and continued till 11th century CE and afterwards (BREPAS 2004‐05: 3). The pottery at Paglatek are dated to three periods 8th‐9th century CE (layer 3), 9th‐10th century CE (layer 2) and 10th‐11th century CE (layer 1) respectively by State Directorate of Archaeology(Assam). The site of Rajpat (26˚.09’N 89˚21’ 12”E) is located in the village of Khalisa Gosanimari in Koch Bihar district of West Bengal (Figure 1). The excavators have identified the Rajpat mound with the capital of ancient Kamata kingdom, Kamatapur. Rajpat is located in a deltaic zone and excavations show that settlement started on a dried river bed (Ota 2006: 176). The site was first reported by F. Buchanan Hamilton in 1809. The site was excavated by ASI under the supervision of S B Ota for 2 seasons 1998‐99 and 1999‐2000. The excavations have identified three periods at Rajpat on the basis of ʹlimited structural remains and associated findings corroborating certain literary data’. They 312 Sharma 2018: 310‐332 are: Period I (10th‐ 12th century CE); Period II (14th‐ 15th century CE); and Period III (16th‐ 19th century CE) (Ota 2006: 181‐82). The site of Suryapahar is situated in the Goalpara district of Assam near the Brahmaputra River (Figure 1). The site has been excavated for 6 seasons between 1992 and 2001. The excavators have identified two distinct phases on the basis of the structural evidence, terracotta stylistic aspects, pottery and iconography. Phase I have been dated roughly from 5th‐8th centuries CE, and the Phase II from 8th‐11th centuries CE (IAR 1995‐96: 4). Review of Literature I have divided this section into three parts: a) archaeological and ethnographic studies of pottery related specifically to the region; the b) theoretical approaches to pottery analyses and c) historical works related to early Assam. Most pottery studies in the region of Brahmaputra Valley concentrate on Ambari. Ambari is also one of the most extensively excavated sites in the region. While compared to Ambari the other sites have hardly been given due importance in the studies available. Especially in the field of pottery studies, apart from Ambari, there are no such studies in the case of the other sites. The pottery studies mostly have followed a pattern of classification wherein only single attributes of the potteries have been discussed like color or fabric of the pottery. The pottery studies mostly have entailed classification on the basis of the color or fabric of the pottery. The study of Sharma, Ashraf and Mahanta (2006) has mentioned details like quantities and the morphological types within Ambari pottery. Goswami and Roy (1972) have classified the pottery on similar lines of color distinction. They have also classified the decorated wares. Sonowal (2006) has used the similar methodology and classified the pottery on the basis of the color of the pottery.