[INDOLOGY] Pot making in ancient India

[Francois Voegeli]

Many thanks to Hermann Tull, Edeltraud HarzerClear and Jan Houben for their help with my query.
In its wake, the question of experimental archaeology and its use for the study of ancient India has been raised by some.
Kenoyer is doing a lot of it, but essentially in the field of harappan archaeology (last I know, more particularly in the case of bead making).
Another field which could be extremely useful in this matter is not experimental archaeology, but ethnoarchaeology.
During a recent ethnoarchaeological field trip in Nepal, I could document some extremely archaic way of pot making which could hold very valuable information to understand how the ukhā and mahāvavīra pots were actually made during the Agniṣṭoma and Agnicayana, and what this particular technique entails (its origin, the composition of the material, the durability of the pots, explain some strange saṃhitās/sūtras prescriptions, etc.).
I plan to put this information on the web as soon as possible, and the complementary research I make now for this purpose prompted my query.

Thanks again,



Dr François Voegeli

Senior FNS Researcher
Institut d'Archéologie et des Sciences de l'Antiquité
Anthropole, bureau 4018
Faculté des Lettres
Université de Lausanne
CH-1015 Lausanne