Which one of the following is not a pottery type?

Correct — B, CCE. The other three are standard archaeological abbreviations for Indian ceramic wares. OCP is Ochre Coloured Pottery, the ill-fired, orange-slipped ware of the upper Ganga-Yamuna doab associated with the copper hoards, roughly of the early second millennium BCE. NBP is Northern Black Polished Ware, the fine, lustrous, almost metallic deluxe ware of the second urbanisation, roughly seventh to second century BCE. BRW is Black-and-Red Ware, fired so that the interior and rim turn black while the outer body stays red, found from Chalcolithic contexts through to the megalithic burials of peninsular India. CCE stands for nothing in ceramic typology and is the odd one out.

• (a)OCP — Ochre Coloured Pottery — a real ware, thick, ill-fired and worn-looking, found in the upper Ganga-Yamuna doab and often recovered alongside the copper hoards.
• (c)NBP — Northern Black Polished Ware — a real and famous ware, the glossy tableware of the mahajanapada and Mauryan period, so distinctive that its presence is used to date a layer.
• (d)BRW — Black-and-Red Ware — a real ware produced by inverted firing, widespread in time and space and strongly associated with megalithic burials in south India.

Archaeologists name pottery types by fabric, surface treatment and colour, and use them as chronological markers because styles change faster than tools or house plans do. A named ware therefore stands for a period, a region and often a way of life, which is why identifying wares is a staple of ancient history questions.

Learn the four principal north Indian wares as a sequence and the question answers itself. Ochre Coloured Pottery comes first, in the upper doab in the early second millennium BCE, with the copper hoards. Painted Grey Ware follows, roughly 1100 to 500 BCE, in the Ghaggar-Yamuna region and associated with the later Vedic period. Northern Black Polished Ware follows that, roughly the seventh to second century BCE, spreading with the second urbanisation and the mahajanapadas. Black-and-Red Ware sits across the same span but ranges much more widely, into Chalcolithic central India and the megalithic south. Once those four names are fixed — OCP, PGW, NBP, BRW — any fifth abbreviation offered in an option is an invention. That is exactly the structure examiners use: three real wares and one fabricated acronym built from plausible letters.

• OCP — Ochre Coloured Pottery, upper Ganga-Yamuna doab, early second millennium BCE, associated with the copper hoards.
• PGW — Painted Grey Ware, roughly 1100 to 500 BCE, associated with the later Vedic period; not offered here but part of the same sequence.
• NBP — Northern Black Polished Ware, roughly seventh to second century BCE, the glossy deluxe ware of the second urbanisation.
• BRW — Black-and-Red Ware, produced by inverted firing, spanning Chalcolithic to early historic contexts and common in megalithic burials.
• CCE is not a ceramic type; no such ware exists in Indian archaeological terminology.

• Assuming every capitalised abbreviation in an options list stands for something real.
• Confusing Black-and-Red Ware with Black Polished Ware — different firing, different period, different region.
• Placing Painted Grey Ware after Northern Black Polished Ware; PGW is the earlier of the two.

Asked in the negative with bare abbreviations, so the item is a straight test of whether the standard ware names are memorised.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Painted Grey Ware is generally associated with which one of the following periods?

  • (a)Harappan civilisation
  • (b)Later Vedic period
  • (c)Mauryan period
  • (d)Gupta period

  Answer(b) Later Vedic period — PGW sites of the Ghaggar-Yamuna region date to roughly 1100-500 BCE.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Northern Black Polished Ware is chiefly associated with which one of the following?

  • (a)The first urbanisation of the Indus valley
  • (b)The second urbanisation of the Ganga valley
  • (c)The megalithic cultures of south India
  • (d)The Chalcolithic cultures of Maharashtra

  Answer(b) The second urbanisation of the Ganga valley — NBP is the deluxe ware of the mahajanapada and Mauryan centuries.