Potsherds of Connection: Preliminary Observations on Importations and Technological Influence/Transfer from Southeast Asia to the Indian Eastern Coast

Kudupudi Pulla Rao1*, Coline Lefrancq2, and V. Selvakumar3

Peninsular India developed maritime contacts with regions of the Eastern and Western world in the later prehistoric period. The western contact with regions like the Mediterranean, Gulf region, and Africa is well known, but the early contacts with the eastern regions, such as the Malay Archipelago, Indonesia, and mainland Southeast Asia, remained oblivious to a great extent. In this situation, for about three decades, several sites situated on the Indian east coast (to which we add Bangladesh and Sri Lanka) have yielded substantial quantities of potteries demonstrating a technological transfer or influence from Southeast Asia, like the so-called paddle-impressed pottery. In this paper, we will try to map the earliest South Asian sites which yielded such potsherds (like Alagankulam, Arikamedu, Pulicat, Kondurupalem, Kottapatnam, Midderevu, Motupalli, Pentakota, Jaugada, Mahasthangarh, etc.), making a difference between the shaping and the decorative technique and the texture of the paste. There existed several traditions of paddle-impressed and cord-marked pottery in South Asia and a few of the traditions indicate contacts with Southeast Asia. In addition, we will also focus on the kaolin and glazed wares, indicating undeniable evidence of maritime contacts with the southeast and east Asian regions. Among the glazed wares, ceramics from China, Myanmar, and Vietnam have been identified. All this evidence suggests that there is a need to identify the trading zones in Southeast Asia from where these ceramics are reaching the Indian coast and the antiquity of this trade.