Cremation Urns with Animal Lids - courtesy
Government Museum, Chennai

Perhaps even more remarkable are the burial urns containing the cremation remains. The urns were decorated with cording and ridges, but in addition the lids were surmounted by figures of humans and animals.

South Indian pottery was influenced during the Roman period as illustrated by their oil lamps that previously had an odd number of wicks, but developed into even numbers following the Roman design.

Roman Oil Lamps - courtesy Government
Museum, Chennai

Again there has been little subsequent advance in pottery technology in India from this date and the pottery culture handed down from generation to generation in India has become relatively static. Subsequent Indian craftsmanship has been focussed more on metalwork and stone carving.

The two regions rightly claiming the title “the cradles of civilisation” are China and The Middle East (South East Asia / Eastern Mediterranean). They are also the regions that were responsible for developing much of the technology of pottery up to the 17th Century AD, when it was taken over by Europe. As civilisations became more sophisticated, their demand for ceramic goods kept apace, and ceramic experts were constantly challenged to achieve the previously impossible. An account of the progress of these two regions is given in Chapters 8 and 9. To understand these better it is necessary to briefly cover the basic ceramic technology in the next chapter.