07 · ARCHAEOLOGY · PAINTED GREY WARE

Grey bowl from Hastinapura

Pottery cannot be equated with a people without further evidence

These grey vessels with geometric drawings are not sufficient to identify their users with a people from the texts.

Museum documentation · free public access, no account required.

Specific historical recreation of A pottery sherd cannot be called a village without further evidence, Hastinapura and upper Ganges-Yamuna, c. 1100–800 BCE in the classical sequence of Hastinapura — **DECLARED VISUAL RECONSTRUCTION · AI-GENERATED IMAGE · TRACEKEEPERS**
Generated reconstruction · Declared visual hypothesis
Declared visual reconstruction; not a photograph of the original nor documentary evidence.

History and context

At Hastinapura and other settlements in the upper Ganges appeared fine grey vessels painted with geometric designs. They are associated with villages of wattle-and-daub houses, agriculture, domestic animals and objects of iron, copper and bone.

The regional and chronological coincidence has led to relating them to late Vedic societies. This relationship is useful as a hypothesis; a tableware does not prove language, lineage or that an epic episode occurred in the excavated stratum.

The ASI synthesis dates the PGW deposit at Hastinapura approximately between 1100 and 800 BCE and describes this horizon chiefly by wattle-and-daub villages, rice, domestic animals and varied implements.

Pottery is a material classification, not the name of a people. Automatically associating it with Kuru, 'Aryans' or episodes of the Mahābhārata erases the leap between stratigraphy, literary tradition and modern reception.

Evidence and interpretation

Documented fact: the sequence at Hastinapura includes Painted Grey Ware dated approximately between 1100 and 800 BCE. Interpretation and caution: equating PGW with Aryans, Kuru or Mahābhārata characters automatically is methodologically unsafe.

Catalogue facts

Narrative date: c. 1100–800 BCE in the classical sequence of Hastinapura
Location: Hastinapura and upper Ganges-Yamuna
Material: Fine grey pottery with black paint · clay · iron, copper and bone
Context: Iron Age village horizon
Curatorial reading: The documented fact and its interpretation appear separately in the evidence block.
Date: c. 1100–800 BCE in the classical sequence of Hastinapura
Location: Hastinapura and upper Ganges-Yamuna
Support: Fine grey pottery with black paint · clay · iron, copper and bone
Documentary coverage: 4 museum, heritage, primary corpus or research sources for this stop.

A SHARED TOPIC, DIFFERENT MOMENTS

Objects connected through time

Follow a topic across the collections. A shared tag is a way to compare objects, not proof that one culture influenced another.

The order uses the midpoint of each approximate date range; ranges can overlap. Spacing does not represent elapsed time. Swipe, scroll or use the arrows. With the sequence focused, use ← / →, Home or End.

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c. 1100–800 BCE in the classical sequence of Hastinapura

Grey bowl from Hastinapura

Vedic and later Indian worlds

Range of the Hastinapura pottery sequence, not the date of each vessel.

Current record

Ceramics39 dated objects

18 / 39In the centre: Grey bowl from Hastinapura

Also connected, without a comparable date (17)

These objects are not placed after the others: an unknown date does not mean a more recent object.

A Kerma vessel deposited at AbydosAncient Egypt · Second Intermediate Period
A tradition that inventsBatwa / Twa histories · collected in 1993 or 1995
A vase travels; the rite changesIberians · No individual dating published on this record
AkrotiriGreek worlds · c. 1700–1500 BCE
Dia’s strataMande Worlds · 9th century BCE–2nd millennium CE
Early potteryMande Worlds · before ca. 9400 cal BCE
Jenne-jeno contextsMande Worlds · ca. 250 BCE–1400 CE
Liédena FlaskEtruscans and Rome · Roman period · individual chronology not published in the entry
LothalIndus civilisation · ca. 2400–1600 BCE
Made in GaramaGaramantes · I millennium BCE–I millennium CE
Nile towards NubiaAncient Egypt · ca. 3300–2800 BCE
The unfinished gestureBatwa / Twa histories · 1947
Three hundred lives in the sandYayoi Japan · Mainly 4th century BCE–3rd century CE
Travelling objectsGaramantes · Mainly Roman period
Trumpet from NumantiaIberians · No individual dating published on this record
Urns from AdichanallurVedic and later Indian worlds · Iron Age · samples towards 665 and 467 BCE
Vessels without a languageBantu-speaking worlds · Urewe, broad regional range ca. 800 BCE–650 CE

You can scroll the first group without JavaScript. The other topics are also available below.

Vessels

Without a comparable date (not part of the chronological order):

A Kerma vessel deposited at Abydos · Second Intermediate Period · Ancient Egypt
A tradition that invents · collected in 1993 or 1995 · Batwa / Twa histories
A vase travels; the rite changes · No individual dating published on this record · Iberians
Early pottery · before ca. 9400 cal BCE · Mande Worlds
Liédena Flask · Roman period · individual chronology not published in the entry · Etruscans and Rome
Made in Garama · I millennium BCE–I millennium CE · Garamantes
Oil in a calabash · ca. 1947 · Batwa / Twa histories
The unfinished gesture · 1947 · Batwa / Twa histories
Travelling objects · Mainly Roman period · Garamantes
Urns from Adichanallur · Iron Age · samples towards 665 and 467 BCE · Vedic and later Indian worlds
Vessels without a language · Urewe, broad regional range ca. 800 BCE–650 CE · Bantu-speaking worlds

Painting

Before the San · ≈25.500–23.500 BCE · San histories
Before the name San · ≈25.500–23.500 BCE · San histories
Altamira · Assemblage ≈36,000–13,000 BP · bison ≈18,400–15,300 cal BP · Prehistory
Lascaux · ≈23,500–21,000 cal BP · debated contextual estimate · Prehistory
Before Sumer · mid-6th–5th millennium BCE · Sumer
Cueva de las Manos · Sequence ≈9300–1300 BP · Prehistory
Vasiliki · ca. 2500–2200 BCE · Greek worlds
Before the Greeks · c. 2400–2200 BCE · Greek worlds
Before Vedic India · c. 1900–1300 BCE · Vedic and later Indian worlds
Grey bowl from Hastinapura · c. 1100–800 BCE in the classical sequence of Hastinapura · Vedic and later Indian worlds — You are viewing
Orpheus among the Thracians · circa 440 BCE; attributed to the London Painter E 497. · Thracians
The Attic krater that took on a new life in Cástulo · 4th century BCE · Greek worlds
The Karwa textile · 4th–3rd centuries BCE · Pre-Inca cultures
Leipzig Fish Plate · Last third 4th–early 3rd century BCE · Greek worlds
Dove of the Amarejo · 3rd century BCE · Iberians
Vas dels Guerrers · 3rd–early 2nd century BCE · Iberians
Warriors' Vase · 3rd–2nd centuries BCE · Iberians
Kalathos of Alcorisa · 2nd–1st centuries BCE · Iberians
The walls of San Bartolo · c. 100 BCE · Maya worlds
Ceramics that continued · Last third of the 2nd century BCE–1st century CE · Iberians

Without a comparable date (not part of the chronological order):

A vase travels; the rite changes · No individual dating published on this record · Iberians
Bhimbetka · Mesolithic–historical and medieval period · Prehistory
Blue that does not yield · Documented use from the Classic, c. 300–1500 CE · Maya worlds
Eland Cave · Regional tradition of ≈4,000 years · up to historical period · Prehistory
Game Pass Shelter · Regional rock art chronology · panel not dated in isolation · San histories
Kakadu · Regional corpus ≈20,000 BP–contemporary era · Prehistory
Leang Karampuang · Minimum 51,200 years · dating published in 2024 · Prehistory
Quinkan Country · Regional art up to ≈27,000 BP · modern continuity · Prehistory
Sierra de San Francisco · Broad tradition with direct dates ≈5290–295 BP · Prehistory
Tassili n’Ajjer · Corpus ≈6000 BCE–first centuries CE · Prehistory

A closer look

About 1 min to read · 1 section. Further reading and sources · free access. Editorial review recorded: September 5, 2026.

Two bangles expand the settlement's repertoire

The UNESCO synthesis highlights two examples of glass bangles from the painted grey pottery levels of Hastināpura. They are few objects, but introduce a technology not visible when describing the horizon solely by iron and tableware. The find allows questions about adornment, material acquisition and glass-production knowledge. Their presence in the settlement does not demonstrate that the workshop that made them was located there, nor does it allow generalising their use to all inhabitants: the context fixes their association, not their entire biography.

Research · UNESCO · The Painted Grey Ware Culture of the Iron Age, History of Civilizations of Central Asia, volume IAccess recorded: September 5, 2026.

Sources and references

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History and context

Evidence and interpretation

Catalogue facts

Grey bowl from Hastinapura

Dolní Věstonice I

Before Sumer

Twin-chambered vessel from Cova de l’Or

Before Egypt

Before Nubia

Before Gojoseon

Bevel-rimmed bowl

Before Yayoi

Vasiliki

Before the Greeks

Cemetery R-37

Before Ancient China

Longshan

Kerma vessel

Burial at K IV

Before Vedic India

Osmankayası and Ilıca

Grey bowl from Hastinapura

Before Etruscans and Rome

The urn under the helmet

Ceramic stand 1010

Ishtar Gate

Glazed brick guards

Orpheus among the Thracians

The Attic krater that took on a new life in Cástulo

Thoth in the form of a baboon

Leipzig Fish Plate

Dove of the Amarejo

Vas dels Guerrers

Warriors' Vase

Northern mound

Kalathos of Alcorisa

Urewe vessel

Two rows of coffins

Ceramics that continued

Egyptian oil lamp with a fish, held in Laon

Laon lamp with fish

Kabusanza, ca. 400

Missing grave goods

A closer look

Two bangles expand the settlement's repertoire

Sources and references

Did you enjoy this exhibit?