The Ochre Coloured Pottery culture (OCP) is a
Bronze Age
The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second pri ...
culture of the
Indo-Gangetic Plain
The Indo-Gangetic Plain, also known as the North Indian River Plain, is a fertile plain encompassing northern regions of the Indian subcontinent, including most of northern and eastern India, around half of Pakistan, virtually all of Bangla ...
"generally dated 2000–1500 BCE,"
extending from
eastern Punjab to northeastern
Rajasthan
Rajasthan (; lit. 'Land of Kings') is a state in northern India. It covers or 10.4 per cent of India's total geographical area. It is the largest Indian state by area and the seventh largest by population. It is on India's northwestern si ...
and
western Uttar Pradesh
Western Uttar Pradesh is a region in India that comprises the western districts of Uttar Pradesh state, including the areas of Rohilkhand and those where Khariboli, Braj and Kannauji are spoken. The region has some demographic, economic and cul ...
.
Artefacts of this culture show similarities with both the Late Harappan culture and the Vedic culture. Archaeologist Akinori Uesugi considers it as an archaeological continuity of the previous Harappan
Bara style,
while according to Parpola, the find of carts in this culture may reflect an
Indo-Iranian migration into the India subcontinent, in contact with Late Harappans. The OCP marked the last stage of the North Indian Bronze Age and was succeeded by the
Iron Age
The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age (Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age (Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostly appl ...
black and red ware culture
Black and red ware (BRW) is a South Asian earthenware, associated with the neolithic phase, Harappa, Bronze Age India, Iron Age India, the megalithic and the early historical period. Although it is sometimes called an archaeological culture, the ...
and the
Painted Grey Ware culture
The Painted Grey Ware culture (PGW) is an Iron Age Indian culture of the western Gangetic plain and the Ghaggar-Hakra valley in the Indian subcontinent, conventionally dated 1200 to 600–500 BCE, or from 1300 to 500–300 BCE It is a successo ...
.
Geography and dating
![Indus Valley Civilization, Late Phase (1900-1300 BCE)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0b/Indus_Valley_Civilization%2C_Late_Phase_%281900-1300_BCE%29.svg)
The 'Ochre Coloured Pottery culture is "generally dated 2000-1500 BCE,"
Early specimens of the characteristic ceramics found near Jodhpura,
Rajasthan
Rajasthan (; lit. 'Land of Kings') is a state in northern India. It covers or 10.4 per cent of India's total geographical area. It is the largest Indian state by area and the seventh largest by population. It is on India's northwestern si ...
, date from the 3rd millennium (this Jodhpura is located in the district of
Jaipur
Jaipur (; Hindi Language, Hindi: ''Jayapura''), formerly Jeypore, is the List of state and union territory capitals in India, capital and largest city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of Rajasthan. , the city had a pop ...
and should not be confused with the city of
Jodhpur
Jodhpur (; ) is the second-largest city in the Indian state of Rajasthan and officially the second metropolitan city of the state. It was formerly the seat of the princely state of Jodhpur State. Jodhpur was historically the capital of the Ki ...
). Several sites of culture flourish along the banks of
Sahibi River
The Sahibi river, also called the Sabi River, is an ephemeral, rain-fed river flowing through Rajasthan, Haryana (where its canalised portion is called the "Outfall Drain No 8") and Delhi states in India. It drains into Yamuna in Delhi, where it ...
and its tributaries such as
Krishnavati river
The Krishnavati river ( hi, कृष्णावती नदी), also called Kasaunti ( hi, कसौंती नदी), is a rain-fed river originates from Aravalli Range near Dariba copper mines in Rajsamand district of Rajasthan, and fl ...
and Soti river, all originating from the
Aravalli range
The Aravalli Range (also spelled ''Aravali'') is a mountain range in Northern-Western India, running approximately in a south-west direction, starting near Delhi, passing through southern Haryana, Rajasthan, and ending in Ahmedabad Gujarat. ...
and flowing from south to north-east direction towards
Yamuna
The Yamuna (Hindustani language, Hindustani: ), also spelt Jumna, is the second-largest tributary river of the Ganges by discharge and the longest tributary in List of major rivers of India, India. Originating from the Yamunotri Glacier at a ...
before disappearing in
Mahendragarh district
Mahendragarh district is one of the 22 districts of Haryana state in northern India. The district occupies an area of 1,899 km² and has a population of 922,088 (2021census). District have 3 Sub-divisions : Narnaul, Mahendragarh and Kanina
...
of
Haryana
Haryana (; ) is an Indian state located in the northern part of the country. It was carved out of the former state of East Punjab on 1 Nov 1966 on a linguistic basis. It is ranked 21st in terms of area, with less than 1.4% () of India's land ar ...
.
[Cultural Contours of India: Dr. Satya Prakash Felicitation Volume]
Vijai Shankar Śrivastava, 1981. The OCP sites of Atranjikhera,
Lal Qila,
Jhinjhana and Nasirpur are dated to from 2600 to 1200 BC.
![MET DP702288](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6d/MET_DP702288.jpg)
The culture reached the
Gangetic plain
The Indo-Gangetic Plain, also known as the North Indian River Plain, is a fertile plain encompassing northern regions of the Indian subcontinent, including most of northern and eastern India, around half of Pakistan, virtually all of Bangla ...
in the early 2nd millennium. Recently, the Archaeological Survey of India discovered copper axes and some pieces of pottery in its excavation at the
Saharanpur district
Saharanpur district is the northernmost of the districts of Uttar Pradesh state, India. Bordering the states of Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand, and close to the foothills of Shivalik range, it lies in the northern part of the Doab r ...
of Uttar Pradesh.
Pottery
The pottery had a red slip but gave off an ochre color on the fingers of archaeologists who excavated it, hence the name. It was sometimes decorated with black painted bands and incised patterns. It is often found in association with
copper hoards, which are assemblages of copper weapons and other artifacts such as anthropomorphic figures.
Agriculture
OCP culture was rural and agricultural, characterized by cultivation of rice, barley, and legumes, and domestication of cattle, sheep, goats, pigs, horses, and dogs. Most sites were small villages in size, but densely distributed. Houses were typically made of
wattle-and-daub
Wattle and daub is a composite building method used for making walls and buildings, in which a woven lattice of wooden strips called wattle is daubed with a sticky material usually made of some combination of wet soil, clay, sand, animal dung a ...
. Other artifacts include animal and human figurines, and ornaments made of copper and
terracotta
Terracotta, terra cotta, or terra-cotta (; ; ), in its material sense as an earthenware substrate, is a clay-based ceramic glaze, unglazed or glazed ceramic where the pottery firing, fired body is porous.
In applied art, craft, construction, a ...
.
Copper hoards
![Painted_Grey_Ware_sites_map_1](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bc/Painted_Grey_Ware_sites_map_1.svg)
The term ''copper hoards'' refers to different assemblages of copper-based artefacts in the northern areas of the
Indian Subcontinent
The Indian subcontinent is a list of the physiographic regions of the world, physiographical region in United Nations geoscheme for Asia#Southern Asia, Southern Asia. It is situated on the Indian Plate, projecting southwards into the Indian O ...
that are believed to date from the 2nd millennium BC. Few derive from controlled excavations and several different regional groups are identifiable: southern
Haryana
Haryana (; ) is an Indian state located in the northern part of the country. It was carved out of the former state of East Punjab on 1 Nov 1966 on a linguistic basis. It is ranked 21st in terms of area, with less than 1.4% () of India's land ar ...
/northern Rajasthan, the Ganges-
Yamuna
The Yamuna (Hindustani language, Hindustani: ), also spelt Jumna, is the second-largest tributary river of the Ganges by discharge and the longest tributary in List of major rivers of India, India. Originating from the Yamunotri Glacier at a ...
plain,
Chota Nagpur, and
Madhya Pradesh
Madhya Pradesh (, ; meaning 'central province') is a state in central India. Its capital is Bhopal, and the largest city is Indore, with Jabalpur, Ujjain, Gwalior, Sagar, and Rewa being the other major cities. Madhya Pradesh is the seco ...
, each with their characteristic artefact types. Initially, the copper hoards were known mostly from the Ganges-Yamuna
doab
''Doab'' () is a term used in South Asia Quote: "Originally and chiefly in South Asia: (the name of) a strip or narrow tract of land between two rivers; spec. (with) the area between the rivers Ganges and Jumna in northern India." for the tract ...
and most characterizations dwell on this material.
Characteristic hoard artefacts from southern
Haryana
Haryana (; ) is an Indian state located in the northern part of the country. It was carved out of the former state of East Punjab on 1 Nov 1966 on a linguistic basis. It is ranked 21st in terms of area, with less than 1.4% () of India's land ar ...
/northern
Rajasthan
Rajasthan (; lit. 'Land of Kings') is a state in northern India. It covers or 10.4 per cent of India's total geographical area. It is the largest Indian state by area and the seventh largest by population. It is on India's northwestern si ...
include flat axes (celts), harpoons, double axes, and antenna-hilted swords. The doab has a related repertory. Artefacts from the Chota Nagpur area are very different; they seem to resemble ingots and are votive in character.
![Rewari Cu hoard object, 1075](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a5/Rewari_Cu_hoard_object%2C_1075.jpg)
The raw material may have been derived from a variety of sources in Rajasthan (Khetri),
Bihar
Bihar (; ) is a state in eastern India. It is the 2nd largest state by population in 2019, 12th largest by area of , and 14th largest by GDP in 2021. Bihar borders Uttar Pradesh to its west, Nepal to the north, the northern part of West Be ...
,
West Bengal
West Bengal (, Bengali: ''Poshchim Bongo'', , abbr. WB) is a state in the eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabitants within an area of . West Bengal is the fourt ...
,
Odisha
Odisha (English: , ), formerly Orissa ( the official name until 2011), is an Indian state located in Eastern India. It is the 8th largest state by area, and the 11th largest by population. The state has the third largest population of ...
(especially Singhbhum), and Madhya Pradesh (Malanjkhand).
Relation with Harappan Civilization and Indo-Iranians
![Indo-Iranian origins](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b8/Indo-Iranian_origins.png)
Artefacts of this culture show similarities with both the Late Harappan culture and the Vedic culture, and the OCP may have been infiltrated by an
Indo-Iranian migration into the India subcontinent coming into contact with Late Harappans.
Various opinions exist on the origins of the OCP. There are relations with the Late Harappan phase, and some consider it as a token of this culture. Others regard it to be an independent cultural style. Archaeologist Akinori Uesugi dates Ochre Coloured Pottery culture to c. 1900-1300 BCE, considering it as a Late Harappan expansion and archaeological continuity of the previous
Bara style (c. 2300 and 1900 BCE), which was a regional culture of the
Ghaggar
The Ghaggar-Hakra River is an intermittent river in India and Pakistan that flows only during the monsoon season. The river is known as Ghaggar in India, before the Ottu barrage, and as the Hakra in Pakistan, downstream of the barrage, ending ...
valley rooted in the Indus Civilization, calling it the ''Bara-OCP cultural complex''.
[Uesugi, Akinori, (2018)]
"An Overview on the Iron Age in South Asia"
in Abstracts for the International Symposium on the Iron Age in South Asia, 2 and 3 June 2018, at Kansai University, Osaka, p. 6: "...During the early second millennium BCE, the Bara-OCP (Ochre-Coloured pottery) cultural complex expanded from the Ghaggar valley to the western part of the Ganga valley. This cultural complex ..has its origin rooted in the Indus Civilization in the preceding period, its eastward expansion indicates the colonization of the western Ganga valley probably giving great impetus to the Neolithic-Chalcolithic communities in the Ganga valley to transform into a more complex society..."
![Sinauli chariot ASI](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/56/Sinauli_chariot_ASI.jpg)
Similarities have been noted by Parpola between the use of carts, as attested in burial practices at
Sinauli
Sinauli is an archaeological site in western Uttar Pradesh, India, at the Ganga-Yamuna Doab. The site gained attention for its Bronze Age solid-disk wheel carts, found in 2018, which were interpreted by some as horse-pulled "chariots".
The ex ...
, and Indo-Iranian culture. Reflecting on these finds, Parpola rejects the identification of these carts as horse-pulled chariots, instead considering them to be ox-pulled carts and part of an early wave of Indo-Iranian settlers, coming into contact with Late Harappan culture:
According to Kumar, while the eastern OCP did not use Indus script, the whole of OCP had nearly the same material culture and likely spoke the same language throughout its expanse. OCP culture was a contemporary neighbor to
Harappan civilization
Harappa (; Urdu/ pnb, ) is an archaeological site in Punjab, Pakistan, about west of Sahiwal. The Bronze Age Harappan civilisation, now more often called the Indus Valley Civilisation, is named after the site, which takes its name from a mode ...
, and between 2500 BC and 2000 BC, the people of Upper Ganga valley were using Indus script.
See also
*
Kallur archaeological site
References
Sources
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{{Indus Valley Civilization
Archaeological cultures in India
Archaeological cultures of Asia
Bronze Age Asia
Indus Valley civilisation
History of Pakistan
History of Rajasthan
Indo-Aryan archaeological cultures
Indo-European archaeology