Serving Vessels and Social Archaeology: Interpreting Pedestaled Ceramics of the Indus Civilization

Abstract

After first discovery of Indus Civilization in 1829 by Charles Mason British Officers an attentive notice initiated. The reports and results from Harappa excavation confirmed after Mohenjo-Daro excavation. Consequently, the existence of a huge civilization was agreed throughout the globe having its contemporariness with Mesopotamia and Egypt was attested. The absence of deciphered textual records, paintings on the walls of large palaces and tombs and other type of definite remains have resulted ambiguity in numerous basic concepts about the Indus Civilization. The slow and bit-by-bit discovered data interpretive comprehension provides the clarity of the cultural issues.  Till now, the social organization of 2600–1900 BCE phase remains partially understood. Thus, the present paper examines the ceramics and a distinctive category of pedestaled vessels such as Dish-on-Stand (DoS), Bowl-on-Stand (BoS), and Cup-on-Stand (CoS). are further explored for grasping the patterns of social behavior, food practices, and symbolic display within Indus society. Sketching on archaeological evidence from multi-tiered settlement pattern across the Indus domain. Pedestaled vessels are interpreted not merely as utilitarian containers but as serving devices associated with presentation of personal and communal feasting, and possibly ritualized practices. Within the framework of social archaeology, this study argues that pedestaled ceramic vessels functioned as material mediators of social relations, reflecting norms of community integration, and symbolic communication in the Indus world. The discussion surrounds the make utility and availability of food vessels, the types and kinds of serving utensils with focus on the make as simple verses complex procedures; frequent and infrequent use; ritual and regular use and their physical appearance expressing the status division in given society. The significance of present work is fabricated in new direction of perceiving the results about social stratification through feast furniture of the Indus Civilization.