Does form entail function? Understanding pottery functionalities through absorbed residues within ceramics from the Harappan sites of Karanpura and Ropar in India

Abstract

The Harappan Culture emerged in the Indus-Saraswati Region, with sites spreading over present-day northwest India, Gujarat, Pakistan, and Afghanistan between 2600 and 1900 BCE. Harappan sites have yielded extensive structural and material culture discoveries and diverse pottery assemblages, making it clear that it was an important and complex urban society extending over a wide area for more than 700 years. Harappan pottery, well-studied by various scholars, offers valuable insights into the socio-cultural-economic developments of its manufacturers and users during the culture’s existence. The current research directly determines the function of 15 potsherds scientifically from excavated Harappan sites of Karanpura and Ropar in Rajasthan and Punjab, respectively, in India. Besides the usual forms like cooking pots, the study explores unique ones like perforated jars and incised pottery. The samples are typical Harappan pottery types found in most settlements, both in habitation and burial contexts. Interestingly, perforated jars in burials are always associated with a wide-mouthed pot. The inclusion of these two vessel types in association is characteristic of the Harappan burials at other sites like Harappa and Kalibangan. The previous studies on Harappan ceramic types have mainly focused on their typological and morphological attributes, sometimes substantiated through ethnographic analogies. Until recently, only a few pilot studies employed organic residue analysis techniques to examine the relationship between the pottery forms and their possible functions by evaluating the lipids absorbed within their porous matrices (rim, body, and base). From the methodological perspective, this research examines the type and amount of lipids preserved within the sampled sherds, the potential effect of porosity on residue preservation, and possible contaminants affecting the interpretation of these lipids. This study focuses on studying the function of vessels using the direct scientific determination of vessel contents through residue analysis, moving away from ceramic research grounded solely on conventional forms found in the excavated settlements.