Northern Black Polished Ware

The Northern Black Polished Ware culture (abbreviated NBPW or NBP) is an urban Iron Age Indian culture of the Indian Subcontinent, lasting c. 700–200 BCE, succeeding the Painted Grey Ware culture and Black and red ware culture. It developed beginning around 700 BC, in the late Vedic period, and peaked from c. 500–300 BC, coinciding with the emergence of 16 great states or mahajanapadas in Northern India, and the subsequent rise of the Mauryan Empire.

Quotes

• The evidence from the excavations at the foregoing five [Ramayana related] sites shows that the earliest time when all these were under occupation was that of the northern Black Polished Ware (NBPW).... The ... C-14 dates indicate that the lower levels of the NBPW do go back to a period well before 1000 BCE.
  • Lal, B. B. (2008). Rāma, his historicity, mandir, and setu: Evidence of literature, archaeology, and other sciences. New Delhi: Aryan Books International. p.28-30

• The lowest cultural deposits common to all these sites [related to the Ramayana] were characterized by the Northern Black Polished Ware (NBPW)... on the basis of the Carbon-14 dates... the duration of the NBPW period at Ayodhya ranges from somewhere in the 13th century BCE to about the 4th century BCE.
  • Lal, B. B. (2008). Rāma, his historicity, mandir, and setu: Evidence of literature, archaeology, and other sciences. New Delhi: Aryan Books International. p. 49

• The coins [of the NBPW period] were the earliest to be produced in the country..
  • Lal, B. B. (2008). Rāma, his historicity, mandir, and setu: Evidence of literature, archaeology, and other sciences. New Delhi: Aryan Books International. p.20-23