Keywords
Archaeology
Neuroarchaeology
Ceramic
Cultural Transmission
Metaplasticity
South Asia
How to Cite
Abstract
Black and Red Ware (BRW) represents one of South Asia’s most enduring ceramic traditions, spanning from the third millennium BCE to the Early Historic period. Beyond its typological or chronological importance, BRW offers a rare opportunity to explore the cognitive and neuroarchaeological dimensions of technology how ancient minds interacted with materials, and how such interactions shaped patterns of thought. Drawing on Lambros Malafouris’ Material Engagement Theory (MET) and the core concept of the chaîne opératoire, this paper interprets BRW not merely as a cultural artefact but as a cognitive instrument, revealing how perception, motor control, and symbolic reasoning co-evolved through craft. The framework of MET places cognition in a feedback loop involving brain, body and matter, implying that the act of repeatedly shaping clay, controlling fire, and witnessing the colour shift was not only a technical success but also a neural and sensory experience that reorganised attention and instantiated knowledge. In examining the development of the technology of BRW, the regional difference and symbolic expression, the paper demonstrates that the mind and material are interlocked with each other so that potters could project the abstract concept of change and continuity into clay. By doing so, it argues for an integrated approach where cognitive archaeology and neuroarchaeology converge, revealing that the creation of pottery was also the creation of the mind.
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