Glossary · Term

Northern Black Polished Ware

c. 700–200 BCE · 8th century BCE

Northern Black Polished Ware is a fine, glossy black or grey pottery of the Iron Age in northern India, made from about 700 to 200 BCE. Found mainly in the Ganges plain, it marks the period of the second urbanisation, when cities such as Rajagriha, Pataliputra and Kaushambi grew and punch-marked coins came into use. Its high-quality finish suggests that it was a luxury ware.

Northern Black Polished Ware
Image: Avantiputra7 · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons

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Cite this entry
APA
The Epoch Institute. (2026). Northern Black Polished Ware. In The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/northern-black-polished-ware
MLA
“Northern Black Polished Ware.” The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/northern-black-polished-ware. Accessed .
Chicago
The Epoch Institute. “Northern Black Polished Ware.” The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/northern-black-polished-ware.
Harvard
The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Northern Black Polished Ware’, The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/northern-black-polished-ware (Accessed: ).

Last reviewed October 2026Random entry ↻