Page 142 - Index Pottery of Dvaravati Period - Professor Emerita Dr.Phasook Indrawooth

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to disappear immediately by the end of Dvaravati period. Whereas the small shollow

bowl with or without vertical handle at centre still gained its popularity among
Thai people in Sukhothai and Ayudhya period. At present, it is still in use in northern

part of Thailand for religious purpose.

Besides the imitation of Indian types, other types of pottery discovered from
Dvaravati sites show close similarity to pre-Dvaravati pottery The antiquity of two types

of Dvaravati pottery can be traced back to prehistoric times, they are dish-on-stand
carinated pot. Dish-on-stand, (pls.รูปที่ 9, fig.ลายเส้นที่ 6) despite its distribution in most

Dvaravati sites, this type of pottery appears in a small number and they are oftenly

found near religious buildings. It is noticed that the tradition of attaching stand bases
to dishes or bowls is very ancient in Asia and Europe, in Egypt, Elam and Crete. In

Palestine, this type appeared in the fourth millennium B.C. In India, the stand base first
appeared as a support for deep bowls belonging to the Neolithic phase, and later it

continued to the post Harappan culture as spotted from Baluchistan, Sind, and Gujarat

to Bengal (from north-western to northeastern parts of India). This typical dish-on-stand
almost disappeared. by 100 B.C. however, a low stand still existed in early Christian

era.

In Thailand this dish-on-stand is also a signficant pottery type associated with
the life of Thai people in the prehistoric period. Regarding the use of this type, scholars

are still on debate. They were probably offering stands as many specimens are found
from burial sites in western Asia and Europe as well as in Thailand. In Dvaravati period

this type appears in a small number, and they were probably used for ritualistic

purpose for they are oftenly found near the religious buildings.
Another typical Dvaravati type of pottery is the carinated pot, considered to be

the most prominent type (pls.รูปที่ 10, รูปที่ 11, figs.ลายเส้นที่ 9, ลายเส้นที่ 10) found in a
large number from most Dvaravati sites in Thailand. Their upper bodies are usually

plain, having one, two or three ridges, separated by wide smooth channels, on their

shoulders (a few carinations are notched). Their lower bodies are rarely plain, mostly
decorated with mat or cord marks of criss-cross design. Carinated pots were widely

distributed in Asia since prehistoric times. In Thailand pottery in this shape came into

existence in Neolithic period and continued to be used as cooking vessels in Dvaravati
culture, but mostly disappeared after that.

ศาสตราจารย์เกียรติคุณ ดร.ผาสุข อินทราวุธ