Source: Hueiyen News Service
Imphal, May 02 2009:
A BOOK titled "Pottery Through The Ages In Manipur" written by noted archeologist and anthropologist Dr O Kumar Singh has been released.
The 143 paged book on the potteries of Manipur since time immemorial along with illustrations and photographs discusses potteries of various ages of the society of Manipuri people.
In the introduction, the author depicts for the first time a clear picture of the peopling of Manipur during pre� and proto� historic periods by the Mongloid and Australoid populations based on the comparable archaeological evidences found in East and South-East Asian countries.
And also he tries to postulate a cultural history of Manipur from Stone Age onwards.
A comprehensive account of the pottery based on the archaeological and ethnographic evidences gathered from different parts of Manipur has been placed under the next three chapters of Pre� and proto �historic, historic and contemporary ethnographic pottery.
Such a detailed study on pottery is the first of its kind in Manipur.
The relationship of the contemporary potters and pottery, and their learning network are explained in the last chapter.
The author also tries to explain that human wants for comfort in the adjustment to the environment leads to the invention and diffusion causing change and continuity of the pottery techniques and types from Stone Age to the present day.
The author traces affinity of the term 'fu' for pottery to South China and also other pottery elements with parts of China and South Asia.
This book is well illustrated with 37 figures inserted at the relevant places of the chapters.
All the illustrations are also described in the appendix.
The book opens a new vista of study and will be useful to all the scholars and researchers.
It may be noted that the author was basically trained in Anthropology and later he acquired training in the discipline of archeology as well.
He has wide experiences in both the fields of Anthropology and Archaeology of Manipur.
He had explored and excavated many archaeological sites in Manipur.
The archaeology of Manipur is now made known to the rest of the world through his works in this field.