2i 3 FOOTE : GEOLOGY OP THE BELLARY DISTRICT. 



The prehistoric pottery, whether neolithic or of the early iron 

 age, is mostly of high class for Indian pottery, 

 its characters! P ° ^ much of it far superior to what is now made 

 in those parts. It will not of course compare 

 with Etruscan or Greek or Egyptian pottery, but many specimens 

 were met with showing great elegance of form with superior quality 

 of the clay worked into them. 



The best and most typical pottery is red and black, rarely 

 brown or creamy in colour, and is covered with a shiny but non-fused 

 glaze. This glazed pottery is not made in the district as far as I 

 know at the present day. The discovery of fragments of such pottery 

 is often an indication of the existence of a prehistoric site, and has 

 often led me to search for and find such sites. 



Among foreign stones imported by the old people were garnets 

 and lapis-lazuli which were used for beads ; the former being cut 

 en cabochon, and both fairly well polished. 



A few beads of white coral were also met with. 



( 212 ) 



