style of pottery, namely red ware decorated with stamped and incised designs. However, the same cities continued to be inhabited, and the period from c. 200 BCE to c. 300 CE was still "marked by urban prosperity all over the subcontinent," corresponding to the Shunga and Satavahana Dynasties, and the Kushan Empire. NBPW have also been reported from various sites in Southern Thailand which were engaged in maritime trade activity with India in 1st millennium BCE. However, archaeologist Phaedra Bouvet regards these shards as KSK-Black Polished Wares, not linked technically to NBPW, except from their shape and style, produced between fourth and second centuries BCE, but indeed in contact with real NBPW producing populations. Proto-Northern Black Polished Ware Proto-NBPW was first reported by Giovanni Verardi in his excavations at Gotihawa in the Terai, recognised as the transitional phase from Black Slipped Ware to Northern Black Polished Ware, which can be identified through its lustrous black surface with red spots, this spots are due to evident problems in the high temperature firing process, and this ware is dated between 12th and 8th centuries BCE, featuring a black section, a thin slip, very thick walls, and the typical thali shape. Rakesh Tewari comments that Verardi has noticed the presence of proto-NBPW at Gotihawa in 900-800 BCE and observed “that Proto-NBPW may exist at all the NBPW sites of the region dated to or earlier than the 9th-8th century BCE”, and Tewari suggests this pottery can be at least two centuries older than c. 800 BCE. Sites Some notable NBPW sites, associated with the mahajanapadas, are as follows: Charsada (ancient Pushkalavati) and Taxila, in Pakistan Delhi or ancient Indraprastha Hastinapura, Mathura, Kampil/Kampilya, Ahichatra, Ayodhya, Sravasti, Jajmau, Kausambi, Varanasi, all in Uttar Pradesh Vaishali, Rajgir, Pataliputra, and Champa in Bihar Ujjain and Vidisha in Madhya Pradesh. Other sites where Northern Black Polished Ware have been found are Mahasthangarh, Chandraketugarh, Wari-Bateshwar, Bangarh and Mangalkot (all in Bangladesh and West Bengal, India). Sites in Sri Lanka such as Anuradhapura have also yielded Northern Black polished ware during the period 500 BC-250 BC indicating interaction with the gangetic valley. Sites in Southern Thailand include Tam Sǔa in La Un district, Kapoe in Kapoe district and Phu Khao Tong in Suk Samran district in Ranong province and at Khao Sam Kaeo in Muang district and Tam Tuay in Thung Tako district in Chumphon province, although they cannot be