Product Code Database
The Bhir Mound () is an archaeological site in Taxila in the Punjab province of Pakistan. It contains some of the oldest ruins of Ancient Taxila, dated to sometime around the period 800–525 BC as its earliest layers bear "grooved" Red Burnished Ware,Petrie, Cameron, (2013). "Taxila", in D. K. Chakrabarti and M. Lal (eds.), History of Ancient India III: The Texts, and Political History and Administration till c. 200 BC, Vivekananda International Foundation, Aryan Books International, Delhi, p. 656. the Bhir Mound, along with several other nearby excavations, form part of the Ruins of Taxila – inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1980.
Marshall came to the Bhir Mound project from earlier work in Athens, expecting very much to find a Greek city in Taxila. Klaus Karttunen says that he became more objective later on, but scholars mention various problems with his results. In his report, Marshall proposed that the Bhir Mound city of Taxila was founded by Darius I as the capital of the Achaemenid province of Hindush. Scholar David Fleming says that the identification was based on 'classical sources and a frankly pro-western bias'. The excavations were conducted without much regard to stratigraphic recording, and the pottery finds were published in such a manner as to preclude a detailed analysis.
The results of Mortimer Wheeler's excavations were never published. Later excavations by Mohammad Sharif were done more carefully with regard to chronological considerations, and they form the basis for the modern assessments.
The streets of the city show that they were narrow and the house plans were very irregular. There is little evidence of planning – most of the streets are very haphazard. The houses had no windows to the outside. They opened towards inner courtyards. The courtyard was open and 15 to 20 rooms were arranged around it.
In 326 BC, Alexander the Great conquered the area. Raja Ambhi surrendered to Alexander and offered him a force of soldiers mounted on . In 316 BC, Chandragupta of Magadha, the founder of the Mauryan dynasty, conquered Punjab region. Taxila lost its independence and became a mere provincial capital. Still, the city remained extremely important as a centre of administration, education and trade. During the reign of Chandragupta's grandson Ashoka, Buddhism became important and the first monks settled in Taxila. Ashoka is said to have resided here as the vice-king of his father. In 184 BC, the Greeks, who had maintained a kingdom in Bactria, invaded Gandhara and Punjab again. From then on, a Greek king resided in Taxila, Demetrius.
Modern numismatists tend to consider that these Gandharan bent-bar punch-marked coins are the precursors of the Indian punch-marked coins.: "the local coins of the Achaemenid era (...) were the precursors of the bent and punch-marked bars": About the hoard in Kabul: "In the same hoard there were also discovered two series of local silver coins which appear to be the product of local Achaemenid administration. One series (...) was made in a new way, which relates it to the punch-marked silver coins of India. It appears that it was these local coins, using technology adapted from Greek coins, which provided the prototypes for punch-marked coins made in India."; "In the territories to the south of the Hindu Kush the punch-marked coins, descendants of the local coins of the Achaemenid administration in the same area, were issued by the Mauryan kings of India for local circulation."
Coins of Philip III and Alexander the Great were also found in Bhir Mound.: "The hoards from Babylonia, Susa, and the Bhir Mound (40-2) included coins of Alexander and of Philip III (Bhir Mound only), and their few sigloi are all of type jy"
Many Indian punch-marked coins were also found. Bhir Mound finds (1924–1945), at Taxila, Pakistan, includes Maurya coins issued in 248 BCE.
Also, there are the remains of other ancient cities that were founded after Bhir Mound, such as Sirkap and Sirsukh.
|
|
