Bhir Mound
Indo-Greeks | |
Cultures | Gandhara |
---|---|
Site notes | |
Archaeologists | John Marshall Mortimer Wheeler Mohammad Sharif |
Official name | Taxila |
Criteria | iii, iv |
Designated | 1980 |
Reference no. | 139 |
The Bhir Mound (
Context
The Bhir Mound archaeological remains represent one stage of the historic city of
Excavation
The ruins of Bhir Mound were excavated from 1913-1925 by Sir John Marshall. The work was continued by Sir Mortimer Wheeler in 1944-1945 and by Dr. Mohammad Sharif in 1966-1967. Further excavations were performed in 1998-2000 by Bahadur Khan and in 2002 by Dr. Ashraf and Mahmud-al-Hassan.
Marshall came to the Bhir Mound project from earlier work in
The results of Mortimer Wheeler's excavations were never published.[4] Later excavations by Mohammad Sharif were done more carefully with regard to chronological considerations,[6] and they form the basis for the modern assessments.[7][8]
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Bhir Mound excavations in 1924-1925
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Bhir Mound coin hoard sample, with Achaemenid, Greek and Indian coinage
Ruins
The ruins of the town form an irregular shape measuring around 1 km from north to south and about 600 meters from east to west.[9]
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.[10] The courtyard was open and 15 to 20 rooms were arranged around it.[11]
History
In 326 BC,
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Bhir Mound with trees
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Bhir Mound, ruins
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Bhir Mound excavations
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Bhir Mound, general view
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Bhir Mound, houses (center) and main street (left)
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Bhir Mound, water conduits
Achaemenid period coin hoard
The Bhir Mound coin hoard has revealed numerous
Modern numismatists tend to consider that these Gandharan bent-bar punch-marked coins are the precursors of the Indian punch-marked coins.[26][27]
Coins of Philip III and Alexander the Great were also found in Bhir Mound.[28][24]
Many Indian punch-marked coins were also found.[29]
Other sites in the area
There are important ancient Buddhist sites in this area, such as
Also, there are the remains of other ancient cities that were founded after Bhir Mound, such as Sirkap and Sirsukh.
See also
- Achaemenid invasion of the Indus Valley
References
- ^ 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.
- ^ Karttunen, Taxila: Indian City and a Stronghold of Hellenism 1990, pp. 88–89.
- ^ 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 - 657.
- ^ a b Karttunen, Taxila: Indian City and a Stronghold of Hellenism 1990, pp. 86–87.
- ^ a b Fleming, Where was Achaemenid India? 1993, pp. 68–69.
- ^ Fleming, Where was Achaemenid India? 1993, p. 69.
- ^ Allchin, The Urban Position of Taxila 1993.
- ^ Karttunen, Taxila: Indian City and a Stronghold of Hellenism 1990.
- ^ Bhatti, Muhammad Ilyas (2006). Taxila an ancient metropolis of Gandhara. p. 72.
- ^ a b Kausch, Anke (2001). Seidenstrasse. p. 300.
- ^ Bhatti, Muhammad Ilyas (2006). Taxila an ancient metropolis of Gandhara. p. 73.
- ^ Marshall, Sir John Hubert (1951), Taxila: An Illustrated Account of Archaeological Excavations, CUP Archive, pp. 12–15, GGKEY:JWYSC7DGQ07
- ^ Pierfrancesco Callieri, India iii. Relations: Achaemenid Period, Encyclopedia Iranica, 15 December 2004.
- ^ Fleming, Where was Achaemenid India? 1993, pp. 68–69: "There was little in his discussion of archaeological material that would support such an identification, and the Elamite evidence was not available to him."
- ^ Karttunen, Taxila: Indian City and a Stronghold of Hellenism 1990: "With a certain geographical recklessness many have supposed, that as an important early centre Taxila must have been the capital of the Indian dominions of the empire. Taxila, however, did not belong to Gandhara proper, which had a more westerly location, and elsewhere I have tried to show how it is well possible that Taxila never belonged to the empire."
- ^ "Livius.org". Archived from the original on 20 November 2008. Retrieved 26 December 2008.
- Chaman Hazouri(deposited c.350 BC) and Bhir Mound hoards (deposited c.300 BC)."
- ^ a b Marshall, John (1951). Taxila, Vol.III. Bhir Mound coins Plate 234.
- ^ CNG Coins
- ^ Bopearachchi & Cribb, Coins illustrating the History of the Crossroads of Asia 1992, pp. 57–59: "Silver bent-bar punch-marked coin of Kabul region under the Achaemenid Empire, c.350 BC: Coins of this type found in quantity in Chaman Hazouri and Bhir Mound hoards"
- ^ Bopearachchi, Coin Production and Circulation 2000, pp. 300–301
- ^ Bopearachchi & Cribb, Coins illustrating the History of the Crossroads of Asia 1992, pp. 57–59
- Chaman Hazouri(deposited c.350 BC) and Bhir Mound hoards (deposited c.300 BC)."
- ^ a b Marshall, Taxila, Volume II 1951, p. 854: "The silver coins were a Persian siglos, tetradrachms of Alexander the Great and of Philip III Aridaeus, thirty-three silver bars with wheel symbols."
- ^ Bopearachchi & Cribb, Coins illustrating the History of the Crossroads of Asia 1992, pp. 56–57: Picture of Gandharan bent-bar punch-marked coin(this type of coin), with caption "Silver bent-bar punch-marked coin of Kabul region under the Achaemenid Empire, c.350 BC: Coins of this type found in quantity in Chaman Hazouri and Bhir Mound hoards"
- ^ Bopearachchi, Coin Production and Circulation 2000, p. 311: "the local coins of the Achaemenid era (...) were the precursors of the bent and punch-marked bars"
- ^ Bopearachchi & Cribb, Coins illustrating the History of the Crossroads of Asia 1992, pp. 57–59: 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."
- ISBN 9780860544425.: "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"
- ^ Marshall, Taxila, Volume II 1951, p. 854.
Bibliography
- Allchin, F. Raymond (1993), "The Urban Position of Taxila and Its Place in Northwest India-Pakistan", Studies in the History of Art, 31: 69–81, JSTOR 42620473
- ISBN 978-0-9518399-1-1
- Bopearachchi, Osmund (2000), "Coin Production and Circulation in Central Asia and North-West India (Before and after Alexander's Conquest)", Indologica Taurinensia, 25, International Association of Sanskrit Studies
- Bopearachchi, Osmund (2017), "Achaemenids and Mauryans: Emergence of Coins and Plastic Arts in India", in Alka Patel; Touraj Daryaee (eds.), India and Iran in the Longue Durée, UCI Jordan Center for Persian Studies, pp. 15–48
- Fleming, David (1993), "Where was Achaemenid India?", Bulletin of the Asia Institute, New Series, 7: 67–72, JSTOR 24048427
- Karttunen, Klaus (1 January 1990), "Taxila: Indian City and a Stronghold of Hellenism (concerning two recent books)", Acta Philologica Fennica, 24: 85–96
- Marshall, John (1951). Taxila, Volume II: Minor Antiquities. Cambridge University Press.
External links
- Images of the excavations at Bhir Mound (1913-1934) (John Marshall, Taxila vol.III, 1951)