An Encyclopaedia of Indian Archaeology v1.c10.s3.3

v1.c10.s3.3

In the adjoined table ¹⁴C dates, archaeological ages and MASCA-corrected ¹⁴C dates are compared. The table shows that up to a few centuries B.C. there are no significant differences in any of the dates and they compare well with each other. For the older periods, while the uncorrected ¹⁴C dates and archaeological dates compare well, MASCA corrections make them too old. Thus, for Mohenjo-daro we have now seven ¹⁴C dates from the top level giving a compounded date of *c*. 2000 B.C. If we take even a minimum of 300 years of duration of the occupation of the site, we got the following ¹⁴C time-spread: *c*. 2300-2000 B.C. (uncorrected ¹⁴C dates and extrapolated beginning); and *c*. 2870-2180 B.C. (MASCA-corrected). Even this early beginning of *c*. 2870 B.C. is difficult to accept. But if we take 500 years as the duration of the occupation at the site, the beginning would go back beyond the 3rd millennium B.C., which is archaeologically unacceptable.