An Encyclopaedia of Indian Archaeology v1.c10.s4: 5.4 Numismatic
An Encyclopaedia of Indian Archaeology v1.c10.s4
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5.4 Numismatic
v1.c10.s4.1
Coins occupy a prominent place among datable antiquities. Many coins can be dated to a particular period on the basis of the identification of the striker, of palaeographic character of the script occurring on it, of literary or epigraphic evidence or of their contemporaneity with an associated object of determined date. And in a closely observed archaeological excavation if the coin can be dated all associated objects, i.e. those found in that particular stratum, can also be placed in the same chronological horizon.
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The silver punch-marked coins [3.1] are usually taken to be the earliest monetary issues of India. At Taxila they belong to the pre-Alexandrian period, and it is generally believed that the origin of these coins goes back to the 5th century B.C. or perhaps slightly earlier and that they were in circulation in the succeeding centuries. Within the confines of present-day India these coins have been found at various sites ranging from Punjab in the n. to W. Bengal in the e., down to the s. In the stratigraphic digging they have been found at ROPAR, HASTINĀPURA, PURANA QILA, KAUŚĀMBĪ, UJJAIN, RAJGIR, ERAN and MAHESHWAR, to name some of the principal sites, where mainly on their evidence the deposits with these coins have been given a date ranging between 600 and 100 B.C. The copper punch-marked coins which seem to be later contemporaries have been found mostly within the same chronological horizon. Apart from some of the above sites the copper ones found at MASAON, KUMRAHAR, VAIŚĀLĪ, CHANDRAKETUGARH, PAUNI, PRAKASH, etc., have been helpful to fix the dates of the respective strata.
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Another type of coins, contemporary with the punchmarked ones, is the cast copper coins [3.1]. They are usually accepted to have been current in the period ranging from the 4th to the 2nd century B.C. Strata VIII and VII of AHICCHATRĀ have been dated c. 300 to 100 B.C., NASIK Pd II B to c. 200 B.C. to A.D. 50, MAHESHWAR Pd IV to c. 400 to 100 B.C., TAMLUK Pd II to c. 300 to 100 B.C., RAJGHAT⁴ Pd I C to c. 400 to 200 B.C. and CHIRAND Pd II to c. 600 to 100 B.C., mainly on the basis of their occurrence in the concerned deposits. At KAUŚĀMBĪ they have been reported to have originated at an earlier date and remained in use at least up to the 2nd century A.D.
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The typical industries which are broadly contemporary to the coins referred to above are the NBPW [11.16], unslipped red ware, fine to coarse grey ware, iron objects like arrowheads, sickles, chisels, etc., terracotta ring-wells [14.15], remains of structures built with *kankar* stones, terracotta toys, beads and human and animal figures, kiln-burnt bricks, seals in early Brāhmī characters, beads of semiprecious stones, copper antimony rods [18.1] and at some sites objects made of ivory.
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Indo-Greek, Indo-Parthian, Kushan, imitation Kushan as well as tribal and local coins have been found in stratigraphic contexts at a number of sites. Prominent among these is ROPAR Pd IV, MAHESHWAR Pd IV, AHICCHATRĀ Strata VI and V, HASTINĀPURA Pd IV, etc.; they have helped to determine the dates of the relevant strata and contemporary objects to a period ranging from c. 200 B.C. to the beginning of the 1st century A.D. The principal industries of this period are the Śuṅga and Kushan terracottas, red pottery which is wheel-turned and of medium fabric, red ware containing stamped designs, bowls with incurved rims, spouted vessels, votive tanks [12.11], inscribed pots and seals, etc., Planned houses are usually met with in the various occupational strata. The sequence of coins has significantly helped to determine the chronological interrelations of the objects interred in deposits and their gradual evolution.
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The later part of Pd IV of ROPAR, Stratum III of AHICCHATRĀ, Pd IV of PURANA QILA and Pd V of MATHURA have yielded coins of the Gupta period, and along with them terracotta sculptures, moulded plaques, sealings, etc., which are stylistically assignable to the period of the Guptas, thereby corroborating the correctness of the assessment made from other disciplines. In still later periods Hūṇa, Indo-Sassanian, Rajput, Sulṭānate and Mughal coins are met with and they confirm the continued late occupations of sites like PURANA QILA, HASTINĀPURA, ROPAR, AHICCHATRĀ, SIRPUR, BRAHMAPURI and VADODARA. In the Deccan, Sātavāhana coins help to determine the early phases of BRAHMAPURI ranging from the 3rd century B.C. to the 3rd century A.D., CHANDRAVALLI Pd II from the 1st to the 3rd century A.D., NEVASA Pds IV and V from the 3rd century B.C. to the 3rd century A.D., Nasik Pd II B from 200 B.C. to A.D. 50, NAGARJUNAKONDA Pd IV from the 2nd to the 4th century A.D., etc. The associated pottery types range from the NBPW to typical kaolin slipped pots which were prevalent during the Sātavāhana rule, the Red Polished Ware [11.23], the Rouletted Ware [11.21] and plain red ware, the last one sometimes with decorative designs. Roman coins or imitation Roman coins that are noticed at least three of the above sites further confirm the date of the pottery as well as throw interesting light on the trends of contemporary life as revealed in fine brick-built structures, underground drains, characteristic beads of semiprecious stones, translucent glass bangles, kaolin-covered terracottas, etc., showing a state of prosperity perhaps attained through maritime trade with the w. world.
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Apart from giving a date to the contemporary deposits and associated industries, a coin found in a firm structural levels has often decided the date of the concerned structure. A gold coin of the Gupta king Kumāragupta I noticed on the top of a floor level of a particular monastery site at NĀLANDĀ points out that the concerned building belonged to the period of that king or to a period not much earlier than that. Similarly a gold coin of Govindacandra the Gāhaḍavāla king fixed the date of a particular level belonging to the latest phase of a monastery of the same site. At DEVNIMORI the chronology of a *stūpa* and a monastery consisting of different phases could be determined from the Kṣatrapa coins and the coins of the Maitrakas of Valabhī, varying in date from the 3rd to the 5th century A.D. At PAUNI the structural phases of a *stūpa* could be similarly dated from the coins of Sātakarṇi and the Kṣatrapas.
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Even when coins do not come from stratigraphic digging but are found merely on surface, they throw useful hints on the date of particular occupational phases of that site. But at a monocultural site it can determine the date of the entire culture. In Chota Nagpur there are a number of so-called Asura sites [14.4], which in their extensive use of iron objects, brick-built houses and similarity in types of red ware show a homogeneous culture. Though none of the industries are otherwise datable a firm date for the culture can be obtained from the surface find of Kushan coins—a date that has been corroborated by ¹⁴C dating [SARADKAL].
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[It should be emphasized however that coins could remain under circulation long after being issued, particularly during periods when the issue of fresh currency was restricted or practically non-existent. Thus coins of Acyu are found at all levels of AHICCHATRĀ from Stratum III upwards. In such cases it can only be concluded that the level bearing a particular type of coin cannot be earlier than the date of the issue of the type.]
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Ray, S.C., 1959, *Stratigraphic Evidence of Coins in Indian Excavations & Some Allied Issues*, Numismatic Notes and Monographs, Numismatic Society of India, Varanasi. For sites see respective entries in vol. II.—S.C. RAY