An Encyclopaedia of Indian Archaeology v2.c28.495

v2.c28.495

*Pd IV* (NBPW, 600-50 B.C.). With Pd IV we enter the historical epoch. Its first phase is associated with the age of the sixteen *mahā-janapadas* and the ultimate rise of Magadha and the second phase with the Maurya and the Śuṅga ages. Though many new features begin to appear in the lower phase, the material culture more or less remains the same as in the preceding Pd. However the use of baked brick becomes more frequent and agricultural tools of iron like the sickle, weeder, hoe, spud and ploughshare are seen for the first time. Unlined wells were dug perhaps to irrigate the fields.