An Encyclopaedia of Indian Archaeology v2.c28.76

v2.c28.76

**Ahar²**, Ahad (27°42′; 75°38′), Dt Udaipur, about 3 km e. of Udaipur on the river Ahar, a tributary of the Banas. Though archaeologically it is a rich site, its Sanskrit name Āghāṭapura first finds mention in epigraphical records only in the 10th-11th centuries A.D. The site thus seems to have been abandoned during the early centuries of the Christian era and reoccupied later after a considerable lapse of time. The mound which originally lay on a bend of the river Ahar is now cut into two. It was discovered and probed by R.C. Agrawala on behalf of the Rajasthan Dept of Arch. (*IAR 1954-5*, p. 14). This led to a joint excavation of the site in 1961-2 by the same Dept and the Deccan College under H.D. Sankalia. The occupation at Ahar has been divided into two Pds, Pd I Chalcolithic [4.14.1] in nature and Pd II marked by the introduction of iron and the NBPW [11.16]. Though chronologically there is a gap between the two it is not attested to stratigraphically and no weathered layer separates them.