Minerals and Metals in Ancient India v1.c22.1

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Taxila or the ancient Takṣaśilā, 22 miles north of Rāwalpiṇḍi in Pakistan, was one of the ancient sites in the Indian sub-continent which witnessed rise and fall of empires through centuries. Since the discoveries of the site by Cunningham in 1871 and further explorations by Marshall 1912 onwards, it was widely believed that the ancient establishment at Taxila was the outcome of the Achaemenid incursion by Cyrus during the sixth century BC. But Wheeler's excavation at the Bala Hissar mound, Charsada, and the recent excavation at the Hathial area have revealed an earlier culture, dated at least c. 1000 BC, using a red burnished pottery. (Allchins, 1983: 314) Charsada settlement and the nearby grave site Timargarha are also marked by the early use of iron in the North-Western part of the sub-continent.