Minerals and Metals in Ancient India v1.c22.s5.7

v1.c22.s5.7

The date of burial of the Bhir Mound hoard was probably not long before the destruction of the city about 170 BC. The hoard coins reflect the ebbs and tides of the political history in the region as well as the availability of the metals during the different epochs. The Mauryas functioned in a silver-base economy. Facing shortage of silver, they substituted it by copper. Euthydemus II, the Bactrian king could draw upon the source of nickel from Central Asia to produce ‘white copper’ coins. The Kuṣāṇas could supplement their requirement of gold by imports from the Near East by way of the Persian Gulf. An ingot of gold, found in the Śaka-Pārthian city of Sirkap, strongly resembled the ingots which were traded in the Roman World.