Minerals and Metals in Ancient India v1.c29.s2.7

v1.c29.s2.7

Secondly, the value of the scientific data on an archaeological sample depends on the authenticity of the sample, i.e., how carefully it was collected and labelled. Numismatists have often complained (Gupta, P.L., 1987-88: 86; Lahiri, A.N., 1990: 213) that while they have unearthed many missing dates and episodes of history, ‘the archaeologist very rarely provides necessary details of the coins he digs up’. As a result the numismatists are sometimes not in a position to help the archaeologists properly. Thus the onus for co-ordination is very much on the archaeologists who should provide ‘standard’ samples of known date to the scientists so that more reliable C-14 datings may be compiled by the latter.