Archaeological excavation finds Gupta-era settlement in Murshidabad

It all started with the accidental discovery of gold coins on May 31, 2013, from mud dumped near Ahiran in Murshidabad - it was part of a project to expand National Highway 34. There were around 100 gold coins found but police could only recover 11. Each of the coins weighed 8-9g and were later identified as belonging to Gupta rulers - Samudragupta, Chandragupta and Chandragupta II or Kumaragupta.
The Gupta rule continued from the third to sixth centuries.
This has been reported in telegraphindia.com dated 2 September 2016.

The coins and other artifacts unearthed point to possibility of a Gupta-era settlement in the region of Sialkali, in Murshidabad's Raghunathganj. Since August 11, a team from the directorate of archaeology and museums has been digging a mound in Sialkali which is spread across 1,600sq m and is 15ft above the ground. The trial dig was to ascertain whether Sialkali is indeed the source of the gold coins that had been accidentally discovered.
Sialkali is around 10-Km from the spot near Ahiran where the coins were found.
Among the pottery shards found are pieces of cylindrical containers, miniature medicine jars with lids, large round-bottomed pots, small bowls and vases. The colors of the pottery shards are grey, black, buff, deep red, brown and bright red (these are typical of the Gupta period).
Apart from these, there were pestles to grind medicinal herbs, a stone wheel about 10cm in diameter, terracotta beads, balls, fragments of toy animals and a two-tiered lamp with a hollow base. There was also a headless doll shaped out of clay with fingers - it belongs to the ageless variety and such a doll has never been found so far in the region.
No structures have been found yet but, a few decorated bricks have come to surface and, at some distance from the dig, there are reports of seeing a stone dais and a flight of stairs.


Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org


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