Location | Vadnagar, Gujarat, India |
---|---|
History | |
Founded | c. 730 BC [1] |
Periods | Mauryan, Indo-Greek, Indo-Scythian, Hindu-Solankis, Sultanate-Mughal, Gaekwad-British rule |
Site notes | |
Excavation dates | 2016–present |
Vadnagar archaeological site is located in Vadnagar in Gujarat, India; it is known for its significant findings of a continuing settlement since ancient or pre-Mauryan times. [2] [3] [4] [5]
Excavations at the archaeological site commenced in 2016 as a collaborative effort that includes archaeologists and experts from IIT Kharagpur, Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), Physical Research Laboratory (PRL), Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) and Deccan College. [6] [7] The joint study project, funded by Infosys Foundation and Government of Gujarat's Directorate of Archaeology and Museums, is intended to shed light on the period between the collapse of the Indus Valley Civilisation around 4,000 years ago and the emergence of Iron Age cities in northern India.
A 2024 article detailing the joint study, published in Quaternary Science Reviews , suggests that the settlement in Vadnagar dates to 800 BCE. [1] [2] According to Anindya Sarkar of IIT Kharagpur, the lead author of the study, some of the unpublished radiocarbon samples date back to 1400 BCE. If the dating is confirmed, Sarkar points out this would demonstrate a cultural continuity in India for the last 5500 years. [2]
Vadnagar was a multicultural and multireligious settlement, pre-dating Jainism and Budhism. It had multiple cultural stages, and experienced successive rulerships, including Mauryan, Indo-Greek, Indo-Scythian, Hindu-Solankis, Sultanate-Mughal, and Gaekwad-British colonial rule. With continuous habitation since 800 BCE, it is identified as India's oldest fortified city. [2] [3] [4]
The study suggests that climate change, such as variable rainfall or droughts, played a significant role in the rise and fall of different kingdoms over 3,000 years. Cold arid conditions with increasing aridification are proposed as triggers for migration from central Asia into the fertile areas of the subcontinent. [4] [6]
The Cemetery H culture was a Bronze Age culture in the Punjab region in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent, from about 1900 BCE until about 1300 BCE. It is regarded as a regional form of the late phase of the Harappan civilisation, but also as the manifestation of a pre wave phase of Indo-Aryan migrations, predating the migrations of the proto-Rig Vedic people.
Demetrius I Anicetus, also called Damaytra was a Greco-Bactrian and later Indo-Greek king, who ruled areas from Bactria to ancient northwestern India. He was the son of the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom's ruler Euthydemus I and succeeded him around 200 BC, after which he conquered extensive areas in what is now southern Afghanistan, Iran and Pakistan and India.
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The Maurya Empire was a geographically extensive Iron Age historical power in South Asia based in Magadha. Founded by Chandragupta Maurya in 322 BCE, it existed in loose-knit fashion until 185 BCE. The empire was centralized by the conquest of the Indo-Gangetic Plain; its capital city was located at Pataliputra. Outside this imperial centre, the empire's geographical extent was dependent on the loyalty of military commanders who controlled the armed cities scattered within it. During Ashoka's rule, the empire briefly controlled the major urban hubs and arteries of the Indian subcontinent excepting the deep south. It declined for about 50 years after Ashoka's rule, and dissolved in 185 BCE with the assassination of Brihadratha by Pushyamitra Shunga and foundation of the Shunga dynasty in Magadha.
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The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to ancient India:
The Satavahanas, also referred to as the Andhras in the Puranas, were an ancient Indian Brahmin dynasty based in the Deccan region. Most modern scholars believe that the Satavahana rule began in the late second century BCE and lasted until the early third century CE, although some assign the beginning of their rule to as early as the 3rd century BCE based on the Puranas, but uncorroborated by archaeological evidence. The Satavahana kingdom mainly comprised the present-day Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, and Maharashtra. At different times, their rule extended to parts of modern Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, and Karnataka. The dynasty had different capital cities at different times, including Kotalingala(Telangana), Pratishthana (Paithan) and Amaravati (Dharanikota).
The Western Satraps, or Western Kshatrapas were Indo-Scythian (Saka) rulers of the western and central parts of India, between 35 and 415 CE. The Western Satraps were contemporaneous with the Kushans who ruled the northern part of the Indian subcontinent, and were possibly vassals of the Kushans. They were also contemporaneous with the Satavahana (Andhra) who ruled in Central India. They are called "Western Satraps" in modern historiography in order to differentiate them from the "Northern Satraps", who ruled in Punjab and Mathura until the 2nd century CE.
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Pataliputra, adjacent to modern-day Patna, Bihar, was a city in ancient India, originally built by Magadha ruler Ajatashatru in 490 BCE, as a small fort near the Ganges river. Udayin laid the foundation of the city of Pataliputra at the confluence of two rivers, the Son and the Ganges. He shifted his capital from Rajgriha to Pataliputra due to the latter's central location in the empire.
The Hijli Kingdom existed between 1687 and 1886 in the eastern part of India. Initially Hijli was a small island village on the banks of the Rasulpur River as it flows to the Bay of Bengal. It developed into a port town in 1687. Slowly, it converted into a province or kingdom covering parts of Bengal and Orissa. The Contai basin also belonged to this kingdom. Mansingh is believed to be the founder King of Hijli. It had important towns like Tamluk or Tamralipta, Panskura, along with Keleghai and Haldi rivers on the north, the south and east sides bounded by the Bay of Bengal and Kharagpur, Keshiary, Dantan and Jaleswar on the west. The capital of Hijli was in Bahiri up to 1628 and afterwards it was shifted to Hijli. This kingdom was ruled for some years by Taj Khan, a disciple of Guru Peer Mackdram Sha Chisti. It was also ruled sequentially by Kushan, Gupta, Gauda, Pala and Sena dynasties and also by Mughals. It is known that Hijli had excellent business and trade centers during the reign of Hindu Kings and continued during the Mughal dynasty.
Vadnagar is a town and municipality in the Mehsana district of the state of Gujarat in India. It is located 35 km (22 mi) from Mehsana. Its ancient names include Anartapura and Anandapura. It was a location visited by Xuanzang in 640 C.E. The founder and the first Director-General of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), Alexander Cunningham, had identified Anandapura with the town of Vadnagar. Vadnagar is also the birthplace of Narendra Modi, the current Prime Minister of India.
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Samataṭa was an ancient geopolitical division of Bengal in the eastern Indian subcontinent. The Greco-Roman account of Sounagoura is linked to the kingdom of Samatata. Its territory corresponded to much of present-day eastern Bangladesh and parts of the Rakhine State of Myanmar. The area covers the trans-Meghna part of the Bengal delta. It was a center of Buddhist civilisation before the resurgence of Hinduism and Muslim conquest in the region.
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