Ahmedabad: During the excavation at Vadnagar, which lasted for a decade from 2014 to 2024, one of the finds that surprised the archaeologists was 37 terracotta coin moulds. These were not of local powers; instead, they were for the coins of the Indo-Greek monarch Apollodotus II. What surprised the experts was the fact that the period it corresponded to in Vadnagar’s 2,500-year-long continuous history was the 5th to 10th centuries CE, whereas the coins in their original form were minted in the 1st-2nd centuries CE.Dr Abhijit Ambekar, superintending archaeologist with the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), who worked on the site for the decade, said that Gujarat, being an important trade hub for the Arabian Sea and Indian Ocean, has yielded a good number of silver Indo-Greek coins, identified as Drachma.“But it is a rare instance of finding moulds. Compared to original die-struck coins, the moulds indicate a cast method of minting. One theory of the find nearly three centuries after the demise of Apollodotus II is that Drachma remained a power currency in trade both through land and sea and remained in demand, prompting its production. Bharuch was a major port of that era,” said Ambekar, adding that the production of coinage continued even after the end of the Indo-Greek kingdoms. “The discovery establishes Vadnagar as an important hub of trade.” The study was carried out with Abhijit Dandekar of Deccan College Postgraduate and Research Institute.It was one of the four studies related to Vadnagar presented at the tenth edition of the prestigious World Archaeological Congress in Darwin, Australia, which concluded on Saturday. What connected these studies was the north Gujarat town’s antiquity and its interconnectedness with other parts of India and the world.Some other presentations included the continuity of the ancient town over 2,500 years, an elliptical structure found in the town reminiscent of similar structures in the Gangetic plains, and timber bonding techniques in architecture for earthquake resistance by Dr Ambekar, Ananya Chakraborty, assistant archaeologist at ASI, and others.Experts said that the common thread that connects the papers includes how the ancient town remained relevant for over two millennia. “For example, in the case of timber bonding – a technique where timber or wood is inserted at regular intervals between stones as a cushion against quakes, is seen in some parts of West Asia,” said a researcher.The ancient town has yielded artefacts such as Indo-Pacific beads and shell bangles, establishing it as a production centre, along with hordes of coins, cowries, and artefacts such as torpedo jars, underlining its place as sthalpattan or land port.The presentations also focused on the town planning of Vadnagar, its different development phases from the Kshatrapa period to the British period, and how the town overcame intense periods of drought with water body interlinking and even changing diet completely for decades.
