Greek coins were 'reproduced' using terracotta moulds in Gujarat's Vadnagar 1,500 years ago

Ahmedabad, Jun 30 (PTI) Nearly 1,500 years ago, inhabitants of Vadnagar town in present-day Gujarat began "reproducing" a popular coin of an Indo-Greek ruler using terracotta moulds, replacing the original die-struck coins with cast ones, an archaeologist said on Monday.

During a recent excavation by the Archaeological Survey of India at a site in Vadnagar in Mehsana district, archaeologists found nearly 35 terracotta coin moulds which were meant to "reproduce" a popular coin of an Indo-Greek ruler, Apollodotus-II, said Superintending Archaeologist with ASI in Mumbai, Dr Abhijit Ambekar.

"These coin moulds recovered from the Vadnagar archaeological site were from a period between 3rd and 5th century CE. They were meant to reproduce silver Indo-Greek coins known as Drachma. The original silver coins were minted through die-struck method between 1st century BC and 1st century CE," said Ambekar, who supervised the excavation between 2016-2024 when he was posted in Gujarat.

In a paper he presented at the 10th World Archaeological Congress, held from June 22 to 28 in Australia, the senior ASI official noted the inhabitants started producing the coins using moulds to meet the demand for this internationally-accepted currency at that time.

According to him, the discovery of moulds suggests Drachma coins were in demand for several centuries after the death of Apollodotus-II and the end of Indo-Greek rule in 1st century CE.

"Since original coins were still in demand, people at Vadnagar must have adopted this technique of reproducing coins using moulds having the impression of coins inside it. Molten silver is poured inside to produce coins. They adopted this method probably after original die-struck coins got exhausted," Ambekar explained.

At that time, Bharuch in Gujarat was the main port and Indo-Greek coins were the preferred currency among traders, he informed.

"It is on-record that Indo-Greek coins were a preferred currency among traders. Thus, we believe that though these 'cast' coins were a copy of original die-struck coins, they were still acceptable. Otherwise, why were they produced for such a long period?" asked Ambekar.

In another paper submitted at the Archaeological Congress, he noted the excavation at Vadnagar revealed about "continuous human occupation of over 2,500 years, probably a sole example in India having such a long continuous habitation without any break at one particular location".

One of the key factors for such a phenomenon at Vadnagar was rain water conservation, said Ambekar.

"Despite adverse environmental conditions, Vadnagar sustained its prosperity. The main reason behind it is the rain-water conserving method. A total of 36 artificial water bodies inter-linked with each other were dug up in the vicinity of Vadnagar," the paper submitted by Ambekar and another researcher, Ananya Chakraborty, stated.

"Due to climatic changes, civilization and culture decline as it is evident from Dholavira (ancient city of Harappan civilisation situated in Kutch district), where the site collapsed after 1,700 years of occupation. Whereas, despite the similar phenomena faced by Vadnagar, the site was never abandoned even after 2,750 years," the paper noted.

Another paper submitted by Ambekar and two other scholars stated that excavation has revealed that Vadnagar was the largest shell manufacturing centre throughout history. This was evident from the fact that shell objects at every manufacturing stage were found from different sites.

"It has also brought about the evolution and complexity in the design and pattern of shell bangles. The first comprehensive study on shell objects in the historical context was conducted in Vadnagar in 2016-19. The study revealed that this town was the largest shell manufacturing centre throughout history," the third paper maintained.

"The study reveals that a substantial quantity of shell artefacts in different stages of production were found in Vadnagar. None of the sites in India have yet presented the wide variety of decorations and designs that are discovered here," it added. PTI PJT PD RSY