The Shaikhan Dheri hoard is a small coin hoard that was discovered in 2007 at the site of ancient

Pushkalavati Pushkalavati ( ps, پشکلاوتي; Urdu: ; Sanskrit: ; Prākrit: ; grc, Πευκελαῶτις ) or Pushkaravati ( Sanskrit: ; Pāli: ), and later Shaikhan Dheri ( ps, شېخان ډېرۍ; ur, ), was the capital of the Gandhara kingd ...

Ancient India According to consensus in modern genetics, anatomically modern humans first arrived on the Indian subcontinent from Africa between 73,000 and 55,000 years ago. Quote: "Y-Chromosome and Mt-DNA data support the colonization of South Asia by m ...

, modern-day

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 243 million people, and has the world's second-lar ...

. The hoard weighed 14 kilograms , contained "bent bars" as well as round coins "of a new type" as those discovered in the

Kabul hoard The Kabul hoard, also called the Chaman Hazouri, Chaman Hazouri or Tchamani-i Hazouri hoard, is a coin hoard discovered in the vicinity of Kabul, Afghanistan in 1933. The collection contained numerous Achaemenid coins as well as many Greek coins f ...

. The hoard contained a

tetradrachm The tetradrachm ( grc-gre, τετράδραχμον, tetrádrachmon) was a large silver coin that originated in Ancient Greece. It was nominally equivalent to four drachmae. Over time the tetradrachm effectively became the standard coin of the An ...

minted in

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...

circa 500/490-485/0 BCE, or possibly as early as 520 BCE, together with a number of local types as well as silver cast ingots. The Athens coin is the earliest known example of its type to be found so far to the east."A Truly International Currency", Triton XV, Lot: 1163, ATTICA, Athens
CNG Coins This hoard exists in the context of the

Achaemenid conquest of the Indus Valley The Achaemenid conquest of the Indus Valley occurred from the 6th to 4th centuries BCE, and saw the Persian Achaemenid Empire take control of regions in the northwestern Indian subcontinent that predominantly comprise the territory of modern-d ...

. It can also be related to another famous hoard in the region, the

. The hoard also contained short "punch-marked" bent bars, also found in the

, and attributed by Bopearachchi to the

Paropamisadae Paropamisadae or Parapamisadae (Greek: Παροπαμισάδαι) was a satrapy of the Alexandrian Empire in modern Afghanistan and Pakistan, which largely coincided with the Achaemenid province of Parupraesanna. It consisted of the districts ...

. They are of Achaemenid weight standard, weighing either 1 Siglos (5.5g) or 2 Sigloi (11g), and measuring between 25 mm to 30 mm long. These are different from the punch-marked bent bars found in Taxila, which are significantly longer (35 and 55 mm). The hoard also contained round "punch-marked" coins, the punch mark consisting in a geometrical motif made of a central circle with line around. Virgin flans were also present in the hoard as well as silver ingots (about 400g each, corresponding to the manufacture by melting about 72 Achaemenid sigloi) used for the manufacture of coins. The composition of the ingots has been shown to be strictly identical to the composition of the local coinage (but different from the composition of standard royal Achaemenid sigloi). This shows that coins were being manufactured in

by the 5th century BCE, and that the metallurgical techniques involved in coin minting were readily available in the Indian Satrapies of the Achaemenid Empire at that time, well before the arrival of

Alexander the Great Alexander III of Macedon ( grc, Ἀλέξανδρος, Alexandros; 20/21 July 356 BC – 10/11 June 323 BC), commonly known as Alexander the Great, was a king of the ancient Greek kingdom of Macedon. He succeeded his father Philip II to ...

. File:Ingot Pre-Mauryan (Gandhara). Period of Achaemenid Rule. Circa 5th century BCE.jpg, Achaemenid period silver ingot,

, Gandhara."Achaemenid Period Ingot", Triton XV, Lot: 1366
CNG Coins File:Paropamisadae short punch-marked bent bars.jpg, Short "bent-bar" punch-marked coin minted under Achaemenid administration, of the type found in the Shaikhan Dehri hoard. File:Achaemenid Empire coin. Uncertain mint in the Kabul Valley. Circa 500-380 BCE.jpg, Punch-marked coin minted in the Kabul Valley under the Achaemenid administration. Also similar to some of the types found in the Shaikhan Dehri hoard.

References

Bibliography

* {{Portal, History, Pakistan Archaeology in Pakistan Treasure troves of Asia