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

Pushkalavati Pushkalavati, was the capital of the ancient region of Gāndhāra, situated in present day's Pakistan. Its ruins are located on the outskirts of the modern city of Charsadda, in Charsadda District, in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 35-42 kilometres ...

in modern-day

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

. 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 () 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 Antiquity, spreading well beyond the borders of the ...

minted in

Athens Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...

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 Around 535 BCE, the Persian king Cyrus the Great initiated a protracted campaign to absorb parts of India into his nascent Achaemenid Empire. In this initial incursion, the Persian army annexed a large region to the west of the Indus River, con ...

. It can also be related to another famous hoard in the region, the Kabul hoard. The hoard also contained short "punch-marked" bent bars, also found in the Kabul hoard, and attributed by Bopearachchi to the

Paropamisadae Paropamisadae or Parapamisadae () 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 of Sattagydia (Bannu basin), Ga ...

. They are of Achaemenid weight standard, weighing either 1 siglos (5.5 g) or 2 sigloi (11 g), and measuring between 25 mm to 30 mm long. These are different from the punch-marked bent bars found in

Taxila Taxila or Takshashila () is a city in the Pothohar region of Punjab, Pakistan. Located in the Taxila Tehsil of Rawalpindi District, it lies approximately northwest of the Islamabad–Rawalpindi metropolitan area and is just south of the ...

, 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 Pushkalavati 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 (; 20/21 July 356 BC – 10/11 June 323 BC), most commonly known as Alexander the Great, was a king of the Ancient Greece, ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia (ancient kingdom), Macedon. He succeeded his father Philip ...

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