🇮🇳 India · Ancient city
Besnagar
Mauryan–Sunga–Satavahana–Gupta 600 BCE–500 CE · Magadhan → Sunga → Satavahana → Gupta
Ancient Vesanagara city mound at Betwa-Bes confluence — Sunga–Satavahana twin capital of Vidisha (600 BCE–500 CE).
Search places, or jump to a section
The catalogue
48 places to sift through. Narrow by kind, country, period or how firmly each one is established — contested and pseudoarchaeological claims are labelled here, never hidden.
🇮🇳 India · Ancient city
Mauryan–Sunga–Satavahana–Gupta 600 BCE–500 CE · Magadhan → Sunga → Satavahana → Gupta
Ancient Vesanagara city mound at Betwa-Bes confluence — Sunga–Satavahana twin capital of Vidisha (600 BCE–500 CE).
🇮🇳 India · Ancient city
Ahar-Banas Chalcolithic 3000–1700 BCE (Early/Mature/Late) · Ahar-Banas (Mewar Chalcolithic) → contact Harappan
Largest Ahar-Banas Chalcolithic settlement (c.3000–1700 BCE) on the Banas River floodplain in Rajsamand, Mewar — twin mounds (Modiya Magari, 14 ha and western mound 4 ha) excavated 1999–2005 by V.S.
🇮🇳 India · Ancient city
Chalcolithic → NBPW 600 BCE → Gupta 350–550 CE → Kalachuri 850–1300 CE · Kalachuri-Chedi
Narmada capital Tripuri at Tewar — 16 m Chalcolithic to Kalachuri–Chedi temple city (Haihayas, 1042 inscr.).
🇮🇳 India · Ancient city
Vidarbha Iron Age 800–300 BCE → Maurya 300–187 → Satavahana 187 BCE–220 CE → Vakataka 250–300 CE · Vidarbha megalithic–Iron (Black-and-red) → Satavahana
Vidarbha Iron Age iron-smelting town (800 BCE–300 CE) near Nagpur — earliest tuyere smelting and Indo-Roman rouletted ware with 22 coin hoards.
🇮🇳 India · Ancient city
Hakra Wares (7500–6000 BCE) → Early Harappan (3300–2600) → Mature Harappan (2600–1900) · Hakra / Early Harappan / Indus Valley
Earliest known Harappan settlement (c.7500–2600 BCE) on the Ghaggar-Hakra (Sarasvati) paleochannel in Fatehabad, Haryana — 3.5 ha mound with 8 m cultural deposit spanning Hakra Wares (Period IA)…
🇮🇳 India · Ancient city
Chalcolithic 1200–600 BCE → Sunga 200 BCE → Gupta 4–6 c. CE · Chalcolithic → Sunga → Gupta (Vakataka-Hunas)
Gupta temple city Airikina on Bina river (600 BCE–600 CE) — home to 2.66 m Varaha boar (510 CE) and earliest Sati inscription.
🇮🇳 India · Temple complex
Maurya 3 c. BCE → Sunga 187–78 BCE → Gupta 4–6 c. CE · Maurya → Sunga → Indo-Greek → Gupta (Malwa)
Ancient Vidisha (Besnagar) capital with Heliodorus Garuda column (113 BCE) — first Indo-Greek Krishna inscription 6.5 m monolith.
🇮🇳 India · Ancient village
Lower Paleolithic 400 Ka → Chalcolithic Jorwe 1400–1000 BCE → Megalithic → Satavahana → Medieval · Soan Acheulian → Jorwe Chalcolithic (Deccan) → Satavahana
Deccan textbook sequence on Pravara (400 Ka handaxes → 1400 BCE Jorwe village) — 130-house Chalcolithic with urn child burials.
🇮🇳 India · Ancient city
Vidarbha Megalithic 1100–300 BCE → Maurya 300–187 → Sunga–Satavahana 187 BCE–250 CE → Vakataka 250–500 CE · Vidarbha Megalithic → Mauryan → Satavahana → Vakataka (Vidarbha Early Historic)
Vidarbha fortress-city Padmavati on Wainganga (1100 BCE–300 CE) — 4 km rampart with two Satavahana stupas (38 m) and megalithic-to-Mauryan continuity.
🇮🇳 India · Ancient city
Maurya 300–187 BCE → Satavahana 187 BCE–230 CE → Vakataka 250–400 CE · Satavahana (Periplus Tagara)
Periplus Tagara emporium (300 BCE–400 CE) on Terna — 50+ Roman amphorae and Ter ivory lady with Roman hair, 40 ha rampart.
🇮🇳 India · Temple complex
Mauryan Ashoka 3rd c BCE → Sunga 1st c BCE–2nd c CE · Mauryan–Sunga Buddhist (Ashokan–Sunga complex)
Deorkothar Katra Stupa Complex — Ashokan–Sunga Buddhist establishment (3rd c BCE possible Ashoka, 1st c BCE inscribed pillar) with 4 stupas, 30.5-m brick stupa-1 with stone vedika rail similar to…
🇮🇳 India · Ancient city
Mahajanapada 600 BCE → Gupta 4th–6th c CE · Northern Panchala Mahajanapada → Mauryan → Gupta
Ahicchatra — capital of Northern Panchala Mahajanapada (c.600 BCE–1100 CE) near Ramnagar, Bareilly district, excavated 1940s–60s by ASI (V.K. Sinha).
🇮🇳 India · Ancient city
Maurya 300 BCE → Sunga 187 BCE → Satavahana 50 BCE–230 CE → Vakataka 250–400 CE · Vidarbha Early Historic (Satavahana–Vakataka) with Mahabharata memory
Mahabharata Kundina trading city on Wardha (300 BCE–400 CE) — 1.5 km wall with Satavahana–Roman trade and carbonized rice.
🇮🇳 India · Ancient city
PGW 1100–600 BCE (Kuru) → NBPW 600–300 BCE → Historic · Kuru Mahajanapada (PGW culture) → NBPW Early Historic
Hastinapura — capital of Kuru Mahajanapada (c.1100–600 BCE, PGW 1100–600 BCE, NBPW 600–300 BCE) at Hastinapur, Meerut district, excavated 1950–52 by B.B. Lal (ASI).
🇮🇳 India · Ancient city
Mauryan 3rd c BCE → Satavahana 1st c BCE–2nd c CE · Mauryan→ Satavahana Deccan — Wainganga basin
Pauni Wainganga Fortified Settlement — Mauryan–Satavahana fortified city (3rd c BCE–2nd c CE) on Wainganga River at Pauni, excavated 1969–70 by S.B. Deo and later Bhilai–Nagpur University.
🇮🇳 India · Ancient city
Neolithic I (7000–4000) → Chalcolithic II (2500–1200) → NBPW III (600 BCE–300 CE) → Gupta IV · Vindhyan–Gangetic Neolithic → Gangetic Chalcolithic → Kuru-Panchala NBPW
Massive Neolithic–Early Historic mound (c.7000 BCE–1200 CE) on the Ganga's east bank opposite Prayagraj Sangam — 4 ha mound with 16 m cultural deposit excavated 1995–2003 by Allahabad University (G.R.
🇮🇳 India · Ancient city
Early Historic 3rd c BCE–4th c CE Early Historic Deccan · Vidarbha Early Historic — Satavahana trading city (Kundina literary)
Kaundinyapura Wardha Settlement — Early Historic trading city (3rd c BCE–4th c CE) on Wardha River at Kaundinyapura, identified with Mahabharata Kundina (Vidarbha capital of Bhishmaka, Rukmini…
🇮🇳 India · Ancient city
Chalcolithic 1600 BCE → Early Historic 6th c BCE → Paramara 10th c → Holkar 1760s · Malwa → Mahishmati Mahabharata → Paramara–Holkar
Maheshwar Narmada Ghat Settlement — ancient Mahishmati (Mahabharata, Kalidasa) on Narmada ghat 2 km north of Navdatoli, excavated with Navdatoli 1952–57 showing Early Historic Mart 6th c BCE → Gupta…
🇮🇳 India · Ancient city
Satavahana 2nd c BCE–2nd c CE → Vakataka → Yadava · Satavahana Deccan urban (Godavari)
Paithan (ancient Pratishthana) — Satavahana capital (2nd c BCE–2nd c CE) on Godavari 56 km south Aurangabad, excavated 1970s by Allchin and 1990s Sontheimer.
🇮🇳 India · Ancient city
Mahajanapada 600 BCE → Mauryan → Gupta 4th c CE · Vatsa Janapada → Mauryan → Sunga–Gupta (Middle Ganga)
Kausambi (Kosambi) — capital of Vatsa Mahajanapada (c.600 BCE–300 CE) on Yamuna 56 km SW Prayagraj, excavated 1949–56 by G.R. Sharma (Allahabad University).
🇮🇳 India · Temple complex
Mauryan Ashoka → Sunga 3rd–1st c BCE · Sunga Buddhist Hinayana — early narrative sculpture
Bharhut Satna Stupa — Sunga–Satavahana Buddhist stupa (3rd c BCE Ashokan nucleus, 2nd c BCE Sunga rail decoration) at Bharhut 15 km Satna, discovered 1873 by Cunningham with 40 ft stupa, red…
🇮🇳 India · Ancient city
Sothi → Mature → Late Harappan / OCP 3000–1500 BCE · Indus Valley (Sothi–Harappan Eastern Domain)
Key Indus Eastern Domain type-site (c.3000–1500 BCE) on the Drishadvati–Sarasvati divide at Bhiwani, Haryana — two mounds (A 23 ha citadel, B 10 ha lower town) excavated 1968 by Suraj Bhan revealing…
🇮🇳 India · Ancient city
Early Harappan → Mature Harappan 3500–2000 BCE · Indus Valley (Sothi-Siswal / Harappan)
Largest Harappan necropolis in Haryana (c.2600–2000 BCE) at Daksh Khera near Farmana, Rohtak — 18.5 ha settlement plus 1.2 ha cemetery mound with 70 burials (extended, flexed, secondary) excavated…
🇮🇳 India · Ancient city
Maheshwar I Chalcolithic 1400–600 BCE → II Early Historic 600 BCE–400 CE → IV Holkar 1760 CE · Maheshwar Chalcolithic → Satavahana → Holkar Maratha
Historic Mahishmati–Maheshwar city on Narmada (1400 BCE–1760 CE) — Chalcolithic below Holkar fort and Maheshwari textile loom.