Disjunction, or continuity: Re-identifying the “Kushan” and “post-Kushan” periods at Kausambi

Abstract

The investigation of Early Historic sites has often found a culturally rich “Kushan” accumulation in contrast to the scanty finds of later centuries. This discrepancy has led to a hypothesis of urban decline and associated changes in socio-economic structure. However, more recent research has suggested that the missing archaeological record has primarily resulted from the poor investigation of the late occupation and related artefacts. This article is a case study to further discuss the issue by reexamining the excavated data from Kausambi, one of the largest Early Historic cities in the upper Gangetic plain. The coin-based chronological sequence derived from the residential area near the Ashokan pillar suggests that the habitation ended in the early fourth century CE. However, an observation of the ceramic evidence from the last period illustrates that the site was not abandoned after the “Kushan” age but occupied throughout the first millennium CE. The absence of the “post-Kushan” period is more likely a consequence of uncritical dating criteria. By pooling and integrating the available archaeological materials from other fieldwork around the site, this article will suggest a prolonged settlement of this great city and characterise its temporal patterns in a new and refined chronological framework.