🇮🇳 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).
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CategoriesAncient cities
Capitals, ports and metropolises that rose, fell and were found again.
🇮🇳 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 · Hydraulic works
Early to Mature Harappan to Late Harappan · Harappan (Sindhu–Sarasvati)
16 Harappan rock-cut reservoirs (2600–1900 BCE) — 250,000 m³ desert catchment, Dholavira.
🇮🇳 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 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 · Hydraulic works
Harappan (Early to Late Harappan 3000–1800 BCE) · Harappan (Indus Valley Civilization Kotada Timba)
Harappan desert city 16 rock-cut reservoirs and dam-fed canals 3000–1800 BCE on Kutch island.
🇮🇳 India · Ancient city
Bronze Age to Classical (3000 BCE–500 CE) · Bronze Age urban
Nalanda — Monastery 6 Ancillary Courtyard in Bihar, Nalanda, Nalanda Mahavihara, India is a Bronze Age to Classical (3000 BCE–500 CE) ancient city attribut…
🇮🇳 India · Ancient city
Iron Age (1200 BCE–500 CE) · Local Neolithic
Kiln Workshop Complex North in Ganga Plain, India is a Iron Age (1200 BCE–500 CE) ancient city attributed to Local Neolithic culture.
🇮🇳 India · Ancient city
Harappan (3500–1900 BCE; Pre-Harappan Sothi 3500; Mature 2600–1900) · Harappan Sothi → Harappan
Ghaggar Kalibangan excavated by Thapar & Lal 1960–69, ploughed field cross-furrows 2900 BCE earliest plough.
🇮🇳 India · Ancient city
Classical · Classical
Classical ancient-city at Haryana.
🇮🇳 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 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
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 · 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
Early Historic to Gupta 700 BCE–400 CE · Kalinga (pre-Mauryan) / Maurya
Massive fortified early historic city (7th/3rd c. BCE–4th c. CE) near Bhubaneswar, largest known settlement of its period in eastern India — nearly perfect square 1.2×1.2 km 1.3 km² with 9 m high…
🇮🇳 India · Ancient city
Vedic–Magadhan to Mauryan 1000–185 BCE; Buddhist pilgrimage continuous · Magadhan / Buddhist / Jain
First capital of Magadha (c.1000 BCE–c.400 BCE) nestled in ring of five hills, both Older (Bimbisara's Rajagriha) and New Rajgir enclosed by 40 km cyclopean rubble walls up to 8 m thick — India's…
🇮🇳 India · Archaeological wonder
Pre-Harappan to Mature Harappan to Late (~6500–1900 BCE; urban peak 2600–1900 BCE) · Indus Valley Civilization (Harappan, Hakra–Ghaggar)
Spread across seven mounds over 550 ha, Rakhigarhi surpasses Mohenjo-daro as the largest Harappan settlement, straddling the dried Ghaggar (Saraswati) river.
🇮🇳 India · Ancient city
Mughal 1571–1585 CE · Mughal (Akbar)
Mughal imperial city founded 1571 by Akbar as capital to honor Sufi Salim Chishti, combining Persian, Timurid and Gujarati-Rajasthani architecture in red sandstone.
🇮🇳 India · Ancient city
Mature Harappan 2650–2100 BCE (with Early/Late phases 3500–1800 BCE) · Indus Valley / Harappan
Harappan metropolis (2650–2100 BCE) on Khadir island in Great Rann of Kutch, the fifth largest Harappan site covering 100 ha with citadel, middle and lower towns and monumental water management.
🇮🇳 India · Submerged site
Late Harappan to Historical (maybe 1500 BCE onward; claimed 3500 BCE) · Harappan(?) / Historical Hindu
Ancient sacred city of Krishna described in Mahabharata, being searched offshore Bet Dwarka and Gulf of Khambhat.
🇮🇳 India · Hydraulic works
Harappan (2650–2000 BCE) · Harappan Dholavira
Kutch Dholavira excavated by Bisht 1989–, signboard 10 Indus signs and stadium 300 m.
🇮🇳 India · Ancient city
Gaya (IAST: Gayā) is a city, municipal corporation and the administrative headquarters of Gaya district and Magadh division of the Indian state of Bihar.
🇮🇳 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
Harappan Early-Mature (3200-1900 BCE) · Harappan
Rakhigarhi Citadel Mound Annex 7 South — Southern Extension in Haryana, Hisar, India is a Harappan Early-Mature (3200-1900 BCE) ancient city attributed to Harappan.
🇮🇳 India · Ancient city
Harappan Early-Mature (3200-1900 BCE) · Harappan
Rakhigarhi Citadel Mound Annex 7 South — Western Terrace in Haryana, Hisar, India is a Harappan Early-Mature (3200-1900 BCE) ancient city attributed to Harappan.