Early historical trade: An overview

Abstract

The beginnings of early historical trade may be traced to the sixth century Bc with the epicentre in the middle Ganga valley. A recent study has shown that an elaborate hierarchy of settlements crowned with urban centres had already emerged during this period.’ Even a minor centre such as Jakhera which represents the third rung of the hierarchical order produced evidence of craft activities. These craft activities indicate trading and redistributive functions of smaller sites though participation in longdistance trade was restricted to the towns and cities of north India, such as Kausambi, Rajghat, Campa, etc. Religious centres, especially Buddhist monasteries also flourished in the vicinity of these large settlements. The introduction of coinage sometime after the sixth century Bc represented a new level of trading activity both in volume and in organisation.1 These trends continued to intensify and by 350-100 Bc even minor sites such as Chirand in Bihar and Jajmau in Kanpur district were involved in long-distance trade. In addition towns such as Atranjikhera appeared capable of supporting religious establishments which were previously associated only with the largest cities. The period was also important for the

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