Semthan


Semthan, also Semithan is a village 01 kilometer north of Bijbehara in Jammu and Kashmir in India. It has an archaeological site, the ancient site of Chakradhar where cultural sequences were stratified, from the Neolithic to the Indo-Greek and Kushan periods.

Excavations

The site was excavated during several seasons from 1977 to 1981. Upon excavation, the site revealed several occupation layers:
Period 1: pre-NBPW
Period 2: NBPW
Period 3: Indo-Greek
Period 4: Kushan Empire, Huna Kingdom
Period 5: Hindu
Period 6: Late Medieval, post 13th ccentury
Pottery wares were found in Level 3, as well as a seal with an Indo-Greek deity, and Indo-Greek coins. A large number of terracotta figurines were also found in Level 4.

Artefacts

Semthan was at one point a Greek settlement. Many figurines in the Hellenistic style were found during the excavations. The female figurines are fully dressed, with the left leg slightly bent, and wear the Greek chiton and himation, and the Hellenistic styles of Bactria are probably the ultimate source of these designs. It is thought that the Indo-Greeks introduced their artistic styles into the area as they moved eastward from the area of Gandhara into South Kashmir. The stratigraphy does not permit a precise dating of these statuettes, and the date has been broadly defined as probably pertaining to the period from the 2nd half of the 1st century BCE to the 1st or 2nd century CE, in effect covering the end of the Indo-Greek period to the early Kushan period.
Such Hellenistic drapped figurines have not been found at Taxila or Charsadda, although they are known to have been Greek cities, but probably this is mainly because excavations to Greek levels have been very limited: in Sirkap, only one eight of the excavations were made down to the Indo-Greek and early Saka levels, and only in an area far removed from the center of the ancient city, where few finds could be expected.