The remains of Bhir Mound, the earliest city site of ancient Taxila, are located between the railway station and the Tamra nala and are partly occupied by the Taxila Museum Complex in the southern side. According to local tradition, Bhir Mound was the most ancient of all the sites at Taxila, and this tradition has been fully confirmed by excavations, which show that this city had already been destroyed thrice and rebuilt before the Indo-Greeks founded the new capital, now known as Sirkap.
According to Sir John Marshall, Bhir Mound dates from 6th to 2nd century BCE. During his time, only two portions were unearthed here. Later excavations have also revealed structures in two small areas. The eastern complex, quite a large area, is composed of houses, city streets and lanes with a drainage system, and sanitary arrangements etc. The western complex excavated by Marshall was identified as a temple or shrine.
The layout of the city was haphazard, the streets for the most part being narrow and tortuous. No defensive walls of the city have been attested. The exposed remains comprise residential and commercial structures, divided by streets and lanes. Each house in Bhir Mound had a soak-well in its courtyard. A large open courtyard stood in the center and 15 to 20 small rooms were arranged around the courtyard. The houses had windows, and it seems that the roofs were made of wooden beams arranged side by side and covered with mud. It is presumed that this area with the houses belonged to the elite. The structural remains are mostly built of combined limestone and Kanjur.
The discoveries from Bhir Mound including a bent bar coin currency, Aramaic writings which provided the origin of punch marked coins and inscriptions in a local script known as Kharoshti. Numerous other artifacts such as household pottery, large storage jars, terracotta toys, toilet trays, beads of semi-precious stones, glass, bone and ivory objects, stamp seals, metal objects and several articles of daily use have also been unearthed from the site.
Bhir Mound has undergone numerous excavations. Sir John Marshall and his colleagues excavated Bhir Mound from 1913 to 1925, Sir Mortimer Wheeler from 1944 to 1945, Dr. Muhammad Sharif in 1967 to 1968, Mr. Bahadur Khan from 1998 to 2001, and Dr. Ashraf Khan from 2002-2003. During Dr. Ashraf Khan’s work, the remains of two distinct cultural periods, the Achaemenian and the Mauryan, were revealed.
The Achaemenian Emperor Darius-I conquered Gandhara in 6th century BCE and founded Bhir Mound as the provincial capital city. After the defeat of Darius-II, Taxila became independent under the local ruler Ambhi, who surrendered to Alexander the Great in 326 BCE. At that time Bhir Mound was a prosperous city of Taxila. Here, Alexander received envoys from King Abhisares of Nikator and forced him to enter into an alliance with him.
The death of Alexander in 323 BCE broke the very fabric of his vast empire. Prince Chandragupta of the Mauryan dynasty, taking advantage, united Indians under his flag, drove the Greek garrisons out of Taxila and proclaimed himself as sovereign king of India. In 305 BCE, Chandragupta defeated Seleucus under Mauryans, Taxila enjoyed the status of a provincial capital and a great educational and trade center. The Crown Princes of the Mauryan Empire like Susima, Ashoka and Kunala also governed the city. After Ashoka, the Mauryan Empire disintegrated and in 2nd century BCE Gandhara and Bhir Mound were overrun by Indo-Greeks, who shifted the city capital of ancient Taxila from Bhir Mound to Sirkap.
Bhir Mound has been included in the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1980 under the convention concerning the protection of the world cultural and natural heritage.