The early historic site at Phanigiri was first discovered and protected during the period of Nizam and was excavated from 1941 to 1944 by Sri Khaja Mahamad Ahmad. Phanigiri is not a lone site in this zone . There are several Buddhist sites in the proximity of the site such as Vardhamanukota, Gajulabanda, Tirumalagiri,Nagaram, Singaram, Aravapalli, Iyyavaripalli, Arlagaddagudem, Yeleswaram etc.
it is one of the important Buddhist monasteries strategically located on the hilltop,on the ancient trade route (Dakshinapatha) connecting the west and the east coast of the Deccan. This evolved Buddhist monastery surpasses the monasteries at Amaravathi and vijayapuri (Nagarjunakonda) in Andhrapradesh.
In the course of excavation few valuable cultural material and structural remains are unearthed. The important antiquities found are beads of stone and glass, shell bangle fragments, stucco motifs, broken lime stone sculptures, toy cart wheel, iron nails, lead coins, pottery and the important finding is coin hoard.
Coin Hoard:
On 29 th of march a globular pot measuring 16.7cm in diameter and 15cm in height was unearthed at a depth of 40cm from the ground level in the Sothern most monastic cell. The mouth of the pot was covered with shallow pot on outside and a broken base of a bowl on inside. This pot was unearthed and opened in the presence of N. Sagar, excavation director, B. Mallu, co-excavator, S. Rushikesh,site supervisor , S. Raviteja, trench supervisor, Dhivya, Trench Supervisor, Satish,Photographer and all the other daily workers. After opening the pot it came to know that the pot was filled with lead coins. All the coins were taken out from the pot and counted, the coins are three thousand seven hundred thirty (3730) in number and the average weight of each coin is 2.3g. After close observation by the team it came to know that all coins are similar and made of lead. The coins has an elephant symbol on obverse and ujjain symbol on reverse. with strata graphical and typological studies we can come to a conclusion that these coins belong to Ikshvaku period.
