In 1954-55 the author laid out a trench in the southern part of the mound and found shards of the Painted Grey Ware which is the characteristic ceramic industry met with at all the sites associated with the Mahabharata story. This discovery was confirmed by subsequent excavations as well. These excavations revealed that from the Mahabharata times (circa 1000 bce), the site continued to be occupied up to the British times —a span of 3000 years. Thus, Indraprastha is the earliest and longest-lived city of Delhi.