Ghorakatora
| Location | Lat. 250 25’ N ; Long. 810 54’ E |
| District | Nalanda |
| State | Bihar |
| Excavation Years | 2007-08 |
| Director of Excavations | P.K. Mishra |
| Assisted by | N.G.Nikoshey, S.Nayan, J.K.Tiwari, A.Arif & Neetesh Saxena. |
Site Ghorakatora near Giriyak is situated in between Biharsharif and Nawada on national highway No.31. Rajgir is 8km. west and Nalanda is 19 km north-west from the site. It is a massive mound situated on the eastern bank of river Panchane, having an area approx 22.74 acres, measuring about 900 mts. north to south and 500mts east to west.
On the basis of ceramic industries, antiquities and other material cultural recovered from the excavation the following chronology is suggested.
| Period I | Northern Black Polished Ware culture (600 to 200B.C.). |
| Period II | Gupta and Post-Gupta period (300 to 800 A.D.) |
| Period III | Pala period (800 to 1200 A.D.). |
The ceramic industries consists degenerated Northern Black Polished Ware, Black-and-Red ware and Red ware and important shapes are deep bowl, basin, bowls vases, lamp, spouted pots, lid miniature pots, channelled basin and storage jars.
Antiquities recovered during the small scale excavation mostly are terracotta human figurine, animal figurine, wheel, ear-lobe, stopper, sling ball, dabber, beads and inscribed sealings. Small sculptures of Buddha in Bhumisparsa and Dharmachakra pravartan pose and Vishnu in Samabhanga pose made of stone were also found. Nail and nail parer are among the iron objects. Bone point and fragments of votive stupas made of stone were also the noteworthy findings.
