Kolkata, March 5 (IANS): A pitcher full of cowries used as currency in ancient times has been unearthed while digging for the construction of a house in a village in north West Bengal's Cooch Behar district, officials said.

The exact period to which the find date backs to is yet to be ascertained.

However, the district administration is mulling to inform the Geological Survey of India (GSI) about the discovery in the Karjipara locality of Chamta village in the Nakkatigach gram panchayat area.

"The pitcher full of cowries was unearthed when the ground was dug for construction. We need to ascertain the era they belong to," said an official.

It is for the third time that archaeological items have been unearthed in the district in the past few months.

A large number of old utensils used for religious rituals and broken idols of gods and goddesses were recovered from Gosanimari area of Dinhata sub-division.

Earlier, artefacts/items related to ancient architecture and utensils were unearthed from the Phoolbari area under Tufanganj police station.

Historians opined that the articles could date back to the times when the region was known as Kamtapur and was ruled by Koch kings.