Featured Pakistan: The Archaeological Marvel

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Mohenjo-daro Granary "Loading Dock"

REM Granary

Wheeler had workmen lifting bags of grain with ropes to illustrate his interpretation of the loading dock at the north edge of the so-called "granary". The square voids in the wall face would have been where wooden beams were inserted to support a wooden staircase or platforms. The areas where the workmen are standing would not have been a place to stand in antiquity.

 

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Archaeologists discover 2,000 years-old artefacts in Peshawar

PESHAWAR: Archaeologists in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa have discovered 2,000 years-old ancient metal artefacts from Peshawar Hayatabad neighbourhood.

The Archeology Department of the University of Peshawar in collaboration with the K-P Archeology Department had been excavating the Hayatabad Phase V site for the last three years.

The artefacts discovered include utensils, tools, and industrial items. The remains were traced back to the Sateen tribe, which dates back to the 2nd century BC.

The provincial authorities are reviewing the site for restoration and the decision to convert the site into a museum will be taken at a later date.

Earlier this year, Chinese archaeologists uncovered artefacts dating as far back as 1700 BC near Khanpur. The discovery suggested that there was a civilisation in the area long before the Gandhara civilisation.

The artefacts, including pottery, remains of metallic tools, and stone items, point to a link with Harappa and Mohenjo Daro civilisations – the two cradles of Indus Valley civilisation.

 

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Uncovering history: 4,000-year-old artefacts found near Khanpur

HARIPUR: Chinese archaeologists have uncovered some artefacts dating as far back as 1700 BC near Khanpur. It suggests that there was a civilisation in this area long before the Gandhara civilisation.

The relics, including pottery, remains of metallic tools, and stone items, point to a link with Harappa and Mohenjo Daro civilisations – the two cradles of Indus Valley civilisation.

According to sources, the discovery was a joint effort of students from three Chinese universities along with the Department of Archaeology who have been excavating a historical site near Bhaloot in Khanpur for a while.
Nasir Khan, an official of the Directorate of Archaeology and Museums, said that they had discovered a large number of pots, metal and stone tools during the excavation.

He added that the best part was that most of the relics had been recovered undamaged.

Nasir hoped that research on these relics would help provide clues to the civilisation which lived in this area over a millennium ago — even before the advent of Gandhara Civilisation.

The official said that the discovery was the result of the strengthening cultural ties between Pakistan and China in the wake of China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).

He added that it was due to an agreement for cooperation that Chinese archaeological experts had worked with the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa government to discover the relics.

“This discovery would not only open new chapters in history but would further help in understanding ancient civilisations,” he added.

He said the discovered antiquities would be displayed in a museum for general public.

 

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Traces of Alexander city found in Swat

MINGORA: The archaeologists have found the traces of the second missing city of Bazira that was established after the destruction of the lower city in the third century by a catastrophic earthquake.

The ancient Bazira is also known as the city of Alexander. The discovery occurred during the recent excavations in Barikot-Swat.

“Luckily we have found that missing gap. After the abandonment of the lower city in the third century, a smaller but complex urban settlement was rebuilt at the foot of Barikot Ghwandai,” Dr Luca Maria Olivieri, head of the Italian Archaeological Mission, told Dawn.

He said that archaeologists found not only the Hindu Shahi structure but also the traces of a small urban settlement and a citadel, which had been inhabited since the fourth century till the Ghaznavid time.

“The lower city, abandoned after a massive earthquake in the third century, was known as Bazira or Beira. The newly discovered city, according to an inscription found on the top of the Ghwandai, was called Vajirasthana. It means the fortified place of Bazira,” said Dr Luca.

He said that the most important and evident remains of the citadel were a fire temple, a Hindu Shahi fortress or palace, both coeval to a Hindu Shahi temple discovered in 1988 on the top of the Ghwandai.

The archaeologists found the scattered evidence of the Ghaznavid period and also the evidence of Medieval Dardic village (dated to 12th to 15th century AD) that was ultimately occupied by the Yousafzai tribe.

According to oral histories reported both from Barikot-Swat and Barikot-Dir, by a British officer in 1912, the original inhabitants of the area fled to Dir with their own chief Barya Khan and founded a new Barikot there.

Local and foreign tourists also started visiting the newly discovered site and term it an amazing addition to the realm of Gandhara civilisation.

Nattapach, a tourist, who visited the site with a group of other Thai tourists, said that he was excited to see such amazing archaeological sites. “It was a big city having a rich history,” he told, adding that Pakistan was the home of early Buddhism and it was important for Buddhists around the world.

Kampira, another Thai tourist, said that she learnt that the early Buddhists living in Gandhara region were the first to have introduced the image of Buddha that’s why she always wanted to visit Gandhara.

“Luckily I got the opportunity to visit Gandhara in Pakistan this time. I am happy and content to visit so many ancient Buddhist sites including ancient stupas, monasteries and statues,” she said.

 

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Archaeologists discover layers of Indo-Greek city in Swat

By Fazal Khaliq

MINGORA: Archaeologists in their fresh excavations here at Bazira, Barikot, have discovered large layers of the Indo-Greek city with weapons and coins as well as important pottery forms imported from Greek Bactria and from the Mediterranean area in second century BCE. Dr Luca Maria Olivieri, head of the Italian Archeological Mission in Pakistan, told Dawn that during their recent excavation in April-June his team unearthed some very important discoveries in Bazira, Swat. The team was formed by Italian and Pakistani archaeologists, including Elisa Iori of Bologna University, Cristiano Moscatelli of Naples University and Amanullah Afridi and Syed Niaz Ali Shah of the KP Directorate of Archaeology And Museums. Excavation trainings at Barikot are funded by the Pakistan-Italian Debt Swap Programme.

“Very little is known in the archaeology of the sub-continent about the material culture of the Indo-Greek. However, this time we discovered at Barikot ample layers associated not only to the Indo-Greek city (when the settlement was encompassed by the Defensive Wall, 2nd BCE), but also to the pre-Greek city, the Mauryan settlement (3rd BCE),” he said, adding that outside the Indo-Greek defensive wall extensive evidence of the proto-historic village (Gandhara Grave Culture; 7th-8th century BCE) were also found.

He said that during the recent excavations they also discovered a large late-Kushan Temple with four pillars on the northern part of the excavated area (3rd century CE). “This is the third coeval public cultic space found in the late city, and it is confirming the existence of Buddhist architecture, which has nothing to do with the mainstream stupa-cum-viharas layout of the contemporary Buddhist complexes. Vice-versa, these new architecture have more in common with Central Asian coeval examples and antecedents,” he added.
Terracotta baroque female figurine, circa 3rd-2nd BC. ─ Courtesy Italian Archaeological Mission in Swat

He said that during the excavations the archaeologists also discovered that all the pre-Greek layers were artificially destroyed and obliterated along the Defensive Wall at the time of its construction, to make space to the fortification, revealing conspicuous traces of the Iron Age village (7th BCE). Dr Luca said that his team was currently excavating one hectare with a stratigraphy from 7th BCE to 3rd CE in Bazira. The area corresponded to circa 1/12 of the entire city. “The KP government is about to acquire all the excavated areas and a large buffer area around them. We are really grateful to the efforts of the provincial department of archaeology and the government,” he said.

Terming the archaeological site of Barikot one of the largest and most important sites in future, he claimed: “I foresee that in future Barikot will become one of the largest and long-lasting excavation projects in Pakistan (30 years so far) if not in the entire sub-continent. It already represents the only Indo-Greek city excavated at that scale, and one of the few examples of a Kushan urban settlement scientifically excavated in South Asia.”

 

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A board game discovered from the Indus Valley Civilisation. Along with Ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia, it was one of three early civilisations of the Old World

 

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Mohenjo-daro Ring stones and Smaller Stone Objects

This excavation area is extremely important because it shows the discovery of broken ring stones that were used at the base or capital of large wooden columns, as well as three smaller stone objects with three holes drilled through the thickness. This area could be near a major entryway to a building or to part of the city.

 

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Tomb Of Asif Khan

The Tomb of Asif Khan (Urdu: مقبرہ آصف خان‎) is a 17th century mausoleum located in Shahdara Bagh, in the city of Lahore, Punjab. It was built for the Mughal statesman Mirza Abul Hassan Jah, who was titled Asif Khan. Asif Khan was brother of Nur Jahan, and brother-in-law to the Mughal Emperor Jahangir. Asif Khan's tomb is located adjacent to the Tomb of Jahangir, and near the Tomb of Nur Jahan. Asif Khan's tomb was built in a Central Asian architectural style, and stands in the centre of a Persian-style Charbagh garden.

 

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Plan To Conserve Hazrat Shah Ali Akbar Mausoleum

MULTAN, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 16th Jun, 2019 ) ::The provincial governmentapproved Rs 30 million proposal for the conservation of five centuries old mausoleum of Hazrat Shah Ali Akbar and a sum of Rs 5 million had been allocated for it in the budget 2019-20.

The funding of Rs 5 million was the part of annual development plan (ADP) in the Punjab budget2019-20, Incharge Archaeology department Multan Malik Ghulam Muhammad told APP.

He said that PC-1 of the project and its detailed cost estimation would soon be completed for its execution.

Saint, Hazrat Shah Ali Akbar, was a descent of Hazrat Shams Uddin Sabzwari and the mausoleum was built in 1585, he added.

Located at Suraj Miani (Kabuli Mohallah) in the suburb of Multan, the tomb of Hazrat Ali Akbar is a smaller version of the tomb of Hazrat Shah Rukn-e-Alam. It shares looks and architectural features with the mausoleum of Hazrat Shah Rukn-e-Alam which included an octagonal plan, three storeys and tapering angle buttresses crowned by turrets. Its walls are also decorated with brick designs and tile work.

The monument is an example of fine cut and dressed work with the combination of Multani glazed kashi tiles. The interior of the monument has been damaged considerably by the smoke of mustard oil lamps and the candles' smoke has spoiled the fresco painting or Naqashi work and lime plaster.

Glazed tiles on its exterior were also found chipped off and missing, and needed restoration while salt affected brick work also needed restoration.

The openings are provided with modern metallic grilles which needed to be replaced by terracotta 'Jali'. Some of the openings in the second storey have lost their wooden grilles and are now blocked with brick work. The walls have horizontal wooden beam courses. In faience embellishment and tile inscription, this tomb is richer than the tomb of Rukn-i-Alam, the report of Punjab archaeology department said.

Internally, there are original specimens of Naqashi though all in very precarious position and some of the rarest examples are Arabic designs in relief which can be seen in the interior walls.

The floor of the tomb is laid in bricks on edge. But in the entrance large square tiles with glazed designs have been laid. The platform, on which rests the edifice, has been plastered with cement.

In close vicinity are the Mosque of Ali Akbar and Tomb of his mother. The latter is in more precarious condition.

The plan proposes underpinning with fine dressed brick masonry at the salt affected parts of walls, providing and fixing wooden 'Jaalies' of Shisham wood, restoration of old wood doors, providing and inserting Shisham wood beams in brick masonry, application of lime plaster on exterior and interior of dome, restoration of Fresco work, Stucco tracery work, glazed kashi tile work, upgradation of platform and graves, brick flooring, and electrification of tomb.

https://www.urdupoint.com/en/pakistan/plan-to-conserve-hazrat-shah-ali-akbar-mausol-646097.html

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Some pics of the mausoleum

 

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France repatriates smuggled archaeological artefacts of Pakistan

A large number of smuggled archaeological artefacts of Balochistan, Pakistan, which were seized by the French Customs at the Paris Airport during the years 2006-2007, came to closure with their formal handing over to Pakistan.

Rodolphe GINTZ, Director General of Customs and Indirect Rights, Ministry of Action and Public Accounts of France handed over these rare and precious artefacts, from Balochistan civilization to the Deputy Head of Mission and Charge d'Affaires Muhammad Amjad Aziz Qazi in a simple restitution ceremony held at the Embassy of Pakistan to France, in Paris, today.

Amjad Aziz Qazi in his remarks thanked the Government of France and the French Custom Department for their support and concerted efforts for pursuing the repatriation case in the French courts and in completing the tedious and complicated legal formalities required for repatriation of these artefacts.

Rodolphe GINTZ, Director General of French Customs while speaking at the ceremony gave a background of the case noting that the artefacts were seized by the French Customs in pursuance of French obligations arising from UNESCO Convention of 1970 on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and transport of Ownership of Cultural property, to which both Pakistan and France are signatories.

Later, the Director General Customs formally handed over the Pakistani artefacts to the Deputy Head of Mission and Charge d'Affaires Embassy of Pakistan to France.

 

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1928: Ruins at Taxila - Rawalpindi

 

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Smuggled archaeological artefacts returned by France reach home

July 09, 2019

Archaeologist Aurore Didier points to some artefacts amongst the 445 artefacts from the 2nd and 3rd millennium BC which were seized by French customs between 2006 and 2007, before being returned by French authorities to Pakistan, during a ceremony at the Embassy of Pakistan in Paris, France, July 2, 2019. Photo: File/Reuters

"Some 512 artefacts dating back to [the] second and third millennium BC[E], stolen and smuggled from Pakistan to France" have returned to Pakistan, the Foreign Office announced in a press release on Tuesday.

Customs agents at Paris' Charles de Gaulle airport in 2006 had intercepted a parcel from Pakistan containing 17 terracotta pots addressed to a museum in the city, claiming they were more than 100 years old.

But an expert who examined them concluded they were artefacts dating back to the second or third millennium BC which had likely been stolen from burial sites in Balochistan.

Following an extensive investigation which lasted almost a year and involved a raid on the Paris gallery, investigators found a total of 445 items, some dating as far back as 4,000 BC, with an estimated value of $157,000.

Among the items were a series of beautifully-decorated pots, vases and jars, all painstakingly adorned with small, stylised motifs of animals, plants and trees.

There were also about 100 tiny ceramic figurines, as well as plates, bowls and goblets, all of which had been illegally shipped out of Pakistan for sale to dealers abroad.

“This is very, very important for us,” Abbas Sarwar Qureshi, head of the chancery at the Pakistani embassy where France's top customs official attended a formal handover ceremony, had said.

“Some of the items are 6,000 years old from the Mehrgarh civilisation,” he had told AFP, referring to an era that predates the Indus Valley civilisation which flourished around 3,000 BCE before mysteriously disappearing.

The Foreign Office stated that Pakistan’s Deputy Head of Mission Muhammad Amjad Aziz Qazi had thanked the Government of France, especially French Customs, the Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs, and the Ministry of Culture for their support and cooperation in completing the formalities for the restitution of the artefacts.

 

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The secret of Sindh's memorial stones is out

Salman Rashid

Courtesy Memorial Stones Thararkar

Over three decades ago, I saw for the first time a stele on the bank of Bhodesar pond outside Nagarparkar town in Sindh’s Thar region. It was a time of drought. The pond was dry and an upright sandstone slab was standing there.

The slab carried a beautiful carving of a horse rider, his raised left hand holding what appeared to be a staff. At his waist was a quiver bristling with arrows. In a panel immediately below the artistic rendering were a few lines of writing that I thought was in Hindi. Nearby was another slab bearing what was clearly the depiction of a woman. Her dress was notable for being quite similar to the ghagra still worn in Thar.

The loose ends of her ornate cummerbund came down to her knees. To the right of the woman’s figure was an arm raised upward as if in salutation. This disembodied arm was covered with bangles above the elbow — just as Hindu and Jain Thari women adorn their arms to this day. The writing on the second slab was much longer than that on the slab with the male figure.

Back then it was difficult to find an expert to divulge the secrets of the story and symbolism preserved in those stones. All I learned was that these were memorials to famous personages buried beneath them.

About that time I became acquainted with German scholar Dr Salome Zajadacz-Hastenrath’s seminal work on the funerary art of Sindh’s Chaukhandi tombs. I saw a vague similarity between the elaborate Chaukhandi carvings and the stele of Bhodesar. But nothing more.

It is only now, with the recent publication of Memorial Stones Tharparkar by Dr Zulfiqar Ali Kalhoro, that the secret of Bhodesar is fully out: the steles by the pond are not the only ones present in Sindh. Memorial stones harking back to historical persons and events are liberally strewn throughout the desert of Thar. We also now know that the Bhodesar stones celebrate Naraji, a prince who was sacrificed by his father Bhodo Thakur so that the pond was never empty of water.

Such memorials to local heroes are unknown in Punjab and other parts of northern Pakistan — as well as in northern parts of India. Unsurprisingly, however, we find the same art forms widespread in India’s Kutch region which is adjacent to Thar.

Kalhoro tells us the carved stones preserve tales of heroism of old. The hero – vir, surmo, jhujhar, surayah or sarfarosh in local languages – is celebrated for bravely resisting enemies and losing his life in combat. Intriguingly, many of the heroes lost their lives when one wedding procession crossed another or refused to give way in the crossing. In such cases, the grooms faced off in one-on-one combats — a rather meaningless Rajput silliness to engage in, one would say.

In some other events, the heroes lost their lives attempting to retrieve cattle from rustlers. We know that cattle-rustling was prevalent across the Subcontinent and we also know that successful rustlers were celebrated in their communities as superior combatants. Consequently, the one to retrieve his cattle from a famous villainous rustler was deemed a hero of great stature. And if he lost his life in the bargain, he was duly commemorated through depiction in stone.

Among all those heroes, jhujhar was the most venerated, notes Kalhoro. He embodied sat — goodness, truth and character. In order to avenge the ultimate disgrace of decapitation by his enemy, he continued to fight headless. He only collapsed after having killed a number of his enemies.

Memorial stones were introduced to Thar sometime in the 10th and 11th century, according to Kalhoro. He lists 11 different kinds of memorials carved either from sandstone and granite or coarse calciferous rocks. Many of these monuments celebrate heroes and their exploits through elaborate carvings; others are unadorned upright slabs and even cairns. Still others depict sati, a woman cremating herself on the pyre of her spouse or son.

The iconography on the stones documented in the book is handsome. One sees turbaned men in elaborate Rajput battle dresses, shod with fancy footwear and sitting astride gaily caparisoned horses. The riders bear swords in their right hands and spears in triumphantly raised left hands. Shields can be seen on their backs.

Monuments to the dead in Tharparkar | Courtesy Memorial Stones Tharparkar


Sati stones show equally gaily dressed women holding dead heroes in their laps. They can either be standing upright or sitting cross-legged, apparently awaiting along with a rider-less camel in front of him is celebration of a hero who successfully retrieved his stolen animals — the same event that is celebrated on many memorial stones from Thar.

This memorial from Thatta, Kalhoro perceptively points out, provides the connection between carved stones from Thar and the tombs in Chaukhandi — something missed by Zajadacz-Hastenrath.

Whether it is the art on the rocks of the Kirthar Mountains or on commemorative stones from Thar, he is our go-to person to unravel the secrets of ancient writings and symbols. And he has been working hard at it for years.

 

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AJK archaeology department gets control of 85 structures, places

MUZAFFARABAD: The Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) government has notified around 85 structures and places as ‘protected antiquities’ and given their control to the AJK tourism and archaeology department.

Two notifications to this effect were issued by the AJK information, tourism and information technology (IT) secretariat in March and June this year, said Ms Midhat Shahzad, secretary to the AJK government for information, tourism and IT, while talking to Dawn on Saturday.

According to the notifications, there were 14 sites in district Muzaffarabad, five in district Neelum, two in district Jhelum valley, 11 in district Mirpur, 18 in district Bhimber, 18 in district Kotli, nine in district Poonch, six in district Sudhnoti and two in district Haveli.

More sites would also be notified after completion of the identification process, Ms Shahzad said.

She pointed out that the entire state of Jammu and Kashmir was home to a large number of forts, worship places, gardens, inns, stepwells (baolis) and other sturdy structures built by its Muslim (including Kashmiris, Mughals and Afghans), Sikh and local Hindu Dogra rulers in accordance with their religious and cultural traditions and architectonics.

In the 13297 sq. kilometre territory of AJK alone, more than 100 archaeological and heritage sites had so far been documented, but many of them had undergone deterioration due to natural and man-made disasters and human vandalism, she said.

In October 2012, exploration and documentation of some archeological sites of Neelum valley had revealed for the first time that a vibrant civilisation existed in the picturesque area millenniums ago.

According to Dr Rukhsana Khan, who had initiated this documentation with the help of Taxila Institute of Asian Civilisations, the incidents of unlawful excavation of some historic sites in Neelum and Kotli district had deprived the nation of figurines, ancient coins, and other precious antiquities.

The worship places, whichwere left abandoned after the Hindu and Sikh population migrated to India held Kashmir in 1947, could not be looked after due to the non-existence of an archaeology department in AJK.

An ‘archaeology’ wing was added to the tourism department some six years ago, but with the induction of only two staff members.

“Yes this had been a handicap, but the situation is changing for good,” Ms Shahzad claimed, adding, there had been a growing realisation in the ranks of government of the need to identify, protect and rehabilitate heritage sites and antiquities.

“Issuance of notifications about the protected sites is its ample proof,” she said.

Ms Shahzad acknowledged that the concern and directions of the apex court had also helped her department and other officials concerned take effective steps for identification, protection and rehabilitation of these sites.

In many cases, she said, the land adjacent to the antiquities had been allotted to migrants or locals in disregard to the AJK Preservation and Protection of Antiquities Act, 1986 which prohibits initiation or execution of a development plan or scheme or new construction on or within a distance of 200 feet of a protected immovable antiquity.

“Immediately it may not be possible to demolish a private house constructed before the promulgation of this law but steps are being taken to remove official structures if any within 200 feet of the antiquities,” she said.

https://www.dawn.com/news/1492639

 

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Amb Sharif, Soon Valley, District Khushab

Temple