The discovery of the 1st century intact murals from the Buddhist site inSwat is a revolutionary achievement in the history of the Gandharacivilization in Pakistan.
According to the archaeologists, the discovery was a breakthrough inBuddhist archaeology and has immense importance.
The leader of the project, Saqib Raza, said, “We have discovered some rarefresco paintings belonging to the first century from the Abbasahib-ChinaBuddhist site in Barikot during our recent exactions. The paintings are indifferent poses including the namaskar pose. Six of them are visible andintact”.——————————
The director of archaeology and museums, Dr. Abdul Samad, said that thediscovery of the murals is a landmark achievement because for the firsttime the archaeologists confirmed finding intact fresco paintings at anarchaeological site of the Kushan dynasty in the Gandhara civilization.
“It showed that about 2000 years ago, residents of this area were using thefresco painting techniques. Thanks to the archeologists that theydiscovered the murals intact. There is no other example here in Gandhara offinding intact paintings,” he added.
The archaeologists have also found unique Kharosthi script inscriptions andcoins apart from murals.——————————
Read Top Stories
——————————
Dr. Samad explained that usually, the archaeologists develop the dating onartifacts on the stylistic basis in Buddhist sites, however, for the firsttime, the dating of the site was conducted on the basis of artifacts,coins, inscriptions, and paintings which were discovered during thescientific excavation of the site.
The director of the Italian archaeological mission in Pakistan, Prof Luca MOlivieri, said, “We believe that Swat and Gandhara had an importantpainting school whose traces have unfortunately faded away. The newwonderful evidence has now been documented at Abbasaheb-China, thanks todirector of archaeology and museums, Dr. Abdul Samad, to whom our gratitudeand admiration go”.
