Fwd: [Ind-Arch] Pushkalavati Archaeological Research Project

July 31, 2008

(I am forwarding a mail by Carlos. I have been posting his messages in Ind Arch here. You may also refer

/message/135 for his earlier messages - Kishore patnaik )

---------- Forwarded message ----------Carlos Aramayo <cararam50Mon, Jul 28, 2008 at 2:22 AM

[ind-Arch] Pushkalavati Archaeological Research ProjectIndiaArchaeology

Dear friends,Dr Cameron Petrie from Cambridge is leading a project of excavation atCharsadda, the ancient site of Pushkalavati, known to be built byorder of Lord Rama with the name of his eldest son in the region of

Ghandarvas. Petrie tries to continue the work already done by RobinConingham in the nineties and published as a book in 2007, which Ialready reported in this group, dealing with the theory of DrConingham, CONFIRMED by Dr Gregory Possehl, that early pre-urban

stages in Northern India and North Western South Asia that led toSECOND URBANIZATION began by 1300 or 1200 BC. Petrie's interest is to have more information about subsequentperiods: Achaemenid, Mauryan, etc., even Medieval or later:

" The Bala Hisar of Charsadda is strategically located; close to theKhyber Pass, adjacent to the junction of the Swat and the KabulRivers, and at a critical point where the trade and communicationroutes through the mountain passes from Central Asia and China meet

the major route across the north of the sub-continent.In mid-late2006, Nasim Khan of the Department of Archaeology at the University ofPeshawar and Cameron Petrie of the Department of Archaeology at theUniversity of Cambridge established a collaborative research agreement

between their universities. The Director General of Archaeology andMuseums, Government of Pakistan invited this collaboration to applyfor a permit to carry out excavations at Bala Hisar of Charsadda, anda licence was granted in October 2006. This research project developed

under the aegis of the Ancient and Medieval Gandhara Research Group,which is one of the key research clusters of the Society for SouthAsian Studies " .For more information visit the following URL and links in the webpage:

http://www.arch.cam.ac.uk/pushkalavati/Maybe many members thought that with Coningham's work everything inCharsadda was over, but Petrie goes on...

Best regards,Carlos -- Love is a fruit in season at all times,

and within the reach of every hand.~:~ Mother Theresa ~:~