Italy's Acheological Mission in Swat - Northwestern Pakistan (Italian - Urdu & English subtitled)

THE SWAT MUSEUM (V2 - ENGLISH)

The Italian Mission in Northern Pakistan, ancient Gandhara, founded by Giuseppe Tucci in 1955 in the Swat Valley is the oldest Italian archaeological mission in Asia (outside the Near East), and one of those having triggered a vast menu of options and shared interest with Italy's Aid to development and technical cooperation in Pakistan and Central Asia.

The scientific director of this remarkable operation is Professor Luca Maria Olivieri, teacher of archeology and cultures of Gandhara at the Ca' Foscari University of Venice. The Italian Mission in Pakistan boasts over 65 years of scientific and operational activities in Swat - Northwestern Pakistan - and in the country, with important links with other similar schemes in Central and South Asia; it is remarkable how the mission supported the restoration of the Buddhist rock sculptures in Jahanabad, the megalithic Buddha sculpture and a bodhisattva, that had been hit ans damaged by the Talibans during the period of their insurrection, 2007 -2009.

Over the past decade, as part of the "Archaeological Map of the Swat Valley" project, a study was completed of the Bir-kot-ghwandai region, with reconnaissance of the Karakar, Kandak and Kotah valleys: several new archaeological sites have been identified, for the majority Buddhist settlements (3rd-5th century AD), and in the middle valley of Kandak and in the territory of Talang, near Kotah, some new sites and painted shelters, confirming the importance of the area. geographic for the knowledge of the rock painting of Swat. Thanks to this study, Swat with its data recorded on the human genome, is among the areas of the ancient world best studied from the point of view of DNA. From 2011 to 2016, the Mission also supported the "Archeology Community Tourism" -Field School Project in Swat (ACT), a bilateral Italian-Pakistani project financed within the framework of the Pakistan-Italian Debt Swap Agreement (PIDSA), up to about 2.5 million euros. This project featured a model of the interplay among scientific activities for heritage conservation and preservation, technical education and vocational training at the theme- and sector-level, and investments for local development and community-building. One of the most reparkable features of this project consists of the reconstruction of the Swat Museum destroyed by an attack in 2008, thus reopened in 2013, and the restoration of the Buddhist site of Saidu Sharif.

As an important indication of national ownership, the Mission's main excavation site in Barikot, Alexander the Great's city of Bazira, recently saw strong financial intervention from the Pakistani provincial government, which acquired the land on which the ancient city stood as a protected heritage for future generations. After finalization of the "Archeology Community Tourism" -Field School Project, the provincial government spent about 3 million euros for the acquisitions of the archaeological lands of Swat exploited by the project, including the sites of Jahanabad and Barikot; about 1.5 million euros were allocated for the latter.

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