A Protohistoric Grave from Aligrāma, Swat (KP). Funerary goods and chronological implications

Abstract

The protohistoric site at Aligrāma (Swat, KP, Pakistan) discovered by G. Tucci, was excavated from 1966 to 1983 by G. Stacul and S. Tusa and other scholars. In the last year of fieldwork, the mission rescued a grave exposed during construction works, which so far remained unpublished. Comparing the grave furnishings here published with those from other graves recently excavated at Gogdara and Udegram, dated in a systematic way by radiocarbon, it is possible to date this funerary assemblage from the 11th to the 9th centuries BCE. This grave is relevant for the presence of two iron objects and a chlorite vessel, very rare in the inventories of the graveyards so far published.