Journal of Asian Civilizations

Barikot, Swat (1984-1992). Taxonomic Study of the Copper Alloy Objects

Luca Colliva — 2025-04-24

The excavation of the urban site of Barikot (Swat, Pakistan), with its forty years of systematic archaeological activity and stratigraphic sequence from the Chalcolithic to the 20th century AD, provides a very fruitful harvest of stratigraphic data that currently has few comparisons in the subcontinent. The cross-analysis of the artefacts and the stratigraphic data, although needing constant updating, provides crucial information on the material culture in the area and on its diachronic evolution. This article presents the taxonomic study of copper alloy objects found in Trenches BKG 1, 3 and 4-5 of the Barikot site cross-compared with the most updated chronological sequence proposed for the site and based on the recent archaeological excavations.

The ‘Cūḍā-chedana’: A Gandharan Relief from Saidu Sharif I (Swāt, Pakistan)

Antonio Amato — 2025-04-24

The following pages present a relief brought to light during the excavations of the Buddhist sacred area of Saidu Sharif I (Swāt, Pakistan) by the Italian Archaeological Mission and identified by the author during a survey in the Mission House. The relief represents the episode of cūḍā-chedana (the cutting of the hair), rarely depicted in Gandharan art. Apart from two reliefs (one from Kunduz and the other from uncertain provenance and kept at the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford), the relief of Saidu Sharif I is the only one coming from a documented archaeological context. The discovery of this relief sheds new light on the contribution of Saidu Sharif‟s workshop in the Gandharan artistic phenomenon, a subject that deserves further study.

Dance Scenes in the Panels of Gandhara Art: An Insight to the Recreational Activities of Ancient Gandhara

Kiran Shahid Siddiqui — 2025-04-24

In India, dance is connected with religion and dancers were considered as the servants of gods who performed to please them. There are few Gandhara reliefs which depict dance scenes signifying the popularity of this recreational art in the region. The present paper aims to reveal the fact that dance had been an essential attribute of the lives of the people of Gandhara region by exploring and exemplifying the Gandharan panels depicting dance scenes. The paper also analyses the dance scenes in terms of dance technical terminology.

Cultural Tourism Sites as Cultural Identity Makers: A Case Study of District Swat

Zulfiqar Ali Kalhoro — 2025-04-24

Being recalled as heritage heaven i.e. Swat, attracts purposeful and casual cultural tourists both domestic and international. Eventually, tourists and host community face each other with respective cultures exposed as well. This study has been conducted to look at this relationship. Qualitative strategy has been adopted to get exhaustive perspectives from the local populace. Three sub-locales including Bazira of Barikot, the Ghaznavid Mosque of Udegram and Swat Museum of Saidu Sharif, have been selected to see that how local make and remake their cultural identities with respect to these cultural tourism sites. Findings of this study reveal that there is significant role of cultural tourism sites of Swat in shaping the cultural identity of the populace.

Recreating Material Culture in Diaspora: The Private and Social Worlds of British-Pakistani Muslim Women1

Aisha Anees Malik — 2025-04-24

This article advances our understanding of material culture to include the everyday through an analysis of gendered cultural, religious and social practices as well as the physical spaces occupied by a diaspora community. The British-Pakistani Muslim women recreate their private and social worlds through remodelling their British (read alien) homes to accommodate their needs. They reclaim religious practices in mosques and celebrate weddings in ways that challenge patriarchal restrictions. They create special spaces through forming networks of help and advice. This allows them to not only preserve and promote their culture but also to negotiate oppressions. The result is the creation of private and social worlds that are unique to this diasporic community.

Revisiting the Cultural Heritage Laws in Pakistan to Identify Policy Gaps

Muhammad Anjum Saeed — 2025-04-24

This study provides a critical insight and identifies gaps in the contemporary cultural heritage laws in Pakistan. Apart from a quick historical review this study explores the push-factors on the lawmaking process, preferences and the connotation using the lens of culture. It is ontologically a reflective epistemology. It also argues that culture and economic conditions play a vital role in formulation and regulation of the cultural policies. The study highlights the role of UNESCO in promoting cultural heritage worldwide and its connectedness with the domestic evolution of cultural heritage laws in Pakistan. This paper is significant because the agency is renegotiated between the federating units and the federation after the 18th amendment in the constitution of Pakistan. However, it is significant for Pakistan to develop her image as a heritage loving nation in the comity of the nations. The social episteme to analyze the people’s behaviors and it is a diverse process that may be categorized in different logical scenarios. Looking at the motivations or pull-factors may bring forth the significance of ideas for promoting and preservation of cultural heritage for the future. The data was collected by using ethnographic research methods and tools including participant observation, in-depth interviews and focused group discussion.

A. Uesugi (ed.) Iron Age in South Asia. B. Research Group for South Asian Archaeology, Archaeological Research Institute, Kansai University, Osaka, 2018 [ISBN 978- 4-9909150-1-8]

Massimo Vidale — 2025-04-24

More than 20 years ago, Gregory L. Possehl and Praavena Gullapalli, in an important review essay entitled “The Early Iron Age in South Asia” (1999: 153), part of an excellent general comparative volume on the archaeometallurgy of southern Eurasia (Piggot 1999) wrote what follows: “[...] regional manifestations [like the late Bronze age cultures of Swat, the Painted Grey Ware, the Pirak assemblage, and the Megalithic complex: note by the authors] are seen as possible outgrowths of a series of local Bronze Age traditions that seemed to have an awareness of iron. An adequate understanding of the technological processes involved in the production of early iron will yeld much information regarding the transition to the Iron Age, but such an understanding has yet to be reached”.