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Charsadda The British-Pakistani Excavations at the Bala Hisar
Robin Coningham and Ihsan Ali
The Bala Hisar of Charsadda is a 23m high mound covering an area of some 25 hectares close to the confluence of the Swat and Kabul rivers in North West Frontier Province's Vale of Peshawa. Astride one of the arteries of the Silk Road, the uttarapatha, the mountain passes to its north and west link south Asia with central and western Asia. Strewn with thousands of ceramic sherds, cobbles and brickbats, the Bala Hisar was identified in 1863 as the city of Pushkalavati, one of the ancient capitals of Gandhar. Although not as formally investigated as Taxila to its south-east, it has been subject to antiquarian and archaeological interest for over 100 years on account of its historical links with the Achaemenid Empire and Alexander the Great. The focus of this research may have changed significantly over time, mirroring broader methodological and theoretical changes, but all researchers have attempted to identify when this great tell site was founded and occupied, and whether there is evidence of Alexander's siege of the site. These issues are not merely of interest to ancient historians but are of great interest to archaeologists of both southern and western Asia as the origins of South Asia second urbanisation are also under scrutiny, in Sir Mortimer Wheeler's words 'The outstanding importance of Charsadda lies in its earlier phases, when it was a metropolitan centre of Asiatic trade and meeting-place of oriental and occidental cultures'. Indeed, most archaeologists would agree that the Bala Hisar of Charsadda and Taxila are amongst the earliest cities that emerged during the subcontinent's second urbanization.
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Front Cover
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Title Page
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Copyright
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Table of Contents
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LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
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CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION
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CHAPTER 2: THE ENVIRONMENTAL SETTING
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CHAPTER 3: PREVIOUS ARCHAEOLOGICAL INVESTIGATIONS
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CHAPTER 4: THE NON-INTRUSIVE SURFACE SURVEYS
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CHAPTER 5: THE FORTIFICATIONS
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CHAPTER 6: THE HABITATION LEVELS
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CHAPTER 7: DATING THE SEQUENCE
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CHAPTER 8: THE UNGLAZED CERAMIC OBJECTS
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CHAPTER 9: THE METAL OBJECTS AND METAL-WORKING RESIDUES
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CHAPTER 10: THE GLASS OBJECTS
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CHAPTER 11: THE STONE OBJECTS
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CHAPTER 12: THE TERRACOTTA OBJECTS
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CHAPTER 13: THE GLAZED CERAMICS
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CHAPTER 14: THE IVORY, BONE AND SHELL OBJECTS
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CHAPTER 15: THE ARCHAEOBOTANICAL REMAINS
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CHAPTER 16: THE ARCHAEOZOOLOGICAL REMAINS
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CHAPTER 17: THE REGIONAL SYNTHESIS: A CONCLUSION
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REFERENCES
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APPENDIX 1
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INDEX
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Citable Link
Published: 2007
Publisher: BAR Publishing
- 9781407301532 (paperback)
- 9781407331904 (ebook)
BAR Number: S1709
- Excavation / Fieldwork / Survey
- Conflict / Military / Fortifications
- Ceramics and Pottery Studies
- Archaeobotany / Environment and Climate
- Central and South Asia
- Craft working (general titles, bone, glass, textiles, etc.)
- Classical and Hellenistic
- Bronze Age and Iron Age
- Archaeozoology / Bioarchaeology / Osteoarchaeology