Ambassador Stefano Pontecorvo cares for Pakistan Archaeological Heritage

Islamabad: Ambassador of Italy in Pakistan Stefano Pontecorvo has said that his country will continue support to preserve the important Archaeological Heritage in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province and the rest of Pakistan.

Italy, he said, had been instrumental in the last few years to engage the Italian archaeological mission in Swat. “We want to extend this successful cooperation to the rest of the province and country. We have been working for around 60 years and we will continue for another 160 years,” he said.

The envoy said the Pakistani authorities had been cooperative. “This is a team effort. We are working together,” he added.

Swat used to be an autonomous political entity until 1969 when it merged into Pakistan. From the beginning the Italian mission was busy with archaeological excavations at Buddhist sites.

The most famous one was in Butkara, an ancient monastery very well known in Tibetan and Chinese circles as Tolo. But there were other sites to explore.

In 1984, a new excavation project was started at Barikot in Swat – known as Bazira in Greek – and identified in later sources as one of the cities conquered and refortified by Alexander. The earliest evidence found at Bazira goes back to the late Bronze age and early Iron Age.

After the Indo-Greeks, the city was occupied by the Sakas, the Parthians and finally the Kushans. After two massive and destructive earthquakes during the 3rd century AD when the Kushan empire collapsed, the area was put under the rule of the Sasanians.

From 2008 to 2010 the Italian Archaeological Mission couldn’t go to Swat because of the security situation. But they did keep up regular contact with landlords and local caretakers.

Immediately after the end of the military operation in 2011, the Italian mission applied for a large-scale programme, funded under the framework of the Pakistan-Italian Debt Swap Agreement.

This project included many activities for the protection of Swat’s cultural heritage. One of the most important one was the reconstruction of the Swat Museum.

Exactly 50 years after the inauguration of the Swat Museum in 1963, it was reopened on November 11, 2003. It has been rebuilt as a modern building constructed according to a seismic-resistant design.

Today archaeological tourism in Swat is on the rise. Most of the tourists are locals but there are also some foreigners. One of the positive side effects of the Italian mission’s large-scale work has been the popularisation of archaeology in Swat.

Among the Italian mission’s many accomplishments is the excavation near a place called Udegram, where they discovered the third-oldest mosque in Pakistan. It was established by Mahmud of Ghazni in the 11th century, and the team worked on the site between 1984 and 1999.