Italian Archaeological Mission Visits Hazara University

Shazia Mehboob

Mansehra: The Hazara University in Mansehra was visited by the Italian Archaeological Mission to Pakistan on Friday. The mission team was led by the University of Naples, Italy Department of African, Asian, and Mediterranean Studies “L`Orientale” Dr Michele Minardi.

Students Michele Prota from the University of Chicago in the United States; and Alice, Casalini and Martina Caprioli from CaFoscari University in Italy accompanied Dr.Minardi. Additionally, they visited the Museum of Archaeology and different divisions of the Department of Archaeology, especially the newly established Experimental Archaeology Lab.

They were briefed about the history, faculties, departments, disciplines, and admission procedures of the university as well as information on the museum, its establishment, various programmes, ongoing projects, and the general ongoing research activities of the Department of Archaeology.

The Museum In-Charge Dr.NaveedUsman gave them a briefing on the artefacts’ exhibition and amenities when they arrived at the museum. He gave an explanation of the Experimental Archaeology Lab; its equipment and working protocols, and their usage in the archaeological sciences.

To benefit students at Hazara University and the Italian universities affiliated with the Mission, the guests wanted to forge closer professional links and share relevant programmes with the University.

On behalf of Dr. Luca Maria Olivieri, Dr. Michele Minardi presented some publications of the Mission to the Seminar Library of the Department of Archaeology at Hazara University Mansehra. All attendees received publications as gifts from Department of Archaeology Chairman Dr.Shakirullah, along with a set for the Mission’s library.

The team also went to the Buddhist Archaeological Site in Zar Dheri and the Asokan Rock Edicts in Mansehra after leaving Hazara University.

Since the early 1950s, a foreign archaeological expedition has been working on the archaeology and heritage of Swat (ancient Udhyana).

Giuseppe Tucci, a renowned Tibetologist and Orientalist, made his first trip to Swat (Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province) in 1955, sparking the start of Italian archaeological work there. The Italian archaeological mission of IsMEO, the institute chaired byTucci (later IsIAO, now ISMEO), assumed a major position in the archaeology of the Indo-Pakistani subcontinent, and so started a 60-year period of uninterrupted activity.