Pak claims Peshawar oldest living city in S. Asia!
Peshawar has officially been claimed the “Oldest Living City’’ in South Asia by the Archaeology Department.
It boasts a recorded history that goes back as far as at least 539 BC. Archaeologists are resuming excavation at historic Gor Khatri monument in Peshawar to discover the exact archaeological profile of the ancient city. A recent archaeology excavation at Gor Khatri established Peshawar as the oldest living city in South Asia as claimed by Archaeology Department.
“Still after claiming to be the oldest living city of South Asia, the exact archaeological profile of Peshawar is not discovered yet because the excavation at Gor Khatri was stopped before reaching the virgin soil due to shortage of funds,” Dawn.com quoted Saleh Mohammed, director Archaeology and Museum Department Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, as saying.
“Once the capital of Gandhara, Peshawar is so old that its origins are lost in antiquity,” said Dr Ihsan Ali, former director Archaeology Museum Department and presently vice-chancellor Abdul Wali Khan University Mardan. Mr Ali said that presently there is no exact profile of Peshawar city and it is not clear how old Peshawar is. “Resumption of excavation at Gor Khatri would enrich the archaeological profile of Peshawar because we are hoping of discovering more evidences of life beyond the period from 4th to 6th century BC”, said Mr Mohammed.
The excavation was published in the British journal Current World Archaeology with the title as ‘’The deepest and biggest excavation in the world’’.
The excavation discovered that Peshawar was a province of Persian Alchamenian Empire in 4th to 6th century BC, Mr Mohammed said. The provincial government of Peshawar, acting on a recommendation made by STC, has declared the year 2010 as a “Celebrate Peshawar” year.
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