Correlating findings from the Central Helmand Archaeological Study (CHAS) with those from previous surveys in the Central Helmand Valley, Afghanistan

Abstract

The Central Helmand Archaeological Study (CHAS) was a rapid archaeological reconnaissance led and undertaken by the author in 2011 to support counterinsurgency efforts on behalf of the Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan (GIRoA) and the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in central Helmand Province. Due to the volatility in the region and the imperative to produce results that would have an immediate operational effect, the author had to forego conventional preparations which would have necessarily included a lengthy review and analysis of previously recorded sites in the region. The situation being as it was, the primary objective of this paper is to review the data that were collected and to determine whether the sites identified and investigated in the course of the CHAS can be linked to any previously recorded sites. To accomplish this task, a system for deciding whether the sites recorded in the CHAS match any previously recorded sites is devised and described. The second objective of this paper uses what information can be gleaned from the CHAS to increase archaeological knowledge of the central Helmand valley. Towards these ends, five sites that were recorded in the CHAS are found to have been previously unrecorded and are described. In those cases where the sites examined in the CHAS overlap with previously recorded sites, the CHAS supplements what has been known of the sites with new information on the sites' composition and chronology.