The Gandharan region (NW Pakistan) from the Iron Age to the Hellenistic period: a study in the rise of a complex culture across local traditions, Iranism and Hellenism based on ceramics

Abstract

This dissertation attempts to give some insights into the complexity of the Gandharan cultural identity during the Early Historic Period (5th-1st centuries BCE) through the study of the ceramic material. The excavations carried out during these three years of research at the site of Barikot(Swat, Pakistan),within the framework of the ISMEO Italian Archaeological Mission in Pakistan, have finally allowed to set a taxonomic and chronological sequence of the Early Historic ceramic corpus anchored to a substantial set of radiocarbon dates. The pottery markers identified for each Early Historic phase (Achaemenid, Mauryan, Graeco-Bactrian, Indo-Greek) were used as practical tools in order to obtain a reassessment of the fuzzy chronological sequences of the sites previously excavated in Gandhara, mainly Charsadda and Taxila. Cross-linking the data from the various excavations allowed to reconstruct the interaction trends, and their long term implications, between the various Gandharan areas during the second half of the 1st millennium BCE. The contextualization of this set of data within a broader geopolitical context enabled to reframe the emulation processes and the socio-cultural shifts triggered by the political developments which took place in Gandhara during the Early Historic Period, thus revealing the extremely dynamic ground on which the Gandharan cultural identity was constructed.