Pakistan is a recent political entity on an ancient land. Though it is difficult to put a date on the antiquity of the civilization, it can be said with a degree of certainty that it probably goes back to the time when agriculture started as an organised activity, changing the very parameters that defined what it was to be civilised.
Time and gain experts have got to work in this ancient land because the mysteries have yet to be fully solved and the various layers of civilisation yet to be unearthed.
And, experts from all over the world find this land as a treasure trove of archeological sites -- and one such team has been of the Italians who have over successive attempts dug deeper into the mysteries that embody the Indus Valley.
Founded by Giuseppe Tucci, in 1956, the Italian Archeological Mission in Pakistan began as a research unit of the Centre of Excavation and Archeological Research in Asia. It reached its most productive phase under Domenico Faccenna, the giant of South Asian archeology.
Under his direction, the mission obtained important results from the outset with successful digs conducted in the Buddhist sanctuaries in Butkara 1, Panr 1 and Saidu Sharif 1-- an area between present day Mingora and Thana -- uncovering proto-historic graveyards, early and late historic settlements and Islamic monuments.
Domenico Faccenna, who was the honourary member of the Italian Institute for Africa and the Orient (ISO), dedicated the largest part of his scientific activity to many aspects of the past culture of the valley of Swat but, unfortunately, could not see the publication of this book because he passed away in Rome.
This publication is a relentless study and survey of the non-excavated Buddhist monuments of Swat. Together with an accurate description of the monuments discovered, they present a firm base on which to build an adequate and relatively satisfactory investigation of the sacred Buddhist Gandharan architecture in Pakistan, Afghanistan and related cultural areas, such as Central Asia. They do this through the various types of structures that are characteristic of such architecture -- stupas, viharas, columns, minor complementary structures, and the various complexes to which the latter belong, like sacred areas, monasteries, groups of dwelling units of monks, water supply and defence systems.
According to this working plan, it was intended to touch construction, techniques, materials, plasters, proportions, pictorial decorations, gilding and to take architecture on the whole in its spaces, volumes and relative design themes. It was to be supported by other classes of materials -- its various representations on reliefs, paintings, graffiti and above all reliquaries and models made of stone, bronze and terracotta.
Recently, there have been problems of reduced funding, stemming from the recession of the past five years regarding the programme, but the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Rome has considered culture a direct and indirect tool of economic development. In this respect Italy has been in the vanguard with some very successful integrated debt swap projects, first in Yemen and Egypt and now in Pakistan.
The example of Swat Valley is particularly emblematic since tourism with archeology playing a very vital part has traditionally been its second most important source of income. The objective is precisely to propose a model of intervention aimed at contributing to economic revival through the development of archeological tourism involving local communities.
It was also observed that whenever the local communities were engaged in the Mission’s work they managed to defend and preserve their local archeological sites. This model of sustainable protection initially conceived by Domenico Faccenna proved to be successful even under the most challenging circumstances.
This very wide-ranging work seems more like being done for the experts and specialists who study architecture meticulously and then draw their conclusions based on a numbers of factors. But it would be limiting to say that the book is only for the experts -- there is plenty for the layman interested in architecture of this ancient land and its relationship with the general cultural patterns that gave birth to it. This then feeds into the salient features of civilisation that thrived for centuries and may have formed the bedrock of various civilisations that succeeded it.
This volume has followed the first volume published last year and there is yet another in the process of being published, the need for which grew in the wake of new research that has been conducted since. It seems that the three volumes together will make a very comprehensive set for those with a budding interest but desiring deeper understanding. The small details and professionally rendered sketches that abound in the volume speak of the quality of the research and also its publications.