"Le forme della città: Iran, Gandhāra e Asia Centrale" Scritti offerti a Pierfrancesco Callieri in occasione del suo 65° compleanno. Serie Orientale Roma n.s. 34, 2023
East and West Vol. N.S. 4 (63) - No. 2 (December) , 2023
This paper intends to corroborate on the basis of the archaeological evidence the urban character... more This paper intends to corroborate on the basis of the archaeological evidence the urban character of the site of Butkara, known in the texts as Mengjieli/Massaga, by resuming Domenico Faccenna's study at the Barama site, identified by the scholar as the citadel of the largest urban centre in Swat. In the first section of this contribution, the ceramic material from Barama, published here for the first time, will be sequenced according to the structural macrophases proposed by the scholar and re-evaluated chronologically on the basis of comparisons with the well-dated Barikot ceramic sequence. In the second section, results and hypotheses derived from this study will be integrated into broader topographical and historical considerations.
By moving beyond the walls of monumental religious architecture, this article adopts a city-lens ... more By moving beyond the walls of monumental religious architecture, this article adopts a city-lens approach to the investigation of lived Buddhism in the third century cities of northern Gandhara. Based on the evidence available for the city of Barikot (Swat, N Pakistan), the layered complexity of urban religiosity is approached here through a contextual analysis of the built-up environment and intra-site spatial distribution of religious artefacts. By focusing on the interaction of three distinct urban realms (household, inter-household, Buddhist saṃgha) in two specific urban spaces, domestic spaces and urban temples, an argument is made for both the existence of a multi-layered household religiosity with compartmentalised forms of religious communication as well as for the appropriation of urban forms of religious communication by the urban Buddhist communities.
This paper examines the complexity of the entanglement between rural and urban space in historic ... more This paper examines the complexity of the entanglement between rural and urban space in historic South Asia through the lens of urban religion. The article is organized in two stages. First, ancient literature and archaeological evidence are used to rethink the centrality of the agrarian space in the formation and development of ancient cities and urban religions in South Asia. Second, by using the concept of spatial capital as an analytical tool I examine how the geographical assets held by Buddhist monastic insti- tutions in the countryside affected the economic and social mobility of urban actors in the city. This second section uses the ancient city of Barikot (Swat, Pakistan) during the first three centuries of the Common Era as a case study. On this ground, I argue a direct connection between the prominent role of the saṃgha in the transformation of social, economic, and political aspects of the ancient urban society in South Asia and its ability to master geographical space and relativize distances.
Open Access: https://brill.com/view/journals/nu/70/2-3/article-p184_4.xml
This report describes the three main areas excavated in Barikot (Swat) by the Italian Archaeologi... more This report describes the three main areas excavated in Barikot (Swat) by the Italian Archaeological Mission in Pakistan during the 2021-2022 campaign. The complex series of operations, typical of any archaeological excavation, was complicated by both the visible remains and the destruction resulting from a recent history of illegal excavations. Among other things, published reports of some important material from those excavations have recently circulated in academic circles. The three excavation areas illustrated in this report concern the following monuments or structures: an ancient Buddhist apsidal sacred building with annexed buildings in function until late antiquity (trench BKG 16); the portion of a small inhumation necropolis from the historic period (trench BKG 17); and a secondary gate of the ancient city, opened in the city wall as early as the Indo-Greek period (trench BKG 18). The report includes a preliminary analysis of palaeobotanical, radiometric and anthropological data, a presentation of ceramics, sculptures, coins and inscriptions, and some classes of materials (ornaments, terracotta figurines, bricks).
Moderne Stadtgeschichte (MSG), Bd. 1: 56-68., 2022
This paper discusses the role potentially played by the Buddhist community in boosting
the socia... more This paper discusses the role potentially played by the Buddhist community in boosting
the social complexity of the mountain copper site of Mes Aynak in Afghanistan between
the Late Kushan/Kushano-Sasanian (c. 3rd/4th century CE) and the Turkic- Hunnic phase (6th-7th century CE). Granted the limited stratigraphic data available, I conjecture that the Buddhist community, known in ancient times for their ability to establish new enterprises, might have played a role in managing the activities of extraction and processing of copper at Mes Aynak. Based on the spatial reading of Buddhist complexes within the city and on comparisons with other archaeological case studies in South Asia, I suggest that the “business virtuosity” of the Buddhist communities, in concert with local governmental and non-governmental authorities, led to overcoming local environmental constraints to such an extent that this inauspicious mining site transformed into a city.
This paper aims to draw attention to the so-called burial associated with the foundation of the Indo-Greek city wall (ca. 130–115 BCE) at the urban site of Barikot in the Swat valley (NW Pakistan), the mountainous area of the ancient region of Gandhāra.
The so-called burial at Barikot is here tentatively interpreted as ritual deposit aiming at legitimising the new idea of ‘city’ implied in the foundation of the city wall. This conjecture is made on the ground of a reassessment of the archaeological evidence for the burial pit at Barikot and in light of the multi-layered social and religious background of the actors involved in the foundation of the Indo-Greek city wall.
Annali Di Ca’ Foscari. Serie Orientale no. 1 , 2021
https://edizionicafoscari.unive.it/it/edizioni4/riviste/annali-di-ca-foscari-serie-orientale/2021... more https://edizionicafoscari.unive.it/it/edizioni4/riviste/annali-di-ca-foscari-serie-orientale/2021/1/monumental-entrance-to-gandharan-buddhist-architec/#!
The article presents a series of pieces excavated by the ISMEO Italian Archaeological Mission in two Buddhist sacred areas in Swat (Pakistan). The pieces are chosen for their connection to the theme of monumental entrances of cultic buildings. In the first case (Gumbat), the building is a shrine. In the second, (Amluk-dara) it is a Main Stupa. The pieces belong to three different entrance parts: lower sides of the stairs, decorated steps or stair-riser friezes, and decorated frames of doors. Pieces like these, which belong to specific architecture, can be hypothetically positioned in their places, allowing thus a more vivid reconstruction of the original appearance of the monuments. The decorative apparatus of the entrances to Buddhist monuments, although apparently extraneous to the religious language, is not less rich than the Buddhist iconographic programme illustrated on the stupas or inside the shrines. The second part of the article deals with the interpretation of the language of the entrance as ‘symbolic capital’ of the political élites, who were the donors of the great Buddhist architecture in Swat.
Religions, Society, Trade and Kingship: Archaeology and Art in South Asia and along the Silk Road, 3500 BCE–5th Century CE, South Asian Archaeology and Art 2016., 2020
Olivieri, L.M. and Iori, E. 2020. “Early-historic Data from the 2016 Excavation Campaigns at the ... more Olivieri, L.M. and Iori, E. 2020. “Early-historic Data from the 2016 Excavation Campaigns at the Urban Site of Barikot, Swat (Pakistan): A Shifting Perspective” in Greaves Andrade, L.R. and Hardy, A. (eds), Religions, Society, Trade and Kingship: Archaeology and Art in South Asia and along the Silk Road, 3500 BCE–5th Century CE, South Asian Archaeology and Art 2016. Dev, New Delhi: 79-103.
The study presents a set of new data, all coming from recent excavations in the ancient urban sit... more The study presents a set of new data, all coming from recent excavations in the ancient urban site of Barikot (Swat, Pakistan), which may allow a new look at phenomena hitherto considered certain, such as the delay of protohistoric phases, the so-called marginalization of Swat, and the beginning of urban phases seen in association with the Indo-Greek colonial power. In our reconstruction, the protohistoric phases end around 800 BCE, while, after a phase of negative interface, i.e. of significant abandonment, towards the middle of the first millennium, there are conditions for the establishment of an urban settlement in Barikot. At this stage, very significantly, for the first time, the local ceramic tradition is replaced by Gangetic and Iranian forms, which are interpreted as markers of a growing process of trans-regional trade relations. In this ongoing process of historical reconstruction, the silence of the archaeological component towards the so-called Mauryan phase, of which field archaeology has not yet managed to provide a clear picture, remains strident.
The article reports on the archaeological data provided by the 2018 excavation at the urban site ... more The article reports on the archaeological data provided by the 2018 excavation at the urban site of Barikot, Swat (NW Pakistan). The campaign focused on the last phases of occupation of some residential and cultic areas located in the SW sector of the city, Units C and B. The excavation in Unit C reveals that the reconstruction activity following the seismic event occurred at the end of Period VII (mid- 3rd century) caused a substantial contraction and redistribution of the living spaces. The investigation of the Kushano-Sasanian phases in some areas of the so-called Temples C and B, enriched our knowledge of these urban cultic areas, both in terms of architectural layout and ritual practices.
Nuclear Inst. and Methods in Physics Research B, 2019
In 2016 CIRCE and the ISMEO Italian Archaeological Mission in Pakistan launched a specific projec... more In 2016 CIRCE and the ISMEO Italian Archaeological Mission in Pakistan launched a specific project specifically aimed at investigating a cultural phase that had not been previously explored, namely the transition phase between Late Bronze/Early Iron age (1200–800 BCE) and Early-Historic phases (c. BCE 500–80 AD) in the ancient Gandhara region. Current excavations of the key-site of Barikot (Bir-kot-ghwandai), supported by a substantial series of new radiocarbon dates, provide a new, very detailed chronological-cultural framework for the social evolution of ancient Swat after the late Bronze age. Thanks to the radiocarbon data published in this work, for the first time at Barikot it has been possible to discover or better define the Achaemenian, Graeco- Bactrian and Indo-Greek acculturational phases. Barikot is identified with the city of Bazira/Beira mentioned by Alexander’s historians’ and the siege of Alexander the Great, in 327 BCE, falling exactly in one of the identified archaeological frames.
This paper represents the ideal companion of the preceding one. One of the major features documen... more This paper represents the ideal companion of the preceding one. One of the major features documented at Amluk-dara is the presumed presence of a huge central niche, which was the architectural target of the monumental staircase. The same feature has been documented in other stupas, such as Tokar-dara in Swat and Zar Dheri in the Hazara district, as well as in another gigantic stupa at Top-dara in Kapisa. The frontal niche which welcomed the believers at the summit of the staircase, might have had the shape and function of a door. A celestial door, not a real one, a kind of trompe l’oeil, through which transpires the spiritual being embedded in the apparent density of the material architecture. Doors/non-doors are often represented in small stūpas, and in the architecture represented in Gandharan reliefs. The analysis of these materials, their connection with real architecture, and the related symbolic values, are addressed in the following pages.
This article reports on the latest data provided by the 2014 excavation campaign at the Early His... more This article reports on the latest data provided by the 2014 excavation campaign at the Early Historic urban site of Bīr-koṭ-ghwaṇḍai, Swat. The campaign, which followed an intensive 3-year excavation carried out inside the SW quarter of the ancient town, focused on the SW external area, and revealed a complex sequence of constructions, collapses and abandonment of the external defenses of the site. The new data are compared with others from previous excavation campaigns in the same site.
"Le forme della città: Iran, Gandhāra e Asia Centrale" Scritti offerti a Pierfrancesco Callieri in occasione del suo 65° compleanno. Serie Orientale Roma n.s. 34, 2023
East and West Vol. N.S. 4 (63) - No. 2 (December) , 2023
This paper intends to corroborate on the basis of the archaeological evidence the urban character... more This paper intends to corroborate on the basis of the archaeological evidence the urban character of the site of Butkara, known in the texts as Mengjieli/Massaga, by resuming Domenico Faccenna's study at the Barama site, identified by the scholar as the citadel of the largest urban centre in Swat. In the first section of this contribution, the ceramic material from Barama, published here for the first time, will be sequenced according to the structural macrophases proposed by the scholar and re-evaluated chronologically on the basis of comparisons with the well-dated Barikot ceramic sequence. In the second section, results and hypotheses derived from this study will be integrated into broader topographical and historical considerations.
By moving beyond the walls of monumental religious architecture, this article adopts a city-lens ... more By moving beyond the walls of monumental religious architecture, this article adopts a city-lens approach to the investigation of lived Buddhism in the third century cities of northern Gandhara. Based on the evidence available for the city of Barikot (Swat, N Pakistan), the layered complexity of urban religiosity is approached here through a contextual analysis of the built-up environment and intra-site spatial distribution of religious artefacts. By focusing on the interaction of three distinct urban realms (household, inter-household, Buddhist saṃgha) in two specific urban spaces, domestic spaces and urban temples, an argument is made for both the existence of a multi-layered household religiosity with compartmentalised forms of religious communication as well as for the appropriation of urban forms of religious communication by the urban Buddhist communities.
This paper examines the complexity of the entanglement between rural and urban space in historic ... more This paper examines the complexity of the entanglement between rural and urban space in historic South Asia through the lens of urban religion. The article is organized in two stages. First, ancient literature and archaeological evidence are used to rethink the centrality of the agrarian space in the formation and development of ancient cities and urban religions in South Asia. Second, by using the concept of spatial capital as an analytical tool I examine how the geographical assets held by Buddhist monastic insti- tutions in the countryside affected the economic and social mobility of urban actors in the city. This second section uses the ancient city of Barikot (Swat, Pakistan) during the first three centuries of the Common Era as a case study. On this ground, I argue a direct connection between the prominent role of the saṃgha in the transformation of social, economic, and political aspects of the ancient urban society in South Asia and its ability to master geographical space and relativize distances.
Open Access: https://brill.com/view/journals/nu/70/2-3/article-p184_4.xml
This report describes the three main areas excavated in Barikot (Swat) by the Italian Archaeologi... more This report describes the three main areas excavated in Barikot (Swat) by the Italian Archaeological Mission in Pakistan during the 2021-2022 campaign. The complex series of operations, typical of any archaeological excavation, was complicated by both the visible remains and the destruction resulting from a recent history of illegal excavations. Among other things, published reports of some important material from those excavations have recently circulated in academic circles. The three excavation areas illustrated in this report concern the following monuments or structures: an ancient Buddhist apsidal sacred building with annexed buildings in function until late antiquity (trench BKG 16); the portion of a small inhumation necropolis from the historic period (trench BKG 17); and a secondary gate of the ancient city, opened in the city wall as early as the Indo-Greek period (trench BKG 18). The report includes a preliminary analysis of palaeobotanical, radiometric and anthropological data, a presentation of ceramics, sculptures, coins and inscriptions, and some classes of materials (ornaments, terracotta figurines, bricks).
Moderne Stadtgeschichte (MSG), Bd. 1: 56-68., 2022
This paper discusses the role potentially played by the Buddhist community in boosting
the socia... more This paper discusses the role potentially played by the Buddhist community in boosting
the social complexity of the mountain copper site of Mes Aynak in Afghanistan between
the Late Kushan/Kushano-Sasanian (c. 3rd/4th century CE) and the Turkic- Hunnic phase (6th-7th century CE). Granted the limited stratigraphic data available, I conjecture that the Buddhist community, known in ancient times for their ability to establish new enterprises, might have played a role in managing the activities of extraction and processing of copper at Mes Aynak. Based on the spatial reading of Buddhist complexes within the city and on comparisons with other archaeological case studies in South Asia, I suggest that the “business virtuosity” of the Buddhist communities, in concert with local governmental and non-governmental authorities, led to overcoming local environmental constraints to such an extent that this inauspicious mining site transformed into a city.
This paper aims to draw attention to the so-called burial associated with the foundation of the Indo-Greek city wall (ca. 130–115 BCE) at the urban site of Barikot in the Swat valley (NW Pakistan), the mountainous area of the ancient region of Gandhāra.
The so-called burial at Barikot is here tentatively interpreted as ritual deposit aiming at legitimising the new idea of ‘city’ implied in the foundation of the city wall. This conjecture is made on the ground of a reassessment of the archaeological evidence for the burial pit at Barikot and in light of the multi-layered social and religious background of the actors involved in the foundation of the Indo-Greek city wall.
Annali Di Ca’ Foscari. Serie Orientale no. 1 , 2021
https://edizionicafoscari.unive.it/it/edizioni4/riviste/annali-di-ca-foscari-serie-orientale/2021... more https://edizionicafoscari.unive.it/it/edizioni4/riviste/annali-di-ca-foscari-serie-orientale/2021/1/monumental-entrance-to-gandharan-buddhist-architec/#!
The article presents a series of pieces excavated by the ISMEO Italian Archaeological Mission in two Buddhist sacred areas in Swat (Pakistan). The pieces are chosen for their connection to the theme of monumental entrances of cultic buildings. In the first case (Gumbat), the building is a shrine. In the second, (Amluk-dara) it is a Main Stupa. The pieces belong to three different entrance parts: lower sides of the stairs, decorated steps or stair-riser friezes, and decorated frames of doors. Pieces like these, which belong to specific architecture, can be hypothetically positioned in their places, allowing thus a more vivid reconstruction of the original appearance of the monuments. The decorative apparatus of the entrances to Buddhist monuments, although apparently extraneous to the religious language, is not less rich than the Buddhist iconographic programme illustrated on the stupas or inside the shrines. The second part of the article deals with the interpretation of the language of the entrance as ‘symbolic capital’ of the political élites, who were the donors of the great Buddhist architecture in Swat.
Religions, Society, Trade and Kingship: Archaeology and Art in South Asia and along the Silk Road, 3500 BCE–5th Century CE, South Asian Archaeology and Art 2016., 2020
Olivieri, L.M. and Iori, E. 2020. “Early-historic Data from the 2016 Excavation Campaigns at the ... more Olivieri, L.M. and Iori, E. 2020. “Early-historic Data from the 2016 Excavation Campaigns at the Urban Site of Barikot, Swat (Pakistan): A Shifting Perspective” in Greaves Andrade, L.R. and Hardy, A. (eds), Religions, Society, Trade and Kingship: Archaeology and Art in South Asia and along the Silk Road, 3500 BCE–5th Century CE, South Asian Archaeology and Art 2016. Dev, New Delhi: 79-103.
The study presents a set of new data, all coming from recent excavations in the ancient urban sit... more The study presents a set of new data, all coming from recent excavations in the ancient urban site of Barikot (Swat, Pakistan), which may allow a new look at phenomena hitherto considered certain, such as the delay of protohistoric phases, the so-called marginalization of Swat, and the beginning of urban phases seen in association with the Indo-Greek colonial power. In our reconstruction, the protohistoric phases end around 800 BCE, while, after a phase of negative interface, i.e. of significant abandonment, towards the middle of the first millennium, there are conditions for the establishment of an urban settlement in Barikot. At this stage, very significantly, for the first time, the local ceramic tradition is replaced by Gangetic and Iranian forms, which are interpreted as markers of a growing process of trans-regional trade relations. In this ongoing process of historical reconstruction, the silence of the archaeological component towards the so-called Mauryan phase, of which field archaeology has not yet managed to provide a clear picture, remains strident.
The article reports on the archaeological data provided by the 2018 excavation at the urban site ... more The article reports on the archaeological data provided by the 2018 excavation at the urban site of Barikot, Swat (NW Pakistan). The campaign focused on the last phases of occupation of some residential and cultic areas located in the SW sector of the city, Units C and B. The excavation in Unit C reveals that the reconstruction activity following the seismic event occurred at the end of Period VII (mid- 3rd century) caused a substantial contraction and redistribution of the living spaces. The investigation of the Kushano-Sasanian phases in some areas of the so-called Temples C and B, enriched our knowledge of these urban cultic areas, both in terms of architectural layout and ritual practices.
Nuclear Inst. and Methods in Physics Research B, 2019
In 2016 CIRCE and the ISMEO Italian Archaeological Mission in Pakistan launched a specific projec... more In 2016 CIRCE and the ISMEO Italian Archaeological Mission in Pakistan launched a specific project specifically aimed at investigating a cultural phase that had not been previously explored, namely the transition phase between Late Bronze/Early Iron age (1200–800 BCE) and Early-Historic phases (c. BCE 500–80 AD) in the ancient Gandhara region. Current excavations of the key-site of Barikot (Bir-kot-ghwandai), supported by a substantial series of new radiocarbon dates, provide a new, very detailed chronological-cultural framework for the social evolution of ancient Swat after the late Bronze age. Thanks to the radiocarbon data published in this work, for the first time at Barikot it has been possible to discover or better define the Achaemenian, Graeco- Bactrian and Indo-Greek acculturational phases. Barikot is identified with the city of Bazira/Beira mentioned by Alexander’s historians’ and the siege of Alexander the Great, in 327 BCE, falling exactly in one of the identified archaeological frames.
This paper represents the ideal companion of the preceding one. One of the major features documen... more This paper represents the ideal companion of the preceding one. One of the major features documented at Amluk-dara is the presumed presence of a huge central niche, which was the architectural target of the monumental staircase. The same feature has been documented in other stupas, such as Tokar-dara in Swat and Zar Dheri in the Hazara district, as well as in another gigantic stupa at Top-dara in Kapisa. The frontal niche which welcomed the believers at the summit of the staircase, might have had the shape and function of a door. A celestial door, not a real one, a kind of trompe l’oeil, through which transpires the spiritual being embedded in the apparent density of the material architecture. Doors/non-doors are often represented in small stūpas, and in the architecture represented in Gandharan reliefs. The analysis of these materials, their connection with real architecture, and the related symbolic values, are addressed in the following pages.
This article reports on the latest data provided by the 2014 excavation campaign at the Early His... more This article reports on the latest data provided by the 2014 excavation campaign at the Early Historic urban site of Bīr-koṭ-ghwaṇḍai, Swat. The campaign, which followed an intensive 3-year excavation carried out inside the SW quarter of the ancient town, focused on the SW external area, and revealed a complex sequence of constructions, collapses and abandonment of the external defenses of the site. The new data are compared with others from previous excavation campaigns in the same site.
Conference programme Kolleg-Forschungsgruppe "Religion and Urbanity", 2023
Ambivalences of Religion: The Constitutive Tensions Within Religion in Urban Space
The concept of... more Ambivalences of Religion: The Constitutive Tensions Within Religion in Urban Space The concept of ambivalence - in difference to diffusion, histori-cal dialectics, development, or progress - takes a synchronic stance and observes tensions and contradictions. It stresses conflict and constitutive ambiguity, bi-polar orders, bi-valence at any given moment. The opposition in a religious or urban ambivalence is neither dissolved in good and bad religion, good and bad urbanity nor are such ambivalences seen as ephemeral and transitory. When using such a concept in a research approach, complexity is predicted as a condition for survival of a city or religion rather than a critical state. Even a quick glance at research literature demonstrates that cities and religion are characterised by contradictions or tensions. Even synchronously, and even in individual actors’ conceptions of urbanity or religion, both are internally com-plex and charged with tensions, and do not interact as two monoliths. The complexity of urbanity can be seen as constitutive of the ambivalences of the urban as a field of tensions that can be examined in terms of actors, positions, strategies and phe-nomena. Religion can likewise be described by ambivalence. Religious ambivalences have been described, for instance, by Jonathan Z. Smith with the conceptual pair of locative and utopian, Thomas Tweed as dwelling and crossing and Jörg Rüpke in the concept of the duplicity of religious (and divine) agency mutually constituting each other. As in the case of the urban, further ambivalences that do not just occasionally occur but are constitutive for what is em-braced by religion as an academic classification or people’s practices. Aiming at sharpening and perfecting a heuristic grid for the study of the mutual formation of religion and urbanity, the contributors will develop concepts of religion that are addressing material, socio-spatial, temporal, and power-related issues with a view on religious complexity in general and religious ambivalences in particular. The ultimate aim is to better grasp the entanglement between religion and urbanity and the ways urban and religious practices and ideas can change through the interferences of these internal tensions.
This is the programme of an international conference of the Kolleg-Forschungsgruppe (research gro... more This is the programme of an international conference of the Kolleg-Forschungsgruppe (research group) "Urbanity and religion: Reciprocal formations", November 2020
The contribution focuses on the geography of places associated by the Greeks in the retinue of Al... more The contribution focuses on the geography of places associated by the Greeks in the retinue of Alexander with wine and the myth of Dionysus and Herakles in Gandhāra, specifically the city of Nysa in the Kunar/Chitral valley. The study then analyses the economic spaces of wine production in the region until late antiquity. The existence of an actual 'Wine Belt' has been hypothesised in the past on the basis of archaeological data. This encompasses both Swat and the Kunar/Chitral area and roughly corresponds to the cultural region today called Greater Kafiristan or Peristan. Keywords Wine. Gandhāra. Gandhāran art. Alexander the Great. Hellenistic age. Archaeology. Ancient Pakistan. Ancient Afghanistan. Dionysus. Herakles. Greek historiography. Fashion Ware. Summary 1 Introduction.-2 In the Land of Dionysus. Alexander's Itinerary Through the Kunar, Bajaur, and Swat Valleys.-3 Dionysus from the Mediterranean to India.-4 Dionysus Strikes Back: At the Origins of Dionysian Scenes in Gandhāran Art.-5 Archaeology of Wine Making and Consumption in Swat.-6 Archaeology of Wine Production.-7 Wine Consumption Through Ceramics.-8 Conclusions. * Sections 1-4 of the present study, including the footnotes, on-site research, illustrations and map, are the result of a joint research done by Omar Coloru and Luca Maria Olivieri. These, by mutual agreement, each acknowledge a contribution of half of the section. Elisa Iori is the author of section 5-7, while the conclusions were collectively prepared by Omar Coloru, Elisa Iori, and Luca Maria Olivieri.
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Papers by Elisa Iori
investigation of lived Buddhism in the third century cities of northern Gandhara. Based on the evidence available for
the city of Barikot (Swat, N Pakistan), the layered complexity of urban religiosity is approached here through
a contextual analysis of the built-up environment and intra-site spatial distribution of religious artefacts. By focusing
on the interaction of three distinct urban realms (household, inter-household, Buddhist saṃgha) in two specific urban
spaces, domestic spaces and urban temples, an argument is made for both the existence of a multi-layered household
religiosity with compartmentalised forms of religious communication as well as for the appropriation of urban forms
of religious communication by the urban Buddhist communities.
Open Access: https://brill.com/view/journals/nu/70/2-3/article-p184_4.xml
the social complexity of the mountain copper site of Mes Aynak in Afghanistan between
the Late Kushan/Kushano-Sasanian (c. 3rd/4th century CE) and the Turkic- Hunnic phase (6th-7th century CE). Granted the limited stratigraphic data available, I conjecture that the Buddhist community, known in ancient times for their ability to establish new enterprises, might have played a role in managing the activities of extraction and processing of copper at Mes Aynak. Based on the spatial reading of Buddhist complexes within the city and on comparisons with other archaeological case studies in South Asia, I suggest that the “business virtuosity” of the Buddhist communities, in concert with local governmental and non-governmental authorities, led to overcoming local environmental constraints to such an extent that this inauspicious mining site transformed into a city.
This paper aims to draw attention to the so-called burial associated with the foundation of the Indo-Greek city wall (ca. 130–115 BCE) at the urban site of Barikot in the Swat valley (NW Pakistan), the mountainous area of the ancient region of Gandhāra.
The so-called burial at Barikot is here tentatively interpreted as ritual deposit aiming at legitimising the new idea of ‘city’ implied in the foundation of the city wall. This conjecture is made on the ground of a reassessment of the archaeological evidence for the burial pit at Barikot and in light of the multi-layered social and religious background of the actors involved in the foundation of the Indo-Greek city wall.
The article presents a series of pieces excavated by the ISMEO Italian Archaeological Mission in two Buddhist sacred areas in Swat (Pakistan). The pieces are chosen for their connection to the theme of monumental entrances of cultic buildings. In the first case (Gumbat), the building is a shrine. In the second, (Amluk-dara) it is a Main Stupa. The pieces belong to three different entrance parts: lower sides of the stairs, decorated steps or stair-riser friezes, and decorated frames of doors. Pieces like these, which belong to specific architecture, can be hypothetically positioned in their places, allowing thus a more vivid reconstruction of the original appearance of the monuments. The decorative apparatus of the entrances to Buddhist monuments, although apparently extraneous to the religious language, is not less rich than the Buddhist iconographic programme illustrated on the stupas or inside the shrines. The second part of the article deals with the interpretation of the language of the entrance as ‘symbolic capital’ of the political élites, who were the donors of the great Buddhist architecture in Swat.
aimed at investigating a cultural phase that had not been previously explored, namely the transition phase
between Late Bronze/Early Iron age (1200–800 BCE) and Early-Historic phases (c. BCE 500–80 AD) in the
ancient Gandhara region. Current excavations of the key-site of Barikot (Bir-kot-ghwandai), supported by a
substantial series of new radiocarbon dates, provide a new, very detailed chronological-cultural framework for
the social evolution of ancient Swat after the late Bronze age. Thanks to the radiocarbon data published in this
work, for the first time at Barikot it has been possible to discover or better define the Achaemenian, Graeco-
Bactrian and Indo-Greek acculturational phases. Barikot is identified with the city of Bazira/Beira mentioned by
Alexander’s historians’ and the siege of Alexander the Great, in 327 BCE, falling exactly in one of the identified
archaeological frames.
Conference Presentations by Elisa Iori
investigation of lived Buddhism in the third century cities of northern Gandhara. Based on the evidence available for
the city of Barikot (Swat, N Pakistan), the layered complexity of urban religiosity is approached here through
a contextual analysis of the built-up environment and intra-site spatial distribution of religious artefacts. By focusing
on the interaction of three distinct urban realms (household, inter-household, Buddhist saṃgha) in two specific urban
spaces, domestic spaces and urban temples, an argument is made for both the existence of a multi-layered household
religiosity with compartmentalised forms of religious communication as well as for the appropriation of urban forms
of religious communication by the urban Buddhist communities.
Open Access: https://brill.com/view/journals/nu/70/2-3/article-p184_4.xml
the social complexity of the mountain copper site of Mes Aynak in Afghanistan between
the Late Kushan/Kushano-Sasanian (c. 3rd/4th century CE) and the Turkic- Hunnic phase (6th-7th century CE). Granted the limited stratigraphic data available, I conjecture that the Buddhist community, known in ancient times for their ability to establish new enterprises, might have played a role in managing the activities of extraction and processing of copper at Mes Aynak. Based on the spatial reading of Buddhist complexes within the city and on comparisons with other archaeological case studies in South Asia, I suggest that the “business virtuosity” of the Buddhist communities, in concert with local governmental and non-governmental authorities, led to overcoming local environmental constraints to such an extent that this inauspicious mining site transformed into a city.
This paper aims to draw attention to the so-called burial associated with the foundation of the Indo-Greek city wall (ca. 130–115 BCE) at the urban site of Barikot in the Swat valley (NW Pakistan), the mountainous area of the ancient region of Gandhāra.
The so-called burial at Barikot is here tentatively interpreted as ritual deposit aiming at legitimising the new idea of ‘city’ implied in the foundation of the city wall. This conjecture is made on the ground of a reassessment of the archaeological evidence for the burial pit at Barikot and in light of the multi-layered social and religious background of the actors involved in the foundation of the Indo-Greek city wall.
The article presents a series of pieces excavated by the ISMEO Italian Archaeological Mission in two Buddhist sacred areas in Swat (Pakistan). The pieces are chosen for their connection to the theme of monumental entrances of cultic buildings. In the first case (Gumbat), the building is a shrine. In the second, (Amluk-dara) it is a Main Stupa. The pieces belong to three different entrance parts: lower sides of the stairs, decorated steps or stair-riser friezes, and decorated frames of doors. Pieces like these, which belong to specific architecture, can be hypothetically positioned in their places, allowing thus a more vivid reconstruction of the original appearance of the monuments. The decorative apparatus of the entrances to Buddhist monuments, although apparently extraneous to the religious language, is not less rich than the Buddhist iconographic programme illustrated on the stupas or inside the shrines. The second part of the article deals with the interpretation of the language of the entrance as ‘symbolic capital’ of the political élites, who were the donors of the great Buddhist architecture in Swat.
aimed at investigating a cultural phase that had not been previously explored, namely the transition phase
between Late Bronze/Early Iron age (1200–800 BCE) and Early-Historic phases (c. BCE 500–80 AD) in the
ancient Gandhara region. Current excavations of the key-site of Barikot (Bir-kot-ghwandai), supported by a
substantial series of new radiocarbon dates, provide a new, very detailed chronological-cultural framework for
the social evolution of ancient Swat after the late Bronze age. Thanks to the radiocarbon data published in this
work, for the first time at Barikot it has been possible to discover or better define the Achaemenian, Graeco-
Bactrian and Indo-Greek acculturational phases. Barikot is identified with the city of Bazira/Beira mentioned by
Alexander’s historians’ and the siege of Alexander the Great, in 327 BCE, falling exactly in one of the identified
archaeological frames.
The concept of ambivalence - in difference to diffusion, histori-cal dialectics, development, or progress - takes a synchronic stance and observes tensions and contradictions. It stresses conflict and constitutive ambiguity, bi-polar orders, bi-valence at any given moment. The opposition in a religious or urban ambivalence is neither dissolved in good and bad religion, good and bad urbanity nor are such ambivalences seen as ephemeral and transitory. When using such a concept in a research approach, complexity is predicted as a condition for survival of a city or religion rather than a critical state.
Even a quick glance at research literature demonstrates that cities and religion are characterised by contradictions or tensions. Even synchronously, and even in individual actors’ conceptions of urbanity or religion, both are internally com-plex and charged with tensions, and do not interact as two monoliths.
The complexity of urbanity can be seen as constitutive of the ambivalences of the urban as a field of tensions that can be examined in terms of actors, positions, strategies and phe-nomena.
Religion can likewise be described by ambivalence. Religious ambivalences have been described, for instance, by Jonathan Z. Smith with the conceptual pair of locative and utopian, Thomas Tweed as dwelling and crossing and Jörg Rüpke in the concept of the duplicity of religious (and divine) agency mutually constituting each other.
As in the case of the urban, further ambivalences that do not just occasionally occur but are constitutive for what is em-braced by religion as an academic classification or people’s practices. Aiming at sharpening and perfecting a heuristic grid for the study of the mutual formation of religion and urbanity, the contributors will develop concepts of religion that are addressing material, socio-spatial, temporal, and power-related issues with a view on religious complexity in general and religious ambivalences in particular. The ultimate aim is to better grasp the entanglement between religion and urbanity and the ways urban and religious practices and ideas can change through the interferences of these internal tensions.