Ancient tombs discovered in Pakistan’s Swat (AFP)
Italian archaeologists say they have discovered a cemetery that reveals complex funeral rites dating back more than 3,000 years in Pakistan’s Swat valley, recently controlled by the Taliban.
The Italian mission began digging in the 1950s at Udegram, a site of Buddhist treasures in Swat, the northwestern district formerly known as the Switzerland of Pakistan for its stunning mountains, valleys and rivers.
Archaeologists were aware of a pre-Buddhist grave site in Udegram, but only recently discovered the collection of almost 30 graves, tightly clustered and partially overlapping.
“Some graves had a stone wall, others were protected by walls and enclosures in beaten clay,” Luca Maria Olivieri, head of the Italian mission, told AFP.
“The cemetery… seems to have been used between the end of the second millennium BCE and the first half of the first millennium BCE,” he added.
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K2: On this day in 1954, an Italian expedition finally succeeded in ascending to the summit of K2 via the Abruzi Spur after several previous attempts by both Pakistani and international climbers. The expedition was led by Ardito Desio, although the two climbers who actually reached the top were Lino Lacedelli and Achille Compagnoni. The team included a Pakistani member, Muhammad Ataullah, who had been a part of the 1953 American expedition. Also on the expedition were the famous Italian climber Walter Bonatti and Pakistani Hunza porter Mahdi Khan, who proved vital to the expedition’s success in that they carried oxygen to 8,100 metres (26,600 ft) for Lacedelli and Compagnoni. Their dramatic bivouac in the open at that altitude wrote another chapter in the saga of Himalayan climbing.
K2 (also known as Savage Mountain, Mountaineer’s Mountain, Mount Godwin-Austen, Balti: Chogori and Sarikoli: Mount Qogir) is the second-highest mountain on Earth, after Mount Everest. With a peak elevation of 8,611 m (28,251 feet), K2 is part of the Karakoram Range, and is located on the border between Baltistan, in the Gilgit–Baltistan region of Pakistan, and the Taxkorgan Tajik Autonomous County of Xinjiang, China. It is more hazardous to reach K2 from the Chinese side; thus, it is mostly climbed from the Pakistani side.
K2 is known as the Savage Mountain due to the difficulty of ascent and the second-highest fatality rate among the “eight thousanders” for those who climb it. For every four people who have reached the summit, one has died trying. Unlike Annapurna, the mountain with the highest fatality-to-summit rate, K2 has never been climbed in winter.
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Pakistan: Buddha Attacked by Taliban gets Facelift
JAHANABAD, Pakistan (AP) — When the Taliban blew the face off a towering, 1,500-year-old rock carving of Buddha in northwest Pakistan almost five years ago, it fell to an intrepid Italian archaeologist to come to the rescue.
Thanks to the efforts of Luca Olivieri and his partners, the 6-meter (nearly 20-foot)-tall image near the town of Jahanabad is getting a facelift, and many other archaeological treasures in the scenic Swat Valley are being excavated and preserved.
Hard-line Muslims have a history of targeting Buddhist, Hindu and other religious sites they consider heretical to Islam. Six months before the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, the Taliban shocked the world by dynamiting a pair of 1,500-year-old Buddhist statues in central Afghanistan.
The Jahanabad Buddha, etched high on a huge rock face in the 6th or 7th century, is one of the largest such carvings in South Asia. It was attacked in the fall of 2007 when the Pakistani Taliban swarmed across the scenic Swat Valley. The army drove most of them out two years later, but foreign tourists who used to visit the region still tend to stay away.
Olivieri himself had to leave in 2008 after more than two decades of tending to the riches dating back to Alexander the Great and the Buddhist, Hindu and Muslim invaders who followed. The 49-year-old head of the Italian Archaeological Mission in Pakistan returned in 2010 and is back at work. Read more
For similar news stories visit http://culturalsecurity.net/newssummary.htm
(via culturalsecurity)
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Moin Khan reaching Lahore on 31st December
Remember the guy who took on his bike from USA to Pakistan? He has reached Pakistan and will be arriving in Lahore on 31st December - go see him!
(Details here, Official website)
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pak-socioeconomy:
In this photo taken Aug. 1955, Italian climber Walter Bonatti, right, is seen on the Italian side of Mont Blanc. Walter Bonatti, an Italian climber who won belated recognition for his contribution for the first ascent to the summit of K2—the world’s second-highest peak in Pakistan, has died. He was 81. It wasn’t until 2008 that the Italian Alpine Club confirmed Bonatti’s version, declaring that Bonatti and his fellow support climber Amir Mahdi had a decisive and essential role in the success of the 1954 expedition.
RIP
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The viceroy Lord Wavell in his study by Doc Kazi on Flickr.
Field Marshal Sir Archibald Percival Wavell, was a British field marshal and the commander of British Army forces in the Middle East during World War II. He led British forces to victory over the Italians, only to be defeated by the German army. He was the penultimate Viceroy of India from 1943-47. (via philosofi)
What many of you know might not be aware of is that Doctor Kazi holds a treasure trove of historic photographs on his Flickr account.
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K2 is the second-highest mountain on Earth after Mount Everest. With a peak elevation of 8,611 metres (28,251 ft), K2 is part of the Karakoram Range, and is located on the border between Xinjiang, China, and Gilgit in Pakistan.
K2 is known as the Savage Mountain due to the difficulty of ascent and the 2nd highest fatality rate. For every four people who have reached the summit, one has died trying. Unlike Annapurna, the mountain with the highest fatality rate, K2 has never been climbed in winter.
The standard route of ascent, used far more than any other route, is the Abruzzi Spur located on the Pakistani side. An Italian expedition finally succeeded in ascending to the summit of K2 on July 31, 1954. The expedition was led by Ardito Desio and included a Pakistani member, Colonel Muhammad Ata-ullah. There is only one-third as much oxygen available to a climber on the summit of K2 as there is at sea level. Although the summit of Everest is at a higher altitude, K2 is a much more difficult and dangerous climb, due in part to its more inclement weather and comparatively greater height from base to peak. The mountain is believed by many to be the world’s most difficult and dangerous climb, hence its nickname “the Savage Mountain.”
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