DERA GHAZI KHAN: Ancient rock art depicting a mountain goat and a map is fading fast owing to harsh climatic conditions, as neither the tourism nor archaeology department has attempted to preserve the ancient pictograph in the Leghari-dominated tribal area of Dera Ghazi Khan.

The pictograph is located on sand rock adjacent to Gharri Phusht village between Rakhi Moun and Rakhi Garj border military posts on Dera-Quetta Road.

According local tribal people, their forefathers had been telling them stories about this pictograph for long.

Ali Bukhsh told Dawn the pictograph is located at a path that leads to plains of Daman – an arid zone between the Sulaiman Mountain range and land irrigated by CRBC and DG canal.

“My great grandfather told stories about this picture to my grandfather. Since then, the story has been passed on to next generations,” he added.

Bukhsh also told an interesting story related to the painting. He said two years ago, some Pakhtuns from Balochistan had visited along with their family to see the pictograph. They took pictures of the painting situated in a gorge at the bottom of a mountain. Later, they climbed up the mountain, dug up a spot and discovered small metal elephant sculpture and a jug.

A few years ago, despite a ban on entry of foreigners in Dera Ghazi Khan, British tourists had allegedly dug up the colonial-era grave of an English woman, Maud Evelyn, who had died at Fort Munro during the birth of her baby boy, who later became a member of the British parliament. Now the grave lied empty.

Incidents of digging of ancient sites and graves are common in the area. History tells us that Pakhtuns inhabited the area before the arrival of the Baloch in 10th century. Before leaving, Pakhtuns dumped the resources of sweet water and left several marks of inhabitation in the Sulaiman range.

Archaeologists-anthropologists have been attempting to identify makers of the pictograph: cavemen, ancient inhabitants or those who were pushed out from here by Baloch tribes after the 10th century.

There is a need to preserve ancient archaeological sites of Dera Ghazi Khan and Rajanpur, which are important to trace out history of the area to educate coming generations.

Published in Dawn December 20th , 2014