When Jarrige left for his heavenly abode on Nov 18, 2014 after attaining the status of a legend, Aurore Didier, his wife continued explorations in Sindh and Balochistan.

Speaking about her early life she said: “I was born and raised in a city environment in the Paris region. I am the second of three children. Two brothers, Julien and Christophe, work in the creation of Internet sites. My father, who belonged to a middle-class family settled in eastern France, is associated with the film sector, and is also a professional musician. I spent my childhood in an environment of arts and culture. I practised classical ballet and other dances for 15 years. These activities came to a stop when I started my second degree at the university and began to travel to Asia.”

Answering to a question as to why she got interested in archaeology, Aurore said, “As a child, I developed a passion for history, which was transmitted by my mother who took me to see permanent collections and exhibitions in museums and art galleries in Paris every week. She also bought numerous books on ancient arts and civilisations and historical novels.”

In 1974 a young French archaeologist couple commenced excavations in Balochistan and worked there for three decades

Further watching fascinating documentaries on ancient Egypt and on great pioneering explorers in Asia, she made up her mind to become an archaeologist when 10 or 12 years old. “After my Bachelor’s degree, I decided to study archaeology at the University Panthéon-Sorbonne, Paris. It is one of the best-known universities in France for this course,” she added.

Like many French students, she paid her university expenses by doing several jobs besides receiving some support from her family: “Since my first year at university, every summer I participated in various excavation missions in France and soon focused my studies on Oriental archaeology.”

Aurore first came to Pakistan some 15 years ago as a researcher working on Indus Valley civilisation. “During my first degree at the university, in a bookshop I discovered the exhibition catalogue Forgotten Cities of the Indus, published by Dr Jean-François Jarrige. This exhibition, held in Paris in 1988 (10 years before I entered university), was the first one devoted to the protohistory of Pakistan in France and in the world,” she said.

Fascinated by the enigmatic Indus civilisation and its predecessors, Aurore Didier asked her Oriental Archaeology teacher Prof. J.L. Huot that she wanted to focus her Masters’ research on the role of the Indus civilisation in the third millennium BCE trade in Middle Asia. Eventually Huot introduced her to Dr Roland Besenval, head of the French archaeological mission in Makran, who suggested that Aurore should join excavations at the protohistoric mound of Shahi-Tump (Turbat area, Kech-Makran, Balochistan) in 2000. “I was also welcomed, as a Masters’ student, within Dr Jarrige’s research team at Musée Guimet, National Museum of Asian Arts, Paris,” she added.

Elaborating her Balochistan experience, Aurore said, “I participated in six field-seasons of archaeological work in Makran under Besenval’s supervision. The work was carried out in cooperation with the Department of Archaeology and Museums of Pakistan.”

Although, she came as a student to train in excavation, she was later made in-charge of excavations. “In 2003, I started PhD work on the third millennium BC pottery produced in Makran that I defended in 2007 in Paris. I also published several articles and a book on the same topic in 2013,” she elaborated.

For Aurore, her time spent in Makran was an incredibly rewarding experience not only in the scientific research, but also at a human level. “I discovered a very beautiful region (with a rich past) and a great sense of hospitality. The local people were always very welcoming.”

She was always respected on the field and enjoyed discovering the local culture and traditions, “Working in the field, I also learnt the Balochi language. The work would have never been possible without the unfailing friendship of our Makrani friends. They provided a strong logistic support to the Pak-French team and helped us to preserve and highlight the local cultural heritage.”

“The objective is also to make improvements in the chrono-cultural sequence of the Indus civilisation and to study more thoroughly the transition between the Chalcolithic cultures and the Indus civilisation.”

Speaking about her present attention on Sindh, Aurore said, “From 2008, the French team was not able to work in Makran due to security concerns. We focused either on publications or on collection studies carried out in Karachi, where the antiquities found during excavations were stored.”

In 2012, Aurore became the scientific director of the French mission and decided to conduct new field research in Sindh. “This was also the starting point of the French archaeological research on the cultural heritage of Pakistan for the protohistoric period, initiated by Jean-Marie Casal in 1958 at Amri, a reference site for the cultural periodisation of southern Sindh,” she pointed out.

Aurore is determined to continue her exploration and find further connections between ancient cultures from Balochistan and Sindh, “The objective is also to make improvements in the chrono-cultural sequence of the Indus civilisation and to study more thoroughly the transition between the Chalcolithic cultures and the Indus civilisation.”

A couple of years ago in 2013 Aurore, with the support of Dr Jarrige and Besenval, launched the French archaeological mission in the Indus Basin, “The field programme, carried out with the cooperation of the Culture, Tourism and Antiquities Department, government of Sindh, and started in 2015, includes two field-operations conducted in collaboration with the Directorate of Archaeology and Exploration and Excavation Branch, Karachi.”

These are the excavations at the Indus civilisation site of Chanhu-Daro (Nawabshah area) and explorations in Sindh-Kohistan. “The 2016 field work (January-March) will welcome students from Sindh universities for excavation training and we plan to organise conferences and seminars.”

Aurore is at present a researcher at the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) Archaeology and Sciences of Antiquity, team ‘Archaeology of Central and Middle Asia’ (Nanterre, France). “After my husband passed away, I undertook the supervision, at CNRS, of the research programme titled ‘Indus-Balochistan’,” she said.

Observing that there is no specialised course in French universities apropos the protohistory of Pakistan, she held, “I had opportunity to teach courses on ancient Balochistan and the Indus civilisation in other institutions in France and abroad. I would endeavour to introduce this in French institutions.

Aurore is also the scientific director of an association (comprising 600 members) based in Paris which aims at promoting Asian arts and civilisations to the general public by offering courses, conferences and visits to exhibitions, and by organising cultural trips to Asia. Earlier, she had also participated in field-research in Turkmenistan, Oman and Ladakh (India-held Jammu & Kashmir).

Published in Dawn, Sunday Magazine, December 20th, 2015