MULTAN, May 27: A Bahauddin Zakariya University PhD intern has discovered an archeological site at Vohawa in Dera Ghazi Khan.

The intern, Zubair Shafi Ghauri, is doing research on ‘Early and mature Harappan settlements along the dry bed of Bias’.

The site that he claims to have discovered is Bugiwala in Basti Kutani, some 4km away from the ruins of Dhera in Mauza Dagarwali.

The ruins of Dhera are already on the list of Federal Archeological Department as belonging to a period around 5000BC. The pottery found in the ruins is identical to that found in Mehargarh in Balochistan.

Talking to Dawn, Mr Ghauri said many of the pieces of pots he had found in Bugiwala were similar to the pottery found in the ‘Hakarra’ archeological sites (2800-3500BC) but their inner texture and work were different from that of ‘Hakarra’ pottery.

He said what made the Bugiwala site more interesting was that it had some pottery pieces of ‘Quetta wet-ware’ and Kot Diji period as well.

He however said that it had yet to be determined if Bugiwala and Dhera were separate

sites. He said the antiques found in Bugiwala were different from those found in Dhera.

Mr Ghauri is the divisional transportation officer of Pakistan Railways posted in Multan. He has a number of books and translation works in the subjects of history and archeology to his credit.