PESHAWAR: The first phase of excavation at the 2,000-year-old city of Pashkalavati, near Charsadda, about 25 miles from here, has been completed jointly by the Peshawar University Archaeology Department and the Cambridge University archaeological mission under the supervision of Dr Ahmad Hassan Dani and Dr Alchin. The remains of the original city have been found.

They said the first phase of excavation, which is almost complete, included the uncovering of one block of house of the Kushan period.

The second phase would include tracing out the whole city to uncover the Scythian period and in the third phase the Greek period. In the remaining two years, other aspects of the old city would be traced and research done on the findings.

They disclosed that as a result of the excavation, which the two universities jointly started, the original city of Pashkalavati which flourished between the second century B.C. and the third century A.D. had been discovered. From the burnt wood they discovered during the excavation, it became known that the city was burnt and destroyed in the third century A.D.

The city discovered, they said, was well-planned with streets laid down on a pattern which showed its Greek origin. Streets and a block of several houses have been discovered.

The structure of the houses, they said, shows three main types corresponding with phases so far uncovered. In the uppermost level, the houses were built of pressed mud with pebbles, very much like the houses found presently in nearby villages. Under these houses were found stone walls of masonry typical of Kushan period.

At a still lower level, an extensive series of mud-brick walls were found.

Nearly 200 copper coins have been found from the top-most level belonging to Kanishka and his successors dating to the second century A.D. The middle strata belong to the early Kushan period and the lower strata to the Scytho-Parthian period dating to the first century B.C. — Agencies