SAHIWAL: Archeologists have found a statue that may be 1800-2000 year old, apparently of a deity, during an ongoing excavation at the ancient site of mound Dillu Roy, in Kot Chutta area of Dera Ghazi Khan district.

According to Muhammad Hassan, Deputy Director, Punjab Archaeology department, south circle, the clay statute that was found with its head, an arm and torso separated might belong to a pre-Khusan dynasty having a link with Gupta period.

Mr Hassan who is supervising the excavation going on for the last six weeks said the statue was discovered at the floor level of a trench that had been dug one meter deep so far.

He said it seemed as if the statue was fixed in a wall or placed at some height and later fell on the ground.

He said the statue was of a woman that seemed to have religious connotation and meaning, as it had signs of a garland around its neck with some beads still intact. Similarly, a string of beads decorating its head with hair combed in traditional style. “It may be of a goddess,” he added.

“Archeologists are investigating to find what era it belonged to, but according to initial assessment it could be around 1800-2000 years old.”

He said it might belong to Scythian Period of history which meant it could be more than 2000-year old.

It was the most significant discovery made so far during the excavation, Mr Hassan said.

The ongoing excavation project for which the provincial archaeology department had allocated Rs17.323 million would be completed in two months.

Mr Hasan said the archeological site was very rich and unique and could belong to scyth-parthian time period. The structural style of the site was also very significant as most of the structure was built with big suzie sun dried bricks measuring 37x23x5cm, he added.

He said said so far during the past four weeks excavation different types of artifacts like pottery, stone objects, terracotta beads, human and animal figurines and rusted copper coins had been found, besides the clay statue.

Mr Hassan and his associates believe that more evidence of pre-Kushan dynasties, such as Scythe-Parthians, could be found after the digging went deeper.

The archeologists said there was also a strong possibility of finding archaeological evidences belonging to Greek period and their presence in south western part of Punjab.

Published in Dawn, February 27th, 2020