PESHAWAR, Sept 5: The fourth phase of excavation at Gor Khuttree, for to gather material for compiling the cultural history of Peshawar, started here on Monday. The Director, Archaeology and Museums, NWFP, Prof Dr Ihsan Ali, and the curator of Peshawar Museum, Saleh Mohammad, supervised the excavation.

The excavation is in progress under a project launched in March 2003 for digging out exact cultural history of Peshawar, the oldest city in the region.

Speaking on the occasion, the director said the excavation had so far exposed a continuous profile of two thousand years, starting from British era way back to the Kushan period, when Peshawar was the capital of a vast empire from Central Asia to the Bay of Bengal.

The objective of the project, he added, was to highlight the archaeological importance of Peshawar city throughout the world and to project the Gor Khuttree, which was not only an ancient monument but was also a revered place for Hindus and Buddhists.

Presently, he said, exact profile of Peshawar city did not exist and it was not clear how old the city was.

Earlier, renowned archaeologist Prof Ahmad Hassan Dani made efforts to carry out excavation at the remains with the same objective. But the excavation could only be traced back to the Achaemenian period in 600BC.

The present excavation, he said, had been carried out up to 23 feet and had led to the discovery of the Kushan period which flourished in second to fourth century AD.

The evidences recovered, including coins, pottery, copper products and decoration pieces, were related to Kushan period, he added.

Prof Ali said Peshawar was the oldest city in South Asia and its uniqueness was that it had flourished throughout its life.

The project, he continued, also included establishment of a city museum and a research centre within the premises of Gor Khuttree. Evidences recovered during the excavation would be displayed in the museum, he said. The city museum will contain items related to the history of Peshawar.

Furthermore, he said, under the project the archaeology and museum department would also take measures for preservation of the existing buildings of Mughal, Sikh and British periods in Gor Khuttree.

The archaeology department has released funds to the city development municipal department for carrying out conservation work at the site.

After completion of the project, the exact cultural profile of Peshawar would be found out and the Peshawarites would get an opportunity to witness historical evidences of their old city, he observed.—APP