PESHAWAR, Sept 7: A three-day international symposium ended on Wednesday with a demand to upgrade the archaeology department to the ‘institute of archaeology’. Several resolutions were passed at the symposium on ‘Latest discoveries in cultural heritage of ancient Gandhara and other parts of Pakistan’.

The symposium was organized at Mingora by Peshawar university’s department of archaeology in collaboration with the Gandhara Art and Culture Association, Lahore. Many scholars of national and international repute presented research papers.

The participants suggested the setting up of an association to develop interaction and coordination among South Asian archaeologists and researchers.

Publication of a gazetteer on Buddhist sites in Gandhara was also recommended. It was decided that a list of such sites in Uddyana of the Swat valley would be prepared as a first step.

Prof Farid Khan, a former chairman of the archaeology department, spoke on anthropomorphic terracotta figurines of ancient sites in Bannu and the Gomal Plain.

Prof Harald Hauptmann of Germany presented a paper on ‘foreigners along the upper Indus’. Dr Massimo Vidale of Italy talked about the latest discoveries in Swat.

Prof Abdur Rehman, a former chairman of the archaeology department, spoke about the ethnicity of the Gandhara region. He referred to tribes, races and their roots in the region since 1500BC. He said the Odis were the dominant ethnic group of Gandhara in the mediaeval times.

Dr Tigran K. Mkrtychev of Russia threw light on the Buddhist art of Gandhara and Bactria in Afghanistan.

Mastoor Fatima of Shah Abdul Latif University, Khairpur, spoke on the origin and development of Lotus flower in the Buddhist Art.

Ibrahim Shah talked about the antiquity of the Panjpir Cult and its archaeological evidences and development in northwest areas of Pakistan.

Prof Setsuko Cornish of Japan and Saeedur Rehman talked about archaeological investigations at the Buddhist site of Ranigat.