MARDAN, Feb 4: A local archaeologist has claimed to have identified a new Buddhist site in the Bochakan village in the Mardan district’s Palai area. Usman Mardanvi told Dawn here on Sunday that the site had almost been destroyed by local people by digging the area in search of antiquities.

The Palai village is in a remote area of Mardan, bordering Malakand Agency, where scattered settlements and a large number of caves have been found.

Mr Usman said the Buddhist site dated back to the Kushan period, but it was not on the archaeological record.

He said the remains were scattered and located on the mountains, where caves were also found. He said area people had found no statues at the site, but recovered only coins and damaged pottery during excavation. He said some natural caves seemed to be residential units or worship places. He said pieces of broken pottery lay scattered in the Bochakan area.