SUKKUR, March 13: A Sindh Archaeology Department team visited the pre-historic site of Lakhian-Jo-Daro near here on Thursday and handed over to the DCO a letter from the director general of Pakistan Archaeology Department seeking his help in removal of encroachment from the 5,000-year-old ruins.

The team’s leader Deputy Director Mazhar Ali Mirani handed over the letter to the DCO and requested him to help remove encroachments from the site and provide protection so that extensive research work could be carried out at the site expected to start next week.

The team arrived in Sukkur after receiving reports about leasing out of a piece of plot of the historical site for construction of a rice mill. It visited the site and examined 5,000-year-old earthen wares and ornaments found during excavation. Meanwhile, a German professor of archaeology Michael Johnson also reached the site and inspected the artifacts.

Chairman of the Archaeology Department of the Shah Abdul Latif University, Prof Ghulam Mustafa Shar, briefed the team about the site.