PESHAWAR, June 20: The NWFP government has sanctioned Rs11.104 million for construction of the Pushkalawati Museum in Charsadda to preserve the antiquities of the Gandhara period excavated from various ancient sites in the district, an official source told PPI.

The source said that the museum would be constructed at Ghani Dheri on the Rajjar-Takht Bai Road. Director of Archaeology and Museum, Dr Ihsan Ali, said that Pushkalawati, presently known as Charsadda, was the first capital of Gandhara in 6 BC.

Dr Ali said Pushkalawati continued to be the capital during the time of the Greeks when Alexander the Great invaded it in 327 BC. The Indo-Greek rulers through the 2nd BC continued to use Pushkalawati as the capital of Gandhara, the remains of which are found at Balahisar (ancient Pushkalawati) and Sheikhan Dheri, the twin mounds just one kilometre north of the modern town of Charsadda, he said.

"The sites were first extensively excavated by Sir Mortimer Wheeler and Dr A. H. Danni and more recently by the Archaeology Department of the University of Peshawar and the NWFP Directorate of Archaeology and Museum," he said.

He said the materials excavated from these sites were lying with the federal and provincial departments of archaeology and museum and in the University of Peshawar. Reports on these excavations, he said, were published from London and Peshawar.

Dr Ali added that the University of Peshawar had recently conducted a survey of the region and brought to light 150 archaeological sites of the district. He said that the region was rich both historically and ethnologically.