PESHAWAR, Feb 10: The Department of Archaeology, University of Peshawar, has discovered a cave of the Middle Stone Age in a town of the Bajaur Agency, archaeologists told Dawn here on Saturday.

The discovery of the cave in Tango Nao near Nawagai was stated to be the second of its kind in the country.

According to experts, the cave is 21 meters long, 14 meters wide and three meters high, and is contemporary with the Sanghao Cave discovered in the Mardan district during an excavation by a known archaeologist, Prof Ahmad Hassen Dani, in 1962.

Dr Ihsan Ali of the Archaeology department told Dawn that Dr J. F. Jarrige, the head of French Archaeological Mission in Pakistan, and Dr Mohammad Salim, deputy director of the Centre for Asian Civilization, Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad, had confirmed that the tools found in the cave belonged to the Palaeolithic period.

He said the site reflected a “true idea of Palaeolithic Cave culture” in the region.

He remarked that the cave discovered near Nawagai needed further investigation and excavation to enrich archaeology in the country.