Barikot

Barikot (; Pashto: ) is a city located in the middle course of the Swat River in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. It is located about away from Mingora and the Butkara Stupa.Road sign It is the entrance town to the central Swat Valley with a population of approximately 115,045 people. Barikot is the location of an ancient citadel captured by Alexander the Great,Archaeological site notice with Chalcolithic remains dating back to ,Olivieri, Luca M., 2012. "When and why the ancient town of Barikot was abandoned?: A preliminary note based on the last archaeological data", in Pakistan Heritage 4, Table 1, and p. 111. and an early-historic period town dating back to .Olivieri, Luca Maria, & Anna Filigenzi, 2018."On Gandharan sculptural production from Swat: Recent archaeological and chronological data", in W. Rienjang and P. Stewart (eds.), Problems of Chronology in Gandharan Art: Proceedings of the First International Workshop of the Gandhara Connections Project, p. 71. The Italian Archaeological Mission (renamed ISMEO) founded by Giuseppe Tucci has been excavating ruins of the ancient town of Bazira under Barikot since 1984.

Demographics

Population

According to 2023 census, Barikot had a population of 115,045.

Languages

Languages of Barikot

Excavations

Although previous excavations already attested Chalcolithic pit structures since 1700 BC, urban living, earlier than c. 150 BC, was not discovered before 2015 as "[t]he archaeological sequence accepted until then was that the city was founded as a fortified centre towards the end of [the second century BC] directly on the remains of a protohistoric village, and that the major earlier evidence of the city was the massive defensive wall surrounding the city and its acropolis."Olivieri, Luca M., and Elisa Iori, (2023). "Early-historic Data from the 2016 Campaigns at the Urban Site of Barikot, Swat (Pakistan): A Shifting Perspective", p.81.

Early Iron Age proto-urban layers were found, and dated to eleventh-eight centuries BC, archaeologists also found that the fortified urban settlement in Barikot (lower area and acropolis) was established around mid-first millennium BC.

Bronze Age (c. 1700–1400 BC)

The first traces of human presence in Barikot are from ca. 1700 to 1400 BC, as per Giorgio Stacul (1987) findings, which he reported as belonging to Swat Period IV,Spengler, Robert N. III, et al., (2021). "The southern Central Asian mountains as an ancient agricultural mixing zone: new archaeobotanical data from Barikot in the Swat valley of Pakistan", in Vegetation History of Archaeobotany 30, pp. 463–476. these are pit remains attested since around 1700 BC.Olivieri, Luca M., 2012. "When and why the ancient town of Barikot was abandoned?: A preliminary note based on the last archaeological data", in Pakistan Heritage 4, Table 1, p. 161.

Late Bronze/Iron Age (c. 1200–800 BC)

During excavation campaigns in 2016–2017, the Italian Archaeological Mission was able to identify the transitional phase from Late Bronze to Iron age, dating it c. 1200–800 BC. Excavations were performed in trench BKG 12 W, where archaeologists found, in Macrophase 1b, residential structures and workshops, along with a toy-cart, bi-carinated pottery, miniature vessels, stone tools, and incised pottery, all radiocarbon-dated between 1196 and 1021 BC (95.4% probability model).Olivieri, Luca Maria, et al. (2019). "A new revised chronology and cultural sequence of the Swat valley, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (Pakistan) in the light of current excavations at Barikot (Bir-kot-ghwandai)", in Nuclear Inst. and Methods in Physics Research B, 2019, pp. 1, 6, Table 1.

During this time, c. 1200 to 800 BC, archaeological data show the presence of a large settlement (around 15 ha), including a hilltop acropolis, commented by Callieri et al. (2000), an inner stronghold, and an extensive outer graveyard. This phase was previously known as Gandhara grave culture.

Abandonment Phase (c. 800–600 BC)

After the Iron Age, the settlement suffered the collapse of its earthen rampart in Macrophase 1c.Olivieri, Luca Maria, et al. (2019). "A new revised chronology and cultural sequence of the Swat valley, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (Pakistan) in the light of current excavations at Barikot (Bir-kot-ghwandai)", in Nuclear Inst. and Methods in Physics Research B, 2019, p. 4. The site was abandoned and alluvium covered the place in Interphase 1c/2a, between c. 800 and 600 BC.Olivieri, Luca M., Michele Minardi, and Massimo Vidale, (2022). "A Note on the Discovery of a Prehistoric Maskoid on the Barikot Top-Hill (Bir-kot-ghwandai, Swat)", in: Ancient Pakistan, Vol. XXXIII, 2022, p. 72, Table 1.

The Beginning of the City and Achaemenid Acculturation Phase (c. 600–400 BC)

After the abandonment, the beginning of the city can be traced back archaeologically to Macrophase 2a1, between 600 and 500 BC, a pre-Achaemenid phase, attested poorly in finds and pottery, featuring "only a badly preserved stretch of a wall with evidence of a passageway marked by wheel traces."Iori, Elisa, (2023). "The Achaemenid 'Mirage' in Gandhāra: a Study of the 5th-4th Century BCE Pottery from Barikot", in: Le forme della città: Iran, Gandhāra e Asia Centrale, pp. 579-580.

The Achaemenid acculturation belongs to Macrophase 2a2, from 500 to 400 BC. This influence from c. 500 to 450 BC started with "the local production of tulip bowls at Barikot [which] suggests that since the first half of [the 5th century BC] processes of emulation and social aspiration were at work among the Swat elite,"Iori, Elisa, (2023). "The Achaemenid 'Mirage' in Gandhāra: a Study of the 5th-4th Century BCE Pottery from Barikot", in: Le forme della città: Iran, Gandhāra e Asia Centrale, p. 593. in the Classic period of that Persian Empire. Archaeologists found, in this phase of Barikot, luxury pottery typical of the Achaemenids, but also saw the introduction of non-luxury Indic pottery, and many local glass objects.

Regionalization Phase (c. 400–250 BC)

Greek and Latin sources like Curtius Rufus, talking of this period, tell that Swat and Gandhara were not controlled by Achaemenids anymore (from around 350 BC), and that a tribe known as Assakenoi ruled the region allied to other Indian tribes. Italian Mission archaeologists consider this phase saw the complete disappearance of Achaemenid ceramic forms, but that household Indic vessels were still in use at Barikot. This belongs to archaeological Macrophase 2b, from c.400 to 250 BC, and Macedonian siege to Barikot (Bazira) occurred within this period, in autumn of 327 BC.Olivieri, Luca Maria, et al. (2019). "A new revised chronology and cultural sequence of the Swat valley, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (Pakistan) in the light of current excavations at Barikot (Bir-kot-ghwandai)", in Nuclear Inst. and Methods in Physics Research B, 2019, pp. 4, 7. Also during Macrophase 2b, in trench BKG 11, a Mauryan coin was found, radiocarbon dated to 349–282 BC (95.4% probability model), what is 315 +/- 34 BC.Olivieri, Luca Maria, et al. (2019). "A new revised chronology and cultural sequence of the Swat valley, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (Pakistan) in the light of current excavations at Barikot (Bir-kot-ghwandai)", in Nuclear Inst. and Methods in Physics Research B, 2019, p. 5, Table 1.

Mauryan and Greco-Bactrian Kingdoms Linking Phase (c. 250–200 BC)

Beginning in 2011, an excavation in the south west corner of the site discovered several older settlements than expected.

In 2016, one pre-Indo-Greek level was dated to the mid 3rd century BC or in the middle of the Mauryan era. During this time, known archaeologically as Macrophase 3a1, Barikot was part of a political and commercial network linking Mauryan and Greco-Bactrian kingdoms, as both Greco-Bactrian and Hellenistic pottery forms were introduced in the site with clear relationships to northern Afghanistan and Central Asia, just like Ai-Khanoum.Olivieri, Luca Maria, et al. (2019). "A new revised chronology and cultural sequence of the Swat valley, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (Pakistan) in the light of current excavations at Barikot (Bir-kot-ghwandai)", in Nuclear Inst. and Methods in Physics Research B, 2019, pp. 7, 9.

Old Apsidal Temple

In December 2021, archaeologists of Ca’ Foscari University and Italian Archaeological Mission in collaboration with the provincial department of archaeology and museums in Pakistan, led by Dr. Luca Maria Olivieri, announced the discovery of the earliest Buddhist apsidal temple in Barikot (the ancient Bazira). They claim it was constructed in the times of Ashoka's reign in Mauryan period, around 250 BC. It was also found that this structure was still in function during the reign of Menander I, the Indo-Greek king, in the mid-second century BC, but even though it was enhanced in later times, it came to an end around the third or fourth century of the Common Era, as the city was abandoned by the Kushan rulers of the time due to an earthquake. This is the earliest apsidal temple found in Pakistan until now, and is a revolutionary discovery also because it proves the presence of Buddhism in Swat since the 3rd century BC, and confirms that Menander I, known as Milinda by early Buddhists, supported this cult.Dawn, (20 December 2021). "Oldest Buddhist apsidal temple of country found in Swat."

"We have found coins, among which a silver specimen issued by King Menander, an onyx-made seal decorated with a Hellenistic intaglio depicting the image of a youth in Greek attire with a Kharosthi inscription, a monumental Kharosthi epigraph, many other Kharosthi inscriptions on pots, and potsherds belonging to the Indo-Greek cultural horizon such as fish plates and polished black pottery that imitates Attic models," said the archaeologist Dr Michele Minardi, member of the Italian mission.

A 2024 publication by Luca Maria Olivieri considers that: "[The] apsidal temple [is] associated with an Indian-style Buddhist stupa [...] dating to the time of the great promoter of Buddhism, the Mauryan Emperor Ashoka (r. 268-232 BC). The monument was modified from an earlier, non-Buddhist shrine from the time when Alexander the Great besieged Barikot in 327 BC."Olivieri, Luca Maria, (2024). "Barikot's apsidal temple: an early Buddhist urban shrine in Outer Gandhara", in: Historian, 2024, Issue 161, p. 47.

Indo-Greek Phase (c. 200–100 BC)

The Italian expeditions in the 1980s and 90s discovered an Indo-Greek town from around the time of King Menander I in the 2nd century BC. The 2nd century BC town covered, at its peak, an area of about including the acropolis, or about without. It was surrounded by a defensive wall with massive rectangular bastions. This defensive wall, constructed around Barikot during the Indo-Greek phase belongs to Macrophase 3a2, after 200 BC, as per 2016–2017 excavations by the same Italian mission when this wall, massive and imposing, was dated by numismatic findings and radiocarbon analysis.Olivieri, Luca Maria, et al. (2019). "A new revised chronology and cultural sequence of the Swat valley, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (Pakistan) in the light of current excavations at Barikot (Bir-kot-ghwandai)", in Nuclear Inst. and Methods in Physics Research B, 2019, pp. 3, 4. A burial associated with the construction of this Indo-Greek city wall was dated to (c. 130–115 BC),Iori, Elisa, (2021). "Ritual Deposits and Foundation of Cities in Indo-Greek Gandhāra", in: Religion and Urbanity Online, p. 1: "This paper aims to draw attention to the so-called burial associated with the foundation of the Indo-Greek city wall (ca. 130–115 BCE) at the urban site of Barikot in the Swat valley (NW Pakistan), the mountainous area of the ancient region of Gandhāra." between the final part of Menader I's reign and the beginning of that of Antalkidas.Iori, Elisa, (2021). "Ritual Deposits and Foundation of Cities in Indo-Greek Gandhāra", in: Religion and Urbanity Online, p. 5: "[B]etween the reigns of the Indo-Greek kings Menander I (ca. 165–130) and Antalkìdas (ca. 115–95)."