1800-year-old Buddhist artifacts discovered in Pakistan’s Swabi

PESHAWAR – The department of archaeology and museums has discovered relics of the Buddhist era in Swabi, a district around 83 kilometres from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s capital city of Peshawar. 

Officials said the discoveries include over 400 artifacts and stupas that are 1800 years old. 

These stupas are recognised as holy and sacred in Buddhism.

In December last year, Italian archaeologists found a very old Buddhist temple in Pakistan that dates back to 300 B.C.

The discovery in the town of Swat comes from an archaeological site where remains of a Hindu temple were found last year, said regional chief archaeologist Abdul Samad Khan.

"It is a significant discovery in many ways, especially in connection with religious harmony, tolerance and multiculturalism in the Gandhara period," he said.

The Gandhara kingdom emerged in what is northwestern Pakistan and eastern Afghanistan today in around 1000 B.C. and lasted for 1,000 years.

Khan said the discovery of Hindu and Buddhist temples was a signal that either the followers of these faiths lived together in the region or built layered structures one after the other.

Some coins and stamps from the period of an Indo-Greek king were also among the latest discoveries, hinting at Swat being a multicultural city even thousands of years ago.