Skeletal Analysis of Gandharan Graves at Shah Mirandeh, Singoor, Chitral Brian E
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
Skeletal Analysis of Gandharan Graves at Shah Mirandeh, Singoor, Chitral Brian E. Hemphill, Muhammad Zahir and Ihsan Ali Abstract: Archaeologists have long considered the Gandharan Grave Culture to be an intrusive technocultural complex in northwestern South Asia and have often equated its presence at the nexus between Central, South, and West Asia with the arrival of Indo-Aryan populations south of the Hindu Kush. Such assertions are largely based upon material cultural parallels with assemblages recovered from sites located in northwestern Iran (i.e, Tepe Hissar) or southern Central Asia (i.e., Bactria-Margianan Archaeological Complex). Recent discoveries of Gandharan Grave Culture sites in Chitral District attest that this archaeological culture encompassed a larger geographic region than previously understood. The current study provides foundational skeletal descriptions for 18 individuals recovered from Gandharan Grave Culture funerary features at the site of Shah Mirandeh, located near Chitral town, Chitral District. These individuals were recovered from an array of burial contexts ranging from intact primary inhumations to highly disturbed secondary inhumations of the commingled remains of multiple individuals. The 18 individuals include five males, three females and 10 individuals of unknown sex. Ages at death range from infancy to mature adults. Pathological conditions were generally rare and most often affected then dentition, being manifested as caries and linear enamel hypoplasia. Both conditions likely reflect the consumption of a diet highly reliant upon such domesticated cultigens at wheat, barley, peas and lentils. Although few in number and in fragmentary condition these remains, along with those previously described from the site of Parwak, provide the first biological evidence of the human populations associated with the Gandharan Grave Culture occupying the highland region lying intermediate between the Vale of Peshawar on the one hand and southern Central Asia on the other. Keywords: Primary Burials, Secondary Burials, Iron Age, Pathological Affliction 1. Introduction of Shah Mirandeh in 2005, Chakasht in 2009, and Shah Mirandeh is one of the small constituent Gankoreneotek, which was excavated during the hamlets encompassed by the larger village of course of brief field seasons in 2007, 2008 and Singoor in Chitral District, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa 2016. The results of these excavations have been Province (Fig. 1). It is located at 35°53’54.78” partially published (e.g., Ali et al 2008, 2010), but north latitude 71°47’45.60” east longitude some full excavation reports are still awaited. In addition six kilometres north of the Chitral Museum (Polo to these three sites, some seven protohistoric Ground, Chitral) on the Chitral-Garam Chasma cemetery sites have been discovered in and around Road. The Shah Mirandeh site (Fig. 2) is located Singoor village, including the sites of Kolambhi, on the right bank of Chitral River on the lower Lashino-dhok, Chakasht-2, Noghur Dhok, Seen slopes of a relatively small spur the Hindu Kush Lasht, Sinjaal and the Hindu Kush Heights Hotel Mountains known locally as Noghur Dhok. The (Zahir 2016b: 20-22, in press). site is located just below the confluence of the A series of human skeletons were encountered Lut Kho River, which flows in from north and the during excavations of the Shah Mirandeh Graves, Chitral River, which flows in from east. As such, the at the site of Singoor by Zahir and Ali during village of Singoor lies within a sub-valley located the 2005 field season. It is anticipated that the at the extreme western margin of the large Chitral present report on physical anthropology will be valley and it is bounded on all but the eastern side followed by a detailed excavation report focusing by the Noghur Dhok hills (Fig. 3). on the archaeological findings and their contextual Local villagers previously reported the analyses and interpretations. Skeletons were discovery of pottery and such small finds as found interred in prepared burial crypts as single arrowheads, when digging foundations for inhumations (Graves 1, 21, and 51), as pairs (Grave new constructions within the Singoor valley. 22), and as multiple interments (Grave 3). Found at Subsequent archaeological investigations in the depths of less than 50 centimeters from the ground valley have been extensive and have resulted in surface, these human remains were recovered three major excavations. These include the sites in poor and highly fragmentary condition. ANCIENT PAKISTAN, XXVIII (2017): 1–59 2 Brian E. Hemphill, Muhammad Zahir, and Ihsan Ali Fig. 1. Gandharan Grave Culture sites in Chitral District, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. Fig. 2. View of the Singoor Valley looking northeast from Fig. 3. Overview of the Shah Mirandeh site above the site of Shah Mirandeh located in the lower left. looking southwest. Skeletal Analysis of Gandharan Graves at Shah Mirandeh, Singoor, Chitral 3 In most cases, crania, when recovered, were Istituto Italiano per il Medio ed Estremo Oriente highly fragmentary and long bones were largely (IsMEO), which was subsequently renamed as the represented by splintered diaphyseal shafts. These Istituto Italiano per l’Africa e l’Oriente (IsIAO) in remains were collected, bagged and transported to 1995, and the University of Peshawar, Pakistan. the Chitral Museum for curation prior to additional The research was spearheaded by Tucci (1963, osteological analysis. 1966, 1977), Silvi Antonini (1963), and Stacul The Gandharan Grave Culture is known (1966a,b, 1967, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1975, 1982v, primarily through the excavation of graves in the 1998, 2000) for the Italian mission, and by Dani valleys of Dir (Dani 1967, 1968a,b) and Swat (1966a-e, 1968a,b, 1978, 1980, 1992, 1998, 2001) (Stacul 1966, 1969a, 1973; Stacul et al. 1987), for the Pakistani mission. as well as in the Vale of Peshawar (Khan, 1973) Most of the initial information regarding and Taxila (Dani, 1986) (Fig. 4). The discovery these protohistoric cemeteries came from the and excavations of the Gandharan Grave Culture Dir and Swat Valleys and these cemeteries were or Protohistoric Cemeteries in the Dir and Swat understood within those geographical limits. valleys of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province, Pakistan In fact, Dani (1968a,b) argued that as the first during the late 1950s and early 1960s represent a graves were reported from the Vale of Peshawar, major milestone in the archaeology of Pakistan. or ancient Gandhara, these cemeteries should Most of the archaeological research was conducted be called Gandharan Grave Culture. However, by researchers from the Italian Archaeological in more recent years protohistoric cemeteries Mission to Pakistan under the auspices of the have been documented in different regions of Fig. 4. Location of Gandharan Grave Culture sites in northern Pakistan. 4 Brian E. Hemphill, Muhammad Zahir, and Ihsan Ali northern Pakistan, particularly in Chitral (Ali Period I, except that instead of encompassing a et al., 2002, 2005b; Ali and Zahir, 2005; Zahir single primary inhumation, there is an urn burial 2016b: 3), and in Bajaur and Mohmand Tribal that may or may not contain charred bones and areas (Ali and Rahman 2005; Ali and Zahir ashes (Dani 1968a: 32; Dani 1968b: Plate IIIa). 2005; Mohammadzai, 2006, 2007, 2008). These The funerary urns are described as having “two relatively new discoveries have raised many holes for eyes, an applied nose, and a large hole issues with the conventional interpretations of the for the mouth…and usually covered with saucer- Gandharan Grave Culture (Ali et al. 2002), and shaped lids that have holed handles in the middle has led some researchers, such as Zahir (2016b), of the convex side” (Dani 1968b: 103, Plate IIIb). to conclude that conventional interpretations have Ceramics associated with these Period II graves are been rendered almost irrelevant for understanding more diverse. Greywares include vases, incurving of the much larger geographical extent of these cups, goblets, narrow-necked bottles, tall, handled protohistoric cemeteries. Thus, the association drinking vases, semicircular bowls, and offering of these protohistoric cemeteries with a specific stands. Red wares are much like those of Period geographical region, such as Gandhara, is no longer I, but they are found in different sizes and include valid (contra Dani 1968a,b). Nevertheless, current a few new forms. One of these new forms, unique interpretations of these protohistoric cemeteries to Period II, is described by Dani (1968b: 105) as by many archaeologists remain firmly grounded “a new variety of cooking vessel form on either [a] within colonial and culture-history paradigms tall stand or pedestal.” A second is a tumbler with (Zahir, in press). a rounded body and a tapering upper half, while a Conventional interpretations of the Gandharan third is described as “an extremely narrow-waisted Grave Culture are based on excavations of the drinking glass, almost like an hourglass” (Dani protohistoric cemeteries of Timargarha 1, 2, 3 1968b: 105, Plate IVa,2). Small finds include located in Dir, the Balambat settlement site also hairpins made of bronze, bone and ivory, bronze located in Dir, and the protohistoric cemetery finger rings, and eyed-needles, a gold earring, and of Thana located in Swat Valley (Zahir 2012, in flat, small disks of stone or shell. Biconical beads press). The Gandharan Grave Culture has been of terracotta continue from the previous period, traditionally divided into three periods1. Period