2,300 year old Apsidal temple of Buddhist period discovered by archaeologists

Officials in Northwest Pakistan said on Saturday that a joint excavation team of Pakistani and Italian archaeologists had uncovered an almost 2,300-year-old Apsidal temple and a few other valuable artefacts from the Buddhist period

The discovery, which has been made in Bazira city of the Buddhist period in Barikot tehsil of Swat District in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, has been described as the oldest temple in Pakistan of the Buddhist period.

‘During joint excavations at a historic location in north-west Pakistan, Pakistani and Italian archaeologists unearthed a 2,300-year-old Apsidal temple from the Buddhist period, with other valuable artefacts. The temple found in Swat is older than the temples discovered in Pakistan’s Taxila ruins ‘ an official stated.

Apart from the temple, archaeologists discovered over 2,700 Buddhist artefacts, including coins, rings, pots, and writing in the kharosthi language of the Greece king Menander period.