The protohistoric cemeteries of northwestern Pakistan : the deconstruction and reinterpretation of archaeological and burial traditions
This thesis examines the protohistoric cemeteries in northwestern Pakistan known as the Gandhara Grave Culture. These cemeteries are understood in terms of models developed by the Italian Archaeological Mission to Pakistan from the Istituto Italiano per il Medio ed Estremo Oriente (IsMEO) and the Department of Archaeology, University of Peshawar (UoP). These models explained these cemeteries in terms of migrations and particular ethnicities (e.g. Aryans) and dated them to between the mid-2nd to mid-1st millennium BC. Though developed in the 1960s by a select group of researchers, these models, with institutionalized support and tools, have grown into archaeological traditions that are still unquestioningly accepted in archaeology and taught in universities across Pakistan. The deconstruction of these archaeological traditions exposed their inner inconsistencies and circular arguments and showed that their explanations were more relevant to the main researchers than to the cemeteries. Both were the products of the academic and political environment of the researchers themselves, and were concerned with the national prestige of Italy and Muslim identity of Pakistan. The deconstruction and contextual analysis
Zahir, Muhammad
The protohistoric cemeteries of northwestern Pakistan : the deconstruction and reinterpretation of archaeological and burial traditions. This thesis examines the protohistoric cemeteries in northwestern Pakistan known as the Gandhara Grave Culture. These cemeteries are understood in terms of models developed by the Italian Archaeological Mission to Pakistan from the Istituto Italiano per il Medio ed Estremo Oriente (IsMEO) and the Department of Archaeology, University of Peshawar (UoP). These models explained these cemeteries in terms of migrations and particular ethnicities (e.g. Aryans) and dated them to between the mid-2nd to mid-1st millennium BC. Though developed in the 1960s by a select group of researchers, these models, with institutionalized support and tools, have grown into archaeological traditions that are still unquestioningly accepted in archaeology and taught in universities across Pakistan. The deconstruction of these archaeological traditions exposed their inner inconsistencies and circular arguments and showed that their explanations were more relevant to the main researchers than to the cemeteries. Both were the products of the academic and political environment of the researchers themselves, and were concerned with the national prestige of Italy and Muslim identity of Pakistan. The deconstruction and contextual analysis
protohistoric cemetery northwestern pakistan deconstruction reinterpretation archaeological burial_tradition examines protohistoric cemetery northwestern pakistan know grave culture cemetery understand term model_develop italian archaeological mission pakistan per department archaeology university model explain cemetery term migration particular ethnicity date though develop select_group researcher model support tool grown archaeological tradition still accepted archaeology taught university across pakistan deconstruction archaeological tradition expose inner inconsistency circular argument show explanation relevant main researcher cemetery product academic political environment researcher concerned national prestige italy muslim_identity pakistan deconstruction contextual_analysis