The ancient city of Bazira (present-day Barikot in Pakistan) is considered to be the easternmost of the Greek fortifications of the Hellenistic period in Asia. Excavations have been carried out there since the mid-1980s by the Italian archaeological mission, which continues to report surprises.
The settlement was just a small village when it was besieged in 326 BC. by Alexander the Great . Catapult projectiles have been found from the period, as well as weapons, pottery and Greek coins.
The Greeks built a great defensive wall that surrounded the entire city, with quadrangular and equidistant bastions, the Hellenistic walls furthest to the east that are known.
The Greeks were displaced by the Kushan empire between the 2nd and 1st centuries BC, which flourished until a series of earthquakes ended up ruining the city, which was definitively abandoned at the end of the 3rd century AD. However, remains of palaces from this period have been found, as well as Buddhist temples and sculptures.
Now the director of the excavations, Luca Maria Olivieri, has announced that in recent months his team has made important new discoveries at the site. The most important correspond to new layers associated not only with the Indo-Greek city (surrounded by the Hellenistic wall), but also with the pre-Greek city , identified as a Maurya settlement from the 3rd century BC The layers corresponding to this period would have been destroyed to make room for the Greek wall.
Furthermore, outside the walls archaeologists found extensive material evidence that the origin of Bazira dates back to the proto-historic Gandharan tomb culture, which emerged around 1600 B.C. and flourished in the area until 500 BC. about.
The finding is important because these peoples are considered the first Indo-Aryan inhabitants , which in their migration to India would finally give rise to the Vedic civilization.
Bazira is currently the only Indo-Greek city excavated on a large scale by archaeologists, and one of the few investigated from the time of the Kushan Empire in South Asia.