Preliminary Report of Archaeological Excavations at Hayatabad, Peshawar:

Field Season 2023

Abstract

The Department of Archaeology, University of Peshawar, carried out excavations as the fourth field season in a row at the early historic period site in Hayatabad (Peshawar) in 2023. The recent field 
campaign successfully added further archaeological evidence to the establishment of smith workshops, which originated in the Indo-Greek period and continued down to the time of the Great Kushans. It was presumably a large urban centre like Sirkap (Taxila) (Marshall 1951) and Shaikhan Dheri (Charsadda) (Dani 1965-66) and remained in occupation for several hundred years. Unfortunately, the site is now mostly occupied by modern buildings, houses, railway line, road networks, and an industrial drain. The existing quarter of the mound was significantly utilised for a contemporary industrial zone when the site was actively inhabited for about four hundred years (second century BCE to second century CE).