A Note on the Sphero-conical Vessels:

New Evidence from Swat, Pakistan

Abstract

The study deals with three recent finds of imported sphero-conical vessels datable to the Ghaznavid or slightly later period, from Barikot and Udegram in the Swat Valley, northern Pakistan. The first vessel (complete) comes from the excavation conducted in 2023 at the base of the south wall of the site’s Acropolis, the second from a reconnaissance conducted in the 1950s by Giorgio Gullini on the spur where excavations would later unearth the so-called ‘Castle’ of Udegram. The third container (a fragment) is also from Barikot, but from a much earlier chronological phase. Based on these findings, the study features an update of the bibliography from work also published in Ancient Pakistan by Saifur Rahman Dar in 2007, and an overview of new hypotheses about the intended use(s) of these enigmatic objects.