Preliminary Report of Archaeological Excavations at Hayatabad, Peshawar

Field Season 2018

Abstract

This report is the second in the series of Hayatabad excavations conducted in three consecutive years (i.e. from 2017 to 2019). Accordingly, it is related to field activities carried out in 2018. During these excavations, we opened new trenches in which new smith workshops were exposed. Of these, one yielded a multi-phases workshop known from four stages of a rebuilt crucible and furnaces at different levels of occupation. The most fascinating feature of this season of work was the discovery of a burnt granary consisting of two compartments. There we found numerous storage pots arranged in L-shape alignment and other pots lying upside down in dumped and compressed condition due to the collapsed timbers of ceiling. This work also unearthed mud and stone structures always found built in grid pattern. In other finds, copper coins including a small hoard, animal and human figurines, stone and terracotta beads, stone pestles, iron objects and ceramics are also reported. Hence new evidences confirm the previously proposed occupation periods at the Hayatabad site known from 2nd century BCE to the end of 2nd century CE.