An Appreciation of the Contributions of Professor Farid Khan to the Archaeology and Cultural Heritage of Pakistan

Abstract

Professor Farid Khan (1934 – 2020) (Fig. 1) made significant and diverse contributions to the archaeology and cultural heritage of Pakistan, particularly of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and his native Bannu District. Farid Khan’s career in Archaeology and Cultural Heritage is discussed, in particular his contributions to Stone Age Archaeology (Sanghao Cave), his archaeological surveys in Bannu District 1975-76, collaborative archaeological fieldwork between the Universities of Peshawar and Cambridge in Bannu District (1977-1979), and the establishment of the Bannu Archaeological Project (BAP) in 1985, a collaborative research initiative between archaeologists in the University of Peshawar, the British Museum and the Institute of Archaeology (University College London). The research by the BAP (1985-2020) made original contributions to the archaeology, phasing and chronology of early (pre-Harappan) settlement sites in Bannu District and Dera Ismail Khan District (most notably: Sheri Khan Tarakai, Ter Kala Dheri, Islam Chowki, Lewan and Jhandi Babar) and to the Iron Age and Early Historic periods in Bannu District (the sites of Akra and Ter Kala Dheri). Contributions to archaeological method and theory (notably in identifying problems with sequences based on culture history as compared with radiocarbon chronology), to the ethnoarchaeology of Bannu District, and to ‘Public Archaeology’, are further dimensions of his outstanding career. Farid Khan excelled as a field archaeologist and this review considers what it was like to work alongside him in the field.