Salman Rashid

Travel writer, Fellow of Royal Geographical Society

Sights Less Seen

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The Indus River has parented one of the great civilisations of the world which, modern research shows us began when man shifted from a nomadic to a sedentary life. That was about 7500 BCE. Our built heritage liberally sprinkled across this great and wonderful land, therefore dates back nearly ten thousand years.

Though the beginning of our prehistory is marked by the absence of the written word, archaeologists have yet been able to painstakingly piece together a clear and coherent story from the myriad relics discovered from the ruins of our earliest cities. Written history begins for us with the earliest Sanskrit treatises compiled from the oral tradition about the beginning of the first millennium BCE. This was followed quickly by the works of the Greeks beginning with Herodotus in the early 5th century BCE. Later still, the written word proliferated and history became much more lucid giving the remains of our ancient built heritage an historical context.

Nevertheless, there are still hundreds of monuments across the four provinces of Pakistan that continue to hold their veil of secrecy tight around themselves. Going by their architectural style, these monuments can easily be assigned a definite era, yet historians are hard put to tell us who built them and for what purpose. Indeed, most of our lesser-known monuments have either not been touched by archaeologists or, at best, have received a cursory once over. The mystery therefore abides.


The twelve historical sites from across Pakistan featuring in the following posts have been selected for two reasons: either they are relatively little known, or they hold a certain degree of inscrutability. Though some of the sites have been duly investigated by archaeologists and historians there are others in this collection that have never felt the probing touch of the scientist’s scalpel.

Note: Sights Less Seen is part of Pakistan Petroleum Limited (PPL) book of days initiative.

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posted by Salman Rashid @ 09:18,

1 Comments:

At 30 March 2013 at 10:22, Anonymous Saima Ashraf said...

Lovely scene! Iindus River always inspires me with its romanticism

 

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My Books

Deosai: Land of the Gaint - New

The Apricot Road to Yarkand


Jhelum: City of the Vitasta

Sea Monsters and the Sun God: Travels in Pakistan

Salt Range and Potohar Plateau

Prisoner on a Bus: Travel Through Pakistan

Between Two Burrs on the Map: Travels in Northern Pakistan

Gujranwala: The Glory That Was

Riders on the Wind

Books at Sang-e-Meel

Books of Days