ANCIENT GREEK CITIES

Evening Star, Issue 23145, 20 December 1938, Page 2

ANCIENT GREEK CITIES

RELICS OF AFGHANISTAN Mr Everet Barger, the twenty-eight-year-old leader of the first British archaeological expedition into Afghanistan, arrived' in London recently, after an adventurous 2,000-mile journey through territory which has rarely been visited by Europeans. The other members of the expedition are returning shortly, with ,34 eases of statues, pottery, and other finds, which will probably, be exhibited in the Indian section of the Victoria and Albert Museum. The expedition, which was supported by the Indian section and the Royal Geographical Society, went first to Swat, a tribal territory on the Northwest Frontier, Here, with the assistance and cooperation of the Wall, they excavated a number of Buddhist shrines and monasteries. The sculptures, reliefs, and friezes of these buildings illustrate the influence of Greek art, through the conquests of Alexander, who died in 323 b.c., on the succeeding generations of Buddhist artists. “ Excavation was carried out under difficult conditions,” Mr Barger said. “ We worked from 5 a.m. to 10 a.m. and from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. each day. with the day temperature at about 105 deg. Two of our party lived for some time in a cave on the top of a 6,000 ft mountain at what the local shepherds called ‘ the place of the idols.’ Heavy statues had to be brought down, by paths too rough for donkeys, on the shepherds’ backs. At another monastery, near Barikot, we crossed the swiftly-flowing Swat River on a raft of sheepskins each way, and waded across flooded rice fields.” Leaving Mr Philip Wright, of the India Museum, and Mr Desmond Weatherhead, the photographer and surveyor, to continue the work in Swat, Mr Barger and Mr W. V. Emanuel set off in August into Afghanistan. By postal lorry, car, and on horseback, they followed the historic silk route through Badakhshan to Bactria, the plain between the Hindu Kush and the Oxus.

Remains of what was probably the ancient capital of Badakhshan were found, between Faizabad and Jurm, and a number of relics of Greek and Persian rule, such as seals and coins, were collected. IMPORTANT FIND. “ The capital of Bactria, Balkh,” said Mr Barger, ” turned out to be a wilderness of mud walls, of uncertain age. Perhaps our most important single find was at Kunduz, some carved bases of Greek columns. “ These are the first ancient stone,work ever unearthed north of the Hindu Kish. It has always been supposed that the Greek cities of Bactria were built entirely of mud and sundried brick, which had since crumbled and vanished.”

Most of the finds in Afghanistan were detained for the Kabul Museum, after casts had been made. The expedition received a warm welcome from the Afghan Government and from M. Hackin, director of the French archaeological delegation at Kabul, which has had the sole concession for archaeological ' work in Afghanistan since 1922. “ While the results of this expedition are modest,” Air Barger concluded. “ 1 think they are substantial enough to justify further researches in Afghanistan..’- 1