Archaeology and Settlement History in a Test Area of the Swat Valley. Preliminary Report on the AMSV Project (1st fase)

It was on the valleys S of Bir-kot-ghwandai that Giuseppe Tucci made his seminal, fundamental observations on the ancient history and archaeology of Swat (1958). It is with a feeling of pride and satisfaction that our Mission returns on its own tracks, also because this happens – and we envisage this as a, particularly appropriate coincidence– on the celebration of our 50th year of continuous field activity. We present the first part of the preliminary report of the Archaeological Map of the Swat valley (AMSV) project, led by Luca M. Oliveri (LMO) and Massimo Vidale (MV) in the framework of the IsIAO Archeological Mission (IAM) activities directed by P. Callieri. This preliminary report has the goal to present all data so far collected during our 2000-2005 survey campaigns, concerning an area of about 100 km.