Archaeology and Heritage in Pakistan

2026: Lahori Bandar and endangered port cities from Indus Delta, Sindh, Pakistan

Director: Stephane Pradines (ISMC-AKU)

Partner institutions: Antiquities & Archives Department Government of Sindh; Sindh exploration and adventure society, MaritimEA; Van Berchem Foundation and ALIPH Foundation.

From 15 June to October 2022, floods in Pakistan killed 1,739 people, and caused roughly US$40 billion in damages. The cause of the floods was heavier than usual monsoon rains and melting glaciers that followed a severe heat wave, both of which are linked to climate change. Following major flooding in August 2024, more than 140,000 people were displaced with many now living in tents. Months later, affected communities are still struggling with health issues and lost livelihoods compounded by little international or government support. When populations are supported during crisis’s, heritage is most often forgotten, expect for major sites such as Mohenjo Daro, the famous Bronze Age city from the Indus / Harapan civilization. Medieval and Islamic sites are neglected, despite their patrimonial interest and their importance in the history of Pakistani heritage. It is the case of Lahori Bandar that was the most important Mughal port of the Sindh (and Pakistan today). Due to climate change and global warming, the mouths of the Indus River are moving, this phenomenon associated with coastal sea erosion are a serious threat for all maritime heritage of Pakistan and sites located close to the water line such as the medieval and Mughal port cities in the Indus Delta.With Baluchistan, Sindh is one of the most dangerous provinces of Pakistan with terrorism, and violent bandits. This insecure area discouraged many archaeologists and conservation architects to work in the region. However, it is one of richest place in the world in term of historical sites, monuments, and cities. The Sindhi heritage is indirectly threatenedby conflict because people don’t want to invest in heritage and culture in this unstable area.

The most famous port of the Indus Delta is the site of Banbhore that has been the focus of most of the archaeological excavations conducted in the region, since the 1950’s by the Pakistani government and foreign missions. The city, intra and extra muros, with Hindu and Sasanian pre-Islamic levels, plus the discovery of an ancient mosque identified as the mosque built by the general Muhammad ibn al-Qasim during the Arab conquest of Sindh in 711 AD., led most of the scholars to accept the identification of Banbhore as the historical port city of Daybul.

In the early 13^th century, the city of Daybul was abandoned because the main mouth of the Indus River shifted to the east, a new port city was built and called Damrila. This port was abandoned after one century and a new and larger port was founded to the south and called Lahori Bandar “the port of Lahore”. In fact, this huge port city was later connected to the Mughal capital city of Sindh, Thatta. It was an important economic hub on the Indian Ocean maritime routes, equal to Diu, Surat, and Bharuch in Gujarat. In the 1990’s, the Sindh Exploration and Adventure Society and the Pakistani French mission in the Delta re-discovered these very important sites in the eastern part of the Indus Delta: the medieval port of Damrila divided on two sites: Jam Jasker Goth and Thambey Wari; and the Mughal port of Lahori Bandar divided on two sites: Jakhi Shah Bander and Mullah Kay Kot. The overall results of these surveys were extremely important and proved that many Sassanian and Islamic archaeological settlements existed in the Indus Delta and were connected to a very profitable Indian Ocean trade. Until 1990 and the re-discovery of these medieval and Mughal port cities nothing has been done to document and to protect them. These sites have a great significance and value for the local population or communities of the Sindh and also for Pakistan, moreover these historical sites are part of the maritime Indian Ocean silk road heritage, and our project is encouraged and supported by the Pakistani Antiquities, UNESCO and ICOMOS.

Concerning sustainability, our first objective is to document and protect endangered Sindhi heritage. Working on Indian Ocean heritage is connected to ecology, global warming, and climate change. Most of Sindhi coastal sites are in danger of disappearing because of floods from the Indus Valley and sea erosion. Our main objective is to survey, record, excavate, and preserve Islamic port cities from the Indus Delta, with the conservation of the Mughal port of Lahori Bandar and the survey and documentation of the medieval port of Jam Jaskar Goth. The intervention must happen quickly as the medieval port of Jam Jasker Goth is already in the tidal zone, it cannot be saved but it can be documented. It is extremely important to document this historical site before its disappearance due to rising sea levels. We will save as much as we can of architectural elements and artefacts to be stored or presented in Museums in Banbhore or Karachi.

Along with Daybul (Banhore), Lahori Bandar is the most famous historical Indian Ocean port from Pakistan. It is not only an historical site, but also a monumental site with many monuments still standing: the city walls, houses, fort of the governor, caravanserai etc. It is necessary to act as you can see on the satellite photos that the city wall is damaged. The historical port city of Lahori Bandar (Lahori) requires an urgent conservation programme to consolidate its existing structures and prevent coastal destruction, as the site is increasingly threatened by sea erosion, particularly affecting the structures located near the shoreline. A conservation programme is planned to preserve the structures already exposed such as the caravanserai in Jakhi Shah Bander. Our survey will be very important to create an archaeological map of the main architectural remains to preserve and protect with conservation architects. Lahori Bandar has many monuments in bad conditions and urgent conservation is needed, along with protection and prevention measures to avoid sea erosion of the shore. Where possible, we will use ecological methods to protect coastline and architectural remains, for example with gabion “sea walls” and by planting mangroves to stop the erosion process. Concerning research, education, and sustainability, it is very important to focus on underexplored sites in danger. Our scientific objectives are to study Sindhi sea ports from the medieval and modern periods (8th-17th c.) to understand the nature of the maritime international trade with the Indus Delta. Our programme will support education and academic training for students from Karachi and from Sindhi Antiquities Department. Our field school will focus on three main themes: techniques, methods, and field/discipline with rescue/salvage archaeology, digital archaeology, and Islamic archaeology. We hope to train a new generation of young professionals and help the senior archaeologists to upgrade their skills with modern technologies such as 3D, laser scans, photogrammetry, and drones.

2019 – 2023: Lahore Fort, Pakistan

Director: Stephane Pradines (ISMC-AKU)

Partner institutions: AKU, AKTC and WCLA

The AKTC Historic Cities Programme is organising a field school and training programme in the Lahore Fort in Pakistan. The AKU Archaeologist Stephane Pradines travelled to Lahore from 25 November to11 December 2019 and organised a first field school in Islamic archaeology for the AKTC staff members, students from the School of architecture in Lahore, students from the Punjab University’s Dept. of Archaeology and students from the Dept. of Archaeology of the Quaid Azam University in Islamabad. The AKU field school of Islamic archaeology was supported bu Walled City Lahore authorities, and the Pakistani Antiquities of Punjab. Stephane Pradines and his assistant Dr. Inigo Almela delivered three lectures and one week of field training, at the end a certificate from the Aku – Aktc was delivered to all the 59 participants. Huge impact for training and learning in Pakistan & Example of internal collaboration AKU – AKTC. The project has four main objectives based on research, heritage preservation, education, and community participation. It was the second field school of Archaeology in Lahore Fort, Pakistan (16-31 October 2023). The team was made up of archaeologist-architect specialising in buildings (post doc Khalili Research Centre Oxford), Olivier Onezime, topographer-surveyor, photographer (from INRAP) specialising in archeology and photogrammetry, Helen Renel ceramologist from the CNRS, and Stephane Pradines, AKU Professor and archaeologist, head of the mission, plus a team of twenty-two workers and two foremen. First, the archaeological excavations in the fort responded to the needs of the AKTC architects. The idea is to document and research places in the fort before or during any conservation work. This AKU – AKTC pioneer project reinforces intra dynamic collaboration within the AKDN institutions by a transfer of competences and exchange of knowledge. This year, the excavations focused on the Akbari Gate, especially on the ramp leading to the main access of the Mughal Diwan i-Aam. The AKU-AKTC collaboration is a fantastic opportunity to research the archaeology of the city of Lahore, all the periods and cultures are explored, from the Sikh and Mughal periods to the Ghaznavid and pre-Islamic era, with Indo-Buddhist and Bronze Age /Indus Civilizations.There is a sustainable development dimension in our archaeological project, the more people we train, the better it is for AKU as an education entity. The AKU-AKTC cooperation is important for local training and building capacity. All the participants of the field school were professionals or young professionals from MA students to lecturers, assistant professors, and members of the AKTC. In total, the ISMC-AKU delivered certificates to 16 participants from the University of the Punjab, the Directorate General of Archaeology and Antiquities of Punjab, Beaconhouse National University, and professionals from the Aga Khan Trust for Culture (AKDN-SP). During his stay in Lahore, Professor Pradines continued to engage with local scholars and institutions, especially with the University of the Punjab (Department of Archaeology) and BNU (School of Architecture). During these visits, S. Pradines started to engage with scholars, and registrars, heads of schools and departments, discussions on collaborations, and MoU’s on archaeology, architecture, and heritage within the ISMC Indian Ocean program.

Publications

• 2024 – with Iñigo Almela and Helene Renel, “Archaeological excavation report on the Akbari hammam in Lahore Fort, 2019”, Journal of Material Cultures in the Muslim World (MCMW) Volume 5: Issue 1-2, Brill, Leiden, pp 62-91.