From 1985 to 2001, the collaborative research initiative known as the Bannu Archaeological Project conducted archaeological explorations and excavations in the Bannu region, in what was then the North West Frontier Province (NWFP) of Pakistan, now Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa. This Project involves scholars from the Pakistan Heritage Society, the British Museum, the Institute of Archaeology (UCL), Bryn Mawr College and the University of Cambridge. This is the third in a series of volumes that present the final reports of the exploration and excavations carried out by the Bannu Archaeological Project. This volume presents the first synthesis of the archaeology of the historic periods in the Bannu region, spanning the period when the first large scale empires expanded to the borders of South Asia up until the arrival of Islam in the subcontinent at the end of the first and beginning of the second millennium BC. The Bannu region provides specific insight into early imperialism in South Asia, as throughout this protracted period, it was able to maintain a distinctive regional identity in the face of recurring phases of imperial expansion and integration.

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• List of figures
• List of tables
• English and Urdu summaries
• Preface
• Acknowledgements
• Notes on terminology
• Chapter 1. At the edge of empires: the Bannu basin from 1000 BC to AD 1200
  • 1.1. The borderlands of western South Asia and the Bannu basin
  • 1.2. Previous research on the borderlands in the historic periods
  • 1.3. The Bannu Archaeological Project
  • 1.4. Approaches and methods
  • 1.5. Chapter outline
• Chapter 2. Environment and settlement in the Bannu basin from 1000 BC to AD 1200
  • 2.1. Environment – geography, subsistence, and settlement
  • 2.2. Akra – the ancient capital of Bannu
  • 2.3. Beyond Akra – settlement and structures of the historic period
• Chapter 3. Historical context of the Bannu basin from 1000 BC to AD 1200
  • 3.1. The early to mid-first millennium BC
  • 3.2. The mid- to late first millennium BC
  • 3.3. The early first millennium AD
  • 3.4. The mid-first millennium AD
  • 3.5. The late first and early second millennium AD
  • 3.6. Summary of the historical and socio-political evidence
• Chapter 4. Empire and resistance in the borderlands from 1000 BC to AD 1200
  • 4.1. Administration and economy from the mid-first millennium BC to the early second millennium AD
  • 4.2. How feudal was South Asian feudalism?
  • 4.3. Regionalised economy in the first millennium BC and the first and early second millennia AD
• Chapter 5. The BAP Excavations at Akra and Ter Kala Dheri
  • 5.1. Topographic survey of Akra
  • 5.2. Excavations at Akra
  • 5.3. Excavations at Ter Kala Dheri
• Chapter 6. Chronological context of Akra and Ter Kala Dheri
  • 6.1. Absolute dating of the Bannu black-on-red ware phases
  • 6.2. Relative and absolute dating of the Middle Historic phases
  • 6.3. Contemporaneous occupation in the surrounding regions
  • 6.4. Comparative chronologies in the first millennium BC and the first millennium AD
• Chapter 7. Small finds from Akra
  • 7.1. Small finds from the surface at Akra and Ter Kala Dheri
  • 7.2. Small finds from the excavations on the Lohra Mound
  • 7.3. Small finds from the excavations on the Chigkamar Mound
  • 7.4. Small finds from the excavations on Hussaini Boi Ziarat Dherai
  • 7.5. Discussion
• Chapter 8. Ceramics from Akra: raw materials and fabrics
  • 8.1. Archaeological questions and integrated methods
  • 8.2. Raw materials for ceramic production in the Bannu basin
  • 8.3. The geology of the Bannu basin and its surrounding areas
  • 8.4. Fabric analysis – ceramic production technology in the Bannu basin
  • 8.5. Thin-section petrographic analysis
  • 8.6. Compositional analysis
  • 8.7. Significance of the analysis of the Bannu black-on-red-ware and Middle Historic fabrics
• Chapter 9. The first-millennium BC ceramics from Akra and Ter Kala Dheri
  • 9.1. Assemblage 2: Bannu black-on-red-ware and associated vessel forms
  • 9.2. Assemblage 1: Achaemenid-inspired and associated vessel forms
  • 9.3. Organisation of ceramic production and distribution in the first millennium BC
  • 9.4. Regional identity, ceramic economy, and imperial control in the first millennium BC
• Chapter 10. The late first- and early second-millennium AD ceramics from Akra
  • 10.1. Typology and its use in South Asian archaeology
  • 10.2. Middle Historic ceramic typology
  • 10.3. The Middle Historic ceramic assemblage
  • 10.3. Frequency and MNV of individual vessel types
  • 10.4. Organisation of ceramic production and the standardisation of form and fabric
  • 10.5. Organisation of ceramic production and distribution in the late first and early second millennia AD
  • 10.6. Imperial control, economy, and regional identity in the late first and early second millennia AD
• Chapter 11. Resistance at the edge of empires: the Bannu basin from 1000 BC to AD 1200
  • 11.1. Characterising the context of the Bannu region across two millennia
  • 11.2. Imperial control and regional economy, identity, and resistance
• Bibliography