Coat Scales and Correlated Finds from Bir-kot-ghwandai Stratigraphic Context

Excavation and research at the Bir-kot-ghwandai site (Swat) has been carried out by the IsMEO/IsIAO Italian Archaeological Mission in Pakistan since 1977. The site occupation sequence is sub-divided into 10 cultural periods, which date from the mid-second millennium BC to the fifteenth century AD. The most relevant occupation phases are connected to the life of a fortified city and of its akropolis, from the end of the second century BC to the fourth/fifth century AD. During the excavation of the fortified city 107 iron fragments and parts of scale coats or armours were recovered. The findings - from peripheral areas of the city and of the akropolis - mostly belong to the second to fourth century AD occupation phases, when the fortification wall had already fallen into disrepair. The study presents the findings according to their typology, position, and stratigraphy. Where possible, comparisons at the regional level are also attempted. Even if this material is not frequently recorded in urban sites excavations, representations of charachters wearing scale coats are frequent in coeval narrative scenes in Gandharan art. The material is presented as one possible item for the reconstruction of the role of the aristocracy and army in an urban context in the Kushan and Late-Kushan periods. The presence of this material in the urban context fits the scenario, suggested by the stratigraphic and survey data, that at the beginning of its Kushan phase: (a) the city was demilitarised; (b) manor houses and an intra muros Buddhist sacred area were constructed; (c) the Buddhist monasteries in the ager became the foci of the local economy. © 2011 The British Association for South Asian Studies.