The early-historic funerary monuments of Butkara IV. New evidence on a forgotten excavation in outer Gandhara

Data on burial customs during the Buddhist acculturation phase are extremely scarce in Gandhara and surroundings. This article – on the basis of the unpublished results of an IsMEO excavation directed by Maurizio Taddei in /289 – sheds new light on funerary practices in Swat (Pakistan) during the early historic period (0‰Š century BCE-/ÓÔ century CE). The article presents a reconstruction of previously unpublished funerary monuments interpreted also through comparisons with artistic and epigraphic evidence from Gandhara and Central Asia. The site (renamed as Butkara IV) is located between two important Buddhist sanctuaries (Butkara III and Butkara I) at the outskirts of a major ancient urban area in Middle Swat. The main monument of the site is a multiple-burial building with twenty individuals deposed inside its three chambers. The study originated from the DNA analysis, family relatedness, and associated radiocarbon dates of 5 individuals from the main monument. The article is enriched in the appendix by the study of the anthropologi cal remains preserved in the premises of the Sapienza University of Rome.