Swat and Beyond: Giuseppe Tucci, IsMEO in Pakistan and the Gilgit Manuscripts

Luca M. Olivieri discusses the Italian Archaeological Mission’s arrival into Pakistan in the mid-1950s and the discovery and acquisition of the Gilgit Manuscripts by Giuseppe Tucci. This study is valuable in many ways. It belongs to a transitional period after the partition and documents the story from acquisition of the group of manuscripts to its study and publication and final return to Pakistan’s Archaeology Department. Olivieri also contextualizes the discovery of the manuscripts to the first-time discovery of Gilgit Manuscripts in the 1930s within the Kashmir durbar’s princely realm. Swat and the extension of Pakistan’s archaeological laws into that state for commencing Italian archaeological research have also been related to his analysis. This adds an interesting aspect to princely heritage in postcolonial subcontinent.