Indian Antiquary Vol 28

Author(s): Richard Carnac Temple
Publisher: Swati Publications

Page 23

JANUARY, 1899.) ARCHÆOLOGICAL TOUR WITH THE BUNER FIELD FORCE. 17
In the case of this building the original level of the central rooms marked A, B, C, D seems to have been raised considerably above the ground, as their interior was found now to be nearly 12 feet higher than the rock on which the walls are based. As in the case of similar structures examined in Swāt, it is probable that the lower storey of this central pile was built solid. The entrance into the upper storey containing dwelling rooms was through an opening higher up in the wall which conld be reached from outside only by means of a ladder. This arrangement, which is clearly designed with a view to defence, is still actually observed in the construction of most village watch-towers across the Afghān border.
That special regard was paid to considerations of safety in the case of most, if not all, the structures here described is evident from the very positions chosen for them. The rocky spurs on which they are found bave no other recommendation as building sites except the facilities they offer for defence by their steepness and comparative inaccessibility. The crests of the ridges, which these buildings chiefly occupy, are nowhere less than about 300 feet above the level bottom of the valley. The inconvenience arising from this position in respect of the watersupply, etc., is so great that only an important consideration like that of safety conld compensate for it. At the same time it deserves to be noted that these buildings are everywhere standing at such a distance from each other that at a time, when firearms were unknown, none could be Baid to be commanded by its neighbour. It looks as if the condition of inter-tribal feud and rivalry which make each man of subetance in the average trans-border village watch his neighbour as a likely foe, had already been realized in a far earlier period.
The position which these buildings occupy and the succession of terraces on which some of them rise, give them from a distance more the appearance of small castles than of ordinary dwelling places. They resemble in this respect closely the collections of fortified houses which cover the hill-sides at numerous old sites of the Swát Valley, like Landake, Batkhēla, Katgala, etc. As a distinctive feature, however, it must be mentioned that I have not come across, either among the ruins near Kingargalai or elsewhere in Bunēr, the semi-circular battresses which are found very commonly among the Swāt ruins at the corners of such structures, in particular of isolated square towers.
To the west of the spar, which, amongst other ruins, bears that shown in Plan I, there runs another smaller ridge, which, with its western ecrap, fac-s the side valley of Manora. Along the narrow neck of this ridge too there are numerous ruins of the above description. The groundplan of one amongst them which represents the simplest type and still shows a well-preserved entrance at some height above the ground, has been reproduced on Plate II. On the opposite side of the Manora Nullah and further up on the hill-sides of the main valley towards the Nawedand Pass, I conld see other groups of ruined buildings. But the instructions given to me as regards the limits of my explorations on this first day on Bunēr soil did not allow me to proceed further in that direction,
Ruins near Tanga Pass. - Moving then back to the east along the main hill-side, I passed two more spurs running down into the valley nearer to Kingargalai. These were also found to be covered with ruined buildings of the kind already described. Still further to the east at the point where the main valley of Kingargalai is joined by the one leading to the foot of the Tangē Pass, there is a small low spur which has been used as an old building site. At its very end and at a level of only about 50 feet above the flat bottom of the valley, I found the rain of which a plan is given on Plate II below. Its peculiar feature is a platform of solid masonry on which rises a small conical mound of rough stones set in layers. The height of the mound is about 11 feet, including the base.
It appears probable that we have in this mound the remains of a small Stüpa. Unlike other mounds of this character met subsequently during my tour in Bunör, it has escaped being dng into by treasure-seekers. Adjoining the base to the east there are four rectangular rooms of which the walls can get clearly be traced. Their construction is exactly the same as