‘Trust deficit’ delays analysis of artefacts

LARKANA: Despite a decision taken in January to send a cluster of coins dug out from Mohenjo Daro to a lab in Karachi in order to establish their age, the purported artefacts are still lying at the site.

Trust deficit is cited as the reason, as a couple of officials concerned without mincing words had expressed their apprehension that the object might be stolen or damaged in the process.

The coins — believed to be belonging to the era of Kushan Ruler Vasudeva-I (c. 200-225 AD) — weigh 5.55kgs and were found stuffed in an earthen pot (jar). The object was discovered on Nov 16, 2023 during the repair and restoration work in the ‘Divinity Street’ of Mohenjo Daro’s stupa in its western SD-area.

On January 19, the Director General of Archives and Antiquities, Abdul Fatah Shaikh, had told media personnel that the object would be sent to a Karachi lab for an analysis and to ascertain the age/period of the coins.

Coins weighing 5.55kgs dug out from Mohenjo Daro were supposed to be sent to a Karachi lab in January to establish their age

He had also stated that Dr Asma — an expert of the field — along with a senior technician at the Mohenjo Daro lab having the expertise he gained at Karachi University’s chemistry department, and others would jointly study the coins.

The study was supposed to be completed within a month, i.e. February 19. Mr Shaikh had further stated that as soon as the study would be completed, the coins would be brought back to Mohenjo Daro.

Sources at Mohenjo Daro, however, disclosed on Tuesday that the coins had not been moved as yet. “They are still lying in the Mohenjo Daro laboratory,” they said.

The sources recalled that in its January 17 meeting at the ancient site, the Technical Consultative Committee (TCC) of the National Fund for Mohenjo Daro had discussed the issue of the coins’ analysis.

Dr Altaf Aseem, a member of the TCC, talking to Dawn over phone on Tuesday, said that not only he, but senior archaeologist Dr Ghulam Mustafa Shar, had also opposed shifting of the coins to Karachi apprehending that they might be stolen or damaged in the process. “We, in the presence of TTC Chairman Dr Kaleemullah Lashari and US archaeologist Mark Kenoyer, had opposed the proposal at the meeting. We had apprehended that the artefacts, believed to be part of the world-famous heritage site may be stolen or damaged during the shifting process,” he said.

He asked that why the existing laboratory at Mohenjo Daro should not be upgraded and equipped with modern equipment to undertake the required examination, study and analysis of such artefacts. He claimed that a big number of artefacts discovered at Mohenjo Daro were lying in the store and they were supposed to be put on display.

He said these artefacts were more than those already displayed in the museum at the site. “The need is to chalk out a plan to ensure their safety at the place of display,” he stressed, and in the same breath, he talked about the risk of possible damage to the archaeological, historical and cultural artefacts if they were continued to be kept in the store.

Dr Ghulam Mustafa Shar, another TTC member and a former head of the Archaeology Department, at the Shah Abdul Latif University, Khairpur, had on record stated that about 15 years back, around 1,600 identical coins were discovered from the Dhamraho Jo Daro, situated on the outskirts of Larkana. The department, with its efforts, had then recovered 50-60 coins from the villagers who had taken them away, Dr Shar had disclosed.

According to him, these coins belonged to the Kushan period.

Ali Haidar Gadhi, a former conservationist who had served at Mohenjo Daro, also did not rule out the possibility of the coins belonging to the Kushan period. He pointed out that R.D. Banerji (an archaeologist who had served as an officer of the Archeological Survey of India in 1919) had discovered 2,000 coins, of them 338 belonged to Kushan Ruler Vasudeva-I.

Published in Dawn, March 18th, 2026