Archaeology Is Identity Of Any Nation: Sindh Culture Minister

KARACHI, Nov 9 (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 09th Nov, 2016 ) : Archaeology was the identity of any nation, said Sindh Minister for Culture, Tourism and Antiquities Syed Sardar Ali Shah. Speaking at a moot here on Wednesday, he added that those who give life to their archeological sites, listen their stories, will never be vanished from the annuls of history.

The Minister was of the view that this is only a start of the archeological development of the province by this knowledge-based training workshop with the experts here from Italy and there is more to come.

He was addressing the opening ceremony of a three days' training workshop titled `When History, Archaeology and Science meet to give life and voice to Monuments and Archaeological Evidence". This workshop was a collective effort of the Department of Culture, Tourism and Antiquities Government of Sindh and the Consulate General of Italy at Karachi.

The Consul General of Italy Dr. Gianluca Rubagotti, Professor Valeria Piacentinini Fiorani, Secretary Culture Akber Laghari, and around one hundred students from the Shah Abdul Latif University Khairpur, Sindh University Jamshoro, Dawood University and University of Karachi attended the opening ceremony of training workshop.

Addressing the ceremony, the Minister Culture Syed Sardar Shah said that this workshop is actually the implementation of our September 23rd meeting at his office, where the Consul General of Italy Dr.

Gianluca Rubagotti, Dr. Valeria and prominent Archaeologist Dr. Niccolo Manassero had shown their keen interest in the archaeological sites as well as rich heritage of Sindh. It was then decided that the Government of Italy would help research work on archaeological sites of Sindh and also will train the staff related to Archaeology and Museums.

He said that the main objective of this training workshop was to impart training to the officials of the department as well as students of the different universities of province who are our future.

He further said that Pakistan and Italy share the same vision of global peace and love for archeological heritage as Sindh is cradle of Indus Valley civilization.

He asked the Consul General of Italy Dr.

Gianluca Rubagotti to establish a Carbon Dating laboratory in collaboration with Italian Government here in Karachi so that our researchers could be able to bring out new discoveries of archaeological sites in Sindh.

The Minister hoped that the students of different universities who are attending the training will get fruitful knowledge and skills, and thus will enrich this field with their hard work and dedication in the future.

He thanked Prof. Valeria for her great input in this workshop for Archaeological Research, Documentations and the Study of Archaeological Material. He said that Prof. Valeria has been working on an important archaeological site including Bhanbhore since many years, while other Italian archaeological mission in Balochistan had been active over the last 60 years, which is also accredited with the restoration of important Gandhara sites and very recently the discovery and restoration of the Udegram Mosque.

The Consul General of Italy Dr. Gianluca Rubagotti and Prof. Valeria also addressed the session, and they were happy on the hospitality from Sindh. Prof. Valeria said that she has been working on Bhanbhore since six years, and Sindh has been like her second home.

She said that she loves the traditional music, folklore and the cultural dynamics of Sindh. Earlier Secretary Culture Akbar Laghari welcomed the guests and spoke about the importance of archeology as a way to self-consciousness.

This three-day workshop which commenced on Wednesday will cover the topics like Archaeology: methodological theory and practice, Pottery analysis: methodological theory and practice, Documentation for recording and organizing the collected data, Archaeometric investigations on the field and case study of archeological site of Bhanbhore will be visited on Saturday.