Buddhist Sculptures Discovered in Ruins of Ancient Shrine

LIVE SCIENCE
By Owen Jarus

This sculpture, uncovered in the ancient city of Bazira, tells a Buddhist story involving Siddhartha, who later became the Gautama Buddha. Credit: Photo by Aurangzeib Khan, Courtesy ACT/Italian Archaeological Missio

PAKISTAN---Sculptures and carvings dating back more than 1,700 years have been discovered in the remains of a shrine and its courtyard in the ancient city of Bazira. The sculptures illustrate the religious life of the city, telling tales from Buddhism and other ancient religions. Also called Vajirasthana, Bazira is located the in the Swat Valley in Pakistan. It was first constructed as a small town, during the second century B.C., and eventually developed into a city located within the Kushan Empire. At its peak, this empire ruled territory extending from modern-day India to central Asia. [link]