Ahmad Hasan Dani

Early life Ahmad Hasan Dani, was born on 20 June 1920 into an ethnic Kashmiri Muslim family of traders of the Wain clan, in Basna, in the Central Provinces and Berar in British India (now in Chhattisgarh, India). He graduated in 1944, with an MA degree in Sanskrit, to become the first Muslim graduate of Banaras Hindu University. He stayed there for six months. In 1945, he started working as a trainee in archaeology under the guidance of Mortimer Wheeler. == Visiting, research and honorary positions ==

During his associate professorship at Dhaka University, Dani worked as a research fellow at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London (1958–59). Later, in 1969 he became Asian Fellow at the Australian National University, Canberra. In 1974, he went to the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia as a visiting scholar. In 1977, he was a visiting professor at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. Over the span of his career, Dani was awarded honorary fellowships of Royal Asiatic Society of Bangladesh (1969), German Archaeological Institute (1981), Istituto Italiano per l'Africa e l'Oriente (IsMEO) (1986) and Royal Asiatic Society (1991). In 1991, Dani was made an honorary citizen of Bukhara and an honorary member of the Paivand Society in Tajikistan. He was made an honorary life patron of Al-Shifa Trust, Rawalpindi in 1993. == Research contributions ==

Dani remained engaged in excavation works on the pre-Indus civilization site of Rehman Dheri in Northern Pakistan. He also made a number of discoveries of Gandhara sites in Peshawar and Swat Valleys, and worked on Indo-Greek sites in Dir. From 1985, he was involved in research focusing on the documentation of the rock carvings and inscriptions on ancient remains from the Neolithic age in the high mountain region of Northern Pakistan along with Harald Hauptmann of Heidelberg Academy of Sciences, University of Heidelberg. He also led the UNESCO teams for the Desert Route Expedition of the Silk Road in China (1990) and the Steppe Route Expedition of the Silk Road in the Soviet Union (1991). Nor was there any invasion from the seaside during the Bronze Age, although the coastline facilitated maritime trade. The major influence, according to Dani, came from Central Asia in the west. He asserted that the hilly western borderland that appears as a boundary to the external eye is actually a network of hill plateaus where the local people have always moved freely. He therefore argued that the cultural history of Pakistan is more closely related to Central Asia through Buddhist, Persian and later Sufism influences. == Awards and honours ==

Despite being the first Muslim student of Banaras Hindu University, Dani also scored highest in the graduation exams and received the J. K. Gold Medal from that university in 1944. • 1998 Légion d'honneur, President of the French Republic • 1997 Aristotle Silver Medal, UNESCO • 1996 Order of the Merit, Government of Germany • 1994 Knight Commander, Government of Italy • 1990 Palmes Academiques, Government of France • 1986 Gold Medal, Asiatic Society of Bangladesh • 1969 Sitara-i-Imtiaz (Star of Excellence) Award by the Government of Pakistan == Publications ==

Ahmad Hasan Dani had more than 30 published books and numerous journal articles to his credit. He spoke 35 languages and dialects, and was fluent in Bengali, French, Hindi, Kashmiri, Marathi, Pashto, Persian, Punjabi, Sanskrit, Seraiki, Sindhi, Tamil, Turkish and Urdu languages. He also published various texts in most of these languages. Books • History of Pakistan: Pakistan through ages. Sang-e-Meel Publications. 2007. • Historic City of Taxila. Sang-e-Meel Publications. 2001. • History of Northern Areas of Pakistan (Up to 2000 AD). Sang-e-Meel Publications. 2001. • Romance of the Khyber Pass. Sang-e-Meel Publications. 1997. • New Light on Central Asia. Sang-e-Meel Publications. 1996. • Central Asia Today. Sang-e-Meel Publications. 1996. • Human Records on Karakorum Highway. Sang-e-Meel Publications. 1995. • Peshawar: Historic City of the Frontier. Sang-e-Meel Publications, (2nd Revised edition). 1995. • A Short History of Pakistan, Book One: Pre-Muslim Period. University of Karachi. (3 editions, 1967, 1984, 1992). • History of Northern Areas of Pakistan (Historical studies). National Institute of Historical and Cultural Research. 1989. • Perspectives of Pakistan. National Institute of Pakistan Studies, Quaid-e-Azam University. 1989. ASIN B0000CQNUB • The historic city of Taxila. Centre for East Asian Cultural Studies. 1986. • Chilas: The City of Nanga Parvat (Dyamar). 1983. ASIN B0000CQDB2 • Thatta: Islamic architecture. Institute of Islamic History, Culture & Civilization. 1982. ASIN B0000CQD43 • Indus civilization: New Perspectives. Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad. 1981 • Alberuni's Indica: A record of the cultural history of South Asia about A.D. 1030. University of Islamabad Press, Islamabad. 1973 • Indian palaeography. Clarendon P. 1963. ASIN B0000CM0CB • Dacca: A record of its changing fortunes. S.S. Dani (Publisher). 1962. ASIN B0000CQXMU • Prehistory and Protohistory of Eastern India: With a Detailed Account of the Neolithic Cultures. K.L. Mukhopadhyay. 1960 • Bibliography of the Muslim Inscriptions of Bengal. 1957 Co-authored works • With J-P. Mohen (eds.), History of Humanity, Volume III, From the Third Millennium to the Seventh Century BC. New York: Routledge/Paris: UNESCO. 1996. . • With V.M. Masson (eds.), History of Civilizations of Central Asia, Unesco, Paris. 1992- (6 volumes) (v.1) == See also ==