According to the Director Archives, Archeology and Museums, a rare memorial stone slab was discovered at Bandipora today.
The discovery was made during an excavation at Kunan Bandipora undertaken there to remove the debris from a playing ground. This archaeological find was first taken over by the local police station and later on the instructions of Deputy Commissioner Bandipora, the Directorate of Archives Archaeology and Museums was informed about this arch archaeological item.
A team of the archaeological experts was deputed to the site to swiftly investigate the find and take over the possession of the artifact. The archaeological artifact was then lifted to SPS Museum Srinagar, where a team of archaeological experts have been investigating the archaeological find.
During its preliminary investigation it was found that the find basically is a memorial stone measuring 5.5 ft in length and 15 inches in width. The face of the memorial stone is in three panels depicting the few crude human and animal images. The central panel carries an interesting image of a standing turban headed human figure holding bow and arrow to its left while the motif of dragger fixed on his waist towards its left.
The sculpture is a first find of its kind where such a motif has made its appearance in such a magnificent way.
Although the archaeology department so far has made several discoveries of such memorial stones but the discovery made at Bandipora is a unique one where from such an interesting memorial stone has been discovered. The scientific dating of this archaeological find is yet to be under taken, but experts opine that the sculpture probably belongs to Karkota era (600 AD- 800). Since this archaeological find is yet under its initial study and when its investigation is completed the department would display it for the general public in the museum.
It is in place to mention that this is a first such discovery of its kind from Bandipora District of the Jammu and Kashmir state.