Italian archaeological activities in Asia

In 1960 the CRAST (at that time called Centro Scavi e Ricerche Archeologiche dell' ls.M.E.O. e di Torino) organized a didactic exhibition regarding the excavations made in Afghanistan and Pakistan, places very different from each other but linked by very ancient historic relations, from early historic migrations to the great empires of the Parthians and the Sasanians, to Islam, and especially by the presence of Hellenism subsequent to Alexander the Great's campaigns. The catalogue Attività Archeologica Italiana in Asia, Exhibition of the Results of the Missions in Pakistan and Afghanistan 1956-1959 (Turin-Rome 1960), edited by G. Gullini with a foreword by D. Faccenna for Mingora, U. Scerrato and D. Adamesteanu for Afghanistan, and descriptive tables by G. Gullini (Udegram), M. Taddei (Butkara) and U. Scerrato (Ghazni and Gakatu), illustrates the sites researched in Afghanistan and Pakistan, briefly highlighting the cultural influences, differences and contacts between East and West in the light of Hellenism. The exhibition was a first example of “dialogue with the public”, a bond which the CRAST has always sought and strongly desired in its over 40 years of activity. This first archaeological undertaking in the Middle East was subsequently illustrated, with a liberal display of original pieces, in the exhibition Afghanistan from Prehistory to Islam.