BARIKOT TUNNEL 1 (Upper)

Herbert Daniel Gebauer - 06/01/2018

Two inclined (and interconnected?) rock-cut tunnels recorded STEIN (1927a: 427-430; 1929a: 39, location map on Fig. 17) from the fortified hill east above Barikot (note 1): I have been told of two rock-cut passages leading into the hill above the river, and of the local tradition that they had served to make access to water still more secure. I was shown the entrance to one of them at an elevation of about 180 feet [55 m] above the river. Once I had passed the low doorway, built of ancient masonry of the type peculiar to structures of the Buddhist period, I found myself in a gallery three feet [0.9 m] wide and lined with masonry of the same type. At a height of over ten feet [3.05 m] it was vaulted with horizontal courses of cut slabs. I ascended the gallery for only some 16 yards [14.5 m], to a point where fallen rock partly blocked it. Recesses for a square bolt on either side of the doorway showed that it could be closed from the inside.Two inclined (and interconnected?) rock-cut tunnels recorded STEIN (1927a: 427-430; 1929a: 39, location map on Fig. 17) from the fortified hill east above Barikot (note 1): I have been told of two rock-cut passages leading into the hill above the river, and of the local tradition that they had served to make access to water still more secure. I was shown the entrance to one of them at an elevation of about 180 feet [55 m] above the river. Once I had passed the low doorway, built of ancient masonry of the type peculiar to structures of the Buddhist period, I found myself in a gallery three feet [0.9 m] wide and lined with masonry of the same type. At a height of over ten feet [3.05 m] it was vaulted with horizontal courses of cut slabs. I ascended the gallery for only some 16 yards [14.5 m], to a point where fallen rock partly blocked it. Recesses for a square bolt on either side of the doorway showed that it could be closed from the inside.