History of the Excavations at Haḍḍa

Introduction

Haḍḍa (Pashto: هډه) is one of the most important Buddhist monastic complexes of the ancient world. Located approximately eight kilometres south of Jalālābād, in Nangarhār Province, Afghanistan, this archaeological site extends over an area of approximately one square kilometre, dotted with artificial mounds, the tapa, that conceal the remains of monasteries, stūpas and chapels.

According to the Chinese pilgrim Fǎxiǎn (法顯), who visited the region between 399 and 414 CE, Haḍḍa housed more than twenty monasteries and approximately three thousand monks. The site was a major centre for the veneration of Buddha relics, including a cranial bone (uṣṇīṣa) preserved in a gold and jewel reliquary.

The history of excavations at Haḍḍa spans nearly two centuries, marked by exceptional discoveries, pioneering archaeological interventions and, tragically, by massive destruction. This article traces the major stages of this history, from the first explorations of the 19th century to the digital preservation efforts of the 21st century.

The Ancient Witnesses: Fǎxiǎn and Xuánzàng

The earliest written descriptions of Haḍḍa come from two Chinese Buddhist pilgrims. Fǎxiǎn (法顯), who departed from Cháng'ān in 399 CE, crossed Central Asia and Gandhāra to reach India. In his Fóguó jì (佛國記, Record of Buddhist Kingdoms), he describes Nagarahāra (the ancient name for the Jalālābād region) as a major pilgrimage site, housing relics of the Buddha, a cranial bone, a staff and the Buddha's robe, venerated in edifices adorned with gold and lapis lazuli.

Two centuries later, Xuánzàng (玄奘) visited the region in 629–630 during his great journey to India. In his Great Tang Records on the Western Regions (大唐西域記, Dà Táng Xīyù Jì), he confirms the religious importance of Nagarahāra and mentions a stūpa containing the Buddha's cranial bone, around which a flourishing monastic complex was organised. He notes that several monasteries were already in decline, foreshadowing the slow abandonment that would intensify with the spread of Islam in the region in the 8th–9th centuries.

These ancient accounts played a decisive role for European archaeologists of the 19th and 20th centuries, who used them as guides to locate the sites.

Charles Masson (1832–1838)

The first archaeological exploration of Haḍḍa was undertaken by Charles Masson (born James Lewis, 1800–1853), a deserter from the British East India Company's army who reinvented himself as an explorer and numismatist. Between 1832 and 1838, Masson explored the Jalālābād plain and opened at least fourteen stūpas at Haḍḍa and its surroundings.

Masson was not an archaeologist in the modern sense, his methods were rudimentary and destructive, but his finds were remarkable. He discovered Graeco-Bactrian, Indo-Scythian, Kushan and even Roman coins, testifying to the region's commercial and cultural connections. He also unearthed reliquaries, sculptures and Kharoṣṭhī inscriptions. His collections were sent to the British Museum and the East India Company, where they remain a valuable resource for numismatists and historians of Gandhāra.

Masson published his observations in Narrative of Various Journeys in Balochistan, Afghanistan, and the Panjab (1842), a work that drew European scholarly attention to Afghanistan's archaeological riches.

Jules Barthoux and the DAFA (1926–1928)

The most important phase in Haḍḍa's archaeology began in 1922 with the creation of the Délégation Archéologique Française en Afghanistan (DAFA), founded by Alfred Foucher under a bilateral agreement between France and King Amānullāh's Afghanistan. The DAFA enjoyed an exclusive monopoly on archaeological excavations in the country, a privilege that lasted until 1952.

It was Jules Barthoux (1881–1930), a geologist and archaeologist, who directed the excavations at Haḍḍa between 1926 and 1928. In three intensive campaigns, Barthoux excavated eight monasteries, including Tapa Kalān, the largest, Tapa-i Kafāriha, Bāgh Gaï and Pratēs.

The results were spectacular: approximately 15,000 artefacts were unearthed, primarily stucco, unbaked clay and schist sculptures representing buddhas, bodhisattvas, deities and secular figures. Among the most celebrated pieces is the "Genius of Flowers" (HADB 69), a young attendant carrying a tray of flowers, which has become one of the icons of Gandhāran art.

Barthoux published two foundational volumes: Les fouilles de Haḍḍa, vol. I: Stūpas et sites (1933) and vol. III: Figures et figurines (1930), which remain indispensable references. A third volume dedicated to "Heads" was never published in his lifetime. The vast majority of the artefacts were deposited at the Kabul Museum, where they formed the core of Afghanistan's Gandhāran collection.

The Afghan Institute of Archaeology (1965–1973)

After the end of the French monopoly in 1952, a new era opened for Afghan archaeology. In 1965, Ṣabāḥuddīn Mostamandī (Kushkaki), an Afghan archaeologist trained in France, undertook the first Afghan-led excavations at Haḍḍa, on the site of Tapa-e Shotor ("the camel mound"). These pioneering excavations marked the emergence of a national archaeology in Afghanistan.

In 1966, the Afghan Institute of Archaeology (AIA) was officially established, and Mostamandī continued his work until 1973. He uncovered important stratigraphic levels and stucco decoration of great refinement, demonstrating that Tapa-e Shotor still contained unexplored treasures.

Zemaryālaï Tarzī and Tapa-e Shotor (1974–1976)

The most productive period of Afghan excavations at Haḍḍa was directed by Professor Zemaryālaï Tarzī, an Afghan archaeologist trained at the University of Strasbourg. Between 1974 and 1976, Tarzī conducted three systematic excavation campaigns at Tapa-e Shotor, revealing an exceptional ensemble of sculptural decoration in situ.

The most spectacular discovery was that of Niche XIII of the main stūpa, housing the famous "Buddha with Serpents", a representation of the Buddha in meditation, protected by a seven-headed nāga, surrounded by ascetic figures of striking realism. This composition, blending Hellenistic influences with local traditions, is considered an absolute masterpiece of Haḍḍa art.

Another major discovery was Niche V2, containing a remarkable Heracles-Vajrapāṇi, a hybrid figure combining the iconography of the Greek hero Heracles (club, lion skin) with that of the Buddhist protector Vajrapāṇi. This figure vividly illustrates the Graeco-Buddhist syncretism that characterises Gandhāran art.

Tarzī also uncovered polychrome wall paintings, rare for the site, as well as Kharoṣṭhī inscriptions. His work demonstrated that the stucco of Haḍḍa constituted a missing link between Gandhāran Hellenistic stone sculpture and the clay and stucco traditions of Central Asia and India.

Destruction and Looting (1979–2001)

The Soviet invasion of December 1979 brutally halted all archaeological activity at Haḍḍa. Fighting between the Soviet army and the mujahideen devastated the Jalālābād plain. The Haḍḍa site, located in a combat zone, suffered considerable damage. Trenches were dug through archaeological remains, stūpas were used as firing positions, and bombardments destroyed entire structures.

After the Soviet withdrawal (1989), the ensuing civil war proved even more devastating for the heritage. Systematic looting multiplied, feeding the antiquities black market. Entire sculptures were ripped from their context and sold to collectors and art dealers in Peshawar, London and Switzerland.

In 1992, Niche V2 of Tapa-e Shotor, which housed the Heracles-Vajrapāṇi discovered by Tarzī, was dynamited by looters. This deliberate destruction of a unique archaeological context represents one of the most painful losses for the history of Gandhāran art.

The final blow came in March 2001, when the Taliban regime ordered the systematic destruction of all "idols" in the Kabul National Museum. More than 7,600 fragments of sculptures, primarily from Haḍḍa, were methodically smashed with hammers. Among the destroyed pieces were unique masterpieces of Graeco-Buddhist art, some dating from the 1st–5th centuries CE. This planned cultural destruction, occurring just days before the dynamiting of the Bāmiyān Buddhas, provoked unanimous international condemnation.

Preserving the Memory

Faced with the scale of destruction, the international community and researchers have mobilised to preserve the memory of Haḍḍa by all available means.

UNESCO has included Haḍḍa's preservation in its Afghan heritage protection programme. The Society for the Preservation of Afghanistan's Cultural Heritage (SPACH), founded in Islamabad, has contributed to the documentation and protection of the surviving collections.

In 2006, the publication of the Tissot catalogue, Catalogue of the National Museum of Afghanistan, 1931–1985 by Francine Tissot, provided a systematic photographic inventory of the Kabul Museum's Gandhāran collection as it existed before the destructions. This work has become an irreplaceable reference tool for identifying lost and surviving pieces.

The ISAC project (Interactive Encyclopaedia on the History of Science, Art and Culture) at the University of Chicago and the Gandhāra Connections programme at the University of Oxford have integrated data on Haḍḍa into digital databases accessible to the international scholarly community.

It is within this dynamic of digital preservation that the HADB (Hadda Archaeological Database) project takes its place. By assembling in a structured database all available information, photographs, descriptions, locations, publications, the HADB project aims to virtually reconstruct a largely destroyed collection and make it accessible to researchers, students and the public.

The stakes are considerable: without these digitisation and cataloguing efforts, a major part of Gandhāra's artistic and religious history risks falling into oblivion. Digital technologies today offer the possibility not only of preserving what remains, but also of reconnecting fragments dispersed across museums and collections worldwide, thereby restoring coherence and visibility to a heritage fractured by history.