Dr. Ashraf Khan
Dr. Ashraf Khan held the post of Professor and Director of the Taxila Institute of Archaeology and Civilizations at Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad, Pakistan. Currently, Dr. Khan teaches at the institute as a visiting faculty member and co-supervises PhD students.
Dr. Ashraf Khan earned his MPhil and Ph.D. degrees in the Buddhist art of Gandhāra from the Sorbonne University, Paris. During his post as a professor and director of the Taxila Institute of Archaeology and Civilizations at Quaid-i-Azam University, he supervised fifteen Ph.D. and 40 M.Phil students. He is also the author of 11 books and 50 research papers on different aspects of Buddhist art of Gandhāra, rock art, numismatic, Buddhist fresco paintings, and archaeology.
In addition, Dr. Khan joined the Department of Archaeology and Museums, Pakistan. During his service, he held various key positions, including the Director of Archaeology, Curator of Swat Museum, and Deputy Director of Taxila Museum; he is also the founder of Islamabad Museum.
Dr. Khan has conducted numerous archaeological excavations in Swat, Dir, Bajaur, and the Peshawar Valley, the regions once belonged to the ancient Gandhāra, as well as Rawal Pindi and Islamabad Capital Territory, resulting in the discovery of hundreds of archaeological sites and monuments. For the first time, he carried out an extensive archaeological survey in Azad Jammu and Kashmir, discovering hundreds of archaeological sites and monuments, including archaeological mounds, megaliths, rock carvings and inscriptions, Hindu temples, Gurudwaras, caravanserais, forts, and baolis (stepwells). He completed the mapping of over 8, 000 archaeological and religious sites in Pakistan as a project of the National Heritage and Culture Division, Islamabad. In recent years, Dr. Khan participated in a joint China-Pakistan expedition crossing the Kharakoram and Hindukush ranges in collaboration with Tsinghua University.
Dr. Khan was awarded “Chevallier de l’order and Arts et letter” (The Order of Arts and Letters, an honor that recognizes eminent artists, writers, and people who have contributed significantly to furthering the arts in France and throughout the world) by the government of France, and "Tamgha-e-Imtiaz," a state-bestowed honor, by the government of Pakistan.
