Luca Maria Olivieri

Luca M. Olivieri is Associate Professor of Archaeology and Cultures of Gandhara and the Silk Roads, and of the History and Material Culture of Buddhism in South Asia, at Ca’ Foscari University of Venice. He is Director of the Italian Archaeological Mission in Pakistan, Director of the Khyber PATH Project, and Scientific Co-Director of the Historical-Archaeological Mission in Sindh.

A field archaeologist trained at Sapienza University of Rome, he later completed his PhD in South Asian Languages and Cultures at Freie Universität Berlin. He has worked in Swat, Pakistan, since 1987, with a particular focus on the urban site of Barikot—the ancient Bazira associated with Alexander the Great—as well as rock art, archaeological mapping, Gandharan Buddhist art, heritage conservation and the environmental history of the region. He has directed or participated in 40 excavation campaigns, 15 restoration and training campaigns, and 20 archaeological surveys in Pakistan.

From 2011 to 2016, he directed the ACT Field School Project in Swat, whose achievements included rebuilding the Swat Museum and restoring the colossal Jahanabad Buddha after both were damaged during the Taliban insurgency. His discovery of an ancient apsidal temple at Barikot was recognised by Archaeology magazine as one of the ten most important archaeological discoveries of 2022. His recent work also includes the conservation of the Barikot acropolis and the digitisation and preventive conservation of Buddhist rock reliefs in Swat.

In recognition of more than three decades of service to Pakistan’s archaeology and cultural heritage, Professor Olivieri received the Sitara-i-Imtiaz from the President of Pakistan in 2016. He has also received the Order of the Star of Italy and is an elected Fellow of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland.