Where is mes aynak

The ruins sit atop million metric tonnes of copper ore; one of the largest copper deposits in the world. As part of the deal, MCC pledged to build the mine and the infrastructure around it—including a railway and roads for transportation and a generating plant to power the smelter—and offering a one-year timeframe in which to assess the archaeological site.

However, no development has gone ahead. The reasons are not straightforward but include logistical factors in terms of processing the ore, the security situation in Afghanistan, allegations of corruption and an awareness campaign. The latter included the international documentary Saving Mes Aynak and efforts by international heritage activists, the local community and Afghan archaeologists. Not mentioned were the ancient ruins of a large Buddhist city a French geologist had stumbled across at the site in , forgotten for centuries.

The MCC planned to extract the copper at Mes Aynak via open-pit mining, the cheapest, fastest, and most environmentally destructive excavation technique, which would have demolished the ruins, leaving a gaping crater in their place.

I decided to return to Kabul in to see if I could gain access to Mes Aynak and see for myself what was there. What I found was astounding and would change my life.

I traveled to Mes Aynak alone in a rented taxi though rocky dusty roads rife with landmines. Mes Aynak was awe-inspiring. It was a sprawling Buddhist city over , square meters in size, around the size of football fields, dating back 2, years.

Only 10 percent of the site had been excavated. It reminded me of Machu Picchu and I immediately fell in love. The ancient city of Mes Aynak contains over Buddha statues, dozens of intricate and fragile Buddhist stupas, an enormous circular monastic complex, thousands of coins and pieces of jewelry, as well as numerous ancient manuscripts and human remains. Over two thousand years ago, the residents of Mes Aynak were already mining copper using primitive drilling methods and smelters, explaining their close proximity to the precious metal.

Mes Aynak was also a major stop on the Silk Road. So far, archaeologists have found incredible objects from the Kushan period around 30— CE , including rare hand-carved wooden Buddha figures in the Gandhara style, painted plaster and clay statues in a variety of styles, and fragile birch bark manuscripts in several languages.

Archaeologists also have unearthed Bronze Age pottery and a copper smelter dating back 4,—6, years. Then there is the environmental devastation from open-pit copper mining. As a result of copper extraction, Mes Aynak would become a toxic crater. Chemical byproducts would soak into aquifers that supply drinking water to Kabul population of approximately 6 million and neighboring Pakistan.

Aynak, located in the Logar province of Afghanistan, is of historical, cultural and spiritual importance to Afghans and Buddhists alike. There are more than 20 ruin sites sitting directly above the copper deposit, some dating back 5, years. Murals and sculptures discovered at Aynak show different aspects of traditional ancient life in Afghanistan as well as Buddhist practice, including a scene of Parinirvana.

Though Mes Aynak was mined in the distant past, the large-scale open-pit mining proposed by MJAM is a road Afghanistan has not traveled before. Aynak was mined during the Indo-Greek period 2nd century BC to 9th century AD and during the Soviet invasion of the s and 80s, but in very small amounts. The mining contract has been a source of international criticism for environmental, social and political transparency concerns, including the fact that a final version was not published until , seven years after the contract was officially signed.

The contract is now available only in English. A copy of a draft contract from April was leaked in March War and the ongoing looting of artifacts—two of the most devastating cases: the Bamiyan Buddhas and Ai Khanum city—have robbed Afghans of deepening their cultural understanding. If mining is conducted in Mes Aynak, it will destroy the entire historic Buddhist city, including Bronze Age artifacts that are still underground.

Mining will also require forced relocation of seven villages around the Aynak Copper Mine, and devastate the watershed of Afghanistan. Mes Aynak has sparked international campaigns by Afghans, environmentalists, Buddhists, archaeologists and other supporters aiming to stop the destruction of this culturally and spiritually significant site.

Petition signatures were also given to former Afghan president Hamid Karzai, which he ignored. Though mining is currently suspended due to political insecurity and economic disputes, the MJAM contract is still upheld by the Ministry of Mines while Mes Aynak is awaiting complete destruction. Afghan archaeologists have not had the chance to fully explore and analyze Mes Aynak.

His destination was the large outcrop of copper-bearing strata in the mountains above the village of Mes Aynak. But in the course of boring for samples, the geologist stumbled on something much more exciting: an entire buried Buddhist city dating from the early centuries AD. The site was clearly very large — he estimated that it covered six sq km — and, although long forgotten, he correctly guessed that it must once have been a huge and wealthy terminus on the Silk Road.

Archaeologists in Kabul did a preliminary survey of the site, mapping it and digging test trenches, but before they could gather the enormous resources needed for a full-scale excavation, first the Marxist coup then the Saur Communist revolution and the Soviet invasion intervened.

In the chaos of conflict that followed, the Soviets visited Mes Aynak to dig test tunnels into the hillside and investigate the feasibility of extracting its copper.

During the American onslaught of December , US special forces attacked the tunnel: an unexploded rocket lodged in the roof and burn marks at the cave mouth still bear witness to the attack. By the time French archaeologists returned in , they found that the secret of the buried city was out. As had happened in many other sites in the country, a large and highly organised team of professional art looters, probably from Pakistan, had systematically plundered the mounds at Mes Aynak and, judging by the detritus they left, had found large quantities of hugely valuable Gandharan Buddha images: the remains of many painted stucco figures deemed too fragile or too damaged to sell were left lying around the looting trenches which now crisscrossed the site.

Beside them, the archaeologists found empty tubes of glue and bags of fine plaster — evidence of attempts at restoration and conservation. Things did not begin well. The first set of guards placed on the site in ended up shooting each other in a gun-battle; indicating, presumably, that profitable looting was continuing long after the site had passed into Afghan government control. But it was now beyond dispute that Mes Aynak was a discovery of major significance. In the months that followed, the excavators uncovered 19 separate archaeological sites in the valley.

These ranged from four fortified monasteries, a Zoroastrian fire temple and several Buddhist stupas commemorative monuments , through ancient copper working, smelting workshops, miners habitations and a mint, as well as two small forts and a citadel. They also found a hoard of Kushan, Sassanian and Indo-Parthian coins, more than 1, statues, and several perfectly preserved frescoes showing donor portraits and scenes from the life of the Buddha.

As more data slowly emerged from the ground, it became clear that the site was a major Buddhist settlement, occupied from the first century BC and to the 10th century AD, at a time when South Asian culture in the form of the Buddhist religion and Sanskrit literature were spreading up the Silk Route into China, and when Chinese scholars and pilgrims were heading southwards to the Buddhist holy places of the Gangetic plain: Sarnath and Bodh Gaya, and the Buddhist university and library of Nalanda, the greatest centre of learning east of Alexandria.

Mes Aynak was clearly an important stopping-off point for monks heading in either direction. Then, in , the Chinese returned, this time not as pilgrims or scholars but instead as businessmen. Copper had created the site and probably drew the Buddhist monks to the valley in the first place, but now it would imminently lead to its complete destruction. As well as armed guards, there is currently an international team of 67 archaeologists on site, a mixed group of French, English, Afghans and Tajiks.

Serious technology is being deployed to record the remains: ground penetrating radar, georectified photography and aerial 3D images are being brought together to produce a comprehensive digital map of the ruins. This effort is being backed up by more traditional techniques: the sweat of about pick-axe wielding Logari labourers.

This summer that number is due to increase to This will make Mes Aynak the largest rescue dig anywhere in the world. To get to Mes Aynak you must make a mildly risky two-hour trip from Kabul. Logar is still the Taliban's principal route into Afghanistan from their Pakistani safehavens and the highway is frequently subject to IED attacks aimed at the Nato-led Isaf convoys.