Prehistoric Archeological Surveys and Excavations in Afghanistan: 1959-1960 and 1961-1963.

Afghanistan has long been considered an important transmitter of culture in the historic periods. Buddhism, for example, reached the Far East from Gandhara (the classical name for southern Afghanistan and parts of north-western West Pakistan). Recent research indicates that the foothills of northern Afghanistan may have been one of the early centers of incipient agriculture, transitional between the food gathering of the Paleolithic and the food production of the Neolithic. In addition, Upper and possibly Middle ("Mousterian") Paleolithic industries have been identified.