Ancient Salatura

[fountainofyouth]

There is an old creek not far from the main town of Swabi in Pukhtoonkhwa Province of Pakistan.
The creek is located in the town of small Lahore which during ancient times was called Salatura.
This ancient town was described by M Stein during his travels as the place where there was a sandy
road which its sands were like gold. On top of that it was the place where gold mining had taken
place few thousand years ago and that the main supply of gold to the region was from this place.
Greek historian Herodotus mentioned Caspapyros as an area of gold mining which was later identified by Sir M.A Stein with a desolate sandy track stretching from Salatura to Jaganat near the modern village of Yar Hussain in the vicinity of Jahangira in Swabi district.
I set out to this town to look for this spot and I stumbled upon this creek which is formed by
water coming out from the ground in one place which then flows down to form a creek.
The most important part about this creek is the high level of black sand which is strewn all along
the creek sands and the high content of mineralisation in the sand. The sand when picked up by
hand and seen under the sunlight sparkles like golden sand. Close inspection reveals tiny stones like
red garnets, quartz like pieces, green serpentine and so many colourful stones of different varieties.
Suddenly a thought hit my mind could this be the spot where the ancient description of the golden
sandy road was described. I have never seen so much black sand in one creek in my lifetime.
Anyway few locals from there told me that the water has medicinal properties and is a cure for a
few ailments. I will photograph this spot soon and will post the photos on this thread.
This town is located between Yar Hussain and Jaganat and is also an ancient Buddhist city.
Its old name was Salatura.

[Curtis]

It is great to see an international post here! I would be doing some panning to see if I could get some color there.....really quick!