Kim Kardashian, a well-known American reality TV personality and actress, has been surprisingly linked to Kashmir after archaeologists named a beautiful pot, discovered at an apple orchard at Haigam in Sopore, as Kim.
Mumtaz Itoo, the archaeologist who came to the Haigam orchard, known as Qasim Bagh, during his research days, told this newspaper that they came across this entirely intact pot during excavations in the orchard. “As it was very beautiful and voluptuous in shape, we all nick-named it Kim Kardashian,” Itoo told this reporter, alluding to Kim Kardashian’s physical appearance. He said this was the first “intact” pot discovered by them, which belongs to the Neolithic period. The pot is said to be 4,800 years old. However, the government officials in the Culture and Tourism Department denied any knowledge of the pot being named after the American reality TV star.
“I am not aware of this discovery and its name. It sounds fine if we use her name as the brand ambassador for Jammu and Kashmir tourism, inviting tourists to explore the ancient places connected with pre-historic period,” a senior tourism officer told this newspaper.
Giving details of this discovery, Itoo told this reporter that many of them are part of the Kashmir Pre-History Project and were busy doing research in the orchard of Haigam to uncover the origins of a distinctive Neolithic culture.
Alison Betts, professor of Silk Road Studies at the University of Sydney and adjunct faculty member at the Kashmir University in the Department of Central Asian Studies, is leading the Australian team which is a part of the KPP Project. She in her paper has talked about the Kim Pot and has said that they were interested to know the origins of agriculture in Asia. As her paper appeared, many journalists were keen to know why a pot of pre-historic period in Kashmir was named after Kim Kardashian.
J&K’s Culture Department officials said that a pre-historic pot being named after Kim Kardashian has created interest in journalistic circles and they now are curious to know about the research that is being done on the pre-historic period of Kashmir. “As far as I am concerned, I will recommend to the government to announce Kim Kardashian as the brand ambassador of J&K heritage tourism,” a senior official told this newspaper.