The history of Bannu goes back many ages, due to its
strategic location. Sheri Khan Tarakai has ruins of an ancient
settlement which was occupied from the late fifth until the early third
millennium BC. This date range indicates that the occupation at Sheri Khan
Tarakai was also contemporaneous with several other important early village
sites in Afghanistan and western Pakistan, including Mehrgarh.
Bannu was noted by the Sanskrit grammarian Pāṇini as
the historical country of Varnu. The Chinese pilgrim Hsüan-tsang visited
