In order to achieve its aims, the Charsadda (Pakistan) Project re-opened one of Mortimer Wheeler's original trenches (CHIII), as well as four new trenches (CHVI, CHVII, CHVIII and CHIX) with the expressed aim of establishing the origins of the site.

CH III was one of Wheeler’s original trenches and was reopened to reinvestigate the relationship between the postern gate and the v-shaped fortification ditch. The newly opened trench exposed the v-shaped profile defensive ditch that formed the basis of Wheeler’s chronological framework, and influenced his identification of Charsadda as an Achaemenid city sacked by Alexander the Great.
Radiocarbon dates derived from samples taken within the re-opened trench, suggest a date of the middle of first millennium BC, as opposed to the 320s BC for the cutting of the defensive ditch.

CH VI was opened 8m south of CH III across the ditch and measured 16mx3m. The trench was designed to investigate course of Wheeler's defensive ditch, its date and the relationship between the ditch and wall behind it.
Excavations identified a series of ditches cut in multiple phases, as opposed to a single ditch. The earliest levels of the trench provide C14 dates of 1270-930 BC and 1260-900 BC substantially earlier than originally thought.

CH VII was opened to test Wheeler’s assumption that there was no evidence of a later wall or fortification surrounding the Bala Hisar. The trench was focused upon an exposed section of wall measuring 10m wide and 8m high in an erosion gulley on the eastern side of the mound, 6m below the summit's surface. Excavation and cleaning identified that the wall was constructed of large unbaked bricks set in mud mortar, and C14 dates indicate a terminus ante quem of 80-220 AD for its construction.

CH VIII/IX was opened to test whether Wheeler's assertion that Charsadda was an Achaemenid colony founded in the sixth century BC was true. The trench was located 5m south of Wheeler's trench CHI, and divided into two sections. CHVIII measured 8m E-W and 3m N-S, whilst CHIX measured 3m N-S and between 4.3-5.5m E-W. Six phases of occupation were identified within the trench:
• 8.A represents the earliest occupation at the site, and mostly consists of ceramics and charcoal. No structural remains were identified, although the presence of postholes indicate some form of structures were present. C14 dates indicate an origin of the 14th century BC.
• 8.B identified a series of pit structures very similar to the pits visible within the Swat-Kashmir Neolithic. C14 dates from these levels provide a date of 1260-1040BC.
• 8.C was characterised by structures built from unbaked mudbrick, and radiocarbon samples provided a date of 1210-1020 BC.
• 8.D was the final in-situ deposit, with radiocarbon dates of1190-990 BC and 1190-770 BC. This early occupation level had evidence of having later foundation trenches cut into it.
• 8.E consisted of many layers filling a robbers pit, representing a combination of erosion, collapse and mixing. Despite this, these layers contained the vast majority of the complete artefacts and glazed ceramics recovered from the site.
• 8.F was the final phase of deposition identified in trench CHVIII/IX, and represents attempts to stabilise the ongoing erosion of the site.

Excavation of the habitational levels at the site yielded evidence of large unbaked mudbrick, or rather clay slab, walls and mud-plaster floors in the earliest layers. There was also evidence of cobble foundations in slightly later phases, with the occasional use of clay slab. However, no baked brick was identified within the early levels.