Discovering Bronze Age Bactria

Stamp Seal from our Collection of Bactrian Artifacts

published on title page of Necropolis of Gonur by

Dr. Victor Sarianidi, leader of Russian excavations

in the Amu Darya and Murghab regions of the 

Bactria-Margiana Archeological Complex.

In the mid-1970s, my husband and I had the great good fortune to live in Afghanistan for two years.  As we browsed the bazaars of Kabul, we began to find mysterious and obviously ancient carved, drilled, engraved and cast amulets and seals, in addition to miniature carvings of animals and human feet, hands and other parts.  We did not know where they came from, their age, or the civilization that must have produced them.  When we asked the merchants, they said the artifacts were from Balkh, but they did not offer more than that.  Most of our collection came out of the ruins in the province of Bactria, now located in Northeastern Afghanistan.

The ruins of Bactria had been discovered first by the residents of the towns and villages along the Amu Darya.  The artifacts may have been washed out of the ancient ruins by the occasional rains that sent water rushing down the mountain sides.  The old burial sites were then revealed and the casual explorer found interesting objects that he could take to market.  As the merchants in Kabul bought them and displayed them, only a few Westerners interested in ancient arts and culture were buying them.  We only know two other American collectors of such items; that is to say only two other collectors who lived or visited there.

I want to make clear that though I will be speaking often of my family's association with Dr. Victor Sarianidi, the leader of the Russian excavation of ancient Bactria and Margiana, Dr. Sarianidi was not a source of artifacts for us.  All his findings went to museums, not to private collectors.

Victor taught us what he had discovered about the Bactrian civilization and invited us to his excavations in the Murghab region in Turkmenistan.  Margiana, situated along the Murghab, is a part of the widespread proto-Iranian culture, closely related to the Bactrian culture.  My husband visited the digs in the Kara Kum desert on many occasions.

Here Victor leans on a section of the walls of the palace at Gonur Depe North:

The goal of this blog is to share bits of the information on Bactria and Turkmenistan that we learned from Victor's visits at our home and from his valuable publications.  I will also rely on the books based on the Ligabue collection and the recent work of Ms. Sylvia Winkelmann.

I am gratified to see that Ms. Winkelmann has given due notice to the drilled stone images that make up a large part of my family's collection.  For example:

Stone Amulet from Bactria, authenticated and published by Victor Sarianidi

Contact me with questions or for invoice through the private message form at the top right of this page.

I am now in the process of downsizing our collection and will be posting many of the seals and amulets for sale.  Click on the links below the photos to see a more detailed description, price and payment arrangements that I offer.  

Both copper/bronze compartmented seals and engraved amulets in stone or faience such as these are pictured below: 

Cast copper/bronze: 

  

Ancient Bactrian Cruciform Compartmented Seal Authenticated and Published by Sarianidi  

Contact me with questions or for invoice through the private message form at the top right of this page.

Engraved in white stone:     

Bactrian Stamp Seal Bird Image   Published by Sarianidi 

All the linked photographs on this page show artifacts that have been authenticated and published, most of them in V. Sarianidi's book on Myths of Ancient Bactria Margiana on Its Seals and Amulets.

  Contact me with questions or for invoice through the private message form at the top right of this page.

Ancient Bactrian Wheel Shaped Copper Seal Authenticated and Published

This ancient Bactrian artifact from my personal collection is available for sale.  Contact me with questions or for invoice through the private message form at the top right of this page.

Ancient Bactrian Copper Seal Wheel Shaped, ca Four Thousand Years Old

Contact me with questions or for invoice through the private message form at the top right of this page.

This ancient compartmented bronze seal from Bactria is in our collection which was visited by the archeologist who dug up a lot of Bactria and Margiana. This stamp seal is published in his work Myths of Ancient Bactria-Margiana on Its Seals and Amulets, pp. 154-155, plate 783.  

The work is by Dr. Viktor Sarianidi and contains a great number of the seals and amulets in our personal collection that was assembled before we knew Dr. Sarianidi or the Russian excavations that he led.  

This is his description of the published stamp seal: 

Seal. Copper. D - 4.1 cm. Whorl rosette with a circle in the center. I might add here that the seal has a bar that divides the central 'hub.' 


The view below shows the top or back part of the seal with the handle for the user.

Contact me with questions or for invoice through the private message form at the top right of this page.

Ancient Carved Steatite Vessel Bactria Approx Four Thousand Yrs Old

A carefully carved ancient steatite bowl probably used in life by the owner and taken to the grave with the deceased.  

Ancient Carved Steatite Vessel Bactria Approx Four Thousand Yrs Old

Contact me with questions or for invoice through the private message form at the top right of this page.

An ancient Bactrian beautiful steatite dish carved into a kidney shape The olive green sets off the striations in the rhomboid motifs to good effect. The line decoration lightens the geometric shapes into a more lyrical over all design. But the piece is in excellent condition for an object that has been weathered either in the earth or exposed to the elements for at least 3,500 years and very possibly as long as 5,000 years.  

The dish is decorated all around. The culture that produced this dish is located in what is now the country of Afghanistan in the North part, in the high desert of Central Asia, nestled into the lower part of the Hindu Kush range of the Himalayas.  

The civilization that began to develop in ancient Bactria some 5,000 years ago was replaced by later inhabitants that have also been replaced, or at least their culture has developed in a new direction. But in the third millennium B.C., some 5,000 years ago, the myths that informed the culture were expressed in designs on stone amulets, seals, and vessels of various kinds. The myths were acted out in monumental temples.

This dish was probably buried along with the owner as part of his grave goods, though it might have been simply left in a room of a temple that fell to ruin due to invasion or abandonment. 

Since the Bactrians of this period did not record history in writing, we have no way of knowing how the dish was used.  

Size: 7.2 cm x 5 cm x 1.7 cm (2.8 in x 1.9 in x 0.7 in)  Contact me with questions or for invoice through the private message form at the top right of this page.

Bactrian Carved Stone Bird Amulets

Bactrian Carved Stone Bird Figures as Amulets

Ducks were apparently at least partially domesticated animals in Bronze Age Bactria.  Perhaps they had simply landed there on the waters of the Amu Darya River and the Bactrians could catch them or perhaps artisans simply admired them from a distance and carved their charms for jewelry in the image of a duck.  This is one of those charms found by an unauthorized excavator of the ruins of the Bactrian civilization.  The finder sold it to a passing merchant who carried it to the Kabul Bazaar and sold it to a collector friend of ours. It came into our collection several years ago.

Ancient Bactria Miniature Bone Bead Charm Carved in the Form of a Duck  

Contact me with questions or for invoice through the private message form at the top right of this page.

This bead or amulet has great charm. The carver was talented in capturing the character of this domestic duck. The eyes, the bill, the big webbed feet. The down feathers on the chest are layered while the wing feathers are indicated as strong pinions. The tail is just as detailed as the other feathery parts. 

The bead hole is very tiny so it does not interfere with the figurine's form. The amulet bead hangs from the feet just as a duck might be carried to market. The figurine is not a statuette. It is one of the typical carvings of miniature animals, plants, and human anatomical abstractions as beads such as feet, hands and more intimate anatomical parts. 

This miniature Bactrian carving was collected in Afghanistan, the modern nation in which the ruins of the ancient kingdom of Bactria are located. 

Amulet beads such as these are discussed in published works by the archeologists working in the Bactria-Margiana Archeological Complex as listed below. 

Measurements: 
20 mm x 11 mm x 9 mm

Bactrian Stone Sculpture in Miniature of Eagle Amulet Symbol of Power

Contact me with questions or for invoice through the private message form at the top right of this page.

The symbolism of the carved eagle amulet is explained in the book Myths of Ancient Bactria-Margiana on Its Seals and Amulets by Dr. Victor Sarianidi, the Russian archeologist who excavated the Bactria-Margiana culture:

"It has been noted that eagles symbolized male principles and som celestial force which could defend humans from all sorts of adversity." (p. 45)

This white stone eagle statuette is intricately carved with eyes, beak, feet and feathers in a perched eagle position. It is pierced at the feet level to be hung on a string. It shows the wear patina that would result from a long service as an amulet hanging from a string. 

The amulet is at least 3,500 years old and may be much older. It was created by a stone carver in Bactria in its proto-Iranian cultural age, lasting from 2,500 B.C. to 1,600 B.C. 

The eagle was a widely used symbol in the glyptics of the Bactrian culture. In our collection we have miniature carved stone eagles and abstract representations of eagles in stone and copper/bronze seals and amulets. 

This eagle is portrayed on a perch with clawed feet pointing forward and head turned in profile. The strong pinion feathers are strongly emphasized on the back of the statuette. On one side of the head the outlined eye of the eagle is still visible, but on the side which brushed against the human clothing or skin while being worn has become almost invisible. The line of the beak separation is visible on both sides of the eagle's head. 

I would guess the stone statuette to be carved in a pale pinkish quartz. It is very hard and dense, which kept the carving in such good condition over the great period of time since it was carved. Measurements:
9 mm wide x 20 mm high x 8.5 mm thick

References:
Victor Sarianidi, Necropolis of Gonur, Athens, 2007
Victor Sarianidi, Myths of Ancient Bactria and Margiana on its Seals and Amulets, 1998
Giancarlo Ligabue and Sandro Salvatori, Bactria, Venice, 198-

Funerary Beads with Earth Sweat Patina

Almost everything from Bactria that comes into any museum, private collection or into an antiquity dealer's shop is from the tomb of a person or from the buried ruins of the ancient culture.  In other words, the seals, amulets, beads and other artifacts in my Bactrian collection have lain underground for at least fifteen hundred years and some as many as four thousand five hundred years.  I will offer some examples of funerary beads from settlements in the region of Bactria.

First, let me describe some of the differences in the ancient beads that have been buried and the more recent handmade beads that have never been buried.  Needless to say, the differences are even more numerous when we compare the modern industrially produced beads with the long-buried ancient handmade beads.

The first noticeable thing might be the pebbly skin on the bead, resulting from the method of shaping and smoothing the gemstone with rough grit made from pulverized agates.  For example, the agate beads in the photos immediately below are from a settlement of the same peoples who settled in Bactria from about 2500 B C to 1600 B C. in the Kerman Desert of Iran.  Weathering of the polished beads is caused by long periods of exposure to earth minerals and earth movements due to floods or the cave-ins of the tombs.  This kind of wear and tear shows in scrapes and breaks and in circular cracks on the surface of the bead.  Another very important characteristic of ancient beads that have been buried is the dulling of the glow that the original polishing produced.

One ancient bead expert calls all these aging processes 'earth sweat patina,' and he uses such criteria to judge whether a bead is ancient or a modern reproduction.  The beads in the two photos below show characteristics of age.  The glow is dulled; the skin is pock-marked as if the skin had never been ground down past all the tiny crevices in the original piece of cut stone.  Also, the grit that was used to polish the beads left their own minute pimply tool marks on the beads.  These beads also show other characteristics of beads produced in ancient times, such as wear at the ends of the bead hole caused by the cord on which they were once worn for generations or centuries.

Ancient Agate Beads Bactrian Type Four Thousand - Two Thousand Years

Close-up view of same beads

In comparison are beads in the photos below that are ancient but still a thousand years younger than the beads above.  Their appearance reveals very little of the wear and tear and hardly any of the earth sweat patina and the rough grinding of the earlier polishing methods.  Their age is determined by their provenance from Bactria and the fact that they are almost identical to the sardonyx beads shown in The History of Beads by Lois Dubin.  According to that source, they were produced in the Roman period, that is, in the time when almost all of Europe and West Asia was a part of or a neighbor of the Roman emperor's domain.  This kind of bead was made in Central Asia -- Northeastern Afghanistan -- from about 200 BC to 400 AD.

 

Spiral Band Ancient Bead Balkh Province, Afghanistan                Close up view of same bead  200 BC - 400 AD

Moving backward to more ancient times again, we see this other string of Bactrian carnelian beads strung with old steatite beads and some newer onyx beads in the photos shown below.  This strand is published in Victor Sarianidi's -- the excavator of Bactria and Margiana -- book Necropolis of Gonur, which deals with funeral rites, funerary ornaments and utensils that were buried with the deceased.  

 

Ancient Bactrian Beads Authenticated by Archeologist and Published      Close-up of same beads

You are invited to comment on this blog and to join and follow the blog by email or on Networked Blogs or GooglePlus.  See the various links at the right.  Oh, and don't forget to give me a PlusOne at the G+ link if you liked the blog. 

Thank you for visiting and reading my blog on funerary beads of the Bactrian region.  

Contact me with questions or for invoice through the private message form at the top right of this page.

Tocharians - Latecomers to Bactria

The Tocharians were a group of the most mysterious residents of the Tarim Basin in the Taklamakan Desert, a region that is now a part of Northwestern China, eventually expanding over the Pamir mountain chain into what was then Bactria but is now a province of Afghanistan.  The Tocharians were apparently latecomers to the region and had come either almost directly from Northern Europe across Anatolia and Persia into India and through the Himalayas on the already long established trade routes to Kashgar and then into the more remote desert.

Their presence in the Tarim Basin is known only since the 1980s when their mummified remains were found by archeologists.  The remains are dated to around 1000 B.C.  up to about 100 A.D.  Because of the extremely arid climate of the Tarim Basin, their physical remains are very well preserved, including the clothing in which they were buried.  Obviously their funeral practices resembled those of recent times: burial in clothing rather than simply being wrapped in a shroud or covered with a cloth.

For example, here is a photo of one of the most famous 3,000 year old mummies along with the reconstruction of the head by a forensic anthropologist:

As you can see, her hair, head covering and shawl are still in good condition.  By the way, the DNA of the mummies has been analyzed, and many of them show only European DNA, but the later mummies of course, show a mixture of "Chinese" and European DNA.  I put Chinese in quote marks because the region was not China at that time.  But the Chinese scientists label the mummies' East Asian DNA thus.  

Because their clothing was so 'modern,' including the lace-up woodsman type leather boots on one of the male mummies, it was evident that they had come from far to the West in fairly recent times.  Their garments included woven garments of the type still made by Northern Europe and the New World descendants of the Northern European people. 

The cloak appears to be a double-woven garment, in a technique that shows one color in one of the blocks and then on the opposite side of the garment, the opposite color shows in the same block of weaving.  I have woven different pieces like this and it makes a very cozy checkered fabric.  

By now you are wondering about their connection to Bactria.  In the early third century B.C., Alexander the Great came out of Greece to conquer a great part of Asia, as far East as the Indus.  He made Bactria his seat of power, and married a Sogdian princess named Roxanne.  At Alexander's death soon thereafter, his Asian empire was divided and lost power.  In the first century A.D., Bactria was being ruled by a series of men that is now known as the Kushan Dynasty.  

The Greek explorers to that region wrote of people that we have labeled the Tocharians in Bactria.  But it is probable that the same people as we see in the Tarim Basin mummies were not the rulers of Bactria, judging from the heads of the Bactrian rulers on coins.  For example: 

Some historians say that the Kushan rulers were the Tocharians, but I think it is more likely that the Tocharians merely served the court of the Kushans.   The Greek explorers on reaching Bactria certainly saw, recognized and reported on people who resembled the Tarim Basin mummies.  But it is still an open question whether the Tocharians actually ruled Bactria.  

………………………….

Memory Eternal, Viktor Sarianidi

We received the sad news from one of Viktor's colleagues at the Russian Academy of Science that Viktor passed away today. It is a great loss to the academic world and to us, his friends. It was a great pleasure to know him and it was of great benefit to learn from him. I feel very blessed to have been named by Viktor as the 'Mistress of Animals,' a Bactrian mythological figure. Since I had a lot of sheep and dogs when Viktor visited us twice here in America, he jokingly always referred to me as the woman of that myth. For those of you who may not be familiar with the name or his works, I will explain. Viktor (Victor) Sariganidi (Sarianidi) led the Russian excavations at the Bactria and Margiana sites in Afghanistan and Turkmenistan. I thought many of my readers would want to know of his passing. Memory Eternal, dear friend.