Where is the Bactria-Margiana Archeological Complex?

The responder to this question sometimes shows a region so large that it encompasses much more territory than the name would imply, since Margiana lies in the Kara Kum Desert and Bactria sits in the Northeastern reaches of what is now Afghanistan.

This map shows these areas:

Outlined border of the ruins excavated in the Murghab region of Turkmenistan and the Balkh province in Afghanistan showing the location of the ancient Bactrian ruins.

Use your zoom function to find the Murghab River in Turkmenistan, the location of Gonur North, Gonur Depe and other ruined settlements of the Margiana civilization.  The region of Balkh along the Amu Darya is the location of the ancient ruins of Bactrian settlements.

Other archeologists or experts in Bronze Age glyptics will usually offer a map much like this one:

Victor Sarianidi shows this map in his interpretive catalog of Bactria-Margiana Archeological Complex artifacts in his work Myths of Ancient Bactria Margiana on Its Seals and Amulets.  The motifs, styles and shapes of the glyptics are found to be similar among the findings by archeologists from  Crete through Anatolia and Northern Syria, across Iran and Afghanistan from the mouth of the Persian gulf to Bactria-Margiana and Baluchistan, then over the Khyber Pass and on to the Indus Valley.

Traders, travelers and imitative artisans could be the explanation for the wide distribution of similar stone and metal beads, seals and amulets.  The distinctive attribute of the Bactria-Margiana culture located in Turkmenistan and in Bactria passed on a religious legacy in the people that continued to inhabit Persia and India: the Zoroastrians.  For example, in my own collection of Bactrian stamp seals, I see in the ancient motif the suggestion of a modern mandala design:

Ancient Copper/Bronze Seal from Bactria

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Contact me if you are a collector.  I offer a RESERVE plan that allows you to make partial payments on your schedule for purchases of $300. 00 or more.  

Shapes and Styles of Ancient Bactrian Seals

This amulet bead makes a seal impression when the wearer wished to mark a possession, but probably served also as a bearer of religious symbols.  Dr. Victor Sarianidi interpreted thousands of seals yielded from the excavations of the Bactria-Margiana Archeological Complex, where he led the Russian teams for forty years.  His work Myths of Ancient Bactria Margiana on Its Seals and Amulets explores his discovery that the Bactria-Margiana culture was the precursor to the Zoroastrian religion of the later Indo-Iranians.

Many of the mythical images on the bead seals/amulets were drilled dots to create abstract "dot figures" of creatures from nature both wild and domestic, and humans in conflict with lions, tigers and dragons.  Here is an example of a three sided prism with a drilled dot image on each side.  

Bactrian three sided bead seal/amulet authenticated and published by Sarianidi

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The prism shaped beads are just one of the traditional styles created by the craftsmen of Bactria and Margiana.  Sylvia Winkelmann is a specialist in this field and her recent book on Seals of the Oasis based on the Ligabue collection describes the various shapes: 

- Button shaped seals with pierced lug

- Discs, round bifacial seals, longitudinally perforated

- Rectangular bifacial plate, longitudinally perforated

- Square bifacial seal with longitudinal perforation

- Lanceolate forms with truncated ends, longitudinally perforated

- Rhomboid bifacial seal (stepped-cross seal) with longitudinal perforation of two holes in opposite corners of the rhombus.

- Prisms with longitudinal perforation (note: the one pictured above is three sided)

The categories of "bead seals" or amulets listed here are not the only shapes we will discuss.  But since I am showing an example only of the three sided prism bead/amulet, I will not add the several other shapes we will encounter as I show in other blog posts these ancient stamp seals/amulet beads from my collection.  

The compartmented cast metal stamp seals is another distinctive product of the Bactria-Margiana culture, as are the rarer cylinder seals from the Bactrian part of the widespread Bactria-Margiana Archeological Culture (BMAC).  

Speaking of which, I will add simplified maps of the region here, first showing the location of Bactria: 

U.S. Army map ca. 2001 - the oval shows the Balkh or Bactrian province of Afghanistan

The whole BMAC region is now understood to have symbolic art similar to the archeological findings in Anatolia and in the Southwest of Iran and the Northern tip of Syria.   The yellow marked area below emphasizes the ancient settlements whose archeological findings substantiate a relationship to the findings at the digs at Altyn Depe.   

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

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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  

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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.

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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

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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.

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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

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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  

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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

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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

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