Archaeology Magazine - May/June 1980 - 41

The predominance of Parthian coins as opposed
to Greco-Bactrian coins shows that this was the
period when maximum expansion of Parthia to the
east took place, and when bordering Yiieh-chih
territories were under her political influence, including the present-day province of Dzudzhan
near the city of Shibergan. In this light, the amazing similarity of gold ornaments at the Tillya-tepe
necropolis to those of far off Nineveh is apparently
not accidental. The artistic creations found at
Tillya-tepe point to a high technical level of jewelry making, but the frozen frontal compositions of
the official dynastic art are far from the realistic
and ebullient trends found in the local Hellenistic
directed tendencies of the famed Greco-Bactrian
art. Although many pieces depict gods of the Greek
pantheon and even compositions from Greek
mythology, their imperfect rendering attests to
the superiority of predominantly local Bactrian
artistry. This is especially evident in buckles cast
in the shape of cupids sitting on fish. Apparently
the local Bactrian jeweler only faintly remembered this widespread subject and substituted for
the strange and incomprehensible dolphin more
familiar images of local fish who lived in the Amu
Darya River. By the same token, a Greek artisan
would not have depicted Athena with the huge and
unsightly large nose that appears on one of the
gold rings.
This blending of local, traditional Bactrian
ideas with imagined, purely Greek ones is seen on
many of the gold pieces, making it rather difficult
at times to trace their origins. For example, the
figures of winged goddesses seem to directly reflect
the goddess Nike, but in the Bactrian inventory of
the Bronze Age we find a similar deity, sometimes
sitting on a throne, sometimes on a dragon. The
lion with the sitting goddess depicted on the gold
belt at first glance is associated with Cybele, however on the same Bronze Age Bactrian seals there
also appears a similiar composition: a winged goddess sitting on top of an animal. In this case not
only the iconography but also stylistic renderings
are analogous - in both instances the animals are
depicted with their heads turned back and their
teeth bared. The crown with stylized trees and
birds on the branches also shows very deep local
traditions which arose in Bactrian mythology during the second millennium b.c.
A separate theme can be found in the numerous zoomorphic images found at Tillya-tepe. They
bear close analogy to the "Siberian animal style"
in the art of the Sarmatian tribes. At first glance,
it appears that these animal images are connected
with the arrival of the nomads to Bactria and
thereby attest to the great influence of nomad art.
However, the very origin of the Scythian animal
style is open to debate - some see it originating in
Asia Minor, as evidence by the Sakkiz hoard, a
collection of precious objects from northwestern
Iran which some scholars view as the earliest example of the Scythian animal style. Others see it

coming from Central Asia from the Arzhan burial
mound in Tuva located in southern Siberia. It is
sufficient at present to note that the form of
twisted and bent animals on the gold pendants of
Tillya-tepe find their prototypes in Kazakhstan
and in the Altai region and not in Asia Minor.
Finally, there is yet another aspect that emerges from the analysis of the anthropomorphic images - one that possibly reflects the existence of a
few ethnic physical types. The "ruler with dragons," the "goddess with cupid," and the "musicians-harpists" all present a recognizable physical
type: faces with wide cheekbones, slanted eyes,
willful chins, the Mongolianized features which
possibly reflect the Yüeh-chih people. The excavations of the Tulkhar cemetery on the left bank of
the Amu Darya River, in fact, revealed burials of
unquestionably Mongoloid-featured individuals.
A second physical type emerges from the depiction
of the goddesses. One winged goddess has a moonshaped oval face, wide-open eyes, and sensual wide
lips. The same features are to be found on the
goddess of fertility surrounded by birds, animals
and fish as well as on the female busts on medallions. Finally, the gold fasteners shaped like warriors without a doubt depict a classic Greek face,
and perhaps are imports. Similar physical Greek
types are also found on other objects, in particular
on a sew-on pendant with bearded warriors.
These foreign influences are augmented by imported Chinese mirrors and carved ivory from India, all of which is not surprising if one takes into
account the location of Tillya-tepe on the intersection of the Great Silk Road: to the west is the
Roman Empire, to the east Han China, and to the
south lies India. For the first time after the discovery of the Amu Darya hoard and one from Begram,
dating from the mid-second to mid-third century
after Christ, we have again been fortunate enough
to unearth a collection of ornaments which reflected the glory of their world. When the last few
days of the field season at Tillya-tepe drew near,
glimmers of gold pendants were noticed under the
shovels for the seventh time. Another burial, possibly filled with gold, was peeking through the soil
awaiting the careful investigations of the next
field season.
Foe Further Reading on ancient Central Asia:
M.J. Artamonov, Treasures ofSakas (Moscow 1973),
is a very important work on the problem of nomadic art in Central Asia and Siberia; VJMLMasson
and VA. Romodin» The History ofAfghanistan, VoL 1
(Moscow 1964), is a complete history of ancient and
Mediaeval Afghanistan; J, Rosenfield, 77n Dynastie
Art of the Kushans (University of California Press,
Berkeley 1967), the best basic English reference to
the art of the Kushans; S.J. Rudenko, The Culture of
the Population of Mountaineous Altai in the Scythian
Period (Moscow and Leningrad 1953), is the best
publication of the results of excavations in southern Siberia; said The Frozen Tombs of Siberia
(Moscow 1972)«is a more popular account of the
excavations in Siberia,

1980
May/June

Archaeology Magazine - May/June 1980

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Archaeology Magazine - May/June 1980