This piece pertains to an ancient culture referred to both as
the Bactria-Margiana Archaeological Complex (BCAM) or as
the Oxus Civilisation. The Bactria-Margiana culture spread
across an area encompassing the modern nations of
Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Northern
Afghanistan. Flourishing between about 2100 and 1700 BC,
it was contemporary with the European Bronze Age, and
was characterised by monumental architecture, social
complexity and extremely distinctive cultural artefacts that
vanish from the record a few centuries after they first
appear. Pictographs on seals have been argued to indicate
an independently-developed writing system.
It was one of many economic and social entities in the
vicinity, and was a powerful country due to the exceptional
fertility and wealth of its agricultural lands. This in turn gave
rise to a complex and multifaceted set of societies with
specialist craftsmen who produced luxury materials such as
this for the ruling and aristocratic elites. Trade appears to
have been important, as Bactrian artefacts appear all over
the Persian Gulf as well as in the Iranian Plateau and the
Indus Valley. For this reason, the area was fought over from
deep prehistory until the Mediaeval period, by the armies of
Asia Minor, Greece (Macedonia), India and the Arab States,
amongst others.
Through local stone carvers inhabiting the regions of
Margiana and Bactria experienced no shortage in
material; the main raw material was soft steatite
or a dark soapstone, but also various kinds of
marble and white-veined alabaster. The main
source for these stones, including semi-precious
lapis-lazuli, was in Bactria, at Badakhshan in
north-western Afghanistan, which provided
material not only for the Bactrian and Margian
carvers but also farther to the west into
Mesopotamia, for the Assyrian kings. White-
veined alabaster was indeed used for varied
vessels, including small vases with
disproportionately long stems and low capacity,
such as the one here illustrated.
Elongated alabaster chalice with splayed foot and
rim, the sides straight and slightly splayed at the
base of the cup.
For a comparable example see, V. Sarianidi,
Margus, Turkmenistan, 2002: p.136.
