Treasure is Mixed Blessing

[Nicator]

Chicago Tribune's World Section reported November 28, 2003...
In Afgahnistan, officials insist the country's fabled, 2,000 year old Bactrian gold artifacts are safe, but fears persist that someone might try to steal the ornaments, scabbards and crowns
For years, no one knew what had happened to the gold.
Some said it had been spirited away by the Russians or stolen by Ahmed Shah Massood, the onetime Norhtern Alliance commander. People whispered that the Taliban had melted it, sold it to Persian Gulf millionaires or presented it as a gift to Osama Bin Laden.
Then in late summer, President Hamid Karzai and several senior Cabinet officaials inspected the palace vault and announced that the Bactrian gold, a collection of 2,000 year old ornaments, jeweled scabbards, crowns and other objects excavated from ancient tombs in northern Afghanistan, was safe.
The Bactrian gfold, dug out of an Afghan desert by a team of Afghan and Russian excavators 25 years ago, may be the country,s greatest archeological treasure. But news of its rediscovery has been a mixed blessing for officials, who have seen thousands of the country's valuable artifacts looted, smuggled and sold by an international criminal network that deals in stolen art. Many are hesitant to discuss it.
We will increase the risk of theft if we talk about these things, one official said. We hope that real peace comes to Afgahanistan soon, and we hope we will be able to put the gold on exhibition for people to see someday. Then we well be able to tell all these sad stories.
When that time comes, the story of the Bactrian gold may be among the happier tales Afghans can tell about their rich cultural heritage. Its characters include devoted archeologists who helped unearth hundreds of beautifully wrought gold ornaments in an unassuming field outside the northern city of Shiberghan, and a heroic Afghan bank official, who endured beatings, imprisonment and the threat of death to protect the gold from teh Taliban.
The Story started about 330 B.C., when Alexander the Great conquered ancient Bactria, a swath of land in what is now northern Afghanistan. He left northern Afghanistan soon afterwards, but his influence remained as the culture he helped establish flourished for 500 years before nomadic Khushan tribesmen overran Bactria's walled town and subdued their inhabitants.

[Nicator]

In the 1st century, a site that had once housed an ancient firetemple in Bactria was converted into a graveyard. After the Khushans arrived, they buried theri dead royalty there in unmarked pits, possibly dug under the cover of darkness to protect the riches of the tombs from looters. In 1969, a team of Soviet archeologists traveled to Afghanistan in hopes of learning more about Bactrian civilization. In the northern steppes, a short drive from the Uzbek border, they happened upon a series of low earthen mounds littered with shards of centuries old pottery. The locals called it Tilya Tepe, or Gold Mountain. For a long time, people called it Tilya Tepe, because after a heavy rain, people would go and find bits of gold on top, said Asadullah Nabizada, head of the Afghan National Institute of Archeology's technical and photographic department, who visited the site while the excavation was under way. The Russian team worked at the site on and off for 10 years. They uncovered an ancient village, a ruined temple and a fortress wall, but it wasn't until their last visit, in the falll of 1978, that they discovered the gold. In six shaft like tombs, archeologists found golden threads from the dresses of ancient women, hundreds of tiny gold beads and disks taht had been sown to their clothing, gold belts and hairpins. In the grave of one woman between 25 and 35 years old, the archeologists even found cosmetics, an ivory compact filled with white powder, pimk lumps of rouge and tweezers. They unearthed eleborate golden crowns ornamented with jewels and paper thin gold leaves, images of gods and goddesses crved form gold or etched on precious stones, small golden figurines of cupids and intricately wrought dragons with jeweled eyes. cont'd

[Nicator]

You didn't know what you would find after one moinute, or one hour, said Mohammed Nader Rassouli, a scientific representative of the archeological institute who worked on the dig. Your didn't know if you'd see a piece of gold or jewelry or bone. It was very exciting. The archeologists brought the gold to Kabul, where it was displayed briefly and then sotred in museums until just before the Soviets left Afghanistan in 1988. Then it was mived in secret to the German made vault in the palace, an impregnable series of locked rooms with walls 3 feet thick. In 1991, when rumors swirled that the Russians had stolen the gold, then Afghan Prsident Najibullah exhibited the treasure for one day, inviting jounalists and foreign dipomats to see that it was intact. It has not been publicly displayed since. In 1992 a four year civil war erupted in Afghanistan. Kabul was divided among rival commanders who fought each other with rockets, destroying buildings and killing thousands. Gunmen looted the museum, carrying off more than two thirds of its artifacts. When the victorious Taliban marched into Kabul in 1996, there was talk that Massood, the Northern Alliance commander, had taken the gold to his base in the Panschir Valley. Believe it-or notThe Talivan promised us thatr these gold objects from the Bactrian treasure were safe and still there, said Abdul Wasey Feroozi, director general of the archeology institute. I had to believe them. Yet the Taliban may have posed the greatest danger to the gold. Oncie in power, they ordered a senior bank official to open the vault, saying they wanted to inspect the gold bullion inside. The official, who asked not ot be idintified, refused. I was in prison for three months and 17 days, and finally they dicided to put the pistol to my head and kill me, he said. Finally I had to let them go in and visit. The Taliban had brought a goldsmith from their spiritual base in the southern city of Kandahar to verify that the gold bullion in the vault was authentic, he said. After the inspection, the official closed the door and broke the key in the lock, making it impossible to open again, he said.Our Nation Wealth

[Nicator]

It's our nationa wealth, he said. I don't prefer an individual benefit to the country's benefit.Ministers who entered the vault recently with Karzai disagree about whether anyone actually laid eyes on the Bactrian treasure. Some say they only inspected the gold bullion, but didn't enter the room contianing the Bactrian gold and other valuable pieces resuced form the Kabul Museum, including the exquisite Bagram ivories, a collection of ornate carvings dating from the Kushan empire. Others, such as Foreign Minister Abdullah, have confidently announced that the treasures are intact. Afghan cultural officals said they were pleased to hear that the gold was safe, but theri worries are far from over.If Karzai gives me an order to inspect the Bactrian gold, I will have to do it, but if they ask my opinion, I will say, Not now...Feroozi said. I myself would prefer that all the weapons should be collected from the gunmen first. I hope we collect these weapons as soon as possible. Later Nicator

[amyntoros]

Hello Nick:National Geographic of March 1990, Vol. 177, No. 3, had an article on the discovery of this golden hoard. It was written and photographed by the Soviets who found it. There are 23 pages with drawings of the clothing, a map; numerous beautiful photographs of the jewelry, weapons, the golden "spangles" and even a large cameo of a Greco-Bactrian ruler wearing a Macedonian helmet.I found my original copy at a library sale, but I located another one recently. If you are interested and unable to locate a copy, feel free to email me, and I'd be happy to mail the pages to you - if you are comfortable with giving me an address, of course. :-)Linda Ann

[Nicator]

Here's my email, I'll get my address from there...thanks Nickchrinic27@hotmail.com