Bactria and Margiana Seals. A New Assessment of Their Chronological Position and a Typological Survey

East and West. — December 2000. — Vol. 50, No. 1/4 — pp. 97-145.It is worth mentioning that one of the most intriguing problems in the archaeology of Central Asia is still presented by the unusually varied archaeological assemblage which, since the early seventies, has flooded the antiquary market of Kabul and from there private collections and museums all over the world. Thousands of objects from pillaged graves from Dashly, Doulatabad, Farukhabad and Nichin oases in Northern Afghanistan have now been published, while as many are dispersed in several private or museum collections and are still waiting to be published.
That large number of objects is clearly connected with a flourishing urban society which shows strong and firmly consolidated links with most of contemporary political or cultural aggregates of the Middle East, from Elam to the Indus Valley, from central Iran to the Gulf and possibly beyond. In this respect some scholars have suggested possible connections with Anatolian seals to the west and with the so-called Nestorian seals from the Ordos, to the east.