Perhaps the most unusual outcome of the Cold War Iron Curtain was that an entire ancient civilisation was hidden from the Western World for almost 20 years. Discovered by the Soviet archaeologist Viktor Sarianidi, and formally identified in AD 1976, the Bactria-Margiana Archaeological Complex (BMAC), also known as the Oxus Civilisation, was an early and highly complex society which developed in Central Asia – around modern Afghanistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan – around 4600 BC. The BMAC was associated with migrations into the region from the area of modern Iran, who brought with them metalworking and other technological innovations. While it was long thought that they merged with the Neolithic farmers of the local area, recent excavation has shown a break in the settlement pattern, suggesting that these newcomers drove out the locals. By 2800 BC, there was a proto-urban society emerging at Altyntepe in southern Turkmenistan. Further urban centres, scattered throughout the territory of the BMAC, grew up after 2400 BC. A number of formidable architectural achievements – the Palace at Gonur and the Temple at Togolok, for example – attest to the industry and organisation of the BMAC.

So, too, do numerous artistic achievements. Works in stone, clay, and a variety of metals have been found from throughout the region. Perhaps most famous are the ‘Bactrian Princesses’, seated figures with extraordinary bell-shaped dresses and pale skin, which probably represent a senior goddess of the as-yet unknown Bactrian religion. But a number of other figures are known, representing both the fantastical and the ordinary. Animals featured particularly heavily, with a focus on horses, camels, and cattle, all of which were vital to the continuation of Bactrian society, and a nod to their nomadic ancestry. Other animals are referenced, however, and this charming depiction of a monkey is one of them. Probably representing a rhesus macaque (Macaca mulatta), which thrives in the Central Asian region, this figure depicts a long-armed and long-legged monkey with a prominent snout in a seated position, with his hands on his head as though surprised or at a loss. On the primate’s head is a small round package or weight, with an upright handle through which is driven a hole. The monkey is engagingly carved, with a slightly open smiling mouth, a well-studied muzzle, wide inviting eyes, and small ears. He is hewn out of a low-quality jasper, though this seems to have been a deliberate choice by the artist. The bumps and pits of the jasper mimic the short fur of the monkey’s skin, reflecting remarkable foresight by the artist in his choice of material. The orange-brown jasper is additionally decorated with inlays in bronze, lapis lazuli – one of northern Afghanistan’s most important ancient exports – and shell, with black diorite highlighting the pupils of the eyes and the small shell-shaped ears. The inlaid patterns, which consist of diamonds, crosses, teardrops, triangles and trefoils, may have had an important religious or social meaning now lost to us. We cannot recognise the importance of the package or weight on the head of the monkey, which is removable and carved from a green granite. It may refer to an incident in now-lost myth, or an allegory associated by the BMAC people with the monkey.

The importance of animals in BMAC culture is only now beginning to emerge. At the site of Gonur Depe in southern Turkmenistan, recent excavations have revealed more than seventy animal burials, over half of which have their own grave goods. While the animals at Gonur Depe are mostly dogs, cattle, horses and camels, another recently-discovered burial – from near the Afghanistan-Iran border, and dating from 2800 BC – was of a rhesus macaque, complete with pottery and other grave goods. The ritual burial of animals throughout the territory of the BMAC suggest something far beyond the simply interment of family pets or work animals. Instead, it is possible that these animals were special sacrifices to relevant gods – similar to the burial of mummified animals in Egypt from around the same time – or that they were being honoured in some other way. In other cultures, monkeys have multiplicitous symbolic meanings, including wisdom, youth, good fortune, trickery and guardianship. It is reasonable to assume that at least some of these meanings existed for the Bactrians.