The mysterious Bactria-Margiana Archaeological Complex, also known more romantically as the Oxus Civilisation, was unknown until, in the mid-Twentieth Century AD, finds began emerging in the Soviet Republics of Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, and further south in Soviet-dominated Afghanistan. The civilisation was formally identified, named, and systematically studied under the aegis of perhaps the USSR’s most remarkable archaeologist, the Uzbek Viktor Sarianidi. But, in a peculiar twist brought about by Cold War tensions, this extraordinary discovery, unparalleled in the Twentieth Century AD, went entirely unnoticed by the Western World until the collapse of the Warsaw Pact and the end of Communism in Eastern Europe during the early AD 1990s. Only then were the articles on the discovery published and disseminated to Western scholars, and the true majesty of this civilisation truly revealed. And majesty is indeed the appropriate adjective. The BMAC, as it is known, covered an unknown but exceptionally large area of Central Asia, from around the Kopet Dag to the Hindu Kush. Contemporary with ancient Mesopotamia, the Indus Valley, Egypt and the Cycladic civilisation, the BMAC was similarly based around major cities, some of the earliest sites of urbanisation in the world. Sites like Namazga Depe, Gonur Depe, Kallili and Altyn Depe, all in Turkmenistan, alongside Dashly in Afghanistan, reached areas up to 4 hectares (10 acres), and housed populations in the tens of thousands. These cities have defined street plans, soaring mudbrick buildings, organised areas for the elite and the commoners, temple sites, mosaics, and irrigation systems. And in these cities, it is possible that one of the greatest inventions in mankind’s history was conceived. The BMAC has revealed some of the earliest instances of wheeled vehicles, whose origins are otherwise unknown, and it is conceivable that the wheel was in fact invented there. This remarkable technological advance enabled the creation of Bronze Age civilisation, the possibility of distance travel, and the opportunity to move increasingly heavy objects.

The most characteristic of the finds which have emerged from the BMAC are the so-called ‘Bactrian Princesses’. Composite figurines, made from multiple different-coloured stones, are not unique to the BMAC, but it was Bactrian artisans who perfected the form. Through the contrast of delicate, almost translucent calcite against the dark chlorite of the clothing, BMAC artists created some of the most striking figures to survive from antiquity. Depictions of the feminine form are some of the oldest artworks in history. The various Ice Age sculptures known as ‘Venuses’ (e.g. the famous Venus of Willendorf: Naturhistorisches Museum, Vienna 44.686), abstract depictions of overweight women with exaggerated sexual organs, are usually interpreted as fertility figures. This archaeological designation is also applied to many of the various female figurines produced in the Near East, Levant, Europe and Africa up to around 4000 BC. Indeed, the same motivation is ascribed to any figure of a female for whom another purpose is not obvious. The ‘Bactrian princesses’ follow in this tradition of representing the feminine form as a primary religious, social, and cultural phenomenon.

The purpose of the ‘Bactrian Princesses’ is entirely unknown. Unfortunately, the majority of the findspots of these remarkable figures are unknown, so it is unclear whether they were tomb goods or active cult figures, and whether they were designed for households or temples. The first examples were found out of context in the Karakorum Desert by Sarianidi, and were presumed to be tomb-figures of important high-status women. This interpretation long prevailed, and led to their designation as ‘Princesses’. Interpretations have since tended towards presenting this figure as a goddess of the Central Asian religious milieu. Archaeologists commonly associate this figure with the ‘Great Goddess’, a hypothesised single female deity worshipped from the Palaeolithic to the Chalcolithic in Europe, North Africa, and West Asia. First proposed by German archaeologist Eduard Gerhard in AD 1848, on the basis of his idea that all the Classical Greek goddesses were aspects of a single divinity worshipped in ancient times, the ‘Great Goddess’ is thought of as a fertility or Mother Earth figure. It is important to note, however, that there is no direct evidence for this goddess. The presence of the Venus figures, and of other proposed fertility goddesses, with sexual organs exaggerated, may represent any number of traditions. If the ‘Bactrian Princesses’ are indeed a representation of this goddess, there is no effort made to exaggerate their generative aspect: they generally have flat breasts hidden by their heavy cloaks, and no indication of the pubic area.

The overwhelming majority of ‘Bactrian Princesses’ follow a simple programmatic model. There are three main types: women seated on furniture which is totally hidden by their dress (kaunakes), their knees brought out in front of them so that their lap forms a shelf, on which hands and forearms would often have rested; women seated on a chair or stool visible under the skirt of their dress; or women seated on the ground, both legs hidden under the dress, but clearly in a position with knees bent before them. In addition to these three standard types, however, there were a number of imaginative variations. Flat, triangular-bodied figures are another, less common type. And, perhaps rarest of all, standing ‘Bactrian Princesses’ (e.g. Louvre Abu Dhabi 2011.024). Somewhere between the seated and standing types are what we might call ‘upright seated Princesses’. These figures are considerably taller than the vast majority of composite idols, with altogether more slender features. Whereas most ‘Bactrian Princesses’ are as tall as they are wide, these ‘upright’ types have an altogether more slender appearance. The squatter, more ordinary, idols usually have their entire lower body hidden, while the ‘upright’ type usually shows the feet poking out from under the kaunakes. The ‘upright’ type is also often divided into more discrete parts than smaller idols, in this case a total of nine, including hands, feet, head and bonnet.

This ‘Bactrian Princess’ of the ‘upright’ type nonetheless bears all the features expected of these composite idols. She wears a heavy woollen dress, a kaunakes, which was characteristic of the Mesopotamian civilisation, and which is present throughout Bactrian art. We also begin to see some of the features which may have been associated with beauty in BMAC culture. In many ancient civilisations, pale skin was esteemed for women – for example, Egyptian painted reliefs present women with pale, yellowish skin, compared to the deep tanned red of the men. Archaeologists have proposed that this reflects a world in which wealthy, desirable women spent the majority of their lives indoors or in the shade, as opposed to the active lifestyles of the men, conducted under the harsh rays of the sun. While most ‘Bactrian Princesses’ have short necks and squat round heads, with often masculine features, our idol bears a long slender neck, and a delicately proportioned face. The eyes and mouth are often not represented, or are mere indications from the morphology of the skull. This figure has languid, almond-shaped eyes, a smiling mouth, and a petite nose. She wears a bonnet or coiffure which is patterned to look like her kaunakes dress. Her body is long and thin, her arms especially slender compared to the great mass of her woollen cloak. Her phenomenal beauty, expressed with delicacy by the artist, seems to transcend the millennia.

It is unclear whether BMAC composite idols were supposed to be attached with some kind of glue made from resin, or whether they were designed to exist in perfect balance without being secured. The presence of a reddish residue on some figures has been suggested to represent some kind of vegetable resin used to glue the pieces together. This figure – with some pieces (the head, bonnet, and feet) attached in modern times – bears no evidence of such resin. Instead, it is possible that composite figures were designed to balance for some kind of ritual reason. Each piece interlocks with or rests on the next, such that they are held together by the tension of their own mass. The balance of this piece is so perfect that she needs only the slightest support; whereas it is possible that she was sat on a now-lost wooden chair, she requires merely support to her back in order to stand upright.

References: this highly unusual shape is known from one other example, now in a Private Collection, and exhibited at the Fridericanium Museum in Kassel, Germany, from 09 June to 16 September, 2012.