The Cold War was a time of enormous tension between the capitalist West and the Communist Bloc, headed by the Soviet Union. This conflict had many peculiar consequences – PepsiCo’s domination of the Russian market at the expense of Coca-Cola, the huge cultural ramifications of AD 1980’s ‘Miracle on Ice’ – but perhaps the most unusual of all was that an entire ancient civilisation was hidden from Western view until the early AD 1990s. The Bactria-Margiana Archaeological Complex (BMAC), so named by Viktor Sarianidi in AD 1976, thrived in the region of what is now Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Afghanistan, from as early as 4600 BC to perhaps 1700 BC. Like its contemporary civilisations in Mesopotamia, BMAC – sometimes referred to, more poetically, as the Oxus Civilisation – was a centre of early urbanisation. Sites like Altyn-Depe in modern Turkmenistan emerged as proto-urban settlements around 2800 BC, and eventually grew to accommodate as many as 20,000 people. Altyn-Depe was a major trading centre, and finds from Mesopotamia and the Indus Valley abound in the find assemblage. The city was well-developed, surrounded by a defensive wall with watch-towers, living quarters divided by class and social function, planned streets, courtyard-houses, and elaborate public buildings. Most impressive was a great pyramidal temple, a ziggurat, of the Mesopotamian model. BMAC was also home to an extraordinary development whose impact on human history cannot be overstated: it is from Altyn-Depe that we get the first models of wheeled vehicles, carts pulled by oxen and camels.

As a source of resources for the Mesopotamians, especially of luxury goods like lapis lazuli, the BMAC had the wealth and the foreign influences which enabled a rich cultural environment. Craftsmen of the BMAC specialised especially in metalworking, producing imaginative sculptural arrangements in bronze, silver, and gold. But, if the BMAC is to be recognised by one artistic or sculptural form, it is the so-called ‘Bactrian Princess’ figures. Visually striking sculptures of females, ‘Bactrian Princesses’ are composite sculptures, usually made of two different types of stone. The body of the figure, depicted in a heavy woollen dress (kaunakes) common to Mesopotamia and its neighbouring regions, along with a hat or hairpiece, is carved in dark chlorite or steatite. The face and, where they survive, the hands and forearms, are carved from a lighter stone, usually calcite. The individual pieces are not attached in any way; instead, the overall composition relies on exact balance, a testament to the skill of the sculptor. It is possible that this balance may have had a ritual or symbolic significance. However, the discovery of red residue on the underside of the necks of some of these figures may suggest that at least some were fixed together with perishable adhesives. The subject or subjects of these sculptures is unknown. Historically, it has been thought that they represented aristocratic figures from the Bactrian elite. This position is supported by the fact that the sculptures vary dramatically in typology and have no common attributes other than their seated position. More recently, however, archaeologists have suggested that the ‘Bactrian Princesses’ are, in fact, goddesses, or rather a single goddess, associated with fertility and protection.

This unusual composite idol, of the ‘Bactrian Princess’ type, diverges from the classical form. Whereas most depict a woman seated, with her knees either high in front of her, or resting on the ground, and with her hands in her ample lap, this figure dispenses with the body altogether, reducing it to a single flat curved triangular sector, bisected by a deep groove. The flat body remains decorated as though she were wearing the kaunakes, with tight parallel wavy lines, and even indications of the hem around the neck. The head is exceptional; while many ‘Bactrian Princesses’ lack ears, mouths, brow-ridges and even noses, this figure’s facial features, while distilled and abstract, are nonetheless beautifully imagined. The level of care and detail of the ears and mouth especially demonstrate an artist of incredible sensitivity. The figure wears a headpiece – most likely a hat, but perhaps an elaborate coiffure – which consists of a thick band around the head, and a rising semi-conical projection at the front. While these figures are an established type of Bactrian idol, their function is unknown. We must presume that these more schematic idols had a specific ritual meaning, which differentiated them from their more fully-formed cousins.