|
Silver tetradrachm of the Graeco-Bactrian King Eucratides I (171-145 B.C.), showing Castor and Polux with the Greek legend: BASILEOS MEGALOI EUKRATIDOI ("Great King Eucratides"). Discovered in Afghanistan.
Situated at the crossroad of great civilizations to the West (Persia, Greece,
Islam), to the East (India, China) and nomadic tribes from the vastness of
Central Asia to the North for more than 2000 years, Afghanistan became
the stage upon which entire civilizations evolved and disappeared, and
countless external forces (nomads, migrants and invaders) transformed
the region again and again.
Many long-forgotten cities and settlements, religious sites, monastaries
and monuments were built up and left behind by the many peoples and
cultures
that passed through this remote, yet strategically important, region
during its long and tumultuous history.
Unlike ancient Mesopotamia, corresponding to present-day Iraq, which developed
the fundamental "firsts" that gave birth to civilization before becoming subject to
invasion and change thousands of years later, Afghan history and culture
developed in response to invasion and migration from the very beginning of the
archaeologcal record.
Merely listing the populations, tribes and armies that passed through this
pivotal region, such as ...
• the Medes (7th – 6th c. BC);
• the Achaemenids (559 – 330 BC);
• Alexander the Great (330 – 328 BC);
• the Seleucids (312 – 245 B.C.) and Mauryans (304-185 BC);
• Bactrian Greeks (245 – c. 180 BC) and Indo-Greeks
(c. 180 – 50 BC);
• the Parthian invasion (141 BC) from the West;
• the first (162 BC– ) and second Yuezhi invasions (120 BC - );
• the Scythians (or Indo-Scythians) (140 B.C.), and Kushans
(c. 30 – c. 240 A.D.)
• the Sassanians (or Sassanids, c. 240 – c. 650 A.D.);
• Hepthalyte (425-557 A.D.), Turkic, and Hindu Shahi
(565–670 A.D.) rulers;
• the arrival of Islam;
• invasion by Genghis Kahn (1220–21); Il-Khanate and Kartid
rule (13th-14th c.); Tamerlane (1381–1405); and Babur and the
Mughal Empire (1504-1519)
... merely scratches the surface of Afghanistan's complex and dynamic past.
The greatness that we associate with Afghanistan's past — its
overlapping multi-layered cultural heritage — has been displaced by
some, dispersed or destroyed by others, or has simply melted back into
the landscape, waiting to be re-discovered.
Most of our knowledge of Afghanistan's cultural heritage is based
on
physical evidence found at ancient sites during more than a century of
archaeological investigation (from the mid-19th century to the 1979-89
Soviet invasion) and recent excavations and salvage operations conducted
since the ousting of the Taliban.
Thousands of unexcavated and undiscovered sites exist within this war-
torm region.
The discoveries that may still occur at these ancient sites
could transform our understanding of this still-mysterious region and
help
to complete our understanding of human history as a whole.
For this reason, all reasonable efforts should be made to safeguard and
preserve Afghan sites and monuments that survive, regardless of their
current condition.
With proper respect for Afghanistan's cultural heritage, effective measures
to
safeguard important sites, and adherance to the rules of engagement,
General Order 1A and the 2004 Afghanistan cultural property law,
we can preserve what remains of a great nation's past for future generations
to ponder and enjoy.
|
