A Golden Plaque of the Hellenistic Period from Zeravshan, Uzbekistan

A Golden Plaque of the Hellenistic Period from Zeravshan,
Uzbekistan

DOI: 10.17746/1563-0110.2017.45.2.107-112

A.P. Borodovsky
Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography, Siberian Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences, Pr. Akademika Lavrentieva 17, Novosibirsk, 630090, Russia

A rare Sogdian golden plaque from Zeravshan, Uzbekistan, dating to the Hellenistic period, is described. Results of science-based analysis are relevant to the assessment of the sources of gold and the technology used. Stylistic analysis helps to establish cultural ties and contacts between various manufacturing centers of the Hellenistic era in Central Asia. In terms of decoration, the Zeravshan plaque is indirectly paralleled by several Early Iron Age toreutic items from southern Siberia and Central Asia, specifically those from the Peter the Great Siberian Collection, Oxus and Kargaly treasure hoards, and Tillya Tepe. The central part of the Zeravshan specimen is reminiscent of Near Eastern and Scythian toreutic art and of Hun bronzes. Similarly rendered heads of animals are found on late first millennium BC carved bone artifacts from the southwestern Siberian forest-steppe (Novotroitskoye, Ust-Ishtovka). This similarity may be due to close contacts between various manufacturing centers in the Early Iron Age. The distinctive feature of the Zeravshan plate is its small size. The artifact evidently belongs to the Yuezhi-Kushan cultural complex (200 BC–100 AD). The high content of gold in the plaque may be due to its having been manufactured from native gold, which is a rather archaic technique.

Keywords: Toreutics, Central Asia, Hellenistic period, alloy composition, manufacturing centers, cultural ties.