American Archaeologist Authenticates Afghanistan’s Recovered National Treasures

By Pat McDonnell Twair


	Archaeologist and National Geographic Fellow Fredrik Hiebert (second from right) watches as a safe found to contain a trove of priceless Bactrian gold objects is forced open in April 2004. More than 20,000 Bactrian gold objects, secured in six safes, were found intact. Also pictured are Afghan Minister of Culture Sayed Makhdoom Raheen (left, with hands on safe), and Viktor Sarianidi (center, with white hair), the archaeologist who originally discovered the huge gold hoard in northern Afghanistan in 1978 (Kenneth Garrett © National Geographic).

TELEVISION VIEWERS around the world witnessed the looting of priceless antiquities from Iraq’s national museum as U.S. troops passively observed the blatant theft of a nation’s heritage.

It was presumed the same thing happened to Afghanistan’s historical treasures when that country’s national museum was reduced to a roofless, derelict building during the war against Soviet occupation and subsequent Taliban rule.

But archaelogists were puzzled by the fact that most of the precious objects from the Kabul museum failed to show up in Western auction houses. The museum had gained notoriety for its collection of more than 21,000 primarily gold objects of the Bactrian culture recovered in 1978 at Tilya Tepe (Mountain of Gold) by Russian archaeologist Viktor Sarianidi. As word of the horde of gold ornaments spread, Sarianidi rushed the treasure trove to the Afghan capital for safety.

When the Soviets invaded Afghanistan shortly afterward, in 1979, it was feared the prized objects had been sent to the U.S.S.R. or melted down.

In 1988, a young American archaeologist, Fredrik Hiebert, began working with Sarianidi. He soon became a specialist on the ancient Bactrian cultures that thrived in Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Iran and Afghanistan.

In the summer of 2003, Hiebert received word that the Bactrian gold was in the hands of the Afghan government. The legendary Bactrian gold collection and Afghanistan’s gold bullion had been sequestered in an impenetrable vault protected by seven elaborate locks in the presidential palace complex. The Taliban had tried and failed to crack the safe.

After the Taliban were expelled, the new government called in a team of locksmiths to open the vault, and invited Hiebert to Kabul to head a team of archaeologists to verify the authenticity of its contents.

During a Jan. 27 lecture at the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA), Hiebert, who is a National Geographic fellow and a research associate at the University of Pennsylvania and Oxford University, said he and Sarianidi were present in Kabul as five Central Bank officials and technicians began to open the vault.


“Bactrian Aphrodite,” a brooch that was part of the Bactrian gold collection recovered in April 2004, shows Greek, Indian and Asian influences (Credit: Fredrik Hiebert © National Geographic).


An exquisitely carved ivory panel depicting scenes of royal court life, from Begram, summer capital of the Kushan kings, near Kabul; it is dated to the second or third century (Credit: Fredrik Hiebert © National Geographic).

“We were shocked,” Heibert recalled, “we weren’t prepared.” Eighteen people watched breathlessly as one treasure after another was removed from its quarter-century interment.

The awestruck scientists stared in disbelief as precious gold appliqués, pendants and clasps, an elaborate crown and a statue of Aphrodite were carefully unwrapped.

As Minister of Culture Makhdoom Raheen removed each object, he handed it to Hiebert, who weighed and measured it, then gave it a new identification number and description in English and the Afghan Dari language. The final step was to take a digital photograph of each item.

“I wanted to make sure we weren’t disrupting the traditional system with our photographic and scientific measurements,” Hiebert explained. “We preserved the traditional Afghan keyholder system and repacked the objects in new safes with UNESCO and the Afghan government overseeing their storage in a secret location.”

As the inventory process drew to an end, the minister of culture inquired: “Would you like to look at these other boxes?”

Hiebert stared incredulously as he was presented with six dented and dusty tin trunks.

“Then there were 20, then 80, and finally 120 containers were brought to us,” he told his UCLA audience. “Some were just tin boxes with a lock, others were safes with keys. Many were dented and indicated animals had leaned or rested on them.”

Ultimately, more than 2,500 objects documenting the unique history of Afghanistan were pulled from the ragtag amalgam of containers.

Exquisitely carved ivory plaques from the Kushan culture, cast bronze busts of the classical Roman style, Chinese lacquer bowls, Buddhist bodhisattva sculptures, first century glassware and a crystal vase engraved with the image of Alexandria’s Pharos lighthouse were withdrawn from the battered containers.

Hiebert and Sarianidi were delighted to discover that 2,000 of the choicest coins were intact. These include a series of 5th century B.C. coins illustrated with the profiles of successive kings.

Miraculously, fewer than 100 objects are now missing from the Kabul Museum’s original display collection.

“The Kabul Museum was small, but every article was a masterpiece,” Hiebert explained.

“The real heroes are the men who risked their lives while bombs were falling to rescue their national treasures,” the American archaeologist said. “We’ll never know who they were, but they carefully packed each object in pink toilet paper or newspaper. They sealed lock holes over with a paper bearing the names of eight to 10 of the signers stating the boxes couldn’t be opened unless all the signatories or their descendents were present.”

“Best of all,” Hiebert marveled, “through every indignity occurring in their country, they managed to keep the whereabouts of their national treasures secret.”

Hiebert views these recovered antiquities as proof of a distinct Central Asian identity midway between the eastern and western outposts of the Silk Route.

“These objects from China, India, Egypt, Rome, Greece and ancient Afghan cultures represent a Silk Route melting pot,” he enthused. “Having handled each of these pieces, I see a tremendous similarity, such as evidenced in hundreds and hundreds of appliqués made from one mold, that indicate a unique culture emerged in Afghanistan.”

Hiebert hopes the rest of the world will have a chance to see these protected antiquities—and not only for their beauty. “A tour through the world’s most respected museums,” he explained, “would help to raise revenues to build a state-of-the-art national museum to keep these objects safe in perpetuity.”

Pat McDonnell Twair is a free-lance writer based in Los Angeles.