The Amu Darya treasure is one of the most mysterious treasures in world archeology, with a detective fate that has not yet been fully solved.
Sudden appearance
It is believed that this treasure was found between 1876 and 1880 on the right bank of the Amu Darya - between the mouths of the Kafirnigan and Vakhsh rivers. The English Border Guard Captain Barton paints the following picture of his adventures.
More than 100 years ago, at the antique market in the Indian city of Rawalpindi (modern Pakistan), objects that were completely unusual for these places appeared - gold and silver coins of the 5th-3rd centuries BC. They were minted in Greece and Asia Minor, Achaemenid Iran and the Seleucid state. Some of them had inscriptions that had never been seen before.
Antiquity dealers reported that all the coins were found together - in one ancient city in the north, the ruins of which were washed away by the Amu Darya. In the next few years, several hundred more coins were brought from there, as well as art items made of gold and silver - in total
Somewhere on these banks of the Amu Darya, countless treasures of about 200 items were found. The largest group consisted of personal items of noble persons: gold bracelets and grivnas, jewelry for clothes and ammunition, figurines, bracelets, medallions, plaques, magnificent gems … According to an unconfirmed legend, the peasants who found the treasures sold them to Bukhara merchants in Rawalpindi.
But the purchased values did not bring profit to the merchants. According to Barton's version, three Bukharian merchants - Wazi ad-Din, Gulam Muhammad and Shuker Alina on the way from Kabul to Peshawar were plundered by nomadic tribes. The robbers took the merchants to a cave, where they began to gut the bundles of goods. Subsequently, one of the merchants told the British that the robbers cut off and took with them the pack bags, which contained gold and silver jewelry, several vessels of gold and a gold idol. “My companions and I bought these things for fear of taking money with us,” he said.
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Fortunately for the merchants, one of the drivers managed to escape, and at night he led the English captain with two orderlies to the robbery lair. Burton suddenly appeared in the cave, where the robbers were already sorting out the relationship with might and main, trying to share the loot. By that time, four of them were seriously wounded, and the rest were put to flight by the brave border guard. Fearing an ambush, he did not immediately return with the repulsed treasures, and until the morning sat with the orderlies in the shelter. Thus, thanks to the intervention of the British, the merchants not only gained freedom, but also returned the gold and silver things sewn into leather bags.
The next day, the captain gathered in the market square all the residents of the neighboring town of Seh Baba and announced that he would return the stolen valuables in any case, so it is better to surrender them voluntarily. Knowing that the threat to send troops was not just an air concussion, almost all of the robbers returned their shares. But still, about a quarter of the stolen gold disappeared without a trace. Despite this, the merchants were happy with the end of a dangerous adventure and, as a token of gratitude, presented their savior with the most beautiful bracelet with griffins.
Hand to hand
However, the treasure's adventures were just beginning. The saved gold items began to change their owners with unprecedented speed. First they got to the Indian money-changer, and then passed from hand to hand several times. Finally, the dealers decided to double the amount of jewelry. They made much lighter gold copies of them, and were already rubbing their hands in anticipation of big profits. But they were let down by greed and … the buyer's choice. Wanting to hit the jackpot more, they offered forgeries to a British citizen - Major General Alexander Cunningham. However, the general was also the head of the archaeological service in India, so he easily exposed the swindlers. As a result, the merchants, fearing the consequences, were forced to post the originals.
At the end of the 19th century, after all the detective events, most of the items from the Amu Darya treasure ended up in the British Museum. Together with them, 1500 coins were brought to London. However, some scientists believe that they have nothing to do with the Treasures of the Oxus. Many things from the hoard were made by craftsmen who lived in different "worlds" in the period from the 7th to the 2nd centuries BC. The Amu Darya treasure is a real treasure, since things were selected for it on the basis of value. Many of them are made of gold and silver and are real treasures.
Major General Cunningham believed that the items found belonged to a noble Bactrian family. He suggested that one of its representatives, during the war between Antiochus III and Euthydemus I, was forced to leave the house, taking with him all the most valuable. The danger forced him to hide precious things and coins, and he did not have to return for them. Other researchers consider the Amu Darya treasures as ritual offerings of believers to the temple for two or even three centuries. When, in 329 BC, the army of Alexander the Great approached the temple, the treasury was taken out of it and reliably buried. But in this case, the priest-owners disappeared without a trace.
Whatever it was, but at present, these jewelry masterpieces have been saved for humanity and are in one of the most famous museums in the world. It is unlikely that the history of their origin and subsequent fate will ever be reliably established until the appearance of the Bukhara merchants. But we can say with confidence that in the struggle for their possession, blood was shed more than once. Even today, the struggle for the treasure continues. True, not between people, but between states.
Final decision
In April 2007, Tajik President Emomali Rahmon instructed scientists to secure the return of the Amu Darya treasure, or at least organize an exhibition of treasures in Dushanbe. Tajik archaeologists confidently declare that the Treasures of the Oks were found on the territory of the present Kubadiyansky district of Tajikistan, which in ancient times was part of the Bactrian state. However, in the museum itself, these and similar requirements are ignored with Olympic calmness. The directorate said that they had not received an official request from the Tajik government. Commenting on the instructions of the Tajik president voiced in the press, a representative of the British Museum said that the famous Amu Darya treasure is unlikely to ever be returned.
“The situation with this treasure is very difficult. The problem is that where exactly - from Tajikistan, Uzbekistan or Afghanistan - this treasure is, it is clear. The treasures appeared in Indian bazaars, and we bought them there. And where they got to India, no one knows for certain,”the British noted. Moreover, not wanting to get problems with the return of the exhibits, the British Museum refused to hold an exhibition of the Amu Darya treasure in the National Museum of Tajikistan. The British limited themselves to a purely symbolic gesture.
In November 2007, the Plenipotentiary Ambassador of Great Britain and Northern Ireland Graham Loten presented a disk with photographs of the treasure exhibits to the chairman of the Kubadiyan region. The treasury of Foggy Albion clearly did not suffer from such a gift. At the same time, the ambassador made it clear that the Oaks Treasures currently belong to England, since the British side acquired them legally. Unlike Russia, Great Britain has never intended and is not going to return cultural values that were once exported to the island from various countries of the world. And Tajikistan is no exception here.
True, in connection with the 20th anniversary of Tajikistan's independence, London again decided to give this country a generous gift - to make copies of five exhibits free of charge. However, from the Tajik side they still took 1000 euros for their gilding. Apparently, there were not enough funds.
But, without going into the legal intricacies of the dispute, it should still be noted that in the British Museum in London (admission to which, by the way, is free), these unique treasures of antiquity will be seen by many more people than in Dushanbe.
Magazine: Mysteries of History No. 25, Evgeny Yarovoy