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 In the heavily fortified town of Yemshi-tepe, just five kilometres to the northeast of modern Sheberghan in Afghanistan only half a kilometre from the now-famous necropolis of Tillia-tepe a huge hoard from the Bactrian culture was found.
The hoard is a collection of about 20,000 gold ornaments that was found in six graves (five women and one man) with extremely rich jewellery, dated to around the 1st century BC.
Altogether several thousand pieces of fine jewellery were recovered, usually made of gold, turquise or lapis-lazuli. The ornaments include coins, necklaces set with gems, belts, medallions and crowns. A new museum in Kabul is being planned where the Bactrian gold will eventually be kept.
Tillya tepe, Tillia tepe or Tillâ tapa or literally "Golden Hill" or "Golden Mound" is an archaeological site in northern Afghanistan near Sheberghan, surveyed in 1979 by a Soviet-Afghan mission of archaeologists led by Victor Sarianidi, a year before the Sovjet invasion of Afghanistan. The work stopped and 20 years later much of it were smuggled out of the country.
Illustration: Gold Crown from the Tombs of Tillya Tepe.
Group with no name
The Bactrian Necklace
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