Lands of Asia layouts (Eng) 26.11.21

3.1
special character san to indicate the hushing sibilant, which graphically was rendered
in a similar fashion to the letter rho.
There are two types of Bactrian script – monumental or lapidary, and cursive. The
first type is characterised by separate letters, a combination of rounded and angular
forms, the absence of capitalisation or sentence case, and words written together (not
split). The cursive script is characterised by a wide range of writing styles and very
complex letter-signs, often with combined letters.
The chronology of Bactrian written language covers a period of about eight
hundred years (from the 1st/2nd centuries AD to the 8th/9th centuries AD). The
Bactrian inscriptions we know of today can be divided into three groups: 1) epigraphic
– inscriptions on rocks and stone slabs, pottery and potsherds (ostraca), gems and
other objects; 2) numismatic – inscriptions on coins; 3) handwritten documents –
inscriptions on papyrus, palm leaves, paper and birch bark. The techniques include graffiti
inscriptions, carved on rocks, walls and stone slabs, as well as inscriptions scratched or
made in black ink with a thin brush, on potsherds, papyrus or other materials.
Up to the mid-1950s, the number of specimens of Bactrian script that had been
discovered, especially from the Kushan period, was very small: they consisted mainly
of brief inscriptions on coins, seals and gems. It was only the discovery of Bactrian
inscriptions on limestone slabs made by French archaeologists during excavations
of a temple complex on the hill of Surkh Kotal in Baghlan province (northern
Afghanistan) in 1954–1959 that really initiated research into the Bactrian language
and writing. In the 1960s and 1980s, many Bactrian inscriptions were discovered
during excavations in various parts of Bactria but they were all shorter than the
inscriptions from Surkh Kotal.
Bactrian inscriptions from the Kushan period have been found only in Bactria
and at two sites outside of it – a stone slab with a trilingual inscription in Bactrian,
Kharoshthi, and an undeciphered script found at Dasht-i Navur (Kabulistan); and
rock inscriptions found at Wakhan (present-day Afghanistan).
In Northern Bactria, Bactrian inscriptions have been found at the following major
sites, going from west to east: the Kara-Kamar cave complex (graffiti inscriptions
on the rock surface); the site of Kampyrtepa (black ink inscription on a clay vessel,
inscriptions on potsherds using black ink, handwritten specimens on papyrus);
Zartepa (inscriptions on potsherds); Old Termez: at the Karatepa Buddhist
monastery (graffiti inscriptions on cave walls, inscriptions on sherds and vessels)
and at the Fayaztepa Buddhist monastery (inscriptions in black ink on sherds and
vessels, and an inscription in black ink on a sherd near a dump); Mirzakultepa (a
sherd with an incised inscription); Airtam (a stone sculpture with a six-line Bactrian
inscription on the base); Yalangtushtepa (incised inscriptions on a khum and black
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