Lands of Asia layouts (Eng) 26.11.21

2 .4
and fortifications, as well as about their material cultures. The most interesting
findings have come from explorations of Erk-Kala, the ancient core of the city-site of
Old Merv in Margiana, the city-sites of Afrasiab (ancient Maracanda) and Koktepa
in Sogdia, the sites of Uzun-Kyr and Sangirtepa in Southern Sogdia, Kyzyltepa in
Northern Bactria and Elkharas in Khorezm, as well as from several other smaller
settlements of this period.
There is both direct and indirect evidence about the development of monumental
representational art in this region. For example, that the well-known romantic tale by
the 4th-century BC writer Chares of Mytilene about Zariadres’ love for Odatis, ‘the
most beautiful woman in Asia’, which was extremely popular in Central Asia, was
‘depicted in temples and palaces, as well as in private homes’.
Thus it is fair to assume the existence of monumental wall-painting in both pre-
Achaemenid and Achaemenid times. Evidence supporting such an assumption is
provided by the fragments of multi-coloured wall-painting found in Elkharas in the
palace building and the associated temple dated by L.M. Levina to the late 6th – early
4th century BC. Fragments of anthropomorphic clay sculpture were also found there.
Finds from Isfara in the Kanibadam district of Tajikistan are evidence of the existence
of sculpture. Two three-dimensional, life-size, hollow ram heads weighing 8.1 and
14.8 kg and cast in bronze, dating from the 5th to the 3rd century BC, were found
here. They may have been part of a single sculpture, or of a sculptural composition
decorating the interior of a building, or the ornamentation of a zoomorphic throne,
a feature that was widespread in Central Asia and Iran in pre-Islamic times. Another
discovery in the mountains of Sultan Uiz Dagh (Khorezm) of a stone capital
decorated on its different sides with polymorphic figures of animals lying with their
legs bent under them and with faces of bearded men looking in opposite directions
is further evidence of the development of monumental sculptural forms. It has close
similarities to the art of Achaemenid Iran.
Ceramic art of this period is notable both for its variety and for standardised
vessel shapes, as well as high-quality manufacturing techniques, the use of slip for
painting, and a lack of ornamentation. Other motifs such as paintings in red and
brown paint on the surfaces of vessels, which were widespread in the pottery of the
1st millennium BC, all but disappeared in this period.
The ceramic art of this period is characterised by the refinement of vessel shapes,
usually cylindrical-conical, a form that dates back to the ceramics of the preceding 7th–
6th centuries BC. Cylindrical-conical ceramics were widely distributed over almost all
of Central Asia from Khorezm to Bactria. Other forms of decorative art are evident in
glyptics –several Achaemenid-style gems (from the collection of the History Museum
of Uzbekistan in Tashkent) were apparently found on the site of Afrasiab.
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