Ancient Royal Seal Discovered in Tajikistan

Archaeologists from Tajikistan’s National Museum say they have made a significant discovery, a royal seal made of fired clay from the Kushan period, which began about 2,000 years ago and lasted for several centuries. The circular, pea-green seal has a perforation for threading a cord and was found in very good condition in the Abdurahmoni Jomi district of Khatlon region in southwest Tajikistan, the museum said on August 14. “This discovery may mark a new stage in the study of the Kushan period in the region, providing a solid scholarly basis for reassessing certain existing theories and interpretations concerning its history,” the museum said in a statement. The Kushan Empire extended across a vast area at the height of its power, including swaths of present-day Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Pakistan, Afghanistan and northern India. It emerged from the Yuezhi, a nomadic people who had migrated from what is today northwestern China and established themselves in Bactria, an ancient Central Asian region. The decorated surface of the newly discovered seal, engraved within a circular field measuring six centimeters in diameter, features what the museum’s archaeologists describe as significant political, cultural and artistic elements of the Kushan period. “The composition includes a Bactrian inscription, geometric ornamentation, a bust of a king wearing a crenellated crown, depictions of mountain goats, symbols associated with the royal authority and statehood of the Kushan rulers, as well as motifs associated with the authority of local rulers and other symbolic elements,” the Tajik museum said. Specialists from the Department of Archaeology and Numismatics at the National Museum are analyzing the seal and, once finalized, their findings will be shared with a wider circle of researchers. Arkeonews, an archaeology news platform, said the Bactrian inscription on the seal could be especially important because it might “help determine whether the seal belonged to a royal official, a local ruler or another figure operating within the Kushan political system.” The platform said “the seal may ultimately provide evidence for the relationship between Kushan rulers and regional elites in what is now southern Tajikistan.” Arkeonews said that until the museum’s analysis is complete, some of the “most important questions -- who used the seal, what it was intended to authenticate, and how it functioned within Kushan administration -- remain unanswered.”

Rome to Host Exhibition of Ancient Artifacts from Tajikistan

The National Museum of Tajikistan will present an exhibition in Rome later this year, displaying cultural and archaeological heritage spanning about 2,500 years. The exhibition, titled Tajikistan – The Land of Unique Heritage, will open in Rome on October 20 and mark the 35th anniversary of Tajikistan’s independence from the Soviet Union, according to the National Museum. Tajikistan declared independence on September 9, 1991. The show includes artifacts from Takht-i Sangin, an archaeological site in southern Tajikistan; the Ajina-Teppa Buddhist monastery, a seventh- to eighth-century site in the south where a large reclining Buddha statue was discovered; and Panjakent, the ruins of an ancient Sogdian city that was part of the Silk Road trade network and lies in northwestern Tajikistan. “The exhibited artifacts span a chronological period from the 6th century BCE to the 20th century CE, illustrating the major stages in the formation and development of the civilization of the Tajik people,” the National Museum said. Heritage from Tajikistan has previously gone on display in Europe. From October 2021 to January 2022, the show Tajikistan: The Land of Golden Rivers was held at the Musée Guimet. It featured heritage spanning the period from prehistory to the arrival of Islam in Central Asia in the early eighth century. Rome recently hosted another exhibition of artifacts from Central Asia. From October 2025 to April this year, the Capitoline Museums presented Ancient Civilizations of Turkmenistan. On display were “masterpieces from prehistoric Margiana, corresponding to the present-day Murghab River valley in southeastern Turkmenistan, and from ancient Parthia, in particular from Nisa,” a site in south-central Turkmenistan that is more than 2,000 years old, Italy’s foreign ministry said.