October 19, 2003
Jason Burke
The Observer
It lay hidden for 2,000 years in Afghanistan, eluded the Taliban and escaped dozens of adventurers and bounty hunters. Now the Bactrian hoard, one of the world's greatest archaeological collections, has been found.
President Hamid Karzai discovered the 20,000 gold coins and artefacts, worth tens of millions of pounds, in a sealed vault under the main palace in the capital, Kabul, after ordering it to be opened earlier this year.
No one expected it to contain the treasure, dating from Alexander the Great's conquest of Afghanistan in 327BC. The vault was thought to hold £60 million of bullion hidden by the state bank more than a decade ago. 'We opened one box and saw the gold,' Karzai said. 'Everything is safe and in its place.'
Ashraf Ghani, the Finance Minister, said the treasure was probably the most important collection of antiquities in the world outside Egypt.
It lay in six tombs under the grassy wastes of northern Afghanistan until it was excavated in 1978 by a Soviet archaeologist on the eve of Moscow's invasion of the country, and was hailed as one of the greatest, and most valuable, archaeological discoveries of all time. It includes a collapsible gold crown, a solid gold pendant of Aphrodite and a dagger studded with scores of jewels.
Ghani said the vault had not been opened for decades despite efforts by the Taliban, who ruled Kabul from 1996 to 2001, torturing staff to reveal the code to get at it. 'They were beaten almost senseless but did not reveal it,' he said.
The surprise find is a boost for Afghanistan, where reconstruction has been progressing slowly and conditions for most people are still very bad.
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,6903,1066233,00.html
