Kushan and Central Asian Studies

Kushan, Kushano-Sasanian, and Kidarite Coins:
The Kushan Empire was a vast inland empire that stretched across Central and South Asia during the first to fourth centuries AD. The origins of Kushan dynasty continue to be debated, and precise dates, especially for the late Kushan kings, remain elusive, but the coinage reveals the Kushan dynasty as a major force in the cultural and political history of the ancient Silk Road.
Kushan coinage began c. AD 50 with issues of the first Kushan king, Kujula Kadphises
(c. AD 50–90). The first Kushan coins were based on Greek, Scythian and Parthian coin designs already current in the territory of present day Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Under Kujula Kadphises’ son Wima Takto
(c. AD 91–113) and grandson Wima Kadphises
(c. AD 113–127) the coinage system was gradually centralized to serve the entire Kushan empire, stretching from Uzbekistan and Tajikistan to northern India. Gold and copper denominations were established during the reign of Wima Kadphises which were maintained through the reigns of ten more kings until the demise of the Kushan empire in the mid-fourth century AD.
This catalogue presents all the Kushan coins
in the American Numismatic Society, with selected illustrations, detailed descriptions and commentary. The production system of Kushan coinage is presented with major revisions of chronology and organization compared with previous publications. This presentation has been based on the latest coin-based research, including die studies and site find analysis.
The coins are classified by ruler, metal, mint, production phase, denomination, type and variety. Introductory essays present the historical and cultural contexts of the kings and their coins. All the ANS gold coins and a selection of copper coins are illustrated. This catalogue also features two series of coins issued by the Kushano- Sasanian and the Kidarite Hun rulers of former Kushan territory because they followed and adapted the Kushan coinage system.
The authors intend this catalogue to be a tool for scholars and collectors alike for understanding, identifying ,and attributing these fascinating coins that represent four centuries of Central and South Asian ancient history.

1 1 The object The object presented here came to our knowledge in late 2012, when its Paki-stani owner asked for advice regarding its significance It is a pyxis made from sheet silver, 6 4 cm high and 10 6 cm wide in its finished form The round side-wall had caved in on one side when a heavy object fell on it The owner had this caved-in side-wall restored Already in its damaged state it showed most of two pairs of figures, each framing the central figure of a seated Buddha Our pyxis is not complete It has lost its lid, of which there are traces left There are two devices riveted on diametrically opposite places between figures 3 and 4 and again between figures 6 and 1 These devices are double loop hinges, one serving as the rotation point, the other as a lock The lid must have had two corresponding single loops, one fixed by a pin to a double loop This pin is still there The other single loop could be fastened to the second double loop and be closed by putting a movable pin or thread through the combined three loops to lock and seal the contents The form of the hinges and the crude way of riveting shows that their application did not follow the same aesthetics which governed the production of the body of the pyxis They may have been applied following an afterthought with the single aim of keeping its closure under control The object is singular in being made in silver It is also unique in having its decoration incised, instead of being cast or hammered in repoussé We regard it as a container for incense comparable to the so-called " Kaniṣka casket " from

The aim of this panel is to highlight the imagined ‘dystopian’ state of Afghanistan which has been at the crossroads of many cultures and civilizations, occupying a unique place in the cultural geography of Central Asia. The terrain experienced numerous invasions which transformed the social and cultural landscape since the ancient times. The panel intends to underline the importance of the Kushan dynasty (1st–4th CE); in constructing the political history of pre-Islamic Afghanistan; introducing cultural homogeneity with the spread of Buddhism in Afghanistan. Northern Afghanistan (Bactria) was one of the political and cultural centers of the Kushan Empire. The territories of southern Bactria and Paropamisadae were in an intermediary position between Central and South Asia. The great urban spaces that emerged along the transit routes in these territories welcomed people of different cultural and religious backgrounds both as travelers and as residents. The wealth and strategic importance furthermore attracted inland and overseas trade under the reign of the Kushan Empire. Consequently, ancient Afghanistan was a territory with a great religious diversity, including ancient Iranian and nomadic cults, Zoroastrianism, Brahmanism and Buddhism.
The panel will include three research papers, discussing the historical documents, essential in understanding and analyzing the political ambitions of the empire – methodologies for creating a strong central administration. The scholars will further highlight the importance of the various urban spaces, omnipresent during the Kushan period and its importance in developing Kushan polity along with the process of shaping up the cultural antiquity of Afghanistan. We are keen to investigate the recently excavated sites of Afghanistan; mostly Buddhist and the approaches undertaken by the current government to protect, preserve and analyze them. The study of Kushan archaeology incepted with the various unscientific explorations in Afghanistan, performed mostly by Charles Mason (1832). The constructive study of the dynasty began in 1922, under the firm guidance of DAFA (Délégation Archéologique en Francaise en Afghanistan), when the Afghan government signed a contract with the agency. The arrival of the French paved the way for other transcultural and multilingual agencies in Afghanistan; primarily to excavate and investigate the pre-Islamic past of Afghanistan. We argue that these excavations and explorations were not
free from the prevailing global political tensions and differences, for which we experience difference debates within the agencies involved in the painstaking activity of reconstructing the Kushan history. The panel will underline these debates which were results of various ideological warfare; omnipresent in pre-Cold War and Cold War Afghanistan. The following section becomes important in our area of research as it helps us to understand the involvement of global and indigenous political movements in academia, which at times derailed the process of rediscovering the past of Afghanistan. Further, the involvement of the
agencies bewildered the cultural milieu of Afghanistan; soiling the traditional norms with the western principles. This very idea had its own repercussions; effects of which were experienced during and after the Soviet invasion.
Studying the Kushan past of Afghanistan, thus offered a key field for understanding the importance of pre-Islamic Afghanistan, the cultural importance of the terrains, religious diversities and instigating academic power struggles, as well as taking scholarships on Central Asian history into novel directions.