Bactria-Margiana Stone Head from an Idol

SKU SF.082

2500 BC to 1500 BC


2.1″ (5.3cm) high x 1.50″ (3.8cm) wide




Central Asia

Gallery Location




Religion may have been based around deities represented by pieces such as this. However, they are extremely rare. A 2003 inventory calculated that there were at least thirty-eight examples of such Bactrian idols known, and although the number of examples discovered since has increased, the total number of such Bactrian idols remains relatively small. Nine examples have been found in south-eastern Turkmenistan and two more in Pakistan. Their significance is unclear. Some scholars identify them as elite members of this early society, while others consider their compelling monumentality to signify that these female figures are depictions of one (or more) goddesses.

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