Amudarya treasure - the most famous collection of gold and silver things of the Achaemenid era

The Amu Darya Treasure is a collection of 170 gold and silver artifacts from the Achaemenid times, found in 1877 in the ancient Tahti Sangin settlement on the banks of the Amu Darya River in the Bukhara Emirate (modern Tajikistan). Exhibited in the British Museum (a number of exhibits in the Victoria and Albert Museum), contains 1,300 coins, vessels, figurines, bracelets, medallions, plaques, magnificent gems.

The exact location of the treasure is not known, but it is assumed that it was found between 1876 and 1880. on the north bank of the Amu Darya River, in the ancient settlement of Takhti Sangin (present-day Tajikistan, the historical region of Bactria).

Probably, the origin of the treasure is associated with the temple, which was located there. Presumably in 1877 a merchant's caravan bought it. On the way from Kabul to Peshawar, the merchants were captured by gangsters who had taken the treasure. Captain Francis Charles Burton, political representative of the British Empire in Afghanistan, rescued merchants from captivity, who later helped them to return the treasure itself. As a sign of gratitude, they sold him one of two paired bracelets. Then the merchants went to Rawalpindi to sell the rest of the treasure there.

Most of the items from the treasure were sold at the bazaars of British India (in modern Pakistan). Artifacts were able to track down and bring together the English antiquarian Augustus Wallston Franks, who bequeathed his collection to the British Museum in 1897.

Currently, all items are in London, in the Victoria and Albert Museum (the smaller part) and in the British Museum, where the collection has been on display since June 2007 in room 52.

The treasure consists of miniature models of carts with horses, statues of people and animals, bracelets, rings, coins, jugs, pendants and personal belongings. This is the most famous collection of gold and silver items of the Achaemenid era.