6.4 Dating the Abandonment of the Objects

The assertion that the objects in Rooms 10 and 13 were a royal ‘treasure’ has remained current at least in part because it might explain the otherwise confounding one or two century difference between the proposed dates of a few individual pieces. As discussed at length in Chapter 5, however, these wide differences in the contended dates can all be effectively rebutted, leaving instead a consistent pattern of 1st to early 2nd century CE dates for all the objects of the Begram finds. With these consistent dates for all the ivory and bone carvings as well as the other objects discovered together in the two rooms, the question remains when the objects in the two rooms came to be abandoned ^[1] . If one accepts the contemporaneity of the objects and their place as part of a merchant’s stock, then it seems reasonable to assume that the rooms were abandoned certainly within no more than one generation of the fabrication of the pieces. This suggests that the objects were left behind at some time in the early 2nd century CE ^[2] .

One of the more important issues in determining the date at which the objects were abandoned is whether they were left behind at a moment contemporaneous with the end of the entire city of Begram. Ghirshman’s theory was that the second city of Begram was destroyed by the raids of the Sasanians in the mid-3rd century CE. Traces of fire at the Begram site can be viewed as support for a theory of a hostile destruction at the city. According to Ghirshman, this fits with the numismatic evidence uncovered in Begram, which also points to the city’s demise after the reign of the Kushan king Vasudeva I. However, the latest evidence on the date of Kaniska, established well after the period of Ghirshman’s investigations, places him in the early 2nd century CE (Sims-Williams & Cribb 1995/96), which in turn puts Vasudeva I’s reign at the end of the 2nd century CE. However, there is no evidence for a hostile invasion in the 2nd century CE in the region of Begram. Moreover, if the cache was gathered in the early 2nd century CE, it seems inconceivable that it remained there for more that three-quarters of a century until the final destruction of the city.

Given all of the above, it seems more probable that the abandonment of the objects was contemporaneous with the demise of the city as a whole. To return to the numismatic evidence, which at best is circumstantial, it should be noted that the coins discovered in the same strategraphic layers as the ‘treasure’ dated to the 1st and early 2nd century CE. The few coins of Vasudeva I from the 2nd century CE were found approximately 1 meter above the layers of the ‘treasure’ (see section 5.2) and can be thought of as belonging to a later period after the demise of the earlier city known as Begram II. Is there anything in the historical or archaeological record, then, that supports the hypothesis of the abandonment of the entire city in the early 2nd century CE?

Certainly, natural disasters are known to have caused a certain fluctuation in the prosperity of certain Kushan towns in India (Prasad 1984:166-169). Prasad notes that sites such as Saikhan Dheri suffered such a devastating flood that “the entire population had to be shifted to a new city”. Prasad also mentions that famines were well-known as regularly occurring regional crises (1984:167). In the case of Begram, the most likely natural disaster that could have had a major impact on local stability would have been an earthquake or a series of quakes. Afghanistan is known to have suffered, and still is plagued by, severe earthquakes. Amin (1976:24) notes that seismographic records indicate that Afghanistan suffers 5,000 quake episodes each year, of which 500 are considered severe. Amin further remarks that there is archaeological evidence for the destruction of several ancient cities in what is now modern Afghanistan, such as a large part of the city of Balkh in the 9th century CE (1976:25). However, while Begram was clearly susceptible to great earthquakes, there is no evidence of earthquake damage in the archaeological remains, certainly not of a quake sufficient to have brought about the evacuation and subsequent demise of the entire city.

Chaos as a result of political upheaval is known to have had a major impact on economic activity in urban centers, as did, of course, the decimation of populations and damage to towns during invasions. However, if the early 2nd century CE date is the terminus ante quem for Begram II, then it is difficult to identify any political upheavals in the region which might have been sufficient to occasion the abandonment of the city. Kushan rule between Kaniska and Vasudeva was probably the most politically stable period in the entire Kushan era. And the true political decline of the Kushans at the hands of foreign forces, including the Sasanians, did not commence until the 3rd century CE.

There remains the possibility that the precipitous decline in Begram’s fortunes was the result of economic misfortune. Begram’s economy seems to have depended on trade, and the city’s demise may have had to do with a sharp reduction, even if only short-term, in economic activity in the region. At first glance this seems unlikely, since the 1st and 2nd centuries were in general the most prosperous of the Kushan era. However, while the Kushan empire itself was healthy during this period, that does not necessarily mean that each region within the empire experienced the same, consistent economic development and fortune.

Begram was stationed along trade routes which connected other routes coming from the south, east and west. Its function within a chain of interconnected sites, however, means that whatever happened to other links in the chain would have an impact on the economic activity of Begram. It is well established that Roman sea trade flourished in the 1st and 2nd century CE and thus it is likely that much of the commercial activity between Indian and Roman merchants in that period took place well to the south, in the ancient port towns of India and Pakistan. Concurrently, it may well have been that the economy of the northern land routes was greatly affected by this geographical shift in trade. Supporting this notion, other research has shown that there was also a decline in economic activity in certain Parthian cities in the early 2nd century CE (Wenke 1981). Such a decline could have had a serious impact on the northern Kushan trade centers, or could have been reflective of the same shift in forces that affected Begram.

In considering the effect on the economic viability of Begram of a shift in trade activity toward the south, it should be remembered that Begram’s geographic position amidst rugged northern mountains permitted it to be an active trading site for only a part of the year, even in the best of economic times. Because its climate and geography rendered it less than fully accessible, its hold on sufficient trade to maintain its economic health may have been tenuous indeed, and any substantial diminution of trade through the north may have proved fatal to Begram II’s continued existence -- or, rather, continuous existence, since a later Begram may have arisen on the site when trade resumed in the region -- as an urban center.

If this notion of the demise of Begram II is to be considered, the question remains why the objects in the two sealed rooms were abandoned when such an economic decline would have occurred over some time, as opposed to the sudden irruption of an earthquake or flight in the face of invasion. Here, too, the geographic position of Begram needs to be considered. It was no easy task to reach Begram from the South; in the best of circumstances, the journey could take months. Once there was no longer a significant trade purpose for a return to Begram, merchants would have been reluctant to undertake the journey unless objects of considerable value had been left behind. And while there is no question that the Begram finds included valuable and aesthetically beautiful pieces, many of the finds were of little intrinsic value, and none of them included precious jewels or objects of gold and silver. It could also be argued that Kushan merchants would not have gone so far out of their way to retrieve ivory carvings which their own artisans produced. And the value of the Roman glassware may have been diminished by the new accessibility of Roman goods arriving in India by sea.

The subject of the demise of Begram II remains largely hypothetical, and this dissertation does not seek to argue its point too strenuously. The evidence for any explanation is slight, and considerable further research would be required to press any argument strongly. The purpose of this discussion is not so much to put forward one or another theory that might account for the city’s demise but rather to suggest that there are alternatives to Ghirshman’s contention that Begram II died at the hands of the Sasanians, and in particular that the city, and the objects in Rooms 10 and 13, were abandoned in the 3rd century CE.