Mir Zakah Explained

Mir Zakah is a village in the Mirzaka District of Paktia Province in eastern Afghanistan, and on the old caravan route from Ghazni to Gandhara.^[1]

Two of the largest ancient coin deposits ever attested to,^[2] were discovered in the village, in 1947 and 1992.^[3] The hoards contained over half a million punch-marked coins dating from the late 5th century BC, to the 1st century AD, containing early Indian bent-bar and punch-marked coins, Greek, Graeco-Bactrian, Indo-Greek, Indo-Scythian, Indo-Parthian, and Kushana origins coins. The hoards were plundered in later years, and seen being openly sold, in February 1994, in the Peshawar bazaar.^{[4] [5]} The village he controversial Alexander Medaillon^{[6] [7] [8]} is said to have come from the treasure looted at Mir Zakah between 1992 and 1993.^{[9] [10]}

See also

• Destruction of art in Afghanistan # Mir Zakah Treasure

Notes and References

1. Warwick Ball, "The Monuments of Afghanistan: History, Archaeology and Architecture", 2008, p. 249
2. [Osmund Bopearachchi|O.Bopearachchi]
3. D.Schlumberger "Un trésor monétaire découvert au village de Mir Zakah (Afghanistan)" Comptes rendus des séances de l'Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres Année 1948 Volume 92 Numéro 2 pp. 174-176
4. Tim McGirk "A YEAR OF LOOTING DANGEROUSLY", The Independent, 24 March 1996
5. Web site: The Destruction of Afghanistan's Cultural Heritag . IIAS.
6. Smriti Daniel, "Getting hold of the Alexander medallion", The Sunday Times (Sri Lanka), September 25, 2011
7. https://www.jstor.org/stable/43486943?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents "Review: Alexander the Great and the Mystery of the Elephant Medallions by Frank L. Holt"
8. Callataÿ F. 2013. Pourquoi le " distatère en or au portrait d'Alexandre " est très probablement un faux moderne . Revue Numismatique . 6. 170 . 175–189 . 10.3406/numi.2013.3204. 2021-12-21.
9. Web site: Alexander the Great (330-323 BC). www.cemml.colostate.edu. 2019-05-05. United States.
10. TYE . ROBERT . 2006 . Late Indian Punchmarked Coins in the Mir Zakah II Hoard . The Numismatic Chronicle . 166 . 167–171 . 42666406 . 0078-2696.