Were “soft- stone” vessels actually manufactured in Margiana and Bactria, the two cultural poles that we currently ascribe to the Oxus Civilization or Bactria- Margiana Archaeological Complex (BMAC)? And if so, which types precisely? In addition, the precise mineralogical nature of these “soft stones” remains problematic. Chlorite, schist, mica- schist, steatite, talc, soapstone, soft stone: These names, in the past literature, have been freely applied to a wide range of important artifacts of the Bronze age of Middle Asia by archaeologists and writers of archaeological narratives without any consistency, or any proper petrographic or other mineralogical investigation.
CHLORITE CONTAINERS FROM THE OXUS CIVILIZATION. Between technical choices and iconographic codes
Massimo Vidale
2020
Abstract
Were “soft- stone” vessels actually manufactured in Margiana and Bactria, the two cultural poles that we currently ascribe to the Oxus Civilization or Bactria- Margiana Archaeological Complex (BMAC)? And if so, which types precisely? In addition, the precise mineralogical nature of these “soft stones” remains problematic. Chlorite, schist, mica- schist, steatite, talc, soapstone, soft stone: These names, in the past literature, have been freely applied to a wide range of important artifacts of the Bronze age of Middle Asia by archaeologists and writers of archaeological narratives without any consistency, or any proper petrographic or other mineralogical investigation.
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