Galerie Golconda

Multi-strand necklace with fine turquoise and gold beads. The area of Bactria is well known for their exquisite coloured turquoise. Bactria, a region that once straddled modern-day Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Afghanistan, is rich in countless mineral and agricultural resources, which allowed for its population growth since the Neolithic period. It was in Bactres-Zariaspa that the Prophet Zarathustra would have found refuge and during the Iron Age that he spread his doctrine that gathered around the holy book Avesta. His book was only translated in the 18^th century by Frenchman Abraham Anquetil-Dupeyron and made the discovery of this very ancient monotheistic religion that was unknown to the Europeans.