Dilberjin Tepe 4th-8th C. CE

September 17, 2023

Dilberjin Tepe 4th-8th C. CE

Dilberjin Tepe may have started as a town founded by the Persians. It became significant after the Kushans conquered the area, but after the Kushan-Sassanid Kingdom it was abandoned. There are some Kushan and Greek items here. The Hephthalites (White Huns) made murals here sometimes between the 4th-6th C. CE and must have used the site after its abandonment. I'm not sure who was using it after the Hephthalites fell from power, but there are later murals dating from the 7th-8th C. CE. It doesn't appear to have been used after that date. Le Monde reports that the Islamic State heavily damaged the site with bulldozers and looting between 2019-2021 that "has reduced the entire site to nothing". Despite this, satellite images show that new looting has continued after the Taliban took control of Afghanistan in 2021 and continued through 2023.

From Wikipedia: "The paintings of Dilberjin Tepe belong to the 5th-6th century CE, or even as early as the 4th century CE according to some authorities, based on numismatic evidence. The paintings have some similarity with those of Balalyk Tepe, and some from Bamiyan. A comparison with the swordsmen at Kizil Caves would also suggest a date from the 5th century to the early 6th century CE. The same authors consider that the paintings at Balalyk Tepe are about a century older than the paintings at Dilberjin, dating from the end of the 6th century to the early 7th century CE.

These murals are general thought to represent Hephthalites, with their characteristic tunics with a single lapel folded to the right, cropped hair and ornaments. A famous mural shows a row of warriors in kaftan, relatively similar to the mural from Kyzyl. A much later fresco showing an Indian scene, with Shiva and Parvati on the bull Nandi, has been dated to the 8th century CE.

Coins of many periods were found at the site, including Hephthalite coins, but those of the Kushano-Sasanians and the Kidarites were the most numerous from the early Sasanian period to have been found on the site. About 72 such coins were found, belonging to Ardashir I, Peroz I, Hormiz I, as well as each type of the Varahran I, that is, the coins first struck under Varahran, and then those struck on the model of Varahran by the Kidarite rulers Kirada, Peroz and Kidara I. These coins suggest that the murals themselves should be dated to the late 4th century CE or early 5th century CE at the latest."