National Geographic

Familiar yet exotic, this gold figurine of the Greek goddess of love bears a forehead mark from India. It is part of the fabled 'Bactrian Hoard,' a collection of thousands of 2,000-year-old gold objects excavated from nomad burials in Afghanistan in 1978. Once believed to have been stolen, most of the hoard was re-discovered in a bank vault in Kabul in 2003.

PHOTOGRAPH BY VIKTOR SARIANIDI, NAT GEO IMAGE COLLECTION

Missing for more than a decade of conflict in Afghanistan and now safe again, this 2,000-year-old turquoise-studded gold buckle, which features Chinese-style canopied chariots, is part of the Bactrian Hoard unearthed in 1978 at Tillya Tepe in northern Afghanistan.

PHOTOGRAPH BY VIKTOR SARIANIDI, NAT GEO IMAGE COLLECTION