Circular stone weight

Bactria, 3rd century BC

This flat, round disc shows a shallow channel in the middle.  The use of these objects has not been precisely determined to this day.  Similar objects have been found on the sites of Tepe-Hissar, Mundigak ans Séistan.  These large discs show several similitudes with the columns of tapering concave cylindrical form featuring the same groove across the top.  The discs date from the same period and are made in the same materials.  They were probably used together in the same ritual context, as objects of worship in what could have been a fertility cult.  They are often found in the same funerary and archaeological context.

29 cm diameter