A Bactrian Chalice (Uzbekistan) Circa 2nd Millennium BC Carved Alabaster Height 26 cm. Diameter 14.1 cm Note Bactria was a bronze age culture centred on the upper Oxus River, known today as the Amu Darya River. Dated to circa 2200 BC - 1700 BC, it was a wealthy civilization - the alluvium of the Oxus was fertile farmland, but also contained gold. Nonetheless, neither the origins of Bactria, nor the reasons for its decline, are understood. Its distinctive material culture disappears from the archaeological record a few centuries after it appears