Students examine how artifacts found at Tillya Tepe reflect artistic and cultural exchange along the Silk Road. Students will learn how a nomadic group in Central Asia incorporated motifs from the eastern Mediterranean to China with their own to create items with composite styles and function. They will learn how many of the objects were made with gold, engraved with patterns, modeled into geometric shapes and mythical creatures—composite animals and fish forms, and embellished with semi-precious stones. Students will combine the cultural and artistic symbols of ancient Afghanistan to create their own ornament or accessory.

Over the centuries, two main branches of Buddhism emerged: a transmission that traveled to Southeast Asia, and a transmission that evolved in East Asia. A further offshoot of the northern transmission also developed. All three branches began in India, and developed further as they moved across Asia.

The Sikh religion arose in Punjab, a region that is now divided between India and Pakistan. Its followers consider themselves disciples of ten esteemed gurus, or teachers, the first of whom was Nanak (1469–1539), Sikhism’s historical founder. Although Hindu by birth, Nanak also embraced aspects of Muslim teachings, later proclaiming, “There is no Hindu, there is no Muslim.”