Gold, Silver and Glass: Power Networks, Cultural Identities, Technology Transfers and Agency across the Old World (7th Century BC - 1st Century AD)

St John Simpson is a senior curator and Assistant Keeper in the Department of the Middle East at the British Museum where he is responsible for the collections from ancient Iran, Arabia and Central Asia, with Museum-wide responsibility for liaison with law enforcement agencies over the identification and repatriation of trafficked antiquities. He has curated three major special exhibitions: Queen of Sheba: Treasures from Ancient Yemen (2002), Afghanistan: Crossroads of the Ancient World (2011), and Scythians: Warriors of Ancient Siberia (2017/18), as well as countless small displays and the permanent Rahim Irvani Gallery for Ancient Iran (2007). His most recent books are Masters of the Steppe: The Impact of the Scythians and Later Nomad Societies of Eurasia (2020), In Context: the Reade Festschrift (2020), Sasanian Archaeology: Settlements, Environment and Material Culture (2022), and ‘To Aleppo gone ...’: Essays in honour of Jonathan N. Tubb (2023), all published with Archaeopress.

• List of Figures and Tables Introduction – St John SimpsonAcknowledgements Did Buddhist Concepts Reach Iron Age Scandinavia? The Gundestrup Cauldron, the 14-Spoked Wheel and the ‘Axial Age’ – Timothy TaylorThe Persian Parthenon – Thomas HarrisonPersian and Greek Arts in the World of the Scythian Warriors of Asia: from Monuments to Bodies, the Choice of the Nomads – Henri-Paul FrancfortOn the Problem of the Artistic and Manufacturing Centres in the Eurasian Nomadic World – Elena KorolkovaDragons in the Scythian Fantastic Bestiary – Sergey Polin and Marina DaraganObjects Made from Human Crania in Scythian Burials in the Northern Black Sea Region – Marina Daragan and Sergei PolinAncient Armenia: Historical and Cultural Connections Based on the Collections in the History Museum of Armenia – Nzhdeh Yeranyan, Ruben Vardanyan, Armine Zohrabyan, Hasmik MargaryanPersian Gold – Jack OgdenMetrology 40 years on – M. VickersAchaemenid Silver: An Essay on the Fungibility of Meaning – Henry P. ColburnAn Achaemenid Silver ‘Rattling Bowl’ – Julien Cuny, Benoît Mille, Agnès Lattuati-DerieuxAchaemenid-Style Silverware and Gold Ornaments: a Taste for Luxury in Early Imperial China – Yan LiuMoney Talks, Wealth Whispers: Iron Age Saka Microbead Goldsmithing Technology – Saltanat Amir, Rinat Zhumatayev, Samat Shakenov, Akbar Yergabylov, Rebecca Roberts, Marcos Martinón-TorresTransparent Glass for an Elite Greek Society – Despina IgnatiadouCut Gold Leaf Decoration on Hellenistic–Early Roman Glass and Marble Antiquities:a Comparison with the Kirikane Cut Gold Leaf Technique of Far Eastern Buddhist Art – Yasuko Fujii and Hidetoshi NamikiConclusions – St John SimpsonThe Contributors Bibliography Index