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"In those days, archaeological excavations were done mainly by the French and the Italians. My dad studied around the world, learned ten languages and could speak in any of those languages without an accent." Huvishka reminisces, "He was always a very classy dresser, a ladies man. Even in Italy, he always had the nicest suits, every single day he had the button-down shirt and slacks. Just a classy guy with a sense of humor. He always had these stories. He would tell me about putting spiders in the underwear drawers in the girl's dorms." Dr. Mustamandy was far more than a classy renaissance man. He was the pre-eminent Afghan archaeologist who spearheaded a decades long series of excavations that shed light on a vast range of Central Asian culture and history. Huvishka describes how his father unearthed artifacts of Hellenist, Buddhist, Mongol, Bactrian and Gandharan influence; tales of today's Afghanistan. His findings revealed a country of varied ethnicities, influences, landscapes and histories that most of the world is unaware exists. In
329 BCE, Alexander the Great conquered Afghanistan, but was unable to
subdue the Afghan spirit, who constantly rebelled against the foreign
invaders by heading to the mountains and striking from a distance.
Dr. Mustamandy's most famous excavations are of a Hellene depiction of Hercules and of Hellen of Troy. Huvishka explains, "This earliest influence dates back to Norway, because the Greek style was based on the Norse." Circa 300 AD, Buddhist influence grew in Afghanistan, which is apparent in hundreds of artifacts uncovered by Dr. Mustamandy in the 1960s and 1970s. Huvishka describes the pieces as having a distinctly Asian quality to them. "(The Afghan Buddhists from the seventh century spent years looking for a perfect place to build (giant statues to worship Buddha)." At first they were looking in the Hindu Kush mountains, but just because of how quickly the climate changes, they couldn't do it. But they also needed the rock foundation. They chose this particular spot (south of the Hindu Kush) because it was warm enough." Dr. Mustamandy led the excavation of the giant buddhist statues; cleaning, uncovering, studying what would later become one of the greatest symbols of Central Asian heritage - 50 foot statues carved from shear cliff stone. Huvishka, who was three during the excavations, says, "I was scared to be out there. There were scorpions everywhere. I still have scars on my legs from being bitten. I remember being at the Buddha statue, I was scared of that thing, it was a huge monster. I couldn't stand by it alone, because I thought it would come alive." |
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