the deposition of the Bimaran casket (10 BCE – 10 CE), going back to the rule of the Indo-Greeks in the 1st century BCE. The last Indo-Greek kings Strato II and Strato III ruled until around 20 CE. This view, that Greco-Buddhist art already was flourishing in the 1st century BCE under the sponsorship of Indo-Greek kings, was originally advocated by Alfred A. Foucher and others, although with much less archaeological evidence. Stylistically, the casket (gold inlaid with precious stone) is also highly consistent with the art of the Scythians, as known for example from the Tillya tepe archaeological site in northern Afghanistan. The Tillya tepe treasure is also dated to the 1st century BCE, and also has what could be early representations of the Buddha, such as the Tillya Tepe Buddhist coin. The Bimaran casket also has some similarities with the Kanishka casket, which however is of much coarser execution, and securely dated to around 127 CE. Other views See also Kanishka casket Notes References Sources Further reading Baums, Stefan, and Andrew Glass. 2002– . Catalog of Gāndhārī Texts, no. CKI 50 Cribb, Joe. 2016. "Dating the Bimaran Casket – its Conflicted Role in the Chronology of Gandharan Art". Gandhāran Studies, vol. 10, pp. 57–91. The Greeks in Bactria and India, W.W. Tarn, Cambridge University Press. Monnaies Gréco-Bactriennes et Indo-Grecques, Catalogue Raisonné, Osmund Bopearachchi, 1991, Bibliothèque Nationale de France, . Susan L. Huntington (with contributions by John C. Huntington), Art of Ancient India (Tokyo and New York: John Weatherhill, 1985). "The Bimaran casket", Reginald Le May, The Burlington Magazine'', 482 (1943), p. 116–123. External links Afghan art Ancient Central Asian art Buddhist art Gautama Buddha in art Asian objects in the British Museum Gold objects Buddhism in Afghanistan Jalalabad Buddhist reliquaries Archaeological discoveries in Afghanistan History of Nangarhar Province