Coins from contiguous states came into the Central Asian and Eastern Chinese Turkestan regions alongside the Silk Road together with diplomatic missions and trade caravans.  These coinage locations, issuers’ identification and the date of emission provide crucial information for concerning the history of the Silk Road in regions of modern Kyrgyzstan.

In 2008, stone bases of different sizes, pilasters manufactured of limestone in Greek-Bactrian architectural style, and a stone mock-up of chartak were discovered during the course of archaeological prospecting in Parhar region of Tajikistan. Archaeological findings in this region indicate that a Zoroastrian fire temple must have towered above an underlying village.

Orhon scripts should be named according to the place they are discovered. The discovery of the monuments bearing these scripts enables the founding and development of ancient Turkish studies. An atlas of all the monuments with Orhon scripts is urgently needed. To study these monuments requires interdisciplinary and international collaboration.

The slate cliffs of Kazakhstan bear evidence of an ancient Sun God cult, represented in anthropomorphic form, and worshipped two millennia before the start of the Common Era. There are no written documents to supply details of this cult or of the worship it entailed, but many engravings, especially at the cultic site of Tamgaly, show a humanised ‘Sun’, sometimes accompanied by a zoomorphic figure.

The International Institute for Central Asian Studies (IICAS) was established in August 1995 in Samarkand (Uzbekistan) as a direct outcome of the UNESCO Silk Roads Expeditions. The idea of founding the Institute was conceived during the Steppe Route Expedition across Central Asia, one of the expeditions organized within the framework of UNESCO Project "Integral Study of the Silk Roads: Roads of Dialogue", a major project of the World Decade for Cultural Development (1987-1997).

SOAS, the School of Oriental and African Studies (University of London) is dedicated to the study of the languages, cultures and societies of Africa, Asia and the Middle East, and is the only Higher Education institution in Europe with this academic specialisation. It also has the largest concentration in Europe of academic staff concerned with Africa, Asia and the Middle East.