The
Bactria–Margiana Archaeological Complex (or
BMAC, also known as the
Oxus civilization) is the modern archaeological designation for a
Bronze Age civilisation of
Central Asia, dated to ca. 2300–1700 BCE, located in present-day northern
Afghanistan, eastern
Turkmenistan, southern
Uzbekistan and western
Tajikistan, centered on the upper
Amu Darya (Oxus River). Its sites were discovered and named by the
Soviet archaeologist
Viktor Sarianidi (1976).
Bactria was the Greek name for the area of
Bactra (modern
Balkh), in what is now northern Afghanistan, and
Margiana was the Greek name for the Persian
satrapy of
Margu, the capital of which was
Merv, in modern-day southeastern Turkmenistan.