A gold coin discovered close to Gilgil in Pakistan, which bears the portrait of a king and a legend in Parthian (“Abdagases king of kings”), is attributed to the Indo-Parthian king Abdagases II who ruled during the last quarter of the 1st century AD. There are some similarities between this piece and the coinage of the famous Kushan king Vima Taktu (Sôter Megas), who reigned roughly at the same time.

Owing to the conflicts, the number of clandestine excavations have increased in Afghanistan and Pakistan leading to major discoveries of treasures. One of the largest finds was a colossal amount of Greco-Bactrian, Indo-Greek, Indo-Scythian, Indo-Parthian and Kushan coins, including one find that, altogether, weighed three tonnes and included 450,000 gold and bronze pieces.

In certain areas of Central Asia, petroglyphs provide almost the only source of information on prehistoric routes of communication and the diffusion and migration of prehistoric populations. They have revealed that already in the 3rd millennium BC, there were contacts between Central Asia and the Himalayan region. The routes that were used by ancient populations are very similar to the ones that would later become the Silk Roads.