The Bactria–Margiana Archaeological Complex (or BMAC, also known as the Oxus civilization) is the modern archaeological name for a Bronze Age culture of Central Asia, dated to ca. 2300–1700 BCE. It was in present-day Turkmenistan, northern Afghanistan and northeastern Iran, southern Uzbekistan and western Tajikistan. 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. "Margiana" was the Greek name for the Persian satrapy of Margu, in today's Turkmenistan.