A story of treasures lost and found and lost again, of wars and invasions and internal disputes, of princes and princesses and merchant traders – it's all wrapped up in a glittering package at the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco.

Making the only West Coast appearance on their U.S. tour are more than 200 objects revealing the multicultural crossroads that was ancient Afghanistan. Gold, silver, ivory, bronze, painted glassware and precious gems paint a picture of a lush and cosmopolitan hub at the heart of the Silk Road that linked cultures from the Mediterranean to Asia.

"Afghanistan: Hidden Treasures From the National Museum, Kabul" traces a history of conquests from Alexander the Great and Genghis Khan to 20th century conflicts involving the Soviet Union and the Taliban. The show includes fragmentary golden bowls from the Bronze Age; a gilded silver plaque from the former Greek colony at Ai Khanum; glasses, pitchers, bowls and carved ivories from what may have been a merchant's store room in Begram; and the fabulous "Bactrian Hoard" – a collection of more than 100 gold ornaments found in the graves of nomadic royalty at Tillya Tepe.

All too often, exhibitions of archaeological treasures strike one as collections of remote objects with little context or spirit. But this show brings a series of dramatic stories to life and catches you up in the sheer romanticism of exotic places and dramatic events.

First, there is the story of archaeological excavations in the 1930s and '40s and 1978, in which discoveries were made only to be lost in battles with the Soviets and rampages by the iconoclastic Taliban, which tried to destroy all images from the pre-Islamic past. Determined to purge Afghanistan of depictions of humans and false gods, they blew up the Buddhas of Bamiyan Valley and smashed even the smallest of graven images in the Kabul museum, which had lost two-thirds of its collection by the time the Taliban were driven from power in 2001.

Then there is the story of how a handful of brave museum staffers called the "key holders" hid the treasures in the presidential palace and kept the secret to themselves until 2004, when the cache was rediscovered in the vaults of the palace and opened to reveal 600 of the most precious objects in the museum's collection.

Finally, there is the story of a young princess found in a grave with the wealth she wore, as nomads did, on her body, adorning her hair and dress, her hands and feet with scores of tiny gold ornaments that must have set off a wonderful tinkling sound as she moved around in her yurt or walked across the steppes.

Ultimately, there is the very sad story that dawns when you realize how much has been lost in the warfare that has torn Afghanistan apart over the past 30 years and still continues.

The exhibition begins with a short film narrated by Khaled Hosseini, author of "The Kite Runner," that provides a context for the objects in the show. In it you learn the earliest objects on view – broken golden bowls with images of a bearded bull and a boar discovered by farmers in 1966 at the village of Fullol – date to 2200 B.C. and show links between Afghanistan and the cultures of ancient Mesopotamia (present-day Iraq).

A larger group of artifacts comes from Ai Khanum ("Lady Moon"), a rediscovered Greek city in a region that had been conquered by Alexander the Great. Showing a Mediterranean influence in the area between the fourth and second centuries B.C., they include Corinthian capitals, bronze casts and limestone carvings of figures from Greek mythology, as well as sundials, Greek-style vessels and a statue of a man thought to be the head of the Gymnasium (a combination school and athletic academy) in the ancient city.

Objects now thought to be items of trade from Begram, dating from between the first and second centuries A.D., illustrate the city's position as a hub of commerce on the Silk Road, which is really a series of routes connecting China, India, the Near East and the Mediterranean. Here you find brightly painted glassware with scenes depicting figures harvesting dates, as well as a lively bronze mask of Silenus, the charmingly pixilated wine god.