GONUR DEPE

The Investor Turkmenistan  I  Culture & History  I  Analysis

Annual archaeological expeditions and excavations then began. As a result of the hard work under the scorching Turkmen sun, the walls of a ruined city from the Bronze Age emerged from the ground. It became clear that this settlement was the largest in the Murghab River delta. Today, we refer to this area with its small and larger ancient settlements as the country of Margush, or Margiana. After 40 years of excavations led by Dr. Viktor Ivanovich Sarianidi, it became evident that Gonur-Depe was one of the centers of an ancient civilization. It consisted of a palace and numerous temples and sanctuaries. Each archaeological season brought many amazing discoveries, indicating a high level of cultural development among the residents of Margiana. These included a large amount of well-made clay pottery, bronze, silver, and gold items, as well as expertly crafted stone objects and ivory items. All of these are now housed in the museums of Ashgabat and Mary. Unique artifacts from Gonur-Depe were exhibited in 2018-2019 at three museums in Germany (the Neues Museum in Berlin, in Hamburg, and in Mannheim).

Later, the royal necropolis of Gonur-Depe, consisting of eight burials of Margiana rulers, was discovered. The people of Margush believed in the afterlife and therefore placed all the most valuable possessions of the deceased in the graves.Not far from the tombs, a pit was found, 2.5 meters deep and 5 meters in diameter, also containing burials. Archaeologists managed to extract many interesting items and remains of ancient people and animals from there. In the center of the pit was a cart resembling a chariot. According to the legends of those times, it was necessary for the deceased to travel to the afterlife. In addition to the large pit, smaller burials were found, as well as some astonishing items that scientists still cannot explain. For example, in one of the graves, next to ceramic dishes, several stones were found that were shaped into smooth and even balls, and nearby there were several more stones shaped like pistachios. It is still unknown why these items were made and what role they played in those distant times. The walls of the necropolis were decorated with paintings and mosaics, some of which have been perfectly preserved to this day, even though they were created very long ago – in the 3rd-2nd millennia BC! This means that all these works by ancient designers and artists are at least 4,000 years old. Restorers from Turkmen and foreign museums modeled the most probable technology for creating mosaics and then tried to restore at least partially the former panels from many disparate details. The construction of the palace-temple complex of Gonur-Depe was a very challenging task for the people of that era. The axial directions of the ancient walls, erected by Margian architects and builders, remarkably align with the cardinal directions. The rooms had perfectly right angles. Raw clay was mixed with straw, placed in special molds, and dried in the sun, resulting in very hard and durable mud bricks. The masonry was secured with a liquid clay solution, and the walls were plastered, similarly to modern plaster, with the same clay mixture combined with straw. If necessary, this ancient "plaster" was smoothed to a mirror-like gloss.

At the very center of the Gonur settlement was a palace with many large ceremonial rooms, surrounded by powerful, thick walls and several square towers. Here, most likely, lived the chief priest of the country of Margush. Around the palace, on all four sides, there were temple buildings connected by a single wall. The corners of the wall were also reinforced with square towers, though not as massive as those on the palace's surrounding wall. Outside the walls, on the southern side, was a pool measuring 180 by 80 meters and two meters deep. To the north and west of the temple complex were two more, but shallower, pools. All these structures were surrounded by another low and narrow wall. The presence of a large number of two-chambered hearths in the excavated temples of Gonur-Depe led archaeologist Viktor Sarianidi to believe that these were not simple ovens for household use, but special furnaces for preparing ritual food. They could only be used by fire worshipers, for whom fire was a sacred element. The ovens were designed like modern stoves: food was baked in them only from the heat coming from below or the side – from the chamber with firewood or other fuel.

Besides the temple of fire and the temple of sacrifices, Sarianidi found at Gonur-Depe temples of the Sun, temples of ritual drinks, and two temple complexes of water. He provided a detailed description with justifications for his conclusions in the popular science book "Margush. The Mystery and Truth of a Great Culture," published in Ashgabat in 2008. When water became scarce for life, Gonur-Depe was abandoned, and people began to develop lands tens of kilometers to the south along the course of the Murghab River and its delta. A new center grew on the fertile soil of this oasis where the well-known Turkmen archaeological mounds Yaz-Depe and Göbekli-Depe are now located. And when water became scarce in these places as well, the development of cities moved further upstream. It was there that Ancient Merv appeared, which in the Middle Ages was one of the most important capitals of the Islamic world.

The Gonur-Depe settlement, still holding many secrets yet to be unraveled by historians, archaeologists, ethnographers, and other specialists, is located about three hours' drive from the city of Mary and covers almost 55 hectares. Today, it is the most popular pilgrimage site for thousands of tourists – both residents of Turkmenistan and those coming from abroad.

Dr. Viktor Ivanovich Sarianidi led the excavations and research at Gonur-Depe for many decades, and even after his passing, scientific and archaeological work at the ancient settlement has not stopped. Today, the Russian-Turkmen Margiana archaeological expedition is led by Russian anthropologist, archaeologist, PhD in biological sciences, and Doctor of Historical Sciences, Nadezhda Anatolyevna Dubova.